Online travel agencies (OTAs) offer a great platform for independent, small and mid-sized hotels as well as larger hotel properties to reach a wider market. OTAs, as they are popularly known as, are a proven marketing channel to increase room bookings. It’s absolutely necessary for hotel owners to optimize OTA profile. While it’s common knowledge that these bring the need to manage various commission rates, hotel owners cannot deny their importance to increase visibility and keep the occupancy levels high. This is fairly the reason why hoteliers are seeking to improve OTA profiles.
So, how do you optimize an OTA profile? How can you implement an effective OTA hotel management strategy? Let’s take a quick look.
5 Tips to Improve OTA profiles for Hotel Owners
Having an impressive presence on OTAs such as Expedia or Booking.com can bring in a significant number of bookings for every hotel owner. Just as you would want your property to rank higher on search engines, OTAs also work around their own algorithms to rank your property on their site. Travelers are often inclined towards OTAs because they can find the best deals, read through reviews, and make bookings on the same platform.
Use these tips to optimize OTA performance for your hotel brand.
#1: Content and Design Management
You can increase a hotel’s OTA performance keeping these basics in mind. Content plays a key role to connect a guest to your hotel property. An incomplete hotel profile only shows an unprofessional approach. Photographs must be updated, clear, and indeed, attention-grabbing! The competition is tough and to ensure your property stands out, include professional videos and fill out minor details about your amenities. Things such as wifi and free parking are important to guests who set filters to obtain hotel information as per their chosen preferences. Pay attention to the details to increase the hotel’s OTA performance. OTAs prefer to rank complete profiles higher on their page.