How to optimize your direct channel?

 

 

 

Our direct channel is our best sales tool as long as it is well used.

 

 

Are you using your direct channel properly?

 

Many accommodation businesses believe that having a website is enough, they use it as a business card, so that those potential guests who come to the site, get to know everything the property has to offer. 

 

However, having a site without a booking engine is like eating pasta without cheese, it won’t satisfy you! And excuse the comparison, but I can’t imagine a pasta dish without shredded cheese on the top. 

 

Let’s take a closer look 

 

Let’s imagine that a potential guest who came to your site, falls in love with your place and wants to book at your property, and you don’t have a booking engine software that allows real time reservations, let me be honest, you are likely to lose that sale. Your potential guest may be in another country or another time zone and by the time you receive their inquiry and respond to it, your guest will have already booked with a competitor. Guest satisfaction in hospitality industry should be our priority and the booking process is the very first part of the guest journey. 

 

Now that we understand why it is important to have a booking engine, let’s see why, however, having a webdirect booking system is not enough to convert bookings.

 

Now let’s imagine that if you have a booking engine software, the guest who is interested in your property, before booking, wants to find out more about the prices and check the recommendations that other guests have to give. 

 

And that’s where you have the first failure… your potential guest has just left your site to look for information in OTA sites.

 

They will look for prices on top OTAs and if they find a better rate on one of these sites (which is very likely to happen), they will confirm the booking there. 

 

So your site will only work as a billboard effect marketing for your metasearch partners ..what? yes, just like that.

 

How can I prevent that from happening?

 

 

There are widgets that can be easily integrated to your website and work from a neuromarketing point of view as accelerators of the decision making process. These tools align with a hotel sales and marketing strategy of increasing direct bookings. 

While the guest is browsing your site, these tools display different types of pop-ups with personalized messages according to the guest’s search to help them gather all the information they need and finally complete the booking.

 

 

What kind of pop-up messages are displayed?

 

 

There are different types of pop-up messages you can show, here below are the 3 that guests value most when booking

 

 

• Price comparison

Allow potential guests to compare prices from different channels while navigating your website.

In addition, you will be able to highlight any special service you provide complimentary such as Wi-Fi  or parking, offering your potential guests not only the best available rate but also unique benefits when booking directly. 

If disparity is what you are concerned about, you can easily detect it through this widget and revert it immediately.

Click on here  for a free trial of the price comparison widget 

 

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• Guest Rating & Reviews 

If trust and credibility is what you would like to inspire, then these widgets are your choice. Guests rely on real guest opinions more than anything else, so give them the chance to overview those while navigating your website. By highlighting those reviews that reflect the most unique features of your property you could wow your potential guest and encourage them to book directly.

Click on here for a free trial of the rating and review widget 

 

 

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• Custom Notes

This widget will allow you to insert messages based on sales resources that are used to encourage a potential client to make the purchase, accelerating the decision-making process. By highlighting a specific benefit for instance, you could increase the feeling of desire or generate urgency. Or simply stand out from your competitors. 

Click on here for a free trial of the custom notes widget 

 

If you would like to get more information about how to implement these widgets on your website click on the button below