07 Aug 2019

Holiday website makes large group bookings hassle free

A new group bookings feature launched by Bedful, an online booking and management system for holiday businesses, earlier this year has proved popular with rural businesses that offer accommodation for large groups, events and weddings.

The new function, added this May, allows glamping businesses to provisionally reserve multiple units or an entire site for a group – and then allow the members of that group to choose, reserve and pay for their own accommodation individually.

Group members are sent a ‘secret link’ from which to select their pre-reserved accommodation, with the page personalised with the event name.

“We were thrilled to be able to work closely with glamping businesses to develop a group bookings function that really works for them,” Bedful product manager, David Jones commented.

“Most group bookings are organised by a single individual but, more often than not, that individual wants to share the cost with the entire glamping party. As a customer, it can cost many thousands of pounds to reserve a large group booking. But now the lead customer doesn’t have to pay on behalf of everyone else, and even better, there’s no need to chase friends for payment as individuals simply select and pay for what they want.”

In addition, there is considerably less admin for glamping hosts, as the individuals select, book and pay for their accommodation online, while the hosts can easily track progress of units reserved within a ‘parent’ group booking.

The feature was unveiled with a host of other new tools, added to the Bedful booking system this spring, in time for the peak summer season and has already been making a difference to camping and glamping sites popular with event and wedding parties.

“We’ve had a great reaction to the new group function”, Bedful CEO Jonathan Knight said. “We hope that rural accommodation businesses find it another useful tool in their armoury, helping capture more bookings and more easily open up alternative off-peak opportunities.”

Bedful is currently offering month-long free trials of their market-leading booking system. Visit bedful.com for more information.

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