Last year, the destination of our summer get away is Tofino, this year we picked Salt Spring Island. We didn’t finalize the plan until the very last minute, a little bit more than 2 weeks from the vacation day, as a result we have a hard time booking place to stay. Salt Spring Island is a small resort island next to the Vancouver island. All the inns, resorts or B&Bs are run by small independent owners. I have to call around to find available rooms. I called over 20 places before I can find rooms for the date we plan to stay.

Most places only have a static webpage for information and photos. Some places are more advance and have a web reservation system. Looks like there are two major providers of the reservation system for hotels in the island. However reservation system of each individual hotel is isolated. I have to search rooms one place at a time. It would be to have a tourist friendly update in the system if I can just just type in the date and got all places with available room. Last minute hunt for hotel room is tedious and frustrating, that’s what put people off doing last minute trip. Streamline the hotel booking by making it easier, will attract more visitors and improve the tourist industry of the island.