There is a vast landscape of reservations systems out there, and you deserve the best. Here are four questions to ask yourself when evaluating which software to use for your business.
First and foremost, “is this software right for my business?”
When choosing a reservation system, you need to know what your business needs are and the value you’d want to get from the software. Is it to grow sales, increase efficiency, or take your business global? Then, make a list of your must-have and good-to-have features, and see how many of those boxes the software ticks.
Bókun, in particular, is built for the tours and activities industry to help operators get more bookings , save time and grow and scale . See Bókun’s list of features.
Go on a free trial with us and experience the all-in-one Bókun system with zero upfront commitment. Take the chance to speak with our product experts and hear what other tour operators have to say about Bókun too.
“Is it going to be expensive?”
It depends. You can find reservation systems on the market that cost almost nothing to some that cost thousands of dollars, each catered for different types of business and their specific needs.
Starting at $49/month, Bókun is well-priced for the value provided to tour operators who are looking to run and grow their businesses. Invest the $2 from your afternoon coffee every day (keep the morning coffee routine because coffee is great!) into a solution that helps you:
- sell directly online,
- boost your reach via Google , online travel agencies (OTAs) and other resellers,
- build new revenue streams, and
- increase operational efficiency.
And if you’re intending to sell new tours and activities on Viator, a Bókun subscriptions entitle you to a number of FREE listing checks on Viator every year (usually at $29 each)!
“Does it take long to set up?”
Your tours and activities form the basis of your business and of course, you’d want to build them properly in the reservation system right from the start and not rush through it. Providing the right business and product information, pricing, availability, etc. can require a little extra time, but it’s time well-spent.
In Bókun, we try to fasttrack the setup process for our operators in various ways like Express Setup mode for only essential product fields, and Import from Viator for product and booking information.
Once you have those ready to go, the rest is a breeze. Establish existing connections to OTAs and Marketplace resellers, add a booking engine on your website, or even build a new Bókun website – all these aren’t rocket science in Bókun and can be completed within a few clicks.
“What else should I look for?”
Ideally you will want a reservation system that can support your business now and in the future, instead of switching systems and redoing the setup all over again.
Look for a reservation system that is invested to help you grow beyond your day-to-day operations. It can be their product development, channels they connect with, additional good-to-have tools, partners and more.
This is very much in line with what we want to achieve here in Bókun as we continue to work on delivering the right tools to help our operators scale in the long run. From improving OTA integrations ( 1 , 2 ), adding new Marketplace resellers and payment providers for online booking, to app development and partnerships , our operators have plenty of opportunities to grow together with us.
We’re not going to lie. With a powerful reservation system like Bókun, it can be a little complex and daunting at first, especially if you’ve never used a software before. It might take time to get used to it, but we are here to help you every step of the way, starting from a free 14-day trial!
Other than our in-product guides and informative webinar s , we also have a detailed Help Center for step-by-step instructions that you can access anytime, and a dedicated team to answer your queries via chat.