Group bookings drive large, predictable increments of revenue for hotels, but not all hotel websites successfully target this lucrative business. Just because your hotel website does a stellar job driving transient bookings does not necessarily mean it is optimized for room block conversions. If you are looking to increase group booking revenue for your hotel, take advantage of Blue Magnet’s actionable guide for optimizing your room blocks funnel!
The Building Blocks of a Good Groups Page
Whether you are targeting corporate groups, wedding blocks, or youth sports teams, your strategy should employ the same basic tenets. By adhering to these tactics and best practices, your website will drive more group booking inquiries from qualified planners.
The hallmarks of a successful group accommodations campaign are:
- A Defined Funnel
- Seamless UX
- Trustworthiness
- Strategic Targeting
Build a Clearly-Defined Conversion Funnel
A clearly defined conversion funnel is essential for a frictionless, intuitive path to (and through) your RFP page. A sculpted funnel will allow you to guide user behavior, increase group inquiries, and track the effectiveness of your campaign. When developing an optimized room block conversion funnel for your hotel website, you will need to:
- Build a room blocks landing page
- Develop a dedicated room block RFP page
- Create a simple, straightforward RFP form for group inquiries
- Minimize obstacles en route to the RFP form
- Respond to group inquiries in a timely fashion
Build a Room Block Page
To effectively drive group bookings at your hotel, build a dedicated room blocks page. While meetings, events, and weddings pages typically promote group accommodations, a strategic room blocks page will allow you to curate your story, target your hotel’s ideal groups, control the path to conversion, and generate room block inquiries.
Your room blocks page will be the top of your groups funnel. It will act as a highly-targeted consideration page and provide a great touch-point for paid and organic traffic. If you mention groups on your weddings, meetings, and events pages, use those sections to link to your dedicated room blocks page. This niche, conversion-optimized page will do a much better job of telling your story, building trust, and generating group revenue.
Remember, with this page, you are not targeting transient guests. You should tailor your content, calls to action, and language to build trust and drive RFPs. Add strong CTAs, speak directly to your audience, and strategically link to your RFP page to pave a frictionless road to the bottom of the funnel.
Add Strong Calls to Action
The calls to action on your room blocks page should be targeted, descriptive, and clear. Verbiage like “Reserve Your Wedding Block” and “Contact Us for Pricing and Availability” tell planners exactly what to expect.
A clear call to action at the end of your introduction provides return visitors a quick, easy path to your RFP page.
