Getting your bookings through OTAs can be a costly proposition – often as much as 40% to 50% of your business. Of course, eliminating OTAs from your revenue stream is both unlikely and, in most cases, unwise. There are, however, some key strategies you can implement to maximize direct revenue:
#1: Win the rate comparison battle
Consumers like a bargain. One of the easiest ways to maximize direct booking is to make price parity obvious. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort getting that visitor to your website, why not showcase your value? A price parity widget is a great way to incentivize your consumers into a direct booking. Rate comparison widgets can help you show a direct comparison between your “book direct” price and prices available on OTAs. You can also use a price comparison widget to highlight “book direct” benefits, like free parking or free WiFi.
#2: Retarget your website visitors
A consumer is likely to visit the website of their chosen hotel at least once prior to booking. This is true regardless of the eventual booking channel. According to a 2017 behavior study by Fuel and Flip.to, the average consumer will visit 4.4 websites* before booking. The same consumer, will also spend an average of 28 minutes on a hotel website before booking. Use retargeting campaigns to keep your brand “top of mind” as your future guest continues their research. Retargeting campaigns are great ways to provide “book direct” incentives. For more info on what Milestone can do for you in re-marketing visit us here on our website.
#3: Target similar audiences
Knowledge is power. Use your knowledge of your “ideal” consumer to create targeted campaigns that target “like” consumers. Advanced targeting of like consumers was once only possible if you had large data sets and equally large budgets. Today there are much simpler and affordable ways to target audiences based on demographic and psychographic profiles.
