Services · Software

Tourism software, from property management systems to custom builds

We choose, connect and, where needed, build the software that runs a tourism business. We don’t resell a single platform, and the combination is decided case by case, around the processes you already have.

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How to choose the software that ends up in your business

People looking for tourism software rarely start with the software. They start with a specific problem. Someone retyping the same guest details into three programs that never talk to each other. A subscription that has renewed for years to cover a module nobody ever switched on. That is where our work starts, not with a vendor catalogue, because the software gets chosen once we understand how the business runs, not before.

The choice looks different when the person advising you has no platform of their own to sell. The questions to ask before anyone signs are always the same, namely who answers in August and how fast, what a change to the configuration costs, how you get your data out the day you switch provider. If the answer to that last one is vague, the problem has only been postponed.

The second decision is between an off-the-shelf product and a bespoke build, and budget is not what settles it. For processes that look alike from one business to the next, a ready-made product costs less and goes live sooner. When the process weighing on you most is one nobody sells, it gets built, and that work is described on our custom software page. The answer is often a mix of an off-the-shelf product and one piece built to order.

From here the paths split. If you run a hotel, the subject is the management system and getting the internal systems to talk to each other. That is the hotel software page. If the problem is selling online, be it rooms, experiences, packages or spots on a beach, that is the booking software page. If you run apartments, a B&B or holiday homes, the priorities change again and you will find them further down. We have been building software for tourism since 1998, and five of the products are our own, with us as the client, so when we recommend a platform we also know what it costs to keep one running for years.

Apartments, B&Bs and holiday homes ask different things of the software

Running short-term rentals is not running a small hotel. The unit you sell is the whole place, with a cleaning fee, a deposit, an occupancy limit and a minimum stay, all of them shifting from season to season, and there is rarely a front desk waiting for the guest who turns up at midnight. That changes what you need to ask of the software.

One calendar, genuinely connected

The question is not how many portals you connect, it is how they are wired, either through a direct connection or through an iCal calendar. iCal refreshes at intervals, and that delay is the typical reason the same date ends up sold twice.

Guest registration, statistics and tourist tax

The system can produce police guest registration, regional statistical reporting, municipal tourist tax and the identification code for each unit from bookings already on file, instead of making you retype it on several public portals. Coverage varies from region to region, so check yours before you sign.

Arrivals and changeovers without being there

Arrival instructions that send themselves, access codes or smart locks, a cleaning list that rewrites itself as soon as a departure moves. This is the part that decides whether you can run six units across three villages, or whether every check-in costs you a drive.

More units, more addresses, more owners

A single screen with arrivals, departures and vacant units, even when the properties sit in different towns. If you manage on behalf of owners you need a separate statement for each, and it is the feature most often missing.

Use decides between a native app and a web app, not technology

We build iOS and Android apps for hotels, restaurants, events and destinations, from the prototype to the store release, and when a web app is the better route we say so at the start. The store accounts stay in your name. The choice rests on how the app will be used, not on the technology.

Aspect	Native app (iOS and Android)	Web app opened from a link or QR code
How people reach it	Downloaded from the stores, it stays as an icon on the phone.	Opened from a link or a QR code, with no download and no account, and it works on desktop too.
When it pays off	When use is repeated, such as regulars, waiting and housekeeping staff, or a local community.	When use is one-off, such as a guest during the stay, a visitor at an event, or a customer sitting at the table.
Phone features	Push notifications, camera, GPS, wallet and offline use.	Notifications and location are there, but with more limits, especially on iOS.
Updates	They go through Apple and Google review, and users have to update to see them.	Live the same day, and everyone is always on the latest version.
Cost and upkeep	Two codebases or a shared framework, developer accounts to keep up, and work to redo as iOS and Android change.	A single codebase, a first version online in less time, and updates handled like a website’s.

What we do

We start from the process, not the catalogue

First we look at how the work actually gets done, meaning who touches the calendar, where the hours disappear, what happens when someone is off in peak season. Vendors come later.

No lock-in to a single vendor

We have no platform of our own to push. We compare what the market offers, negotiate the terms ourselves and, if what you already use holds up, we say so instead of selling you a switch.

Off-the-shelf product or bespoke build

For common processes an off-the-shelf product is the better buy. When the part that eats your time is not sold anywhere, we build it. Working out which side you are on is half the job.

One person to call when something breaks

Real failures almost always sit between systems rather than inside any one program. In August you have one person to call, not three support desks.

1998

the year we started

70+

projects delivered

products of our own

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Frequently asked questions

Not one product but several categories, namely the software that runs the business from the inside, the software that sells online, and the software covering processes no off-the-shelf product accounts for. Working out which category your problem sits in is what stops you buying the wrong tool.

Because a vendor sells you its own product and answers for that alone, while the problem is almost never inside a single piece of software. It shows up where two programs have to exchange data, and neither support desk takes responsibility for that. Then there is the part a salesperson will never tell you, namely which features of their platform stay awkward to use day after day, and which ones you will never switch on.

Count how many of the things you do every week an off-the-shelf product already covers. If it covers nearly all of them, the job is choosing it and setting it up properly, because building from scratch would cost more for the same result. If what stays outside is the process that sets you apart, the reason customers come to you at all, no amount of customisation gets it back.

The spend always splits in two. One part goes to the software vendor as a subscription charged per room, per unit, per booking or as a share of revenue. The other is the one-off work of selecting, configuring, connecting the systems, and training. Any figure quoted before the analysis is made up.

Quite a lot. You sell the whole place rather than a room, and your paperwork depends on the municipality each property sits in. Systems designed for hotels cover this badly, and the limits surface during the first full season.

In most cases no, and we say so before we start. If people are only going to use it once, a web app opened from a link does the same job without asking for a download. A native app earns its place when someone opens it dozens of times, or when you genuinely need push notifications, wallet passes and offline use.

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+39 0744 431492 info@greenconsulting.it