A Hotel Life Presents: Selfbook

By Haley Crawford and Tansy Kaschak on 01.06.22

We all know how much the world has been turned upside down: There isn’t an aspect of life that hasn’t been transformed over the past 18 months and counting. For travel and hotels it’s been a wild roller coaster which demands that the industry, somehow, reinvent itself. As countries reopen and travel restrictions appear on the daily news, both hitting the road and welcoming guests now require a new arsenal of tools. 

While we’re all itching to revenge-travel, the reality is that hotels are now slicing a smaller travel business pie. There are fewer people in transit than there were in pre-pandemic times and travelers are extra cautious about their resources. When it comes to hotel bookings, if properties have to share a good chunk of their revenue with major booking engines, the road to recovery becomes longer and longer. Encouraging guests to book directly on their website would be a hotel’s best bet as it helps their bottom line and fosters an immediate relationship with guests.

Selfbook, a comprehensive transaction engine that hotels can integrate directly into their own reservation platforms, was born in 2021 as a way to support the industry we love. This future forward technology enables hotels — especially independent ones with fewer resources to develop top-notch online experiences — to provide their guests with the most convenient payments on the market and an ultra-intuitive booking interface. It is also the first booking platform to allow guests to pay for their rooms using digital wallets such as Apple Pay.

It has already proven its worth as hotels’ answer to connecting with mobile-savvy millennial and Gen Z travelers: A staggering 65% of guests use digital wallets to make Selfbook-powered mobile bookings. With a third of all reservations being made on mobile, the trend towards digital wallet and mobile support is robust.

As Selfbook remodels hotel bookings, A Hotel Life’s favorite hotels are taking note. Fabrice Moizan, the General Manager of the fabled Eden Rock – St Barths, is an early adopter of the technology, saying, “Selfbook created a new experience which will become, without a doubt, part of everybody’s life. This is the reason why we chose the world’s fastest booking experience for hotels and the only platform to accept modern digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. This will make our hotel bookings more convenient than ever and get our guest friends to the Caribbean sooner!”

Xavier Hue, the General Manager of Le Pigalle in Paris, says, “We’ve chosen to collaborate with Selfbook as we share the same vision of the hospitality industry, experience and simplicity. With just one click, a guest’s booking is confirmed and paid by Apple Pay, Google Pay or any credit card.”

Selfbook reservations are simple, secure, convenient and also make trips highly customizable as users can tweak their booking to their heart’s desire. Guests can add spa and restaurant bookings with a simple click, or select add-ons such as in-room massage or a bottle of champagne (or green juice — you know who you are). We cannot wait to try it.

Learn more about Selfbook by reading founder Khalid Meniri’s Insider Interview, here.