Do you know where you’re losing guests along the journey? Today’s travellers face a complex journey from research to booking. The competition is fierce for hoteliers, and so is the pushback from OTAs. That’s why it’s vital to optimise the booking funnel to ensure a smooth transition from research to booking.
NB: This is an article from Hotelchamp
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The booking funnel includes every step a potential guest takes, from discovering your hotel to finalising their booking. Understanding and optimising this process is crucial. Each stage, from awareness to booking, has its own challenges and opportunities. By addressing these, you can influence guest behaviour and boost conversion rates.
We look at common challenges at each stage of the booking funnel. Plus, we will give you actionable strategies to overcome them.
Low traffic in the awareness stage
When guests start thinking about their travels, they may begin browsing for hotels. If you’re in luck, guests have found your hotel and are now starting to get familiar with your brand. This is the awareness stage – the top of the funnel where potential guests first learn about your hotel and what you offer.
Visibility is crucial at this stage. It’s where your marketing and brand-building efforts can truly shine. Ideally, your marketing has already made potential guests aware of your brand. However, for smaller and individual hotels, this is often not the case. A common problem at this stage is low traffic to your website. This can result from several factors and may take time to rectify. However, investing in building awareness will yield long-term benefits.
The first step is to ensure your site is SEO-optimised. From titles to descriptions and ‘About’ pages, make sure you target the right keywords and regularly update your website with high-quality content. This improves your ranking on search engines, helping you move towards the front page for your targeted keywords. Another way to boost visibility is by investing in targeted online advertising on Google Hotel Ads or social media. These campaigns help you reach traffic that has already shown interest in what you can offer and can reinforce your brand recognition. Lastly, collaborations can also help you reach a wider audience. Whether through local collaborations or bigger influencer campaigns, collaborations can widen your reach, putting you in front of new, committed audiences.
Bouncing off during the consideration stage
Just as guests found your hotel during their research, they likely came across your competitors as well. Now, they’re going back and forth, comparing options. This is the consideration stage. At this point, potential guests are aware of your hotel and are actively weighing their options by looking at factors like location, amenities, reviews, and pricing.
Standing out during this stage is crucial. And in the online world, the first step to doing that is by having a truly eye-catching website. A common issue here is high bounce rates or short visit durations. This could be due to slow loading times, confusing navigation, or unengaging content. Your goal should be to offer a digital experience that mirrors the quality of staying at your hotel.
