There are various sales strategies you can employ to market and sell your hotel rooms. Here are some of the most common strategies and step-by-step guides for successful implementation:
NB: This is an article from Rateboard
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Direct Booking Strategy
Promote direct bookings on your own website by offering special deals, discounts, or exclusive benefits such as complimentary breakfast, or an upgrade to a higher-category room. This allows you to maintain full control over the booking process and also saves costs on commissions to third-party booking platforms. Below are the steps and aspects to consider for a successful direct booking strategy:
1. Create an appealing hotel website: Your property’s website should be user-friendly and feature attractive design, clear information about rooms, amenities, location, services, and reviews. The website should also provide an easy and intuitive booking function.
2. Offers and incentives: To encourage guests to book directly on the hotel website, you can provide special offers, discounts, or exclusive benefits. These can include lower prices, complimentary extras such as free Wi-Fi, breakfast, or a complimentary room upgrade.
3. Search engine optimization (SEO): To ensure that the hotel website is prominently displayed in search engine results, it is important to perform effective search engine optimization. This includes using relevant keywords, optimizing website structure, and creating high-quality content.
4. Online booking system: The implemented online booking system should be user-friendly and reliable, allowing guests to reserve rooms directly through the website. The system should be easy to use, provide secure payment processing, and display real-time availability.
5. Social media and email marketing: Utilize social media channels such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote your direct booking offers and attract the attention of potential guests. Email marketing is also effective for regularly sending offers, updates, and news to subscribed guests.
6. Customer service and guest retention: Good customer service is crucial to satisfy guests and encourage them to book directly with the hotel again. Personalized and tailored assistance should be provided, guest reviews should be taken into account, and a loyalty program may be introduced to enhance guest retention.
7. Tracking and analytics: It is important to continuously track and analyze the performance of the direct booking strategy. This includes monitoring website traffic, conversion rates, bookings, traffic sources, and other relevant metrics. Based on this information, adjustments and improvements can be made.
Group Bookings
Special rates and conditions can also be offered for group bookings, whether for business travelers, wedding parties, conferences, or other events. By collaborating with event planners or companies, hotels can sell a larger number of rooms in one go. Read our article specifically focused on group inquiries to learn what to consider in this regard.
Loyalty Programs
Hotels reward returning guests through loyalty programs, where they can accumulate points that can be redeemed for free stays, upgrades, or other benefits. This promotes guest loyalty and can help increase occupancy during specific periods. Here are some steps to successfully implement a loyalty program strategy in your hotel:
