Online travel agencies, like Expedia and Booking.com, charge commissions as high as 15-30% per booking, which have a nasty way of eating into your hotel’s direct booking revenue.
NB: This is an article from CartStack
OTA commissions can be a necessary evil for keeping occupancy rates high, but there are ways to minimize their impact. Building a strategy to increase direct bookings can produce up to 30% more revenue, because you aren’t shelling out part of your sale to a third party.
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If you want to recapture these sales, you must understand how to utilize direct booking tactics on your website in order to compete with OTAs.
OTAs compete on price, but more importantly, they offer a user-friendly booking experience. OTAs allow travelers to book their flights, hotels, car rentals and more, all in one place. In order to steal back OTA bookings, you must compete on convenience.
To help travelers make informed booking decisions, offer them unique perks, add-ons, and experiences that are exclusively available through your hotel.
To help you narrow down your most compelling offer, we’ve compiled a list of actionable tips and strategies to increase direct bookings on your hotel website.
Direct Booking Incentives
Direct booking incentives are rewards or benefits that you offer guests who book directly through your hotel’s website. Direct booking incentives are an effective strategy for reducing OTA commissions, because they offer benefits travelers couldn’t find elsewhere.
A survey by Software Advice and Google found that 75% of travelers are more likely to make direct bookings with incentives like room upgrades and room service promotions.
Examples of Direct Booking Incentives:
Price Match Guarantee: Offer to match or beat the rates offered by OTAs like Expedia, ensuring guests that they are getting the best deal by booking directly through your hotel’s website.
Extra Night Free: When you offer a free night or other price promotion, you create a sense of urgency and exclusivity for guests who book directly with you. It also encourages guests to book longer stays, and allows you to compete on price without lowering your nightly rate.
Early Check-In or Late Check-Out: Offer guests who book directly the option to check in early or check out late, based on availability.
Exclusive Packages: Offer unique packages that are only available to guests who book direct, such as spa packages or dining experiences.
Best Room Selection: Guarantee the best room selection to guests who book directly through the hotel’s website, rather than reserving less-desirable rooms for those who book through OTAs.
No Hidden Fees: Be transparent about all fees and charges, ensuring that there are no hidden fees when guests book directly through the hotel’s website.
Personalized Service: Offer personalized service to guests who book directly through the hotel’s website, such as a welcome gift or a handwritten note upon arrival.
Flexibility: Offer more flexible cancellation policies and allow for modifications to the reservation for guests who book directly through the hotel’s website.
Strategies to Promote Direct Booking Incentives
It’s not enough to simply have direct booking incentives in place. Your hotel must actively promote them to potential guests to maximize their impact. Without proper promotion, guests may not be aware of the incentives, or may not understand their value, and as a result, you’ll continue to lose bookings to online travel agencies.
