Octorate is online hotel management software: channel manager, booking engine, reservation management and payments. For a customer to book directly, they must be able to reach it from the hotel’s website. Here are the ways of connecting Octorate to a website, what this looks like on four live websites and what to decide before you start.
Octorate: what it is
Octorate is an online platform for hotels and vacation rentals: hotels, bed and breakfasts, apartments, campsites, hostels. It brings together in one management space several tools, some of which concern the website and some of which do not. Octorate states that it is part of the Buffetti group, is used in more than 100 countries, processes more than 500,000 bookings a month and connects more than 160 sales channels; these figures are the publisher’s own. Octorate also presents itself as a certified partner of Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and Agoda.
| Module | What it is for | Link with the website |
|---|---|---|
| Booking engine | Receives direct bookings, with up-to-date availability and rates and online payment. | It is the one the website opens: through a widget or a link. |
| Channel manager | Sends rates, availability and restrictions to the booking platforms. | None: it is set up in Octorate. |
| Reservation management (PMS) | Bookings, front desk, housekeeping, invoicing. | None. |
| Website (Website Builder) | Website supplied by Octorate, with a built-in booking engine. | An alternative to a custom website. |
| Metasearch | Displays rates on Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor, Trivago. | Independent of the website, it is set up in Octorate. |
| API | Connects Octorate to external tools. | For a custom booking engine or a link with other software. |
For a hotel website, two modules matter: the booking engine, which the website must make easy to reach, and the channel manager, which keeps availability up to date everywhere. The rest is set up in Octorate’s management space, the extranet, which the hotel signs in to from Octorate’s sign-in page.
Four ways of connecting Octorate to a website
Octorate states that its engine integrates into the website through widgets or dedicated links. In practice, there are four ways of doing it. They can be combined.
- A widget. A date form (arrival, departure, travelers) created in Octorate, whose appearance is adjusted to match the website, then placed in the page. The visitor chooses dates without leaving the website and moves on to the booking engine. Example: Santa Ana Boutique Hotel.
- A button or a direct link. No form: a “Book” button in the header or on the opening photo opens Octorate’s booking page, with the property code. Examples: Le Clos d’Orange, Domaine de Muscapeau, Hostel Toulouse Wilson.
- A custom page on the website’s domain. By default, the visitor lands on a page hosted by Octorate (address book.octorate.com). For the visitor to stay on the hotel’s domain, the widget’s page-opening setting accepts the address of a page of the website, where you place the code supplied by Octorate.
- Octorate’s API. To build an entirely custom booking path or to connect Octorate to another tool. It is a separate development, see below.
The right choice depends on the hotel. A plain button is enough for a small property that wants a lightweight website. A date bar is justified when booking is the main action of the home page. The page on your own domain suits hotels that insist on the address staying theirs from start to finish. In every case, booking must remain reachable in one gesture, including on a phone.
Four websites equipped with Octorate
Here are four live websites that rely on Octorate to receive direct bookings, each with its own way of displaying it. Each card shows the home page of the website as it appears today.
Santa Ana Boutique Hotel
Boutique hotel · Trinidad (Cuba)
On the home page, a date bar (arrival, departure, adults) and a “Recherche” button run along the bottom of the opening photo; a “Réservation” button is also in the header. The visitor then lands on Octorate’s booking page, in the image of the hotel: logo, atmosphere photo, choice of language and currency.
Key takeaways
- Two ways into booking from the home page: the date bar and the header button.
- The website exists in four languages; Octorate’s page has its own language selector.
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Location
- Trinidad (Cuba)
- Booking
- Octorate (date bar and “Réservation” button)
- Languages
- French, Spanish, English, German
Le Clos d’Orange
City-center hotel · Orange (Vaucluse)
The “Réservation” button in the header and a panel at the bottom right of the photo (“Réservez en direct au meilleur tarif sur notre site officiel”, that is, book direct at the best rate on the official website, with a “Réserver” button) lead to Octorate’s booking page, which opens in a new tab. The website stays open behind it: the visitor can go back to it.
Key takeaways
- An argument for direct booking written next to the button.
- The link opens in a new tab: the website page is not lost.
- Type
- City-center hotel
- Location
- Orange (Vaucluse)
- Booking
- Octorate (“Réservation” button and “Réservez en direct” panel)
- Languages
- French
Domaine de Muscapeau
Bed and breakfast · Provence Verte
A large black “Réserver” button takes the top of the menu band, next to the sections of the website. It stays visible wherever you are on the page, and leads to Octorate’s booking page. The website has no date form on the home page: the image of the bed and breakfast keeps all the space.
