Events • Booking Widget

Created 17 November 2025 • Updated 17 November 2025

Recommendation for providing the best possible Bookings Widget experience

Background

For the past decade, our Bookings Widgets have been embedded across thousands of websites, by hundreds of integrators, using a web technology called an "iFrame".

Fast forward to the present day, 84% of guests are now accessing our Bookings Widget using their mobile device. We believe mobile users deserve the best possible booking experience and this belief has been one of the drivers to simplify and refine our Booking journeys, including the Widget.

Using an iFrame can be a very simple way to embed another website inside another but it can present some technical challenges to integrators including:

  • An iFrame is normally inset on the page to respect the website’s design so the iFrame has limited horizontal width

  • An iFrame cannot be dynamically re-sized based on the height of content

  • Usability issues caused by scrolling within already scrollable content

  • Bookings’ Cookie Notice is displayed under/over a website’s existing cookie notice

These challenges can present your guests with a sub-optimal experience that can negatively impact your booking conversation rate.

What is our recommended approach?

As a result, we now recommend the Bookings Widget is opened in a new browser tab, instead of being embedded using an iFrame. This small change will allow the booking experience to take up the full screen, which will greatly improve usability and improve the loading speed on a slower connection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this recommendation mandatory?

No, we have no current plans to dictate how customers embed our widget but we want to provide you with the best recommendations to improve usability so you can provide the best booking experience to your guests.

Why are we making this recommendation?

Over time, we constantly look at how our widget is being used and have seen that embedded iFrame can cause issues on smaller screen devices. The Booking flow often ends up cramped or hard to navigate, which can be lead to abandoned reservations.

Will I lose my widget's look and feel?

No, the same link from the iFrame can be used if custom CSS is used or our Widget Customiser is a great way to brand and customise the widget.