Thinking about creating an online booking and reservation marketplace, but feeling confused? We will cover all the elements of “How to create an online booking system” but first let’s get to the basics.
Before discussing all the benefits of an online booking marketplace, you must know what is it exactly. It will help you decide what kind of booking business you want to start.
What is an Online Booking System?
Online booking system websites allow consumers to book and pay for a service online. Or you can say that these are the platforms which make many kinds of activities convenient for the people.
E.g medical appointments, home services like painting or party decorations, traveling which includes booking flights, hotel rooms, charter bus, car rentals, or house on rent if someone plans to stay longer and save on the expenses. There are numerous services that can be booked.
Any new category that adds to the online booking page is a new way to earn by providing convenience to consumers by the online booking software.
Types of Booking and Reservation System
- One booking for several days
A customer makes a booking that lasts for several days or hours and can even be extended from the period fixed earlier, e.g. hotel room reservations. It can also be that the customer makes a booking for a certain kind of service but the service provider gives a different estimate e.g. painting, renovation or interior decoration of the house, party planning for occasions like marriage or festival, etc.
- Several bookings in a single day
This type of booking is mainly for services that take a short period of time to be completed e.g. domestic flight booking or international flight booking, car rentals, cab services, spa services, beautician’s services, Medicare Medicaid services, etc.
These types of services need online scheduling.
Why is Online Booking & reservation Marketplace Becoming a Craze?
Traveling to the railway station and waiting in a long queue just to book a ticket can’t definitely be someone’s favorite task, or will you rather cancel your plan of attending an evening party held not so near to your house just because of the lack of personal conveyance?
Obviously not, and to bring the solutions to all these problems to our fingertips. Here are several sites, each specifically dedicated to providing different services e.g. Ola and Uber are the sites to book a conveyance.
Booking and reservation sites like Expedia, Booking.com, etc. help you take care of all your travel needs like booking bus tickets, flight tickets, or railway tickets and booking hotel rooms and even car rentals for your on-road journey.
These sites are like online travel managers that manage your whole trip in real-time whether domestic or international. They also provide if you have a business travel plan or are a senior citizen while traveling.
Likewise, there are several booking websites that accept online booking for specific services-
- Doctors’ apps help you to find a doctor specifically for your health issue and book an appointment with them.
- Berger express-paint service for painting the house
- Getlook.com to book time slots for beauty parlor services
- Bookmyshow.com for booking movie tickets
- Redbus.com for booking bus tickets etc.
Almost all online booking services have their mobile apps because their primary motive is to bring services to customers’ fingertips and save time. So, if they will not be available on mobile phones then they will be failing their main motive as most of the people use the phone rather than PC.
Secondly, it eliminates the need for carrying cash everywhere, customers can use a credit card, debit card to make an online payment.
Why Should You Start An Online Booking System?
Unlike an eCommerce marketplace that needs inventory stock, warehouse, etc. and the initial investment is quite large, you don’t have to put any hefty amount of capital in an online booking and reservation marketplace. All you have to do is create a channel where clients can book online and the vendors will be responsible for their own stock. Eg. Airbnb is the medium that brings face to face the people who want to rent their houses and the people who want a place to live while traveling.
They could have reached their destination and then started looking for rooms but it sounds very inconvenient. Online booking marketplace like Airbnb gives them the option to have a homely experience by renting someone’s house.
Plus it is comparatively cheaper than booking hotel rooms if one plans to stay for a longer period. The online reservation system owner does need not own a hotel or living place in order to provide the service to the customer.
- You will get a pre-negotiated percentage from every sale the registered vendor makes and it will be a remarkable amount. E.g. every time someone hails a cab from Ola or Uber, the owner of the site gets a commission from the cab owner or the driver.
- An online booking service owner doesn’t need to refill and update his stock and inventory because he doesn’t need to stock anything in the very first place. There is no process of finding, buying, and paying for anything. The risk is minimal.
- You don’t have to be in constant touch with the vendors and customers. You are a medium where they both connect to each other so in a way they both are your customers.
Booking marketplace solutions will simplify building your marketplace.
The Scope of Growth In The Field of Online Booking System
If you are still wondering that what is the scope of the online booking business then here are a few turnover reviews of some booking business sites-
- Online hotel bookings to derive about 50% of the revenue by 2022. Source: (mordorintelligence.com)
- 10 million people tried Ola for the first time in 2021. Source (businessinsider.com)
- Indian online food delivery revenue is expected to grow by $8 billion in 2022. Source:(livemint.com)
These reports show that the future of the online booking and reservation marketplace is flourishing rapidly. So if you have any confusion or doubt whether it is a business that will earn a profit for you then the answer to your question is mentioned here, just take a look at these reports and make up your mind to take a step towards it.
How to create an online booking system?
Decide the Genre
The most important factor is to decide what kind of Online Booking System you are going to sire. Whether it is for-
- Traveling like Redbus etc.
- Cab booking like Ola, Uber, etc,
- Event booking like BookMyShow.com,
- Hotel room booking like Trivago, Oyo, Airbnb, etc,
- Appointment booking like Urbanclap etc.
Get A Domain Name
- You will have to buy a domain name and get it registered. While choosing a domain name keep the following things in mind.
- The name should be short so that people can remember it easily.
- The domain name should be unique and relevant to your website and services. If you want your website to stick into the mind of your customers, the domain name of your website should be unique, and to the point. Relevancy of the domain name matters heavily.
- The domain extension should be precise, a broadly used domain extension like ‘.com, .org, .info’ etc. can get your website lost in the flood of search results generated in a fraction of a second. Try to use domain extensions that are country-centric or the one that suits your website the best. It narrows down the competition for a newly formed website.
Get A Well Working Website Frame
A well-working website that is getatable to future modification, and malleable as per the screen of computers, tablets, or androids, plus has a maximum loading time of 2 seconds.
It is necessary for any eCommerce business. You can either start from scratch and wait for a whole eternity for it to get completed and also it will suck in a good percentage of your capital.
Or you can reach out to a trusted online booking software service provider and get it built within no time on a Readymade blueprint and on a nominal budget.
Get Vendors For Listing
No matter whatever kind of multivendor site you have, it’s totally useless without vendors. You have to form up a fellowship with the service providers regarding the type of booking website you are spawning.
Form a well-delineated Revenue Model
Prior to everything else, you need a well-defined revenue model so that there is no noxious dispute between you and the vendors. You need to decide on which stages, you will be charging commission to your staff members and at what percentage.
Having a defined revenue model will help your small business get a clean balance sheet and will also keep you away from disputes which will be a plus point for your business goodwill.
Get An App For Your Business
Talking about appointment scheduling or even a hotel room, your customers want it to take place just at one click. hence getting an app is necessary. App generally loads faster than a website hence people prefer an app over opening a website.
Create your booking marketplace with CedCommerce
All businesses come with certain pros and cons but this business has more pros so if you have made up your mind and want to set foot in the world of online booking business then your search for an ideal solution ends here.
Want to create a Booking System in the online booking business instantly or want to know more about how our solutions will help you, read our blog on Marketplace booking solutions.
Looking for an end-to-end guide for creating an online marketplace? Click here: Your know-it-all guide to starting a successful eCommerce marketplace
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