Key takeaways
- A single, well-contrasted button, in the menu.
- A home page without a form: the photo comes first.
- Type
- Bed and breakfast
- Location
- Provence Verte
- Booking
- Octorate (“Réserver” button in the header)
- Languages
- French, English
Hostel Toulouse Wilson
Youth hostel · Toulouse
The “Réserver” button is in the header, to the right of the logo, and the “Réservation” section appears in the menu. The links to Octorate carry a parameter that indicates where the click comes from, to spot where the booking originates. The website can be read in three languages.
Key takeaways
- The header button and the menu section both lead to Octorate.
- A parameter in the link to spot the origin of the click.
- Type
- Youth hostel
- Location
- Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)
- Booking
- Octorate (“Réserver” button and “Réservation” section)
- Languages
- French, English, Spanish
| Website | Location | Type | Booking | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Ana Boutique Hotel | Trinidad (Cuba) | Boutique hotel | Octorate (date bar and “Réservation” button) | French, Spanish, English, German |
| Le Clos d’Orange | Orange (Vaucluse) | City-center hotel | Octorate (“Réservation” button and “Réservez en direct” panel) | French |
| Domaine de Muscapeau | Provence Verte | Bed and breakfast | Octorate (“Réserver” button in the header) | French, English |
| Hostel Toulouse Wilson | Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) | Youth hostel | Octorate (“Réserver” button and “Réservation” section) | French, English, Spanish |
Installing the Octorate widget, step by step
The procedure comes from Octorate’s official help on creating the booking engine widget (in French); the menu names below are those of this help in French and may vary with the language of the interface.
- Create the widget in Octorate. In “Booking Engine Evo”, “Widgets” section, the “Créer un nouveau widget” button (“Create a new widget”) opens the creation.
- Set its appearance. Octorate offers graphic options so that the widget looks like the website.
- Choose where the widget leads. By default, the visitor lands on Octorate’s booking page. To keep the website’s domain, set “Ouverture de page” (“page opening”) to “page personnalisée” (“custom page”) and enter the address of an existing page of the website, where you paste the second code supplied.
- Copy the code into the page. Octorate asks you to paste the script from the source code into the website. Access to the code of the page is needed: this is the technical part of the integration.
- Adapt it to the website. Style, fonts, colors, position on the page, display on a phone, languages of the website: the widget must blend in without breaking the layout.
- Test. A date search on a computer and on a phone, the passage through to the booking page, the language of each version of the website.
When the hotel prefers a simple button, there is no widget: the button is a link to the booking page, of this form.
<a href="https://book.octorate.com/octobook/site/reservation/index.xhtml?codice=PROPERTY-CODE">Book</a>The property code is specific to each hotel. On some websites, the link carries one more parameter (source=) that indicates where the click comes from.
The Octorate API: what it is for
Octorate publishes an API and its documentation. It is a REST-type programming interface: the calls are predictable addresses, the responses are in JSON, and access goes through OAuth 2.0 authentication. To use it, you need an application identifier (client_id), which you request from Octorate through an access form. Octorate supplies a description of the API for testing tools such as Swagger and Postman.
The publisher presents it as the way of connecting Octorate to external software. It serves two purposes.
- Building a custom booking engine. The documentation describes the path: read availability and prices, create the booking, add a payment if the hotel asks for a deposit, then display the confirmation. Octorate also notifies the website through notifications (“webhooks”) when a booking is created, modified or canceled, or when a payment is added, which avoids having to read the data over and over.
- Connecting Octorate to other software: a hotel management system, an automation, an internal application.
For the vast majority of hotels, the widget or the direct link is enough. The API is justified when the booking path has to go beyond Octorate’s framework or when data has to pass from one software to another without re-entry. It is then a programming project to scope with the hotel.
Online payment and direct bookings
Payment is handled in Octorate, not on the website: it is part of the booking path. According to Octorate’s presentation of the engine, it can be connected to Stripe, PayPal, Nexi, SysPay or a bank transfer when these means are available, and can ask for a deposit or for full payment. Octorate’s payment module mentions the PCI-DSS card security standard, strong authentication (PSD2) and 3D Secure.
Octorate also states that the hotel pays no online booking platform commission on the direct bookings taken with its engine. What the software itself costs is something to discuss with Octorate. On the website side, the work consists in placing the access to booking where the visitor decides: opening photo, rooms page, fixed header. Our article on the booking funnel (in French) details these choices.
