Free hotel software & courses during COVID-19

Last updated: 12 March 2021

To help you hit the ground running after the crisis, we’ve put together a list of free resources for hoteliers.

It includes everything from free hotel technology trials and zero-cost basic plans, to career-advancing courses, ebooks and video trainings and brilliant ways to keep your spirits up in these trying times. Use this downtime to upskill, and emerge from the crisis ready to take on the recovery phase.

Let’s get started!

You may have been putting off researching and testing new hotel software during normal operations. After all, it can be quite time-consuming and expensive. But during this COVID-19 crisis, many hospitality technology providers are offering advantageous no-risk deals on their services and platforms.

We encourage you to take these companies up on their offer. This could be your chance to discover new tools that will help you reduce cost, drive revenue and improve guest satisfaction when travel picks up again.

1. Oaky

What is it?
At Oaky, we offer an award-winning upselling platform which allows hotels to boost the guest experience and ancillary services through targeted, customised pre-arrival upselling. By sending targeted, customised emails to guests pre-arrival, Oaky allows hotels to increase the average spend and create a unique stay experience.

What are they offering?
Oaky stays free until we at least double your monthly subscription fee in upsell revenue. Get started quickly with the simple self-serve onboarding tool now!

2. SiteMinder

What is it?
SiteMinder’s platform offers hotels a cutting-edge channel manager, a powerful online booking engine, business insights and hotel website design solutions. With this full suite of tools, they help hotels make the most of today’s dynamic online markets and boost revenue by increasing direct bookings.

What are they offering?

Get 50% off your first 6 months - that’s like getting 3 months free! Sign up for a 12-month subscription by 31 March and enjoy half the year at half the price.

To access this offer, please click here!

For information about how to navigate these challenging times, visit their COVID-19 toolkit.

3. HiJiffy

What is it?
HiJiffy Chatbot is able to centralise all your communication from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and OTAs, helping you dealing with COVID-19 questions and more than 120 topics, improving your efficiency, increasing your guest satisfaction and direct bookings. With HiJiffy, hotels can ensure that they will have instant replies 24/7 digital with the new paradigm of COVID-19.

What are they offering?
No-strings-attached free 14-day trial. Reach out to the team by booking a demo here

4. STAAH

What is it?
STAAH provides a suite of technology solutions for hospitality distribution, direct bookings and digital marketing services. This includes a channel manager, a booking engine, a CRM, a gift voucher engine and a simple-to-use website builder. Their goal is to help hotels drive direct bookings and maximise revenue.

What are they offering?

Free use of the InstantSite website builder + 3 months of free hosting when you sign up for STAAH’s Instant Channel Manager before April 30, 2021

To get access to the offer, schedule your free demo now.

5. HDB Solutions

What is it?

HDB Solutions is the first enhanced Contact Center solution that combine Chat and Call with commercial technologies to assist reluctant travelers and generate direct bookings for hotels. Available 24 hours a day in multi languages HBD is present on 3 continents and works with more than 900 brands.

What are they offering?

HBD runs a special offer to use the Get Lost Cart solution for free for two months.

Fill the form in the link above to get the free solution set up on your website.

6. Hotelchamp

What is it?
Hotelchamp is a digital insight and conversion platform which offers smart technology solutions for hotel marketing and revenue management teams. With the help of its data and actionable insights, hotels can boost direct bookings and online revenue.

What are they offering?
90 days of free access to Hotelchamp’s demand tracker

Sign up via the link above and use the demand tracker to better understand your market and how it’s developing in these unpredictable times.

7. Bookboost

What is it?
Bookboost provides a direct messaging solution that helps hotels connect with website visitors via live chat, while they are browsing. On top of this, Bookboost integrates with the most popular messaging apps, so hotels and guests can easily stay in touch before, during and after the stay.

What are they offering?

Free use of the Unified Inbox guest messaging platform free of charge for the first 30 days - sign up here to secure this deal.

8. Quicktext

What is it?

