10 ways to maximize your hotel's direct bookings in 2017

14
10 THINGS YOU MUST DO TO GROW YOUR HOTEL’S DIRECT BOOKINGS IN 2017

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Page 1: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

10 THINGS YOU MUST DO TO GROW YOUR

HOTEL’S DIRECT BOOKINGS IN 2017

Page 2: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

WHY WORRY ABOUT DIRECT BOOKINGS? Cheaper Acquisition Costs

These guests are your customers – not the OTA’s

Lower Cancellation Rates

Easier Retention Rates for these guests

Higher ABV and Spend at your property

TODAY’S GOAL:

To arm you with practical action points to increase Direct Bookings in 2017.

We want to improve your bottom line.

Page 3: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

Take a look at where your property stands at the moment by analyzing statistics across your different channels, especially your Brand.com & OTAs. Look at:

Volume of Booked Revenue

Volume of Stayed Revenue

Lead Times on Bookings

Cancellation Rates

Lead Times on Cancellations

Room Types booked

Rateplans Booked

Geographic Source of Bookings

Review Freesale v Allocation given to OTAs

1 – Analyse Performance between Channels

Page 4: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

Guests should always be able to get the best deal when they book direct. Don’t train your guests to look elsewhere for better deals!

Ensure that rates are not cheaper anywhere else – through OTAs or through FITs available publicly. Regularly check these channels yourself.

Consider more restrictive cancellation policies on OTAs:

• This is especially important if they have larger cancellation rates than direct

• Protect your high demand dates with non-refundable rates on OTAs

2 – Best Rate Direct

Page 5: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

What’s in it for them? Make these clear on your site and on other touchpoints with guests.

3 – Reasons to Book Direct

Page 6: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

4 – Total Stay vs Per Person Rates Our Analysis has shown that hotels with Total Stay Rates convert better than other methods of rate display. Avoid showing rates Per Person Sharing or Per Person Per Night Don’t make your guest do any mental arithmetic!

Page 7: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

5 – Protect your High Demand Dates There are a number of ways to protect high demand dates without risking violating rate parity clauses:

Add 2 Night Minimum Length of Stay to your OTAs and not on your own site to drive one night stays direct

Close out your lower / most popular room types on OTAs so that guests looking for these must book direct.

When you have achieved a comfortable level of occupancy, close out all OTAs leaving only your direct channels open.

When you receive as Low Inventory Warning from an OTA, consider if these bookings would come direct instead.

Most importantly: add these restrictions ahead of time.

Page 8: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

6 - Does Brand.com have the Right Level of Inventory?

Ensure they’re enough to cover the demand that you are seeing on your own site for any day

Ensure that you are not giving too much inventory to OTAs,

particularly for peak dates. If you fill your hotel with these less profitable bookings too early, you

won’t have the availability left for your direct guests.

Page 9: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

7 – Booking Abandonment Net Affinity Clients avail of our Booking Abandonment Tools:

Leave Message when closing Reservation Form One Email after 30 Mins Second Email after 2 days Voucher Abandonment Email after 30 Mins

Brand this Message: Add an incentive for guest to book direct.

Add 5%-10% Discount Give a value ad, e.g. a drink on arrival Free Breakfast

Page 10: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

8 - Mobile For most hotels, mobile traffic is 50%

of overall traffic and growing!

Cross Device Conversions are becoming more important – guests are researching on mobile & completing on Desktop

Ensure that your mobile site represents your brand as well as you desktop site does

Net Affinity Clients avail of our Mobile App & Booking Engine is optimised for Mobile

Consider Responsive Design for Mobile

Page 11: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

9 – Paid Marketing The traffic landscape has changed –

Organic traffic is dropping and paid is becoming more important.

Ensure that you are investing the right level into paid digital marketing for your property.

For most hotels, this means that you need to increase your budgets for 2017 and are incorporating all channels

Brand Search, Remarketing, Facebook, Metasearch

Are you targeting the correct geographical markets?

Page 12: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

10 – Website Content

Rateplan Descriptions

Clear and Concise

Correct & Consistent Tone

Include Relevant Details only

Include Main Info in Title

• Midweek Escape – 2 nights with Dinner

Regularly Update Content

Google rewards up-to-date, relevant content that is regularly updated

Review Page Views & Bounce Rates to improve page content

Consider a Blog

Imagery – High Quality Images are imperative

Page 13: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017

SUMMARY - DRIVE DIRECT BOOKINGS

1. Analyse

Performance by Channel

2. Ensure Best Rate is

always Direct

3. Highlight Reasons

to Book Direct

4. Display Prices as

Total Stay

5. Protect you High Demand Dates

6. Ensure Correct

Inventory Levels

7. Booking

Abandonment

8. Consider Mobile

Traffic

9. Reconsider Paid

Marketing

10. Regularly update Website Content

Page 14: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Hotel's Direct Bookings in 2017