Payment handling on booking site?

[nicksource]

Hello,

 

I am looking for a script that handles booking deposits and handling fees, such as booking.com, where when you make a reservation at a hotel it takes a deposit (that I would assume the hotel would take instantly) and the site takes a booking fee / commision.

 

Obivously the less money that is handled which is not mine, the better. To reduce responsibility.

 

I'm developing a website with a similar concept to booking.com (but rather than hotels, it's a different service but the website concept is the same) and would like to know more on what the best way to handle bookings and handling payments would be?

 

Thanks in advance,

Nick.

[requinix]

(obligatory disclaimer about getting business/legal/finance advice on the internet)

 

To lower transaction fees, often these kinds of things are done in bulk. Meaning when you take money from the user, you don't immediately transfer it to the (let's just say) hotel. Instead you keep records and then periodically, like monthly, settle accounts.

Bookings likely require use of some sort of API so that you can find out about available rooms and provide reservations.

[nicksource]

I mean that's great but you are handling a lot of money that isn't yours, in terms of doing this differently, do you have any suggestions?

 

I was thinking of just taking a booking fee and deposit. We keep the booking fee and the deposit is released to the company when the service has been used? But then it's still just kind of a ball ache managing the money.

[requinix]

That's why you don't do it by yourself but hire people who know how to do this kind of stuff. I'd be surprised if you can find somebody online, just some random person you find online, who actually knows what's going on with the systems and isn't subject to an NDA.

 

Another approach is not doing the booking yourself but using a third-party system, like Expedia. You're much more likely to get something working that way than by actually negotiating with hotels yourself. Going that route makes things a lot easier, and as long as you obey whatever restrictions and terms of service come with the system you could do whatever you wanted.

[wingchunnt]

See if stripe.com integrates with php. They allow users of other programming communities to make unique payment systems. You may need to reach out to their staff