Quicktext provides an AI-powered chatbot which communicates with guests while they are browsing your website, staying at your hotel and after they have checked out. You can use it to generate more direct bookings, ensure guests have everything they need during their stay and ask for feedback after they check-out.

What are they offering?
A permanently available freemium version of Quicktext is available for all Oaky customers. This offer includes a basic chatbot which can respond to 20 topics. It is meant to help hoteliers capture as many leads as possible on their websites and give basic information. The bot can handle FAQs to reduce the number of time-consuming low value calls and emails and free up the operational team for other tasks.

Contact your customer success rep at Oaky now, and we’ll enable the connection for your account.

9. Experience Hotel – CRM

What is it?
Experience Hotel is a customer relations management system that allows you to manage your online reputation and stay in touch with guests by sending customized email campaigns.

What are they offering?
Send up to three custom email campaigns to all customers for free in the next three months

When you sign up for this deal, you get full use of Hotel Experience. This lets you create perfectly customized email campaigns so you can stay connected with your target market.

10. ChartOk

What is it?
ChartOk took what used to be known as the intranet and made it more user-friendly and efficient. This tool allows you to create a digital workplace where you can bring together and track all staff interactions to make operations more efficient. Now, no tasks will fall through the cracks anymore!

What are they offering?
Free use of the ChartOk Hotel Operations Software for a free trial month

Reach out to them now, to get a free demo and claim the offer.

11. Asksuite

What is it?

Asksuite focuses on generating more direct hotel reservations through instant guest communication via website chat and chatbots. The platform also centralizes the management of all hotel service channels. It was named best chat & AI chatbot platform for hotels at this year’s Hotel Tech Awards.

To support hotels during COVID-19, Asksuite has added an exclusive feature to address the most common questions guests ask these days.

What are they offering?
Free use of their software for two months

Get in touch to discover more.

12. Hotel Benchmarking

What is it?
Hotel Benchmark is a growing community of over 500 hotels in more than 50 countries. Their reporting helps hoteliers to benchmark their websites and digital marketing against the industry and competitors by comparing bookings, visitors, revenue and more.

What are they offering?
A free monthly benchmark report in return for sharing your anonymised data with their community. Hoteliers can also track wider industry performance using our COVID-19 dashboard.

Signup for your free report here.

13. Pace Revenue

What is it?
Pace is a revenue optimisation solution which includes an industry-leading pricing platform and a BI tool. It combines deep science, knowledge from industry experts and takes advantage of modern technology to offer the most complete solution.

What are they offering?
Free use of their software for 3 months to make sure you are prepared for the business rebound.

Reach out for to clement@paceup.com for more information.

14. apaleo PMS

What is it?
apaleo is the cloud platform that will help you build your accommodation business. All types of properties - from serviced apartments to hotel chains - rely on apaleo's APIs and community to create digital experiences for their guests and staff. Instantly connect the leading hospitality apps to the apaleo interface or use open APIs for unlimited customisation possibilities.

What are they offering?

apaleo lets you start now with an intuitive self-service platform where you can test any third-party app from the apaleo app store. They believe in flat, transparent pricing that starts when you’re ready to go live, meaning NO integration fees, NO long-term contracts, and NO hidden costs.

Get started now!

15. IDeaS

What is it?
As the pioneer of revenue science and a leading provider of revenue technology for hospitality & travel organisations, IDeaS maintains an active role in educating and empowering the industry.

What are they offering?
Ready to enhance your revenue management skills and knowledge? Follow the courses that will lay the foundation upon which you can build a solid commercial success framework for your business and participate in the real-life situational challenges.

Access the list of courses and challenges here

16. Criton

What is it?
Criton is an award-winning guest engagement platform that simplifies digital transformation, helping operators deliver the perfect digital guest journey and maximise in-stay spend. With Criton, hoteliers can digitize their guest information and wrap all-guest facing technology into a sophisticated mobile app for guests to use on their own phone.

What are they offering?

Criton is offering hotels its guest engagement and integration platform free of charge until they reopen, enabling hotels to offer a contactless guest journey, reduce touch points and put guests’ safety first.

