Booking system
One booking engine, set up for two clients: a group of three seaside hotels and a network of four private clinics. Guests and patients book online, and staff work from the same calendar.
The clients are not named here, at their request.
- Role
- The whole system
- Sector
- Hotels and clinics
- Type
- Client project
- Outcome
- over 90,000 bookings in 12 months
Hotels paid commission, clinics lived on the phone
Hotels paid commission, clinics lived on the phone
The hotels paid online agencies a commission on most rooms, because their own sites could only take enquiries. The clinics booked by phone, rang every patient the day before, and still one in eight did not come.
One engine for two clients
We built one booking engine and configured it for each business: rooms, rates and seasons for the hotels; doctors, consulting rooms and appointment types for the clinics. Online booking, deposits through Paypercut and reminders work the same way in both.
From the first click to the review
The same six steps for a hotel stay and a clinic appointment.
- 01 Management
Set the rules
Rooms or doctors, weekly hours and exceptions, prices by season or weekday, and how early and how far ahead people can book.
- 02 Guest or patient
Pick a real slot
The guest or patient sees only free nights or times, at the intervals the business sets.
- 03 Guest or patient
Hold and pay
The slot is held for 15 minutes while the deposit is paid through Paypercut. If it is not paid, it goes back on sale.
- 04 The system
Confirm and remind
A confirmation straight away and a reminder the day before, by email or SMS.
- 05 Reception
Change of plans
Cancel in time and the refund follows the terms. The freed slot is offered to the waitlist.
- 06 Reception
On the day and after
Reception checks guests in and out and marks arrivals. A review request goes out after the visit, and the reports update themselves.
What the system does
The same engine serves guests and patients online, and reception, housekeeping, doctors and management behind the scenes.
- 01
Availability that is real
Weekly schedules, one-off exceptions and blocked dates give the free times. A slot cannot be sold twice, even when two people click at the same moment.
- 02
Rooms, rates and seasons
Room types, rate plans and seasonal prices, a calendar of rooms by night, and the housekeeping status beside every room.
- 03
Doctors and appointment types
Each doctor's weekly hours and exceptions, appointment types, each with its own length and consulting room, and a patient card with contact details and past visits.
- 04
Booking on your own site
Guests and patients book on the client's own website, with no commission per booking, and see only what is actually free.
- 05
Deposits and cancellations
A deposit through Paypercut, the slot held while it is paid, and cancellation terms set per rate or appointment type. Refunds follow the terms.
- 06
Reminders and waitlist
A reminder the day before, a request for a review afterwards, and a freed slot offered to the next person on the waitlist.
The booking pages are only the visible part. Behind them sits an admin panel: reception, housekeeping and doctors each have their own screens, and management follows occupancy, no-shows and revenue by channel. We built all of it from scratch. Every time in the system is in Bulgarian time, even on the nights the clocks change.
Four screens from the system
Hotels and clinics run the same engine; each sees it set up for their own business.
The screens are illustrative.
Hotel rooms calendar
Desktop-
Rooms down, nights across
Every room by type, every night of the fortnight, with today marked.
-
A held room is not a free room
While a guest pays the deposit, the room is held for 15 minutes, then released if unpaid.
-
Housekeeping in the same view
Reception sees which rooms are clean before handing over a key.
-
Where each booking came from
Every booking carries its channel, so direct bookings can be counted.
Clinic day schedule
Desktop-
Doctors across, time down
Each doctor's day on one time scale, with the consulting room they work in and appointments as long as their type needs.
-
Weekly hours plus exceptions
Leave, a course or an extra afternoon changes that date only.
-
A freed slot goes to the waitlist
Reception offers it to the next patient on the list in one click.
-
Arrivals and no-shows
Reception marks who came; no-shows are counted in the reports.
Booking on a phone
Phone-
Only real availability
Times come from the doctor's schedule, minus what is booked, held or blocked.
-
Booking rules built in
No sooner than two hours ahead and no further than 30 days, at the intervals the clinic sets.
-
Held while paying
The time is kept for 15 minutes while the deposit is paid through Paypercut.
-
Terms before payment
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before, shown before the patient pays.
Reports
Desktop-
Same engine, separate reports
Each client sees only their own figures, laid out for their business.
-
Revenue by channel
Room nights, revenue and commission by where the booking came from.
-
No-shows by specialty
Where missed appointments cluster, so reminders and deposits can be tuned.
-
Freed slots that were re-booked
How many cancelled appointments were filled again from the waitlist.
Hotels live before the season, clinics one at a time
- In total
- 22 weeks
- Team
- A project lead and two developers, with a designer and a tester part time
Scoping with both clients
Time at a hotel reception and a clinic front desk, the rate sheets, the doctors' schedules and the cancellation terms.
Weeks 1-3The shared engine
Resources, schedules and exceptions, holds, payments, notifications and roles.
Weeks 4-11Hotels
The rooms calendar, rate plans and seasons, housekeeping, and booking on the hotels' own sites. Live before the season.
Weeks 12-16Clinics
Doctors and consulting rooms, appointment types, reminders, the waitlist and the reception view. The clinics went live one at a time.
Weeks 17-22
What changed
- bookings and appointments in 12 months
- over 90,000 bookings and appointments in 12 months
- of hotel room nights booked on the hotels' own sites
- 24% of hotel room nights booked on the hotels' own sites
- of clinic appointments booked online
- 41% of clinic appointments booked online
- clinic no-shows, down from 13%
- 7% clinic no-shows, down from 13%
Figures from the clients' first 12 months on the system, compared with the year before; for the hotels, their first season. Shared with permission.
Before and after
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Room nights sold through online agencies | 62% | 44% |
| Clinic no-shows | 13% | 7% |
| Reception phone time across the four clinics, per month | About 610 hours | About 240 hours |
| Confirmation calls the day before | Made by reception | Replaced by an automatic reminder |
Room nights sold through online agencies
- Before
- 62%
- After
- 44%
Clinic no-shows
- Before
- 13%
- After
- 7%
Reception phone time across the four clinics, per month
- Before
- About 610 hours
- After
- About 240 hours
Confirmation calls the day before
- Before
- Made by reception
- After
- Replaced by an automatic reminder
Taking bookings by phone?
Hotels, clinics, salons, sports halls and rentals all sell time or space. We build the engine around your rules, not a template's.
Get in touch