A Faster Platform, a Rebuilt Booking Engine, and More Ways to Grow Revenue

This summer, OpenHotel is preparing one of its most significant platform updates to date.

The OpenHotel Summer 2026 Release brings together dozens of enhancements designed to improve the guest booking journey, expand revenue opportunities, accelerate rate and inventory searches, and make daily hotel operations easier to manage.

The release includes:

• A significantly updated rate core
• A completely rebuilt Booking Engine
• Multi-room reservations
• A new full-height shopping cart
• Expanded Options, Extras, discounts, and packages
• Improved Google Hotel free-listing connectivity
• Updated PMS booking and modification workflows
• New guest-search tools
• More flexible workstations
• Tag-based yield controls

The new version is currently in its second beta phase, with a global transition planned for the first week of August 2026.

No technical action is required from OpenHotel clients today.

The Release at a Glance

1. Rate and inventory searches up to four times faster

A major update to the OpenHotel rate core improves the speed of pricing and availability searches throughout the platform.

Rate and inventory searches can now complete up to four times faster, creating a better experience for both guests and hotel employees.

Properties can expect:

• Faster Booking Engine searches
• Faster PMS availability results
• Quicker access to available rooms and rates
• A stronger technical foundation for advanced offers and pricing tools

This improvement works behind the scenes, but its impact should be visible throughout the booking and reservation process.

2. A completely rebuilt direct-booking journey

The new Booking Engine has been redesigned from search through checkout.

Guests will immediately notice a cleaner, more modern, and easier-to-use experience. The updated journey is designed to help travelers understand their options, compare available rooms, build their stay, and complete their reservation with greater confidence.

The new booking flow includes four main stages:

1. Search and results
2. Full-height shopping cart
3. Optional upsell experience
4. Streamlined checkout

Together, these changes create a more flexible guest journey while giving properties more opportunities to present relevant offers.

A More Modern Search and Results Experience

The Booking Engine results page now provides a clearer way to review rooms, occupancy limits, descriptions, images, rates, and offers.

Guests can more easily:

• Select stay dates and occupancy
• Compare room types
• Review room photographs
• Understand available rates
• Explore packages and promotions
• Add rooms to their reservation
• Move between search results and their shopping cart

Search-bar and results colors remain customizable, allowing properties to maintain a booking experience that fits their branding.

A Full-Height Cart That Keeps the Stay in View

The new cart is more than a reservation summary.

Guests can build and manage a more complete stay without losing sight of the available room results behind the cart.

The full-height shopping cart allows travelers to:

• Add multiple rooms
• Select different room types
• Assign different occupancy needs
• Review all selected rooms together
• Add applicable Options and Extras
• See taxes, fees, and estimated totals
• Remove or modify selections before checkout

This makes the booking process especially useful for families, small groups, event guests, and travelers who need more than one room.

Multi-Room Reservations With Different Room Types

Guests can now reserve multiple rooms within the same booking journey—even when they need different room types or occupancy arrangements.

For example, a family could reserve:

• One larger room for two adults and two children
• One separate room for another adult
• Different Options or Extras for each room

Rather than completing multiple independent reservations, the guest can review and manage the entire stay from one cart.

More Relevant Upselling Before Checkout

The Summer 2026 Release gives properties more opportunities to improve the guest’s stay while generating additional revenue.

Options and Extras can be displayed directly in the shopping cart when they are relevant to the selected room.

Examples may include:

• Breakfast
• Early arrival
• Late checkout
• Parking
• Pet fees
• Room upgrades
• Welcome amenities
• Resort activities
• Transportation
• Special experiences

Properties may also choose to use an optional dedicated upsell page after the guest selects Book.

This optional step can highlight one more relevant offer before checkout without preventing the guest from continuing directly to reservation completion.

A More Streamlined Checkout

The final booking step has also been redesigned.

Guests can review their rooms, Options, Extras, taxes, fees, and total reservation details in one organized summary before confirming.

The checkout experience focuses on:

• Essential guest information
• Clear reservation details
• Organized pricing
• Fewer distractions
• Greater booking confidence

The goal is to reduce friction between the guest’s decision and the final reservation.

Improved Date and Occupancy Selection

The updated search experience introduces:

• One calendar for selecting check-in and check-out dates
• A new occupancy selector
• Clearer adult and child selection
• Easier visibility into the chosen stay dates
• More intuitive search updates

These improvements also appear within updated PMS reservation workflows, helping hotel staff search rooms and rates more efficiently.