Email the team to find out more or visit their website.

17. hotelkit

What is it?Now more than ever, with new and raised hygiene standards, structured communication is key. And this is where hotelkit express comes in. With hotelkit, you can share all current information with a few clicks and create to-do lists or hygiene checklists while always keeping track of their progress. The all-in-one hotel operations platform lets you do all that, and so much more. What are they offering?hotelkit express lets you test the full version for 30 days completely free of charge, a quick set-up ensured! Visit the website to know more.

18. Net Affinity

What is it?Net Affinity are experts in the field of hotel e-commerce, passionate about helping properties drive direct bookings hassle-free and improve conversions. What are they offering?There are three 90-day offers for the Booking Engine, Gift Voucher and Website Builder solutions, with no sign up or support fees. The solutions can be taken individually or all together. Opt for this option via their site

19. Right Revenue

What is it?Right Revenue offers a pricing decision system that is user-friendly, flexible and most importantly, accurate - with the goal of increasing profitability. What are they offering?In their 3 for free offer Right Revenue gives you the opportunity to use their software completely free for three months. No delayed payments, no setup fees, zero installation and absolutely zero risk. You can get free access to Calculate Hub here or reach out to their team to get started at ask@rightrevenue.co.uk

20. Atomize

What is it?Atomize is a revenue management system which offers fully real-time pricing suggestions and automated rate updates. Using it to optimise your individual and group rates can help you make the most of the post-crisis market pick-up. What are they offering?Hotels that sign with Atomize will for the duration of the first 12 months only get charged for months where their occupancy exceeds 40%. Apply for the offer here

Want to use this time to learn something new or brush up on your knowledge on a certain topic? There are some fantastic free online resources where you can learn everything from financial accounting and hotel management to marketing and the basics of culinary service.

Below are two courses that could be especially useful in the current situation, but feel free to browse - there are many more to discover.

1. The Fundamentals of Upselling

What is it?
Oaky’s digital upselling course brings together years of experience and knowledge into a fun and easy-to-digest format. Take this course to become acquainted with the many layers of effective upselling, learn key do's and don’ts and find out how it can support hoteliers through periods of low demand. This is your chance to learn upselling from the experts!

What are they offering?

Complete the course to receive a certificate and Upselling Associate badge

Sign up for the course here

2. The Fundamentals of Revenue Management

What is it?
This free course on revenue management is ideal for beginners and those who want to refresh their knowledge of revenue management. On top of this course, Coursera offers countless more free classes taught by experts in their fields for free.

What are they offering?
Free 4-week course on revenue management, self-study, 100% online
You can check it out and sign up here.

3. Managing Marketing in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

What is it?
This free edX course on marketing for the hospitality industry is great if you want to learn how to apply the latest principles of hotel marketing to your property. That way you can get a head start on your competition and get extra traction when demand grows.

What are they offering?
Free 6-week course on hotel marketing, self-study, 100% online
You can check it out and sign up here.

4. Hotel Website Copy 101

What is it?
Hospitality copywriter Juliana Hahn has put together a free hotel website copywriting training. It highlights the top four mistakes many hotels make on their websites and how to fix them in a few easy steps. That way you can get your website in top shape for when demand picks up again.

What is the offer?
Free 30-minute hotel website copywriting training
You can take the training here.

5. Five Star Content

What is it?

Hospitality industry veteran and seasoned copywriter Jennifer Zajac has worked with hotels around the world to create engaging online presences for them. Now she has put her social media expertise in a free video class to help you build a loyal following and drive bookings when travel returns.

What is the offer?

View the free training class on upgrading your hotel’s social media strategy.

6. AccomBoost Academy

What is it?
Hotel marketing expert Katie Hokin has put together several valuable masterclasses for hoteliers in her AccomBoost Academy. Whether you want to get a better idea of how to win at social media, you need to brush up on SEO or you want to learn how to best use Facebook ads, you’ll find something here.

What is the offer?
Get access to AccomBoost Academy here and the free courses here.

