Ways to Drive Bookings Directly Through the Hotel Website
Amazing things will happen when you listen to the consumer.
If you are a hotelier, ask yourself this: Isn’t it your dream goal to get more bookings directly through the website without having to rely on the OTA giants that devour a handsome amount of your earnings?
So, we assume (at least for this article) that your answer is a YES and will continue to be that even if the same question is addressed to you a zillion times!
Since their inception in the mid-’90s, OTAs have been gaining an increasingly greater market share, capturing about 39% of the US online digital marketing. Again, the percentage is highly likely to reach 41% for the OTAs in the US in 2020, as mentioned in an article by Travel Daily (2018). In fact, 52% of Millennials prefer to book their hotels via an OTA.
Thus, as the reality goes, OTAs still have a hold over approximately two-thirds of all online bookings. But this can still be challenged by direct bookings and is better substantiated by giving an instance of the campaign by Marriott and Hilton, aimed at recapturing the market share. Again, Travel Daily mentions it is possible that 52% of the OTA visitors clicking on the hotel website for more information about the property and amenities offered can be lured to book directly through the website.
So, if your hotel has a website, chances are that your have already started to think about process of driving more bookings directly through it.
So, if your hotel has a website, chances are that your have already started to think about process of driving more bookings directly through it.
The perks of having a direct booking are that it saves you from the travail of paying a hefty commission to the OTAs and also allows you to secure an escape from the clutches of the OTA bookings which have the tremendous potential to reduce the direct bookings to almost nothing in the future. Almost like making it fade into oblivion! To illustrate this better, one well-known example includes the two major OTA giants, Booking.com and Expedia where Booking.com takes away about 15% of the hotel revenue while the latter charges, even more, about 20%.
Source: Phocuswright
But this will not be an easy process! Let us break your bubble by stating the commonly known fact-There is no shortcut to success. Hence to secure more of these direct bookings, hoteliers will be required to establish a definite control over the booking process in order to lure more customers to book their experience with the property, thereby guaranteeing them an extremely gratifying customer experience.
Here are the proven, highly effective ways to drive more direct bookings through your very own engine a.k.a the hotel website:
1. Primp Your Website
Source: TalentSpiral
2. Well-Integrated Booking Engine
Having a website is not an easy process. It surely requires you to spend well on the website alone before you even begin to do something productive about it. Customers will start paying your website a visit. But what after that? If there is no booking engine integrated into your website, there is no point in thinking about the direct bookings! An alluring and effective booking engine allows the customers to not only browse your website but also allows them to book through the website itself, thereby enhancing the status of direct bookings.
If there is no booking engine integrated into your website, there is no point in thinking about the direct bookings!
3. Nothing Extravagant, Just a Simple Booking Box
Making things simple is the key to success in the hospitality industry. Considering the fast-paced world that we thrive in today, everybody is looking for ways to save more time. Keeping that simple, day-to-day fact in mind, use it proactively with regard to the direct bookings. Strange? Not really! Get your Website to have a ‘Book Now’ or ‘Booking Box’ sort of feature which will allow the customers to begin the booking process right away! In short, bring in more CTAs to highlight the overall grandeur of the website and booking process.
4. Google-Map Matters!
While technology has its downsides, it certainly comes across as a boon, especially for the hotel industry. Nowadays, with Google Maps, the location of your hotel can easily be spotted by the guests which in a way allows them to get into your website, too. How easy! Again, it is a long-term solution, as the dependence on the G-Maps is likely to increase with each passing day. As is estimated by Morgan Stanley, Google Maps revenue will total more than $11 billion in 2023 (Skift). Also, don’t we just use it extensively while commuting and locating places? Use this daily habit to improve your website bookings too.
5. A High-Performance
SEO is what you got to drag into the picture for an effective process of direct booking. Perform a spectacular Hotel Website SEO to get a higher ranking on platforms like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. High listing is instrumental in driving more traffic to your website which is very likely to culminate into greater bookings. Again, SEO also provides other services like optimization through keywords and relevant links. So reap its benefits!
6. Web Chat/Chat Bot/Live Chat
Source: Dribbble
Having a Web Chat feature will allow winning the trust of the customers who are still unsure about booking with you. This feature on your website can surely work wonders! It can allow you to reach out and solve their queries rapidly without them having to wait forever to receive a response from your end. So many hotels lose out on their bookings because they do not invest in or think about bringing a Web Chat feature within their fold. This leads the guests to drop out and switch to booking with your competitors who might be just more prompt than you in responding to the guests’ queries.
7. Price Trust Signals
Trust Signals like “Best Rate Guaranteed,” “Look Nowhere Else,” etc. can act as the indicators to assure the customers that your site provides the best rate which, in turn, can be helpful in increasing direct bookings. For instance, Marriott’s Look No Further, Best Rate Guarantee can allow you to submit the best rate guarantee claim if you find a lower rate for the same hotel on a non-Marriott site by booking directly. In that case, Marriott will help match the rate and in addition, provide an extra 25% discount or 5,000 Reward Points.
8. Advertise
Advertisements can be a great way of boosting your online presence. Invest and run ads just about everywhere as it is an age-old and perennial marketing strategy. Thanks to the advent of Facebook and Instagram for cheaper advertisements.
Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.
9. Freebies As Confetti
10. Showcase Fresh Reviews
Source: GardnerHotel
Reviews play a major role in determining the booking decision. Get your Website to showcase the fresh or recent positive reviews which are more like trophies or badge of honor for your hotel. These are extremely advantageous in driving more traffic to your website and helping to influence a prospective customer’s decision, most likely in your favor, by helping to know your current status in the industry
11. Optimize Your Social Media Presence
12. Astounding and Fast Mobile Website
Data from Criteo’s Summer Travel Report 2018 report notes that worldwide, OTAs capture most of the mobile bookings. In terms of last-minute bookings, Criteo’s Summer Travel Report found that hotel’s received just over 70% of last-minute bookings via mobile devices
13. Showcase Your Rooms and Hotel’s Personality
Some Useful Tips to Drive More Customers To Your Hotel
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Looking for a Next-Gen website to drive instant bookings? We can help!
