IH Booking System
Clear, concise, and easy to use on mobiles.
- The IH Booking System takes bookings by the bed, by the room, and for the exclusive use of the whole property.
- It smoothly closes off any options which use the same rooms, so you can sell a 4-bed room:- as a twin, by the bed as a dorm, or as a 4-bed private room.
- The IH Booking System allows you to choose what type of bookings to accept on given dates. So you can accept whole property bookings at weekends and sell by the bed mid-week. You can also allow both options, knowing that the system will close off the alternatives once a booking is placed.
- You can set the IH Booking System to take immediate bookings, or request your approval.
- The requirement for approval can be based on the unit that is being booked, so you can ask for approval for whole property bookings, while allowing immediate bookings for rooms.
- The IH Booking System works seamlessly on your own website and the Independent Hostels’ site.
- It is free to members of the Independent Hostels’ network and never charges a commission.
Based on years of feedback from hostel and bunkhouse owners, this is the ideal booking system for hostel-style accommodation looking to fill their beds with direct bookings.
The IH Booking System does not provide channel management. Only Export iCal feeds are available (these can provide one-way availability updates to Airbnb and other systems).
Planned further developments include:-
- The ability to release future availability in different configurations as the date of stay gets closer. Allowing you to give priority to group bookings but take smaller bookings as the dates get closer.
- The ability to base whole-property prices on the number of guests.
- The ability to take payment (using Stripes secure payment system).
Development of this booking system has been part-funded by the UK Governments Community Renewal Scheme.
IH Calendar
For those who are looking for an easy and free way to show availability online we have our own calendar which you can maintain on your Natter App. Watch a video about it here. This is simple to use and has all the features below.
- Shows your availability on your website
- Shows your availability on the Independent Hostels website
- Easy to maintain – you only need to update when your accommodation is fully booked.
- Encourages Direct Bookings – refers users to your own booking procedure.
- Easy to use – and we are happy to help.
Give Sam a call (01629 580427) or get in touch to turn your calendar on.
This Websites Availability System
The Independent Hostels website has a powerful availability search function, which also shows a calendar on the hostel features. This free automated system can read availability from most calendars and booking systems. Alternativly hosts can use a calendar on their natterapp to keep it informed. If you own accommodation in the Independent Hostels network and your feature does not currently show a calendar, get in touch with Sam (01629 580427) to get your availability hooked up.
All the booking buttons on this website will go directly to booking link provided by the hosts. So all bookings placed on this website are direct bookings.
Bookings will take place on the hostel’s own website or on a page provided by their chosen booking system. There is generally no indication on a booking that it has come from our website. This is fine by us as long as our members know we are always working, behind the scenes, to provide them with commission-free direct bookings. It is great for the hostels as it means there is no commission to pay.
Which booking system is best?
We provide a list of all the booking systems used by hostels and bunkhouses in the Independent Hostels network. Any that are marked as Recommended will work seamlessly with our website. We also provide a comparison table which shows the most widely used booking systems amongst our members.