7. Online Hospitality Learning by Typsy

What it is
Typsy’s online learning platform for hospitality businesses offers a vast library of video courses for every department. This enables hotel staff to learn at their own pace and continuously improve their service and performance.

What they offer
Typsy’s offers free forever membership for individuals and small businesses to access 30 courses from their platform.

8. eHotelier Academy

What is it?
eHotelier provides continuous learning to hospitality professionals through an online learning system. Their resources are created by specialists from some of the best industry associations and institutions around the world, under the guidance of leading industry educators, and are recognised globally.

What are they offering?
Free Coronavirus Awareness Course, a short but comprehensive course on how to prevent, control and manage coronavirus (COVID-19) incidents in hotels.

In their eLearning platform you can also currently find a free offer of 10 executive courses from the International Hotel Leaders MBA program of Torrens University.

Find more information about the courses here, the offer stands until April 1st.

9. Hotel Digital Academy by Avvio

What is it?

Avvio is a hotel technology company that specialises in web design and tailored digital strategies built around an AI-powered booking platform. They’ve put together their knowledge and created the Hotel Digital Academy which is full of video tutorials on topics like SEO, Google Ads and digital marketing.

What are they offering?

Access the library of courses and workshops for free here.

10. LinkedIn Resources

What is it?
The world’s biggest professional online network, LinkedIn is not only a place to connect with people from around the world, but also a great place to learn new skills. Over the years, LinkedIn has built up quite a library of free courses covering everything from marketing and finances to tech tutorials. Now, they have added resources designed to help people better navigate the COVID-19 crisis.

What are they offering?
A variety of free courses to help you navigate this difficult situation
Check their resources out here.

Want to find a better way to deal with this challenging situation and make the best of it? If you are struggling to stay sane (like many of us right now) the resources below can help you. Whether you want to learn more about true happiness or simply give your brain a break, these two resources will do the trick.

1. The Science of Well-Being by Yale University

What is it?
The Science of Well-Being is Yale University’s most popular course, and now it’s available online for free! Here, you will learn which misconceptions we commonly have about happiness and how to build more productive habits to increase well-being in your day-to-day life.

What are they offering?
Free 20-hour course, self-study, 100% online
Learn more about the course and sign up here.

2. Headspace

What is it?
This free meditation app comes with guided meditations on every topic you can imagine: happiness, stress, anxiety, creativity, focus and so many more. If you’re the more active type, you’ll enjoy the moving and walking meditations. When you can’t seem to wind down at night, their sleep stories will help get restful sleep. And of course, they offer guidance for starting your own meditation practice if you’re new to this. In short, Headspace offers something for everyone.

What are they offering?
To support users of the free plan during COVID-19, Headspace has added many free meditations and activities to help people better cope with the stress and anxiety this situation has brought.

Find out more about it here.

3. How to Be Productive Working From Home

What is it?

Business consultant Rebecca Brizi works with clients to improve their teams’ happiness and productivity. When Covid struck and forced countless employees to work from home for the first time, she created a free video training full of actionable guidance to work better while away from the office.

What are they offering?
Free video training on working from home productively
Sign up for the course here

4. Collaborative Working in a Remote Team

What is it?
The University of Leeds and the Institute of Coding have come together to create a unique course for remote teams. In it, they introduce project planning and collaboration tools as well as practical skills you need to make the most of working with your colleagues without being in the same office.

What are they offering?
Free 2-week self-study course
Learn more about the course and sign up here.

5. Managing Mental Health and Stress

What is it?

These trying and uncertain times have taken a toll on many of us. Coventry University aims to help us better understand the different impacts stress can have on mental health and how to better protect it at home and at work.

What are they offering?
Free 2-week self-study course.
You can learn more about the course and sign up here.

While we know this is a very challenging time for hoteliers around the world, we hope these tools will help you make the most of low-occupancy times or closures.

If there’s anything we at Oaky can do to support you, please reach out to us.

In the meantime, take good care of yourself, stay healthy, and we hope to see you on the other side of all this soon!