Did you know?
“As per Google, in the past 5 years searches for ‘stay today and tonight’ have grown by 519%!“
Condor Ferries
NB: This is an article from eZee Absolute
That’s why hoteliers these days are promoting last-minute bookings among their guests. If you want to know more about them, you are in the right place.
In this blog, I will guide you on…
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What are last-minute bookings?
Room reservations made at the last hour or prior to the hotels’ day end process are coined as last-minute bookings.
Achieving 100% occupancy is essential yet a crucial process for hoteliers, and last-minute bookings are what save them from such unbearable losses.
Business professionals or leisure travelers have spontaneous travel plans. Hence, they book hotels at the last hour.
44% of leisure travelers and 56% of business travelers chose to opt for last-minute bookings.
Last-minute bookings are beneficial for both guests as well as hotels. It’s an opportunity for your guests to book rooms at a lower price, and for the hoteliers to maximise their occupancy.
How can hotels increase last-minute bookings?
Last-minute bookings are fruitful for hotels. Here are some strategies to increase last-minute bookings.
1. Market last-minute offers on OTAs and other platforms
OTAs and websites are one of the best online platforms to source bookings at your property. Here are some intriguing statistics shared by Condor Ferries,
An average of 148.3 million hotel bookings were made every year (Before the pandemic). Out of these, 82% of bookings were made online on OTA apps and hotels websites
Going by these figures, you can realise the importance of having an online presence to improve occupancy. So, I would recommend running some last-minute offers and promoting them across online booking platforms.
For OTAs, you can connect with your property’s account manager or business development officer, and ask them to activate last-minute offers. Most of these platforms have various deals on payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, and net banking.
On clubbing last-minute offers with those deals, guests get a captivating discount that makes them book a room at your hotel.
You need to implement these offers on your website also. There are various ways to do this, such as coupon codes, flat discounts on tariffs, or cashback on specific modes of payment.
But, don’t forget to update the offer’s end date on OTAs, as well as your hotel’s website.
2. Promote offers to the target audience
One of the important rules while deploying any last-minute marketing strategy is determining your target audience and pitching them the right deals.
You can use data analytics to understand your guests’ booking patterns and filter out the ones who have made maximum last-minute bookings.
Most of the target audiences are millennials and GenZ. Apart from them, check for your corporate guests; they have client meetings on the spur of the moment.
