It’s budget season for hotel teams.
Many will spend the waning weeks of 2017 crafting budgets and tweaking business plans for 2018. A major goal of many owners and management teams will likely be an increase in direct bookings.
Even those who have a glass-half-full perspective when it comes to the “frenemy” relationship hotels have with online travel agents (OTAs) would prefer guests book direct. Sure, OTAs can be a relatively inexpensive referral source, but direct bookings will always nurture stronger relationships with travelers and offer preferable profit margins.
As hotel teams consider how to allocate funds for the year ahead, consider these four points to wrest bookings back from OTAs.
Refresh Your Website
Hotel teams should do a top-to-bottom website review at least once a year. (If you haven’t yet done so in 2017, now’s the time.)
Revisiting the site’s design, style and photography – and making appropriate updates – should be part of regular maintenance, or run the risk of appearing dated within the span of just a year or two, which is decades in digital time.
Examine content to be sure that the site follows the most current search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. Increasing your organic search engine rankings is still one of the absolute best ways to reach new audiences without increasing your advertising expenses.
Budgeting for a total website redesign every year is unrealistic and unnecessary, but that doesn’t mean the annual website budget should be zero.
Dedicating funds for a refresh each year will ensure that your website remains modern and relevant while increasing its longevity, which ultimately saves the ownership money.
Optimize Your Mobile User Experience
That being said, if you don’t have a “responsive” website design, you’ll need to invest in an update, stat.
To stand any chance at increasing direct bookings in 2018, a responsive website – one that optimizes its look, feel and navigation based on the type of device a user is viewing it on – is an absolute must. If you’re unconvinced, take a look at the data:
