GuestDiary.com

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Booking Suite Alternative Hotel and Guesthouse Website

Gerry Haughey

Booking Suite Alternative 

Looking for a replacement or alternative to BookingSuite? (given that Booking.com is closing Booking Suite on November 30th 2020). Give us a shout, within 7 days we can not only offer you a Mobile Responsive, Multi Lingual website........ but a Booking Engine, PMS and Channel Manager also.

GuestDiary WebBuilder

In August 2019 we released in Beta version our new Web Builder platform and so far we are delighted with the results. It is true that most of the advantages are in terms of the website functionality and performance, but we are also happy with the ‘look and feel’ of these new sites.

With this new version a web savvy hotel owner (or their IT support) can create the website from scratch, although we tend to initially build the website for most customers. Either way the new version gives the accommodation owner much more control over the look and feel. For example they can;

  • Change the layout of the website.

  • Change the colours and patterns of the site.

  • Change the content of the pages.

  • Change the Page layout by selecting from 'Content Blocks'

  • Change the images.

  • Create and edit Photo Galleries

  • Upload documents ie Menus/PDF's.

  • Upload News and Events from their Mobile phone (Via our App)

etc,etc

In our view it is a simple Web Builder, tailor made for accommodation websites without the complexity offered by companies such as Wordpress etc. If its a wet day in November and you are feeling bored, then go in and change the look and feel of your website ready for the new season!!

So whats new?

Most of the pages are AUTOMATICALLY built from the content you manage for the diary ie

  • Special Offers Page

  • Accommodation (Rooms) Page

  • Location

  • Contact Us

In fact once an accommodation provider has all their details loaded for the GuestDiary it is theoretically possible that the website is already created…….., although in practise most properties will want to add more content ie 'About Us', 'How to Get Here', 'Dining', 'Your Hosts' etc.

  • News and Events

ONE OF OUR FAVOURITES, we would really like to see more of our customers using this!

A website is really just a method of posting content to a website, no one would argue with that, except that not many of our customers are really keeping their website updated with content!!. From the GuestDiary it is now quick and easy to add Events or Articles, in fact this can now be done from the Mobile APP. We have hopes or dreams of Accommodation Owners pulling out their phones whenever something interesting happens in their property or area, snapping it and posting it to their website.....in seconds......just like they might do with their Facebook page.

So why does the new Web Builder perform better?

  • More and more activity is taking place on the Mobile Devices, the website builder is constructed on a platform that allows for the pages and in particular the images to be served faster (A CDN for the more technical minded). On average the Mobile website in the 2019 Web Builder is TWICE s fst as our older version (And yes , It could still be better, but Google is forcing all website designers down this road).

  • All pages carry editable Title, Keyword, and Description Metatags,

  • Page Layout (headers and text etc) is done in a way that the all-important Google ‘spiders’ like to see (helping your Search Engine Ranking).

  • An automatic Sitemap is generated that can be submitted to Google Webmaster Tools

  • ‘Bread crumb trails’ are used for page names to facilitate Google Spiders 'sucking up' the content.

  • A Secure Cert can be added to the website.

  • A Favicon can be added to the website.

  • Widgets (ie FaceBook Activity, Tripadvisor Reviews) can be added to the website.

  • Sites can be linked to Adwords allowing conversion rates to be measured.

  • Google Analytics can be added to the website allowing the performance to be monitored

  • Any Events and News that are added to the website are displayed in such a way that allows them to be picked up by Google Spider and displayed in a Google Search.

Website Functionality

  • The website contain an editable ‘Cookie Policy’

  • A website ‘Privacy Policy’ can be added.

  • Multi-Lingual - The hotel owner can select from up to 5 different languages and use the automatic Google Translate feature to add content OR add their own content. Additionally when guests lands on the site if it has not been translated into their language a dropdown appears that allows them to select their own language.

  • As most reservations are 'last minute' if you have availability for tonight a message will appear on the homepage of the website ‘Available Tonight encouraging guests to search and book.

  • Room prices are shown in graph format over the next 30 days (a la Ryanair) to give guests the option to find the best rate and maximise your occupancy.

  • A pop-up can be created which appears on the homepage

  • If a Gift Voucher is created on the system a 'callout' message automatically appears on the homepage of the website and the Gift Voucher page is automatically created.

  • A website Photo Gallery can be created and Maintained

  • When a guest books they can elect to sign up for your marketing campaign and this info is stored in such a way to satisfy GDPR rules.

Together with our GuestDiary Booking Engine

  • Dont forget these features are already available to our customers using the new GuestDiary Booking Engine;

  • You can have a special 'no availability' message (ie 'E Mail or call us if you cannot find a room for your date so we can add you to a 'Waiting List')

  • Set up a Special Offer and select 'Shout About It'....this will make the Special Offer appear at the top of the Booking Engine results no matter what a customer searches for.

  • If there is no availability the guest is shown dates when rooms ARE available

  • Room or packages with a minimum stay are shown even if the guest did not search for a long stay (Encourage them to avail of the discount by extending their stay.)

  • Promotion Codes can be created that offers special rates or discounts to a select audience

  • You can simplify and speed up the booking process by taking away the need for a postal address when they book on your website.

  • Before we go too far its probably worth nailing our colours to the mast and stating that one of the most important features of our products is that it is ALL PART OF ONE SYSTEM. Its hard to explain to the none technical minded just how important this is (although most of our busy accommodation providers appreciate only having to contact one person when they have an issue) but website customers can sense when they are being passed from one system to another (ie from A website to 3rd party Booking Engine) and they don’t like the ‘disconnect’ in the Booking Process.