Industry jargon gets between you and your guests. It can reduce the number of bookings you get, both on your own website and elsewhere.
For example, the phrase ‘book direct’, which is so widespread within the industry that it’s become the name of its own movement, is very unfamiliar to the average person looking to book a hotel.
However, direct bookings are some of the most profitable ones around for hotels. So how should you get your message across?
Why Does Saying Book Direct Matter?
The language your hotel uses when you talk to guests, online or off, should be focused on clarity and warmth. Guests need to know the benefits you’re offering them in the simplest terms possible, and you need to present yourself as focused on hospitality and the stay experience.
That’s a bit easier said than done, however. When you spend your days working on pricing strategies, marketing campaigns or hotel operations, you use a specialized set of terms that people outside the industry – even your guests – won’t connect with.
That’s true of every industry, and every customer-facing business must overcome this.
When it comes to driving direct bookings, it’s especially important, because OTA’s and other large third parties are experts at using clear language that guests connect with.
Just look at their clear and plain presentation of reasons to choose this hotel:
Hotels must do the same, but ideally better if we want to persuade customers to book directly with us.
That doesn’t just mean avoiding obvious jargon like ‘DBB’ in place of ‘Dinner, Bed and Breakfast Package’ or ‘our F&B department’ instead of ‘our restaurant and bar’. It extends to the little phrases all of us are guilty of using occasionally – sometimes without even realizing it!
Think of the last good book direct hotel marketing campaign you saw. What kind of language did it use? I’m willing to bet it didn’t actually use the phrase ‘book direct.’ Or, if it did, it was only after a guest had actually reached their brand website, where context makes the phrase clearer.
