International travel is now fully-fledged. Anyone can travel anywhere, anytime they like.
Between 2011 and 2020, international travellers to the United States are expected to grow from 62.8 million to 90.3 million.
International leisure guests are usually more valuable to hotels because they tend to stay longer and spend more, given they have saved up for several weeks of annual leave.
With the growth of global travel showing no signs of slowing down, securing international bookings is an absolute must for hotels that want to become profitable. There are some fundamental strategies you need to employ and some factors that may be holding you back.
As always, the key to success is in the details.
Here are five simple tactics to attract more international guests to your hotel
#1 Increase your language and currency capabilities
If you don’t have multi-language and multi-currency optimised, it’s very likely you’ll experience a high number of abandoned bookings.
Guests may love the look of your website or property images, but if they’re unable to read about your features in their own language, or view rates into their own currency, they’ll quickly become frustrated and look for hotels that can accommodate these needs.
Translating your web pages is not the only priority. To give international guests the full experience you may want to offer translated brochures or audio tours to give guests an idea of what to do and see during their trip.
Employing multi-lingual staff will also be a huge benefit. Communicating with them prior to their arrival in their own language will make them feel more comfortable. Then when your guests arrive you can ensure their trip runs smoothly and you receive positive reviews.
There are generally popular languages such as Spanish that you will want to cover but to help you decide which languages to translate you should use Google analytics. You can see which countries you’re getting the most views on your website from and start focusing on those key areas.
