The 8 best hotel reservation software in 2023

Picture this: you’ve finally fixed the dates for an upcoming business trip, created itineraries, and booked flights—all that’s left is finding the best hotels for your employees’ stay. 

A hotel reservation software is the answer to all your hotel booking worries. Hotel booking software processes your reservations and simplifies the online booking process. You have the ease of reserving your hotel rooms at negotiated rates without any commission charges.

With so many online hotel booking softwares on the market, choosing the perfect one for your needs can seem challenging. This guide on the eight best hotel management platforms will help you make an informed decision.

First, let’s take a closer look at hotel reservation software and what you should look out for when making your decision.

What is hotel reservation software?

A hotel reservation software offers a secure portal to find and book hotel rooms. Once you’ve made your reservation, the tool will securely process all the data to inform the hotels about your booking. 

Travel managers can filter stays based on multiple factors, such as the length of stay, the room type, check-in time, extra amenities, and more. 

Consider your free accommodation booking system the digital version of a hotel front office. It gives you all the details you need to complete your reservation at the hotel so you can arrive stress-free. 

Benefits of using hotel reservation software

Hotel management software offers several benefits to business travel managers. 

Let’s look at a few perks of making reservations using a hotel room booking system:

• Lower prices: When compared to bookings that you make directly, a hotel reservation software system often provides negotiated corporate rates. This price difference comes from the partnerships that are frequently developed between hotel reservation solutions and the hotels themselves. By offering lower rates through these sites, hotels can benefit from a higher volume of guests.
• Greater efficiency: Booking a hotel room through this software is hassle-free and fast. You can book your room(s) depending on the hotel’s availability, process payments instantly, and get your confirmations—all with little to no waiting time. 
• Improved compliance: Travel managers can outline their business policies within a hotel reservation software and maximize compliance—ensuring employees stay within policy when planning and finalizing their trips.

A reservation tool can help you streamline the booking process—whether you want to stay at small hotels or book a trip at a big hotel chain.

What to look for in hotel reservation software?

Choosing a hotel reservation software is not easy when you have so many options. It takes careful research and a lot of trial runs to finally find a good fit for your needs. 

Here’s a helpful list of considerations when choosing a hotel booking software:

Ease of use

Booking your trips should not feel like rocket science. A hotel booking engine can make your job more convenient and take away the struggle of finding the perfect place to stay. So, choose a user-friendly booking engine with easy navigation, a good amount of filters, and a big inventory. 

Customization options

Every organization that sends employees on business travel creates a compliance policy and budget to keep travel expenditure in check. Your reservation management system should allow you to integrate these policies and help in increasing compliance. Look for customization options in your booking tool when shortlisting. 

Simple integration

One of the key features of every good hotel management system is its ability to integrate into your workflows. See which tool can fit into your existing setup and make your hotel booking process as smooth as possible. 

Customer service

Booking hotels is not simply a case of finding a hotel and reserving a room. It’s equally important to ensure a safe and secure experience for your travelers. Before finalizing your choice, review your booking platform’s customer support capabilities to help you and your employees with any concerns. 

Top 8 hotel reservation software you can consider

Now that you know what to look for in a hotel booking platform, let’s take a look at eight of the best hotel reservation solutions to guide your research and simplify your decision. 

1. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is an all-in-one travel management solution for businesses of all sizes. TravelPerk boasts a massive inventory of hotels to ensure cost-efficient travel that removes the hassle from booking business travel and accommodation. However, it doesn’t stop there, TravelPerk also offers an unchallenged inventory on all things travel: flights, cars, trains, you name it. 

Plus, you have the benefit of paying only when you travel—no fixed fees or subscription costs. 

Main strengths:

• Flexible travel: one of TravelPerk’s strongest features is its FlexiPerk solution—which enables you to book refundable trips. If your plans change, you can cancel your reservations up to 2 hours in advance and get at least 80% of your money back. 
• VAT-recovery solution: TravelPerk makes VAT recovery simpler than ever. You can easily reclaim all your VAT expenses for trips within the EU—enabling you to save up to 20% on your travel expenditure. Unsure of how much you can save? Try the free VAT recovery calculator, and discover how beneficial a VAT-recovery solution can be for your business. 
• Risk management solutions: TravelCare gives you a high degree of protection against any kind of travel risk or uncertainties with real-time updates, easy access to support, and complete visibility about possible disruptions. Safeguard your employees’ wellbeing and get complete visibility on their travels through a single dashboard. 
• Ease of use: TravelPerk is both simple to use, and easy to integrate into your business workflows. It requires no training and can be onboarded to your company workflow the same day. 
• 24/7 customer support: get expert advice to plan the most convenient trips for your team. With TravelPerk’s seasoned support, planning trips is simple and efficient. Plus, TravelPerk experts are with you in 15 seconds or less, making their support services unrivaled in the industry.

TravelPerk is a power-packed tool ideal for booking hotels at budget-friendly rates and planning complete itineraries flawlessly. Plus, you can benefit from a wide variety of other features to further simplify your corporate travel process.

2. Airbnb for Work

As the name suggests, Airbnb for Work is an online reservation engine for business accommodation across the globe. You can find a unique variety of places to stay for your employees—from boutique hotels and serviced apartments to vacation rentals, hostels, motels, and more. 

Airbnb also provides expense reports and duty of care to meet corporate travel needs. 

Main strengths:

• A large inventory: ensure you have ample choice when it comes to stay options.
• Ease of online booking: for extended periods rather than just overnight. 
• Work dashboard: that’s integrated with expense tracker and centralized billing.
• Integrations for risk management: to ensure a safe experience for your traveling employees. 
• Shared payment methods: to ensure employees are never paying out-of-pocket.

