It should come as no surprise that guests often visit a hotel’s website for more information on the hotel which they intend to book, but then are typically driven to book via an online travel agency (OTA), as opposed to booking direct from the hotel.
As a result, hotels are having to get creative in their approach to targeting customers and improve user experience – but, what are these techniques? How can hotels fight back and gain a greater share of the acquisition of bookings, away from OTAs?
As summer comes to a close, hotels are keen to attract out of season bookings. Here are my insider tips and tricks – all backed up through data garnered from our smart platform. These insider tweaks to marketing strategies could just be the secret sauce to increase hotel’s conversion rates online.
Be strategic with discount offerings
Every traveller appreciates a good discount, especially when the discount rate gives a more competitive price compared to other booking platforms. But how much of a discount will result in extra bookings?
Research conducted by Hotelchamp found that hotels offering a 5% discount rather than no discount, resulted in an 11% increase in conversion rate and a 12% increase in average booking value. Compare this to offering a 10% discount rather than no discount, hotels can expect to see a 50% increase in conversion rate and an 11% increase in average booking value.
Despite offering a discount to guests in both instances, whether 5% or 10%, surprisingly the average booking value was increased by over 10% as a result. This increase in booking value would have come as a result of either a more expensive room purchased (room upgrades), extra nights booked, or an upsell feature (breakfast).*
To be successful with providing a discount, try to make it more exclusive by making guests request the discount by email, or add urgency to it by setting an end date for the promotion. It’s safe to say that giving more goes along way, directing more traffic to the hotel whilst making the end consumer happy.
