Accommodation Availability

Our website is able to show your live accommodation availability on it. We have provided information here on what this means for both you and the consumer and what you need to do in order for your availability to show on our site. Please take the time to read this information before letting us know which platform (or platforms) you want your availability to show from.

Why accommodation availability search is important

Searching accommodation by availability and booking online is taken for granted by many consumers nowadays. Not offering an availability search would mean that people would likely leave our site to find another that does offer it – and that would mean lost bookings for our members and lost visitors to our destination.

We were not able to offer live availability for all of our members on our previous website, and this was something we were looking to address for a while. It is extremely important to us to offer the most effective booking tools, so that visitors can easily find and book accommodation, driving income to you, our members and bringing more visitors to our area. We built this new website using the Simpleview system which is already in use by many other destinations because it is a tried and tested platform which works well for businesses and consumers.

What accommodation availability we can show

Our new website is able to show live availability from the following sources:

Property Management Systems:

• Freetobook
• SuperControl
• Eviivo
• TXGB*

Online Travel Agents:

• Booking.com
• Expedia
• HotelPlanner
• Sykes Cottages

* More About TXGB

TXGB is both a stand alone booking platform for accommodation availability (called TxLoad) as well as providing the technology to connect with many other booking systems, extending the integrations available. There are a large number of platforms which already connect and more are constantly being added. For a full list please see the Technology tab on their website here. Some of the main ones which we know some of our members use are:

• Angelfish
• Anytime Booking
• Avvio
• BnB Manager
• Caterbook
• Guestline
• Hotel Perfect
• iBex/Seekom
• Little Hotelier
• Mews
• Oracle Hospitality / My Fidelio
• RoomMaster
• SiteMinder
• Update 247

What you need to do to connect your availability

Property Management Systems: If you want your availability to show from any of the Property Management Systems you have to do two things: 1. Go into the PMS's account settings and allow the correct permissions for us there 2. Let us know you have done this so that we can make the connection on our end. We have created guides on how to do this for Freetobook, SuperControl and TXGB here.

Online Travel Agents: For the Online Travel Agents you will not have to do anything more than tell us your chosen platform, we can then connect this to your listing and consumers will then be able to use our site to search by availability and book direct with you.

What will the process be for the consumer?

When a visitor performs an availability search on our website, all businesses that have matching availability will be returned in the search results. When they click on a business all of the information on the accommodation type available and the price will come from your booking platform meaning you do not need to add anything further in order for this to show. It will also be clear where the availability has come from and once the customer clicks on ‘Book Now’ on our website they will be taken to the booking page of the website platform (e.g. Freetobook) in a new tab, allowing them to complete the booking. Please see the example below: 

The booking will be completed on the external website (e.g. Freetobook) and the normal charges will apply for that website as you will have previously agreed with them. There are no additional charges for allowing availability to show on our site (apart from via TXGB).

Please note that the booking confirmation email will be sent to both the consumer and you, the business, from the availability source (e.g. Freetobook) the same as any other booking made through them.

What if I don’t have a booking system which is supported?

We want to do as much as we can to support members and we are aware that there are a plethora of booking systems out there already in use by you. We chose the Simpleview system because it had the best available options for our members with the least work necessary for you. Unfortunately, not every system can be integrated however. TXGB is constantly adding new systems so there is always a chance that your system might be added in the future. The OTAs are also there as options for connecting your availability, we understand that the commissions are higher than direct bookings but if you are looking to achieve high numbers of bookings easily they are your best option for doing so. If you do connect via an OTA we recommend making it clear on your listing that direct booking offers the best prices.

Members that aren’t bookable via our website will still appear across the website as normal and will be returned in non-availability searches. The only time they won’t be seen is if the visitor looks for specific dates – e.g. B&Bs available on 10^th July 2021 for 2 people. On your listing a red ‘Book Direct’ button is added to the top of your listing to make it clear that a link straight to your online booking is available.

What if I don’t want to offer any online booking?

We would argue that online booking is essential for many people when planning holidays, and by not offering the option you may be missing out on potential bookings.

However, if you don’t want to offer online booking, then that is absolutely fine and you don’t have to. We are simply introducing it as a new option for those businesses that want to use it, and we will not be forcing it on members who don’t want it.

If you are looking for advice on setting up online booking you can talk to us about this too.

Why did you choose this system?

This solution has been implemented by our website provider Simpleview on destination websites all over the UK. It is a tried and tested solution that has been introduced by many other destinations as they recognised it allows the widest number of businesses to participate in online booking and gives the consumer the best choice and booking options.

We conducted our own research prior to choosing this solution for Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tourism including speaking to other destinations who have implemented it and had it running for several years. Their positive feedback and the difference the system has made to their members encouraged us that this was not only an important step for us to take, but crucial if we wanted our destination and our member businesses to compete in an increasingly digital world.

Why not take a look at our live availability search on our website here to see how it works and how easy it is for the consumer to book accommodation.