This blog is written by Iain Stewart, Co-Director of freetobook, sharing reflections on the past year and a look ahead at what’s coming for our customers in 2026. 

Every day, we turn up with one goal: to make life better for our customers. That means creating solutions that are easy to implement and deliver a real, measurable benefit. Sometimes it feels like progress is slow, but then we see the feedback, and it’s incredibly rewarding. In our September survey, 94% of our customers said we are “very good” or “good” for their business (we’ll keep working on the other 6%!). Our Net Promoter Score came in at 69%, which, according to industry standards, is “excellent/world class” and just 1% shy of “outstanding but rare.” And the best part? This rating comes from you, our customers, so a huge THANK YOU.  

There’s always more we can do, and we’re working on it. Your support and trust aren’t taken for granted, and it’s thanks to a merry band of quite extraordinary people that we can deliver. Over the past year, we’ve welcomed three new developers and expanded our sales and product teams. 

We’re fortunate to retain some of the most talented people in the industry, and our focus is on ensuring they feel valued, with opportunities to work on interesting and exciting projects (it helps to be in the travel tech space, where things are always moving!). Special shout-out to our Staff Engineer Iain Baird, who celebrated 20 years with freetobook. He’s a true legend. 😊  

Our team is constantly seeking the perfect path from creation to implementation. It takes iteration, experimentation, and persistence. This year, we’ve also invested heavily in AI and machine learning, ensuring our approach is thoughtful, sustainable, and beneficial to everyone involved.  

If you haven’t already, check out our new image gallery, which makes uploading and categorising photos easier than ever. We’ve also added an integration with Sweeply, a simple housekeeping and task management app designed to help you organise and empower your team. 

It’s exciting to see a 26% increase in properties using Dynamic Pricing this year, with positive feedback on its impact on the bottom line. Pricing is still one of the most underutilised ways for independents to grow revenue. Our Google connections continue to expand, and with AI now entering the “search and book” space, being visible on Google isn’t just an advantage; it’s essential.  To support this, we’ve improved review collection rates by 15% in the Reputation Suite, helping you maintain a steady stream of great reviews on Google and TripAdvisor. 

We’re now at a stage where we can implement faster and more radical technological changes. In 2025, we realised the importance of sharing our thoughts and insights, so we’ve run more webinars than ever and even hosted a couple of in-person Technology Roadshow events. Thank you to all who attended online and in-person; hundreds of you engaged with these events. We’ll continue this in 2026, with five webinars already scheduled in the first quarter, covering pricing, direct bookings, payments, guest experience and reviews, all through the lens of using technology to improve performance and reduce costs. 

Looking ahead, 2026 is set to be a busy year. We have exciting launches planned, including the Guest App, bloom pro with more features, expanded payment options, Google Hotel Ads improvements, key lock systems, and much more, all designed to help your business grow. 

Your support, trust, and positivity mean the world to us. Thank you for sharing your feedback, for recommending freetobook to your peers, and for helping us continue to improve. We’re excited to support your success in 2026 and beyond!