January is right around the corner and although hoteliers are preoccupied with making the most out of the Christmas season, January is also a revenue opportunity not to be missed! It’s often a peak bookings month, responsible for bringing in nearly 40% of the entire revenue for the quarter according to our client data for 2017.
Statistically, there is a swing in attitudes among consumers towards the end of December each year — research into the following year’s holiday options surges from its lowest point to its highest.
Many people will try and take advantage of the January Sales when making holiday bookings and like to cheer up an otherwise dull month, with a holiday to look forward to later in the year. It’s important that not only is your hotel front of mind when they’re ready to book, but also, that they find what they want when they land on your site.
Read on for my 10 key pieces of advice for how to ring in the new year, with lots more bookings and make a successful start to 2018:
Audit Your Website
#1: January is the perfect time to do an audit of your site and check everything is up-to-date for the coming year. This includes images, and Action bar’s (if you have one), make sure to use it to promote your January sale.
Update Your Booking Engine
#2: Refine your rate plans (less is very often more!). Too much choice can confuse customers. Review rate plans and special offer descriptions on the front end of the booking engine. Ask someone external to the hotel to read them and ensure you are avoiding confusing industry jargon in your package names.
#3: Reduce friction on your site caused by unnecessary clicks, by adding a default number of occupants for your room types. Keeping friction throughout the booking process to a minimum means users will get to the payment stage more quickly and will be more likely to convert.
