Boosting your direct sales channels:
4 reasons to upgrade your booking engine via APIs

In hospitality and travel, direct sales channels have grown massively, with in-house operated booking systems handling large sales volumes. If you are looking to optimise your booking engine further, the evolving digital technology is here to help.

API-level implementations, often used by larger hospitality organisations, will give you plenty of options for improving your buyers’ online journey. If done well, these types of upgrades can result in huge benefits for your business, supporting its operations and growth.

1. Make your loyalty program stand out

An API integration allows more flexibility around how and where your pricing will be shown in the booking process. Perhaps you want larger pricing boxes, or you need them in a different spot on your buyer’s screen, but you cannot get it through your existing solution. If it is important for your business to have loyalty benefits clearly presented all along the way, and offer discounts at multiple points, you can do that via APIs. With some smart planning and coding, your buyer’s digital journey will become an entirely different experience.

2. Modernise the look and feel

If you are using a turnkey solution that was implemented some time ago, you might think it now looks basic and of the old school. Especially if you have compared it with some fresh stuff out there. As buyers browse your website and move to book their accommodation, steps should be effortless, and value clear every step of the way. If you are uncomfortable with how your current booking process looks and feels, perhaps the time is right to seek improvements via software development.

3. Put your own brand in focus

Once you start coding your way to a better online journey, you will be able to put a strong emphasis on your brand – introduce different image formats, new page layouts and colour schemes, compelling stories, and videos. These assets showcase your brand value, and it is important to keep them in prominent spots. To do that you need more control over page design and imagery, which many turnkey solutions do not allow.

4. Make the purchase smooth and easy

Hospitality companies aim to pull their buyers into a journey that’s both beautiful and smooth. Clarity and simplicity paired with an inspiring environment take some effort to build. If implemented with care, an online booking journey will be exactly that, and it will leave a powerfull impression with the tech-savy customers.

Wish to know more about the kind of upgrades you can get via the API integration? Get in touch today!