How to drive direct hotel bookings

June 21, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Mail article Print article Facebook Twitter

In a slowly rebounding economy the cost savings between direct bookings and OTA bookings can mean the difference between thriving and simply surviving. How can hoteliers use social media and enhanced technology to incentivize customers to book directly?

Consider why OTAs are so popular - they allow unparalleled browsing of properties by price point, location, user reviews, ratings, etc. Customers use OTAs like the yellow pages of hotels - if your property is not listed customers are less likely to know that you exist. An OTA or review site is usually the first stop when a traveler is considering a trip. Travelers often do not book during that first visit to Hotels.com, TripAdvisor, or Travelocity. They browse to learn about pricing and availability before they move forward with booking both a hotel and transportation. During an initial browsing session customers may view a few profiles, read reviews, and click through to a hotel’s website for more information. This is the ideal time to start a social media relationship with that customer and hopefully drive a direct booking. Consider some ways to convert travelers to your direct channel.

Above all, hotels should have direct access to their website from all review sites (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.) and OTAs where possible. Additional investment in services like TripAdvisor’s Business Listings will lead to more direct reservations. This will guide browsing customers not only to your website but also to your social channels where you can communicate with them in unique ways. A website that is highly integrated with social channels can foster the following powerful social engagement….

- a shopper wants to remember your hotel, so they pin an image to their Pinterest trip planning pinboard
- a potential customer “likes” you on Facebook to see if you offer any fan-based special promotions
- a customer views your Twitter feed to learn about the atmosphere and mood at your hotel

When you captivate potential customers with social media you boost their interest in your property. This can prevent them from going back to the “yellow pages” (an OTA) to consider other options before they book. If you have given them a “friends” rate or just made booking easy from social channels, you can avoid OTA fees. Good social media engagement with all fans and followers will increase this effect.

It can also be effective to provide some functionality that the OTAs offer directly on your site. Most travelers would agree that the most persuasive and valuable part of the OTA experience is user reviews. By pulling in real-time user reviews from TripAdvisor or Yelp, you may give that shopper enough assurance that your property is the right choice. This should be done in a transparent way, reporting both the good and the bad to ensure customers view the online reviews on your site as credible.

Get the full story at the Revinate blog