Channel manager and overbookings
Octorate’s channel manager manages availability, rates and stay restrictions from a single calendar. A booking received on one platform updates the availability on the other supported channels. Octorate states that this reduces the risk of double booking compared with manual management.
The difference with a simple calendar synchronization (iCal) is that the latter generally transmits only the availability, whereas Octorate also manages rates, restrictions and bookings on the compatible channels. To set the rates sent to the channels, see how to define them in the hotel business (in French); for the other side of distribution, the real cost of Booking and Airbnb commissions (in French).
Octorate: reviews, and what to check before committing
We do not rate software and we do not reuse any rating from a review website: we have no independent source to cite. Here is rather what a hotelier gains by checking before choosing Octorate, or another publisher.
- The modules the hotel needs. Octorate offers many; a hotel that uses only the channel manager and the engine does not have to pay for the rest. Octorate states that its price depends on the number of rooms, units, connected channels and modules chosen.
- The channels actually connected. More than 160 channels is an overall figure: the hotel checks that the ones it already sells on are in the list, and how each one is connected.
- The trial. Octorate announces a free 14-day trial with no credit card. This is the time to test the engine from a phone, with the payment methods wanted.
- The language and the currency of the path. The booking page offers its own language and currency selectors: the hotel checks that they match its clientele.
- The contract and the support. Duration, termination terms, contact in case of an outage: these are points to settle with Octorate.
For user testimonials, it is better to consult several independent sources, and to ask Octorate for hotels comparable to yours that you can question. Competing engines follow the same integration logic: Reservit, D-EDGE, Misterbooking and Eviivo (all in French). Our page on website creation with online booking (in French) shows what a complete booking website looks like.
Octorate or Booky?
If your hotel already uses Octorate, the simplest is to keep it and take care of the integration: you keep your settings, your channel manager and your habits.
The other possible route is the Booky booking engine from Hotel Web Design, designed for small hotels and tourist accommodation. Its management interface is built into the website, and it means 0% commission on bookings taken with Booky. It connects to Google Hotels. We help you choose according to your situation.
For an external engine such as Octorate, the display of rates on Google Hotels goes through Octorate’s Metasearch module, which the hotel sets up with the publisher. For the rates that Google offers next to those of the platforms, see Google Hotels free booking links: Hotel Web Design is listed in the official directory of Google Hotels connectivity partners.
For a hotel that does not have a website yet, the creation of a booking website (in French) includes the integration of the chosen engine; for an existing website, the integration can be done on its own, on simple request. The visibility of the website in search engines is worked on separately: see our page on organic search for a hotel (in French).
Frequently asked questions about Octorate
What is Octorate?
Octorate is online software for hotels and vacation rentals. It brings together a channel manager, a booking engine, reservation management, payments, a website generator, the distribution of rates on comparison sites and an API. Hotel Web Design has no commercial link with Octorate: we integrate its engine into the hotel’s website.
How do you integrate the Octorate booking engine into a website?
You create a widget in the Octorate space (Booking Engine Evo, Widgets section), set its appearance, then paste its code into the website page. Another route: a simple button that links to Octorate’s booking page. See the detailed steps.
Can Octorate be integrated into any website?
Octorate states that its engine integrates into the website through widgets or dedicated links. The widget is a script to paste into the page and the button is a simple link: neither requires a particular system on the website side. The integration requires access to the code of the page, to place the widget and to match it to the style of the website.
Can you keep your domain name during booking?
Yes. By default, the visitor lands on a page hosted by Octorate. By setting the widget’s “Ouverture de page” (“page opening”) to a custom page, the visitor stays on a page of the hotel’s website, where the code supplied by Octorate is placed.
Does Octorate offer an API?
Yes. Octorate publishes a REST-type API, with OAuth 2.0 authentication and notifications (webhooks) on bookings. Access requires an application identifier, which you obtain by asking Octorate. For most hotels, the widget is enough; the API serves custom booking paths and links with other software.
How do you sign in to the Octorate extranet?
Sign-in is done from Octorate’s sign-in page, with the hotel’s credentials. We do not have access to your space: for a forgotten password or a contract setting, you need to contact Octorate.
Is Octorate free?
Octorate announces a free 14-day trial with no credit card. After that, it works by monthly subscription, whose amount depends on the number of rooms, units, connected channels and modules chosen. The terms are discussed with Octorate.
