How to build a multi-vendor hotel booking platform

A multi-vendor hotel booking platform is one website where guests search, compare and book several properties, each managed by its own team or owner. Think of a hotel group with properties in different towns, a tourist office promoting its region, or an agency building a small Booking.com for one destination. This guide covers what such a platform needs, the business models that work, and how to set one up.

What a multi-vendor hotel booking platform needs

Listing several hotels on one site isn't enough. A real multi-vendor platform gives each property its own space while guests see one marketplace.

• Owners who only see their own properties. Each owner manages their rooms, rates and bookings, and nobody else's.
• Settings per property. Rates, stay rules, taxes, cancellation terms and confirmation mode differ from one hotel to the next.
• Payments to the right account. When a guest books a hotel, the money should reach that hotel, not a shared account you then have to pay out.
• One search for guests. Search by destination and dates, compare properties in a list or on a map, and book several rooms in one go.
• Reviews per property. Verified guest reviews, answered by the property that hosted the stay.

Three ways to run it

A hotel group

All the properties are yours. The platform gives each hotel its own page, rates and team access, under one brand and one search. Payments can go to one account or to one account per hotel.

A destination portal

A tourist office, a local association or a travel agency lists independent properties in its area. Owners apply through the website, you approve them, and each one manages their own listing. Guests find and book stays across the region in one place.

A paid platform for owners

You charge property owners to be listed or to use the platform. Two things to plan from day one. First, the licence: on CodeCanyon, when people pay to use the site itself, you need an Extended licence rather than a Regular one. Second, how you collect your fee: with separate payment accounts per property, guests pay each property directly; unless your platform splits payments (Panda Multi Resorts doesn't), invoice owners separately for your subscription or commission.

Setting it up with Panda Multi Resorts

Panda Multi Resorts is our PHP booking platform for several properties, website included. Here is the usual order of work:

1. Install it on standard hosting. PHP 8.2 to 8.5 and MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.3 or later: upload the files, create a database and let the installation wizard do the rest.
2. Create your destinations. Group properties by town, island or region, so guests can search where they want to go.
3. Add the properties. Photos, rooms with their numbers and occupancy, facilities, terms and taxes for each one.
4. Give owners their access. Create owner accounts, or let owners apply through the website. Each owner only sees the properties they manage.
5. Connect the payments. On a multi-vendor site, give each property its own Stripe and PayPal accounts, so every booking is paid to the right hotel.
6. Set rates and sync calendars. Each property gets a rate calendar, rate plans and deposits, and each room can sync with Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo through iCal.
7. Open for international guests. Translate the site into as many languages as you need, and show prices in the visitor's currency for reference.

The live demo runs several fictional hotels, and its admin panel is open (username admin, password admin123): try a search and a booking before you decide.

What it costs

Panda Multi Resorts costs $79 once on CodeCanyon with a Regular licence, or $399 with an Extended licence for a platform people pay to use. Updates are free, and six months of support are included. You also need hosting, and a payment account per property if owners are paid directly.

Already running Pandao CMS?

If your website runs Pandao CMS 8.2 or later, Multi Resorts Add-on adds the same booking engine to it for $39, without reinstalling anything. Booking features appear for visitors only when you publish your first property.