5 Tips to Increase Direct Bookings

In order to take your hotel’s revenue to the next level, you need to implement strategies that help you generate more direct bookings. Thanks to the introduction of tech, the face of hotel e-commerce keeps on changing—therefore, you need to adapt according to the changing trends.

Here are 5 practical tips to help you generate more direct bookings in 2019.

1. Install a booking engine

Your website needs to be user-friendly and interactive at the same time. People visiting your website want to easy swift through it and get to know it better. Your website needs to run smoothly and store cookies on the visitor’s device so that it takes less time to load. The second most important thing is to make your website accessible by mobile. Most users heavily depend on their cell phones and you likely browse your website through their phone.

2. Get Ranked on Metasearch and Social media

Metasearch is picking up momentum and those competing in the hospitality industry need to get their direct bookings ranked well on metasearch and main Social media. A usual user types for hotels in the search and these metasearch engines gather data from the existing search platforms like Google and Trivago. In order to get the attention of these visitors, you need to work on your website and offer direct bookings through them. Social Media are a powerful tool to lead direct bookings and create a community.

3. Harness User Generated Content

Displaying reviews and making them open for the page visitors is absolutely necessary. Before trusting a business, each user looks at reviews left by other customers. The idea is to go out of the way and provide great services so that the reviews you get are organic and talk about real experiences. If your hotel is new, you can offer discounts or special protocols to encourage clients about leaving a review. Make sure that the review section is easily accessible to the user visiting your website.

4. Portray Your Strong Points

If you want to attract more people to your direct booking portal, you will have to play on your strengths. Let people know what is unique about your hotel so that you are able to build your own clientele. You can also acquire the services of professional photographers to take beautiful pictures of the building and display them on social media and metasearch engines.

5. Offer Rewards

The reward system is another way to encourage direct bookings. You can offer clients who book directly special welcome packs or milestones so that they have a wonderful experience every time they visit. You can also hand over vouchers so that they get a discount the next time they visit. The idea here is to increase loyalty among the visitors and make them feel valued.