15 Ways to Get More Direct Bookings for your Hotel (2023)

FAQs

How do you encourage direct bookings for hotels? ›

Be flexible with cancellation

For instance, one third of all cancellations occur within 24 hours of the initial booking. Allowing these kind of cancellations without any fuss will provide a good guest experience. So, customers will be more likely to book your property the next time they're looking to stay in your area.

For example, your property could offer add-ons (such as complimentary breakfast, free parking, complimentary shuttle service, or free nights, etc.) as direct booking incentives. You could also leverage all-inclusive packages where you partner with a car/bike/ski rental service, restaurant or airline.

A hotel website, ads, brochures, emails, and social media are just some of the ways hoteliers try to bring guests to their property. On average, the cost of acquisition for hotel bookings can be as high as 25% of your total booking cost.

The three most important expectations of guests in a hotel are convenience, autonomy, and personalization. People now expect contactless check-in, mobile access, and in-app communication so they can avoid queueing at the front desk.

How do hotels increase room sales? ›

Six essential hotel sales strategies are: group bookings, direct bookings, destination marketing, cross promotional sales, guest rewards strategies, revenue management strategies. Other room selling techniques might include upselling, cross-selling, packages, promotions, re-marketing, and local partnerships.

By offering direct booking, customers can make their room reservations by sending an email, calling the hotel, visiting and booking room services on your website, and social media channels.

Reality is, hotels tend to offer the best rate when guests book directly with them. At the same time, hotels are very clear about their prices in order to avoid any misunderstandings that might affect the guests' experience. Because of this, when you book directly with a hotel, prices are final and free of hidden fees.

The share of OTAs in 2021 was 30.6%, and direct bookings increased to 55.2%. Such an increase looks like fertile ground for new opportunities. However, many hotels seem hesitant when it comes to investing more in direct bookings as the main distribution channel. In fact, it does not require large sums.

The average conversion rate for all eCommerce businesses across all industries was around 1.6% as of August 2022. Let's see how the travel industry stands up against these conversion rate benchmarks: Airlines: 5%-10% Hotels: 1.5%-2.5%

A good conversion rate is between 2 percent and 5 percent. The thing with conversion rate is that even a jump of 0.5 percent can be a big deal.

Conventional wisdom says that a good conversion rate is somewhere around 2% to 5%. If you're sitting at 2%, an improvement to 4% seems like a massive jump. You doubled your conversion rate! Well, congratulations, but you're still stuck in the average performance bucket.

A hotel reservation system is software used in the hotel industry to manage room inventory, rates, and bookings. Also called a central reservations system (CRS), it may be housed within the hotel's property management system (PMS) or may be standalone software connected to the PMS.

How do booking platforms work? ›

An online booking system is a cloud-based software that allows your clients to book appointments on your website or through a booking link. Your staff can also schedule meetings for less tech-savvy patients.

Booking funnel conversion is a route that takes browsers from discovering your services to scheduling an appointment. Funnel conversion is the process of bringing your potential customers step-by-step closer to your products or services.

There are two core types of bookings: 1) Direct Bookings and 2) Indirect Bookings.

Matrix Booking is the leading workplace management system for booking rooms, desks, and other resources.

Small gestures like preparing a welcome basket with a personal note, making travel or dining recommendations and checking in occasionally to ensure everything is agreeable can be all it takes for your guests to feel they've found a friend in you and can trust you to accommodate them on future trips.

Special offers and package deals can drive repeat hotel bookings. Offering exclusive packages and deals to your repeat guests is a surefire way to increase guest loyalty. In the hospitality industry, this is among the best strategies for customer retention.

Because the hospitality industry is service-focused, employee wages often make up a large chunk of fixed costs. From the concierge to cooks to the housekeeping, there are many staff members on the payroll at all times. This is why labor costs are typically the largest part of average hotel operating expenses.

The Golden Rule of hospitality: Do unto others as you believe they would want done unto them.

What affects demand in hotel rooms? ›

Several factors can influence demand for hotel rooms, including the time of year, local events and attractions, and overall economic conditions. Hotel revenue managers may use various tools and techniques to make accurate forecasts, such as historical data, market research, and industry benchmarks.

