Booking engine

A booking engine is the part of your own website that takes a reservation and a payment directly, without an OTA.

Why it matters

It is how a direct enquiry becomes a direct booking at two in the morning, when nobody is watching Messenger.

Whether it is worth having depends on your traffic. A property whose enquiries all arrive by chat gains less from one than a property with a site people already find.

For most properties in this market the honest sequence is: get the operations into one system first, get your direct enquiries answered fast, and add an engine when your own traffic justifies one. A booking engine on a site nobody visits converts nothing.

In MangoHost

MangoHost is not a website builder and does not host a booking engine on your domain. What it does have is a public API that accepts inbound booking requests, and a marketplace listing in development.

Related terms

Direct bookingA direct booking comes to you without an intermediary — your own site, a phone call, Messenger, or a returning guest.
OTA (online travel agency)An OTA is a third-party site that sells your rooms for a commission — Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb, Expedia.
Channel managerA channel manager keeps your availability and rates in sync, two ways, between your own system and the OTAs.

MangoHost gives Philippine properties these numbers without a month-end spreadsheet. Book a 30-minute walkthrough and see them on your own rooms.