For hotels, generating direct business is an essential part of an optimized distribution strategy, one that relies less on intermediaries to more consistently deliver profitable bookings that come at a lower cost of customer acquisition. A handful of technology companies are introducing or upgrading booking engines as part of a broader effort to transform hotel websites into more effective e-commerce channels.
The most recent push reflects a growing recognition that simply driving traffic to a hotel website is not enough. Hotel owners and operators, meanwhile, are staunch supporters of the booking engine evolution, according to Robert Habeeb, CEO of Maverick Hotels & Restaurants, which operates 50 hotels nationally.
“Technology is driving a monumental shift in how hotels secure and process bookings and manage their revenue generation systems,” he said. “We are transitioning the industry from traditional, static search engines to an AI-driven interconnected ecosystem that will represent the biggest shift in booking capability since the internet.”
Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano would agree with Habeeb’s assessment. He told an audience at a recent Bank of America investor conference that the biggest impact of AI on the hospitality industry will be how customers search and book travel. “The biggest impact you’ll see on our industry is the distribution landscape,” he said. Marriott in response is delivering AI platforms content so its hotels show up when users search and start their travel journeys.
Added Habeeb, “Operators need to be on the ground floor of this shift or face being left behind. It is just around the corner. This represents the first real challenge to the big brands’ dominance of booking gateways yet.”
On Cue
Technology companies are taking note. Marketing technology firm Tambourine launched Tambourine One, which it refers to as a website with a booking engine built in; CRS specialist Aven Hospitality modernized its booking engine, which is embedded within a hotel’s existing website; and legacy PMS provider Oracle Hospitality is preparing to launch its OPERA Cloud booking engine as an extension of its broader cloud-based technology platform.
Tambourine One effectively blends website design and booking engine to form a single e-commerce platform. “We want to put an end to the fall-off between website and booking engine,” said Rafael Cardozo, founder and CEO of Tambourine. “One of the greatest impacts on direct-booking profitability is the gap between the website and the booking engine, but our ability to impact direct bookings typically ended the minute a website visitor clicked ‘book now.’ I’m proud to say that’s no longer the case.”
Cardozo suggested that the disconnect between hotel websites and booking engines not only impacts conversion rates, but it also drives up direct booking costs. “Because hotel websites are typically purchased from one vendor and the booking engine is purchased from another, hoteliers are forced to pay two separate fees for what should be a single e-commerce experience.”
Tambourine One combines the two functions within a single platform. According to Cardozo, the approach is intended to streamline the booking process while reducing technology costs. “The streamlined experience not only creates a better experience for travelers, but it also reduces direct booking costs for hoteliers. Hoteliers pay no booking engine fees or commissions on bookings.”
The unified experience is yielding tangible results, according to the company. In a study of more than 50 hotels, Tambourine One saw desktop conversion rates double, while mobile conversion rates nearly tripled. Furthermore, when ranked against five prominent booking engine competitors, customers are seeing a 1.2% improvement on the benchmark for both desktop and mobile conversions, Cardozo claimed.
Frisco, Texas-based Aven Hospitality, formerly Sabre Hospitality Solutions, has expanded its SynXis CRS platform with a new booking engine designed to modernize the guest-facing reservation experience. Rather than replacing the underlying booking infrastructure, Aven introduced a new booking layer that is embedded directly within a hotel’s website. The booking engine operates on a shared orchestration layer powered by GraphQL.
“We believe the future of hotel commerce is seamless, personalized and deeply integrated into the guest journey. The new booking engine provides a strong foundation for that future—combining performance, flexibility and AI readiness in a way that helps hotels drive more value from their direct channel,” said Ken MacLeod, principal and product manager at Aven Hospitality.
MacLeod said the company sought to address the booking experience while maintaining the existing CRS infrastructure.
“We saw an opportunity to rethink the booking experience from the ground up and create a modern commerce platform that centralizes and simplifies the guest journey,” he said.
According to the company, page load times are more than three times faster than those of previous-generation solutions, which can help reduce abandonment and keep guests engaged longer during the booking process.
Navarino Services, which provides technology solutions to independent hotels, was among the platform’s first pilot partners. According to Aven, the company reported revenue growth of more than 30% during its first month using the new booking engine without additional demand-generation activity.
Aven plans to expand the platform’s capabilities with additional retailing functions, stand-alone offers, an in-context booking experience that includes checkout, multi-property search and deeper payment integrations, according to MacLeod.
The company also plans to introduce a booking engine designer intended to simplify website design and template management. “This launch is only the first phase of a broader roadmap,” MacLeod said.
Oracle Hospitality’s investment in booking technology is part of a broader strategy to connect hotel technology functions within its cloud platform. The Austin, Texas-based company views booking as one component of an ecosystem that includes property management, guest profiles, payments, loyalty, and hotel operations.
Tanya Pratt, global VP of strategy and product management for Oracle Hospitality, said the OPERA Cloud booking engine was developed in response to customer feedback.
“This decision came about very organically through conversations with our customers that didn’t think that we were quite finished with our distribution solution,” she said.
The booking engine is currently in the early adopter stage and is primarily targeting independent hotels, which Pratt said are “mostly underserved.”
Pratt said the system is designed to use a single source of rates and inventory, allowing hotels to merchandise and distribute products through the booking channel while maintaining the same information available through the property management system.
“It’s a single system of record when it comes to rates and inventory. This means that the hotels have the ability to merchandise, distribute, and monetize everything that they could as if a guest was to walk up to the front desk,” she said.
Pratt also pointed to the integration with Oracle’s existing technology infrastructure as a key element of the product’s development. “We spent six years building the foundation. I feel like certainly from a product side of things it’s like just decorating the house, because the foundation is solid,” she said.
The foundation of direct booking platforms, meanwhile, continues to be reinforced. As providers increasingly integrate booking engines with websites, CRS and PMS platforms, hotels will have more options to consolidate technology while improving the direct-booking experience.