In the hotel room booking wars, online travel agencies (OTAs) seem to be giving up a little ground, and it’s a great opportunity for boutique, hotels and resorts. Properties that sell rooms must pay a commission through OTAs, so website direct bookings mean higher profit margins.
The challenge for hotels is to get potential guests to your website in the first place. But once that is done, we found hotels can offer simple perks to increase the chances that a consumer would book directly instead of using an OTAs.
Here are some good ideas you can use right now to help you boost occupancy levels, reduce OTA commissions and drive direct bookings for your business.
1- Force your website visitors to book direct with pop-ups or (CTAs).
As travelers research places to stay, they will likely visit the hotel website to view photos and other facilities or amenities. It’s important to grab their attention fast using CTAs or pop-ups to alert guests to cheaper rates, promotion or offers on the hotel website.
What is CTA?
CTA stands for Call to Action, and it’s the part of a story, webpage, advertisement, or piece of content that encourages the audience to do something. In marketing, CTAs help a business convert a viewer, visitor, or reader into a lead for the sales team. CTAs can drive a variety of different actions depending on the content’s goal.
2- Offers incentives on your official hotel website
Alongside the message about cheaper direct bookings, hotels can also place a cherry on top of the deal with some type of incentive for booking direct.
Incentives that could lead to direct hotel bookings
A). In-room incentives
When asked what in-room incentives would convince them to book through a hotel website directly, 43% suggested that in-room dining/drinks would motivate them to book directly. This was followed by a complimentary in-room massage and complimentary minibar/snacks which both attracted 19% of responses.
B). Amenity incentives
Alongside the message about cheaper direct bookings, hotels can also place a cherry on top of the deal with some type of incentive for booking direct.
Incentives that could lead to direct hotel bookings
3 – Speed up your own brand hotel website and keep it as simple as Possible
Slow site speeds can fracture your conversions rates. Research shows that up to 75% of people will leave for a competitor’s site to avoid dealing with delays. It will help guests consume information quicker.
According to a Google study since 2012, websites that are visually complex are seen as less effective and less aesthetically appealing. To ensure that your website design is relevant to your guests:
- Stick to a responsive design
- Make your navigation bar easy to find and use
- Let your guest’s eyes breath with keeping things simple
- Have a sense of direction in your highly relevant images
- Make your design relevant to your hotel
4 – Grow local SEO for your boutique hotel
Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is about how to optimize your website to rank better for a local audience in your local market.
The statistics supporting the importance of Local SEO are extremely compelling refer to website Social Media Today.
- 46% of all searches on Google are seeking local information whereas 97% of search engine users searched online to find a local business.
- 86% of consumers rely on the internet to find a local business and almost a third (29%) search for local businesses at least one a week.
- 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business for something nearby result in a purchase within 10 km.
With this article we look at the highest value activities which can help your business rank well locally in Google and Bing search. Learn More
5 – Find local hotel website designer and convert browsers, to guests
Increase your hotel’s direct bookings with beautiful, guest-converting to website design. You can find a good consultant that has experiences with hospitality can drive guests through your website and into your booking engine, to increase your direct bookings and reduce your OTA expenses.
Are you looking to revamp your hotel website design for better conversions? Get in touch with us. We can help power up your hotel design for more bookings.
