"It's either ebusiness or no business for the Hotel trade," says Rob Jones of e21Software, developer of accommres.

The trend for travellers to become more independent and willing to book their own travel and hotel accommodation online looks set to grow. This means online reservation systems will become an increasingly important sales tool for any hotel looking to increase its bookings.

Large hotel chains have been using the benefits of online reservation systems for many years, however, most small and medium sized hotels have so far found them cost prohibitive which has made it difficult to take this new technology on-board. In addition, the market leading online travel websites work on a commission-based model which eats away at the profit of the small hotelier to the point where it's no longer economically viable to remain on the sites.

Online reservations - without paying commission

This is all set to change with the introduction of a new online reservation system called accommres due to be launched at the end of October. accommres, developed by e21Software, is an online reservation system that works on a flat fee and ongoing subscription basis. Unlike other systems, it's multi-lingual, supporting up to 15 languages, and multi-currency.

"Providing your hotel or guest house has a basic website, accommres can work for you. You don't need any special IT skills, you just install the software and accommres does the rest. With our system a small family hotel in say, Cornwall can take online bookings from people in Japan or anywhere in the world without the worry of language or currency issues," said Jones.

"You don't have to rely on the big market-leading travel websites to get you international bookings. Our system lets you do it yourself and you don't have to pay anyone commission," he added.

A free trial of accommres is available from www.e21software.com