A perfect sellout is where every room is sold and occupied. This excludes those always hard to collect no-shows from the picture. Follow along as I take you through the anatomy of a perfect sellout. 1. The first team member with the ball will also be the last, the night auditor.

Owning a hotel can be profitable if you have the right combination of location, price point, quality of the physical asset, marketing strategy, dedicated employees, and supportive investors and management partners. However, a hotel isn't profitable by default, so you can expect a lot of hard work to generate profit.

Money, hugs, stickers, and field trips are positive incentives.

Positive incentives can include praise, bonuses, career advancements, earning extra vacation days, gift certificates and other monetary rewards.

Positive Incentives

For example-promotion, praise, recognition, perks and allowances, etc. It is positive by nature.

There are two types of incentives: financial and non-financial incentives. Financial (monetary) incentives are payments or rewards that are given in exchange for achieving certain goals or targets. Non-financial incentives are non-monetary rewards, such as awards, privileges, or recognition.

Direct booking is a crucial component of the distribution mix for hoteliers because it helps them to increase revenue, improve guest experience, and reduce dependency on online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia and Booking.com.

Why do hotels direct booking? ›

It's Cheaper to Book Direct

When you book directly with the hotel, there are no hidden fees. Using third-party booking services has additional fees that you may on top of the rate. Online travel agents also charge a commission, which could be up to 20% of the booking, from the hotel.

The billboard effect is a phenomenon that occurs when hotels see additional direct bookings on their own website after listing on an online travel agency (OTA). This is because potential customers first discover the listing on an OTA, and then visit the property's own website to directly book their trip.

Direct bookings are beneficial because they connect lodging businesses directly with potential customers and increase hotel revenue through money saved from OTA commissions. With direct bookings, lodging operators own their guest data and can pick and choose what information they collect during the booking process.

Reality is, hotels tend to offer the best rate when guests book directly with them. At the same time, hotels are very clear about their prices in order to avoid any misunderstandings that might affect the guests' experience. Because of this, when you book directly with a hotel, prices are final and free of hidden fees.

Hotels tend to offer the best rates when you book directly with them and it's a great incentive. It benefits both you and the hotel when you make a reservation directly.

Guests may end up staying more nights than they originally planned. Scheduling mishaps. Major events in the area (like the Superbowl or a convention) An unexpected maintenance issue taking rooms out of service.

1. Written Mode: Letter - This mode is commonly used by travel agents, tour operators, companies and corporate houses who send in their reservation request to the hotel on their company letterheads. The hotel will make the reservation as per the details are given in the letter.

Telephone – the most common method of direct reservation communications, a prospective guest may telephone the hotel directly. The reservationist takes the information sequentially as per the script.

When you book your hotel room directly, you can make your particular requirements known to the hotel. If you're celebrating a birthday or an anniversary during your visit, you can mention it at the time of booking and the hotel can do something to make your visit extra special for the occasion.

What is most important to hotel guests? ›

Cleanliness matters

The most important expectation has and always will be cleanliness. Lack of cleanliness is among the top complaints about hotel stays. Good cleanliness often goes unnoticed, but poor hotel hygiene will always be something guests remember about their hotel stay.

Yes, last-minute bookings are (usually) better. A 2022 NerdWallet study analyzed more than 2,500 hotel room rates from 2019 through the first half of 2021 and found an average of 13 percent savings for those who booked 15 days in advance as compared to those who booked four months in advance.

You might miss out on loyalty points or deals if you don't stay consistently with certain hotel chains or book directly through them. Direct bookings are prioritized at check-in, so there's a small chance you could get bumped to another room or there can be an error with the reservation.

Waiting until the very last minute to book can really pay off. While airfares tend to rise as your travel date approaches, it's the opposite with hotel prices. Since hotels are always aiming to maximize their occupancy rate, many will decrease their rates if they aren't meeting their expected targets.

Once you find the lowest available price at the hotel you want to visit, call the hotel's reservation desk. Many hotels will meet or beat the best internet rate when you book with them. They'd much rather skip the commission to the travel site and book your stay directly.