Re:Ask HN: Real-time availability calendars in online bookin...
by blakdawg on Thursday January 26, 2012 @10:42PM
(#3517075)
I can think of a lot of obstacles:
1. Competitive intelligence - do I want my competitors to know exactly how busy I am, and when? No, I don't.
2. Pricing - do I want to give someone else a cut of all of my sales? No, I don't. I don't mind doing that a little bit if that's what it takes to do business - but if some outsider wants a significant piece of all of my business, my answer is "no".
3. Local/loyal customers - do I want to be so booked-up with online (especially if it's discount-focused) business that I can't take care of regular customers? No.
If your goal is perfect information available at all times, you're headed for disappointment. You can probably get pretty good information a fair amount of the time, but you'll have to work at it or pay for it.
1. Competitive intelligence - do I want my competitors to know exactly how busy I am, and when? No, I don't.
2. Pricing - do I want to give someone else a cut of all of my sales? No, I don't. I don't mind doing that a little bit if that's what it takes to do business - but if some outsider wants a significant piece of all of my business, my answer is "no".
3. Local/loyal customers - do I want to be so booked-up with online (especially if it's discount-focused) business that I can't take care of regular customers? No.
If your goal is perfect information available at all times, you're headed for disappointment. You can probably get pretty good information a fair amount of the time, but you'll have to work at it or pay for it.