Member Avatar for vesto

I'm a travel agent running my business in an On-premise booking engine model with a basic website. I would like to upgrade my booking engine to a saas model. Give me a suggestion?

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Marion_1 commented: Before upgrading your booking engine to a SaaS, you need to understand why you want to upgrade it. There are many ready-made solutions on the market t +0

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For — migrating from on‑prem to a SaaS booking engine is best treated as a small project, not a single switch. @jwtenting’s WHY / WHAT / WHO checklist is exactly right; below is a focused, practical integration plan that turns those questions into concrete steps and catches the usual pitfalls.

Common integration patterns (pick one based on control, time, and dev resources):

  • Embedded widget (JS): fastest, keeps users on your site, limited customization.
  • Iframe / hosted widget: simple but can hurt SEO and mobile UX.
  • API / server‑to‑server (headless): maximum control, best for custom flows and white‑labeling, needs development.
  • Full redirect to provider’s bookings: least work, best if branding isn’t critical.

Migration checklist and priorities:

  1. Decide pattern, then map data fields (clients, reservations, rates). Keep a field‑mapping spreadsheet and sample exports.
  2. Stand up a staging integration; run live test bookings in parallel for 2–4 weeks.
  3. Use webhooks or polling for real‑time sync; verify signatures and retry logic.
  4. Confirm payment flow and PCI scope (provider vs. you), TLS, CORS, and CSP.
  5. Preserve SEO: keep canonical URLs, 301 old booking links if you change paths.
  6. Plan rollback and a monitoring window (metrics, error logs, user session dropoff).

Quick troubleshooting tips:

  • If bookings disappear: check webhook retries and idempotency keys.
  • If sessions break between site and booking widget: verify cookie domains and SameSite settings.
  • If payments fail intermittently: check time skew for signed requests and gateway credentials.

Operational / contractual items to demand from any SaaS vendor: clear API docs, sandbox access, SLA/Uptime, data export policy (CSV/JSON), backup cadence, and an exit/data‑portability clause. Test everything on staging, then cut DNS/traffic during a low‑volume window with a rollback ready.

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

Since no one answered I wonder if you meant you wanted to change to some cloud based system.

Member Avatar for jwenting

first question to be answered is WHY you want to do the investment.
second question is WHAT type of solution would be appropriate for your business.
third question becomes WHO you're going to contract to implement the solution (or provide it if you're going with an off the shelf solution).

A SAAS provider will generally have people who specialise in doing just what you're trying to achieve, and will be happy to quote you a price for doing the work for you (or at least assisting you in it if you have your own developers on staff).
I used to work for several (in different industries) in the past and that was a pretty big part of my work.

Data conversions, implementing communications protocols with other systems, customising user interfaces with customers' colours, logos, and fonts, things like that are all things a SAAS provider can help you with if they know what they're doing.

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