Airbnb for Work is a viable hotel reservation solution for businesses of all sizes to take care of all booking needs in one place. If you’d like more from your travel solutions—TravelPerk enables you to reserve Airbnb’s via its concierge service. Get more value from your travel solution by choosing a tool that does it all.

3. Booking.com

Booking.com is one of the leading names in the hotel industry with a dedicated offering for business travel. Its all-in-one tool gives travel agents and managers the convenience of planning trips from start to finish, and its hotel reservation system comes with a massive inventory of 1.2 million properties. 

Main strengths:

• Quicker bookings: 35% faster reservation process compared to legacy booking tools.
• Cost-efficient: comes with no subscription fees or ongoing costs, plus zero booking fees.
• Risk management: strict safety measures followed by all accommodation partners.
• Massive variety: pick a hotel, hostel, BnB, vacation rental or more over a million choices.
• AI personalization: get customized hotel recommendations based on your preferences.

Booking.com boasts of its next-gen technology designed to take all the pains away from managing corporate travel. It’s worth noting TravelPerk aggregates all of Booking.com’s inventory, and so much more, within its in-app search results.

4. Agoda

Agoda is an end-to-end travel management tool equipped with a white-label hotel reservation platform. The brand offers turn-key solutions for travel managers with its collection of 2.5 million properties spread across 200 countries. 

Main strengths:

• Robust API: gives hassle-free access to its inventory and accommodation options.
• Greater flexibility: make reservations for a few hours or daycations using the “day use” feature and save costs.
• Intuitive mobile app: offers the convenience of booking on the go with complete functionality.
• Rewards program: win incentives for your bookings and double down on savings.
• Customer support: available 24/7 in 16 different languages via call, app, and chat.

Agoda is an option for travel managers looking to find unique accommodation rates at reasonable rates and finalize bookings effortlessly. 

5. Kayak

Kayak is a powerful hotel search and reservation engine working with over 2500 travel providers. The site searches through multiple booking platforms to show you the best deals for any property. You have the advantage of making your reservations without any extra expenses on subscriptions or hidden charges. 

Main strengths:

• Map-based search: simplify your search for hotels within budget through a simple map of your destination showing property and price markings.
• Great filters: filter through multiple properties to get the best-in-class rates and locations.
• Policy compliance: all-in-one solution for approval and booking process in line with your corporate travel policy. 
• Accurate reporting: assess your travel spend on accommodation with automatic reports.
• Track prices: keep a tab on the rates for your shortlisted properties before you book to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

Kayak is a search aggregator for hotel reservations—it takes hotel rates from all over the web and puts them in front of you. Its business solution empowers travel managers with greater control to book and manage trips.

6. Hotels.com

Hotels.com is a feature-packed online booking engine offering complete flexibility for hotel reservations. On top of its free cancellation policy, the platform also compiles over 3 million reviews to help you make the best decision for your travelers. Its sleek interface and seamless functionality make it a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. 

Main strengths:

• Rewards program: get 1 night free when you complete 10 nights through Hotels.com.
• Cheaper prices: save up to 50% with the platform’s Secret Prices—additional lower rates offered through the platform.
• Mobile app: manage bookings and access the details even when offline using the Hotels.com mobile app.
• Greater flexibility: find options to book and pay later or cancel and secure a complete refund if your plans change.

Hotels.com comes with a comprehensive search engine to find the best properties along with guest reviews to make your choice. 

7. Expedia 

Expedia is a leading name in the travel and hospitality industry, making big leaps in the corporate travel sector as well. With its unique hotel booking engine equipped with the best-in-class features, Expedia does all the legwork to find you the best hotels for any trips. 

Main strengths:

• Virtual property tours: get a complete 360-degree view and feel of your shortlisted properties before booking.
• Low prices: maximize savings on your bookings and optimize your revenue management with Expedia’s Special Rate hotels.
• Unlock benefits: book more to win rewards, perks, and better rates for your employees.
• Guest reviews: learn more about your chosen properties through 40M+ reviews.
• One-click cancel: cancel a reservation at any point and get a complete refund on most properties. 

Expedia is a well-known player in the hotel and travel management space offering a solution for planning your business itineraries. 

8. Amex Travel

Amex Travel offers scalable and efficient solutions for corporate travel management—one of which is its accommodation booking engine. You can manage everything, from overnight stays to workcations, with greater visibility and good guest experience using Amex Travel’s hotel reservation platform.

Main strengths:

• Personalized solutions: travel consultants design customized itineraries for your needs.
• Virtual card solution: payments made easy for everyone using a single accessible card.
• Guaranteed savings: book rooms at discounted prices for 96% of your reservations.
• Extras™ Hotel Program: get discounts of up to 25% among other loyalty benefits.
• Extensive support: find answers to any questions through well-defined customer support channels.

Amex Travel brings you ample savings and simple adoption with its tailored solutions for your organizational travel needs. 

Wrapping up on the 8 best hotel reservation solutions

Finding the ideal hotel reservation system for your business is no easy feat—there are plenty of options out there for your business.

You ideally want to find a solution that not only helps with hotel booking, but also provides solutions for your corporate travel as whole. Look out for flight booking solutions, as well as car hire, rail travel, and expense management solutions.

If you want a travel solution that facilitates corporate travel from start to finish, try TravelPerk today. Its industry-leading inventory offers you the best rates for your travel, and its 24/7 customer support team works around the clock to ensure your traveling employees are never left in the dark.

Plus, the solution offers flexible booking options, comprehensive expense management capabilities, and carbon offsetting solutions to help you reduce the environmental impact of your corporate travel.

Get in touch today to find out how TravelPerk can simplify your corporate hotel reservations, and much, much more.