A Dedicated Packages Experience

The rebuilt Booking Engine includes a dedicated Packages page.

This gives guests who are specifically looking for a complete stay a more focused way to discover and compare available offers.

Packages may combine elements such as:

• Accommodations
• Meals
• Activities
• Amenities
• Experiences
• Length-of-stay incentives
• Occupancy-based inclusions

Properties can also use expanded controls to determine when and for whom packages are available.

Built for Search Engines and AI Discovery

The new Booking Engine has been recoded with an updated content and technical structure.

This is designed to help search engines and emerging AI-powered travel tools better understand property information, including:

• Rooms
• Rates
• Packages
• Offers
• Property content
• Booking availability

As travelers increasingly use conversational and AI-powered tools to research hotels, clear and structured property content will become even more important.

The updated foundation helps OpenHotel properties prepare for that changing discovery environment.

Enhanced Google Hotel Free-Listing Connectivity

The Summer 2026 Release also strengthens connectivity with Google Hotel free listings.

For eligible properties, this can help connect hotel discovery on Google with a direct booking opportunity.

Participation and visibility remain subject to:

• Property eligibility
• Google account status
• Property matching
• Rate and availability accuracy
• Landing-page requirements
• Google’s technical and content standards

OpenHotel will continue to guide Google-related availability and activation processes.

Smarter Ways to Sell

The release introduces a more flexible merchandising toolkit across:

• Options
• Extras
• Discounts
• Promotions
• Packages
• All-Inclusive offers

These tools share expanded controls for timing, targeting, pricing, and presentation.

The goal is to help properties put the most relevant offer in front of the right guest.

Options and Extras

Options and Extras can now support more detailed presentation and targeting.

Properties can:

• Add images
• Write clearer descriptions
• Control display priority
• Target based on adult or child occupancy
• Create mobile-only offers
• Create geographically targeted offers
• Present relevant items inside the shopping cart
• Apply eligible All-Inclusive Options automatically

These improvements give properties more control over what guests see and the order in which offers appear.

Discounts and Promotions

Discount tools now include additional controls for presenting and applying offers.

Properties can:

• Prioritize discounts
• Prioritize promotions
• Hide the rack rate when an applicable discount is available
• Use mobile targeting
• Use geographic targeting
• Apply discounts to eligible All-Inclusive offers

Packages

Packages now support more flexible rules and pricing scenarios.

Properties can configure:

• Minimum-stay restrictions
• Maximum-stay restrictions
• Occupancy-based pricing
• Adult and child guest mixes
• Mobile-only availability
• Geographic targeting
• All-Inclusive configurations

These settings help properties create complete offers that better reflect how they operate and how their guests shop.

At-a-Glance Merchandising Capabilities

More Control for All-Inclusive Properties

The Summer 2026 Release expands the tools available to properties selling All-Inclusive accommodations and offers.

Properties can define eligibility using:

• Adults
• Children
• Minimum occupancy
• Maximum occupancy
• Guest mix
• Qualifying room options
• Applicable discounts

Eligible All-Inclusive Options can be applied based on occupancy rules, while discounts can apply to qualifying offers along with the room rate.

This gives All-Inclusive properties more control over how complete stays are priced, presented, and sold.

What OpenHotel Clients Need to Know

The new version is currently in its second beta phase.

A global transition is planned for Monday, August 3rd, 9:30 AM PT | 11:30 AM CT | 12:30 PM ET, with all OpenHotel properties scheduled to move to the updated experience.

No technical action is required today.

OpenHotel is preparing the transition and will continue sharing guidance as rollout approaches.

Prepare Your Property Content

Although no technical action is required, this is a good time to review the information guests will see within the new Booking Engine.

Properties should review:

• Room names
• Room descriptions
• Room photographs
• Occupancy limits
• Rate descriptions
• Package inclusions
• Options and Extras
• Promotion terms
• Deposit requirements
• Cancellation policies
• Taxes and fees
• Property contact information

Clear, accurate content will help properties take full advantage of the modernized presentation and new merchandising tools.

Modern Technology, Backed by Real Support

The OpenHotel Summer 2026 Release represents a significant step forward for the platform.

It brings together:

• Faster performance
• A modern direct-booking experience
• More revenue opportunities
• Better merchandising controls
• Improved PMS workflows
• Stronger preparation for future hotel discovery

And it does so while maintaining the responsive, knowledgeable support OpenHotel clients already know.

Questions about the Summer 2026 Release?

Contact OpenHotel Support by phone and select option 1, or email help@openhotel.com.