A seamless and intuitive online booking process is key to increasing direct bookings through your property’s website. Choosing a modern, secure, and mobile-friendly online booking engine (OBE) is just the first step—optimizing it for conversions is where the real magic happens.
From branding your booking engine to adding compelling images and ensuring accessibility, there are several ways to enhance the online booking experience and boost conversion rates.
The design of your property’s website—including your logo, images, background and accent colors, fonts and layout—contributes to your property’s brand identity, which helps customers make an emotional connection with your property and inspires them to book. Make sure you’re not eroding that well-earned trust with a mismatched booking engine!
To maintain a seamless experience, customize your booking engine to align with your brand.
WebRezPro’s booking engine allows you to:
- Set background and accent colors.
- Upload a background image and control its display settings (e.g., size, scrolling, position, and opacity).
- Link to your property’s social media accounts to reinforce credibility and engage customers.
- Enter custom messaging (e.g., for property announcements and no-availability messages).
- Customize search filters and set custom fields on the booking form (more on these later).
The best way to sell your rooms is to show them to your customers! Take advantage of unit slideshows within your WebRezPro booking engine to present customers with photos of your units during the booking process. This provides visual reassurance at a crucial moment, boosting the likelihood of conversion—and often convincing guests to upgrade.
WebRezPro allows you to upload up to 16 slideshow images per unit type, with optional titles and descriptions. You can even showcase your property during different seasons or for special occasions by setting images to display for availability searches between specific dates. For the best visual presentation, we recommend making all images the same size (ideal image dimensions for unit slideshows in WebRezPro are 800px wide by 500px tall).
Setting your online booking engine to display the number of rooms remaining (e.g., “2 left!”) in the corner of the unit slideshow or image when availability is low creates urgency to book. You control when this message appears by setting a threshold, such as fewer than five rooms remaining.
While photos speak 1000 words, clear and accurate descriptions provide essential details guests need to make informed decisions.
Customers should easily be able to understand:
- Occupancy limits
- Room layout and bed configurations
- Room amenities such as Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and kitchen facilities
- Special features like luxury linens and private balconies
WebRezPro’s booking engine displays unit amenities and occupancy limits via clear icons, making it easy for customers to compare options. You can also create customized amenities to display in room search results and/or search filters.
A short written description can (and should) be added for each unit type to summarize the room and convey any unique features such as the eco-silk sheets, craft coffee selection, and stunning sunset views from the balcony.
Rate descriptions are also important—especially for special promotions, packages, and discounts. Clarifying terms (like who qualifies for the discount) and what’s included helps avoid confusion and builds trust.
Guests appreciate the ability to personalize their stay, so take advantage of WebRezPro’s personalization features to drive conversions and loyalty:
- Reservation Options: Offering add-on services and amenities at the time of booking is a great way to allow guests to personalize their stay—and boost ancillary revenue. Use WebRezPro’s reservation options feature to upsell extras (like spa treatments, champagne and chocolates, or late check-outs) directly within the booking form via a pop-up. Photos can also be added to clarify the offering and increase conversions.
Pro tip: While add-ons are great for personalizing the guest experience, take care not to overwhelm customers with too many options at this point. Maintain a streamlined booking process by keeping extra offers to a minimum (further upsells can be included within the confirmation email, once the booking is secured!) and don’t force customers to make a selection. They shouldn’t have to click to decline an offer in order to continue with the booking process. - Custom Guest Profile Fields: WebRezPro gives you the opportunity to create custom guest profile fields that can be set to appear on the online booking form. This is useful when you require information from the guest that isn’t covered by the standard fields, for example, a special membership number or their favourite beverage.
- Online Guest Portal: The WebRezPro online booking engine comes with a guest portal, My Reservations, which guests can log into to view and modify their existing bookings, view past bookings, gift certificates, and completed guest agreements, and easily make new bookings based on their profile information. The My Reservations portal can be activated for group organizers, unit owners, and corporate accounts, too, providing guests with added convenience and driving repeat business.
Transparency is key to securing bookings. Clearly outline your cancellation and booking policies, including any conditions or fees, to set expectations upfront. Since flexibility remains a priority for travelers post-COVID, offering lenient cancellation terms can positively impact conversion rates.
WebRezPro automatically displays applicable cancellation and booking policies within the booking form, ensuring guests are fully informed before confirming their stay.
Providing a seamless and secure payment process is crucial for maximizing online conversions. If the payment process is complicated or lacks trust signals (like secure payment badges), potential guests may abandon the booking before completing the transaction.
WebRezPro includes PCI-compliant integration with your preferred payment gateway to streamline the online check-out process, support multiple payment methods (including credit/debit cards, PayPal, and digital wallets), and protect guests’ sensitive data.
Your online booking engine should be readily accessible across your website, ensuring guests can book the moment they’re ready. Placing a “Book Now” button in your website’s main menu or header guarantees visibility on every page.
WebRezPro provides various booking link formats for website integration, including:
- Links to property-wide availability searches
- Room- and rate-specific links (ideal for your Rooms or Packages pages)
- Location-specific links
- Availability calendars
- Booking widgets
- Interactive booking map
Additionally, the booking engine offers users flexible display options for search results, allowing them to view availability in tile format (per room type), calendar view, or on a property map—whichever best suits their needs.
Don’t forget to comply with accessibility guidelines as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide an inclusive booking experience. Add image ALT text to unit slideshow photos as well as the logo and background image in your booking engine so that those images can be read by screen readers for people who are visually impaired.
Understanding how well your booking engine performs is vital to increasing conversions. In addition to completed bookings, your software should also monitor where guests drop off during the booking process.
WebRezPro enables you to track your customers’ progress through the entire booking process. If customers are bailing part way through, you can pin-point where they abandon the booking and identify what needs to be improved. For example, if customers jump ship when they open the availability search, it could indicate your booking engine doesn’t reflect your brand. If customers don’t complete the booking form, it could be too complicated or lengthy.
Choosing the right online booking engine is essential for your property’s success, but optimizing its features is what truly drives conversions. Here’s a quick recap of best practices:
- Customize your booking engine to your brand for consistency with your website.
- Incorporate high-quality unit slideshows to showcase your property.
- Provide complete amenity lists and descriptions to clarify offerings.
- Offer personalization options (without overwhelming customers with choices).
- Clearly communicate cancellation and booking policies to build trust.
- Ensure easy access to your booking engine throughout your website.
- Track conversions and refine the process based on guest behavior.
By leveraging these strategies, you can maximize direct bookings and provide a seamless reservation experience for your guests. If you need assistance optimizing your WebRezPro online booking engine, our team is here to help!
Editor’s note: This post was last updated in February 2025.
