Shopping-cart abandonment—which occurs when visitors to websites who make it to the booking engine but suddenly leave the site—is a huge problem in the travel industry.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, Statista reported an 82.1% rate of shopping-cart abandonment for the travel industry. That was the highest rate of the five sectors observed by the firm.
Whether visitors are jumping ship to book on online travel agencies or simply changing their minds, independent hoteliers who rely on direct bookings to combat high commissions need to invest in their website and booking-engine strategies so that they don’t leave money on the table.
Dave Rubin, VP of marketing communications at Greystone Hotels, an owner/operator of eight independent properties in California, said the company’s core message is “book direct for best of everything,” which has helped to discourage visitors jumping ship.
“It is this message that is making the most headway to help our guests—current, past and future—understand that booking directly with us is by far the best option,” he said. “Altering consumer habits is a key part to our strategy, and by emphasizing this message we’ve already seen the needle move significantly in the first quarter of 2018.”
Provide a seamless experience
Nicole DiMaio-Kennedy, regional director of revenue at Benchmark, said that the booking engine needs to be seamless with the hotel website in order to provide a great guest experience. She offered some best practices:
- Ensure all offers and packages use the same imagery and content when flowing from the website to the booking engine.
- Offers and packages should be clearly defined and shouldn’t have similar discounts, which can cause customers to become confused and left with the need to calculate the best option when shopping.
- When deciding to run a special offer where marketing dollars are being spent, ensure the website merchandizes the offer through pop-up ads, banners, pay-per-click messaging and Facebook messaging. Also, make sure sorting within the website and booking engine clearly displays the offer to ensure it’s easy for a guest to find and book the offer.
- Make sure all offers are fresh and relevant for the season and made available for prime booking windows.
