Increase Direct Bookings for Hotels

Every hotelier on the planet always stays on their heels to increase direct bookings and revenue. From offline promotions to partnering with multiple OTA (Online Travel Agencies) platforms, hotels keep exploring alternatives to increase their direct booking. Even after adopting such methods, the key concern remains in fetching direct bookings that ultimately help hoteliers make more revenue. 

Let’s peek into the insightful secrets of increasing direct bookings for hotels and their revenue.

What is a hotel direct booking?

In a direct booking instance, guests make room reservations directly with the hotel via calls, email, walk-in or directly through the hotel’s official website.

Previously, hotel direct bookings were made via offline channels, without the interference of online intermediaries. However, with an unprecedented surge in travel and tourism, hoteliers are receiving an overwhelming number of bookings through other online channels.

As a result, hoteliers are seeing a significant decrease in direct bookings with the rise in online intermediaries such as OTAs. 

In recent years, hoteliers have continued to transform their business models through digital adoption. However, bookings received through third party agents usually come at lower price with less flexibility in customer service offerings. 

Why are direct bookings important for guests?

Direct bookings are significantly important for guests as they provide value and personalised service experience. By making direct bookings with hotel, guests can access exclusive offers, discounts and even loyalty rewards. These types of offers and discounts are not accessible at third-party platforms. 

Since direct bookings are made directly through the hotel, the communication ensures more transparency and accuracy from room preferences to special requests. 

Additionally, guests also benefit from a more flexible cancellation policy and clearer terms and conditions. These bookings contribute to a smoother, more transparent, and trustworthy experience, enhancing overall satisfaction and building a stronger relationship with the hotel.

What is the value of a direct booking at your Hotel?

In order to be profitable, hoteliers focus on increasing bookings but the majority of bookings that can help them drive more revenue are direct bookings.

They add significant value to hotel businesses by eliminating the role and commissions of third parties, leading to increased profits. 

Apart from this, direct bookings allow hoteliers to build a relationship with guests, allowing them for personalised experiences and enhanced customer loyalty.

These bookings provide valuable customer feedback, and help them understand the expectations of guests to embed tailored approaches.

This boosts guest satisfaction and also reduces the dependency on OTAs, leading to improved profit margins and better brand recognition in the market. 

Tips to Increase Hotel Direct Bookings

Direct bookings was a tough nut to crack with more and more intermediaries entering the market with lucrative deals with hotels.

With technology advancements, B2B hotel management software such as Hotel-X has brought it to the rescue of hoteliers to focus on increasing profitability by capitalising on commission-free bookings. 

Besides, there are more ways to look at increasing hotel direct bookings:

1. Optimized Website

An optimised website with a user-friendly interface and navigation always helps in making direct booking process more straightforward. It drives organic traffic for hotel by attracting guests with real-time availability status. 

2. Integrating booking engine

A booking engine to hotel business can be game-changing for hoteliers in attracting direct bookings. It simplifies reservation process and with dynamic pricing and instant confirmation, guests are more likely to be directed towards using this feature. 

For instance, Hotel-X booking engine help hoteliers attract commission Direct free bookings through its intuitive booking engine. It includes built in payment gateway and options for partial payments, discounts and loyalty programs. This directly allow guests to book via hotel website or app, skipping them reach third party sites. This helps hoteliers increase net revenue by 20% to 30%. 

3. New media marketing methods

In a highly competitive hospitality landscape, exploring the new media marketing methods such as Google Ads, Digital Marketing, etc. to enhance guest engagement.

Additionally, hoteliers are utilising social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to showcase property features, collaborating with influencers in offering special discounts to guests. 

4. Direct booking offers & discounts

Direct booking boosts revenue and fostering customer loyalty. By encouraging guests to book directly through the hotel’s website, hoteliers offers exclusive deals also enhance the guest experience, making travelers feel valued and more likely to return.

Direct bookings give hoteliers better control over the customer relationship, enabling personalized communication and tailored services. 

5. Loyalty programs

Loyalty programs have emerged as a powerful tool for hoteliers to boost direct bookings. By offering exclusive rewards and personalized experiences, these programs encourage repeat business, fostering customer loyalty and reducing reliance on third-party platforms. 

FAQs

1. How to increase direct booking for hotel?

Hoteliers can increase direct bookings by optimizing their website, offering exclusive deals, utilizing SEO, and leveraging social media and email marketing.

2. How do you increase the revenue of a hotel?

Hoteliers can increase their revenue by integrating an intuitive booking engine like Hotel-X that has dynamic pricing features to enhance guest experiences, and improving revenue generation strategies.

3. Do hotels prefer direct booking?

Yes, hotels prefer direct booking as it eliminates the role of intermediaries or third-party platforms further eliminates commission, fosters customer loyalty, and offers better control over guest experiences.

4. How can I improve my booking conversion?

Hoteliers can boost booking conversion by offering personalized deals, seamless booking experiences, mobile optimization, user-friendly websites, and leveraging guest reviews.

5. How do you convince customers to book a hotel?

Hoteliers can focus on exclusive offers, personalized experiences, top-notch amenities, and positive guest reviews to entice customers to choose their hotel.