If you’re looking for a straightforward way to maximise your hotel’s potential, look to direct bookings.
Managing a hotel, villa, hostel or short-term rental of any kind is an intricate task. You’re simultaneously worried about your return on investment, customer satisfaction and staff efficiency. Still, there are simple ways to keep your business running at its peak, and prioritising direct bookings is one of them.
What Are Direct Bookings?
Direct bookings are reservations for accommodation that guests make directly from your site. Instead of going through an online travel agent (OTA) like Agoda or Expedia, they’re going straight for the good stuff without the need for a middleman.
Why Boost Direct Bookings?
Sure, OTAs help you market your business, but increasing direct bookings has a whole lot of benefits for your company. First and foremost, when guests book through your own site, you’re usually not paying a single dime in commission. That makes it the cheapest channel for transactions.
Secondly, when a guest wants to make changes to the booking, you’re likely to be more flexible than any OTA out there. If a guest books through an OTA, they’ll have to contact that site to make changes, which is often hard to explain to the guest. As far as they are concerned, they’ve reserved a stay at your place. Failing to update the reservation through the third party results in commission charges over the full length of the stay.
Lastly, you won’t have full details of a guest who books through an OTA. Only the OTA gains that knowledge. But have a guest book directly with you and you’ll have contact info that you can add to your database (with the guest’s permission, of course). Plus, you can already pre-fill the arrival card for a more seamless check-in.
9 Ways To Drive More Direct Bookings
Like any end goal, marketing for direct bookings is a multifaceted venture. Here are 9 methods that you can implement right away.
- Make sure your rates are in parity. Your guests shouldn’t be able to find lower rates on other channels. You can learn more about rate parity here.
- If you offer member rates to OTAs, you should be doing the same on your own website.
- Consider offering freebies for direct bookings. You can start with perks like priority check-in or check-out, early check-in, late check-out, hotel credit, spa credit or even discounts on food and beverage. These types of benefits typically prove to be highly successful.
- Have a flexible cancellation policy in place. If you want to keep your rates in parity, you can still stand out by being flexible with your offering, especially during your COVID-19 rebound.
- Target repeating guests by offering a discount for their next stay. Communicate this through EDMs or give a discount code upon check-out. This way, you’re actively working to shift business that’s coming in away from those expensive OTAs and toward your own direct channel.
- Have a strong marketing plan to promote your website and promotions. Without marketing yourself, no one will even know you exist.
- Don’t be afraid to invest time and money into social media. It’s the perfect way to engage with the broader community.
- Online advertising is an awesome investment, and don’t forget it!
- Manage your online reputation by interacting with reviews (both positive and negative), strategically promoting user generated content and engaging with customers on the web.
Ready, Set, Book!
I’m sure that any hospitality management team out there will welcome anything that makes their lives easier. Implementing direct booking practices can improve customer relations and increase revenue. Its benefits ripple far, and you’re bound to be better off without the middleman.
