Is your website generating MORE direct bookings for you?
Boosting Direct Occupancy in The Hospitality Industry
Having a five-star website that is both elegant and focued on conversions, is an essential tool to effectively boost direct bookings for your hotel, or lodge.
Prospective guests are keen to know as much as possible about a hotel or lodge before they make a reservation, so make it simple for them.
A website will be one of the first places a prospective guest will visit before they decide to make a reservation. It can quite simply make or break their decision to book with you
Increasing direct bookings through a premium website will save you money, boost occupancy and increase your hotel brand credibility and authority.
How to Boost Direct Bookings Through a 5-Star Website
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Having effective SEO is important to increase the visibility of your hotel online.
For visitor traffic to increase to your hotel website, your website must be visible on search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEO will improve your hotel search engine ranking, and the aim is to rank higher until you land on the first page.
The second step is gearing your website towards conversion. What action do you want people to take once they are on your website?
Your website should ultimately be built in a way that makes it a lead generating mechanism.
All that should be left to you is to close the direct booking deal.
Optimizing your hotel website has the following benefits:
- Keeps you ahead of your competitors
- Adds credibility and authority to your hotel brand
- Improves hotel guest loyalty and engagement
- Increases hotel brand awareness by having a broader audience
- More interest in your hotel
- Building greater traffic to your website
SEO Strategy
Guests are more likely to click on the search results appearing on the first page. Other ways to increase your search engine ranking and visibility is to implement an effective SEO strategy.
This can be done by using keyword placement and following meta guidelines.
In addition, having a blog page providing context to your keywords will show Google and other search engines that you have relevant and reliable content.
SEO strategies should be assessed and analysed on a regular basis; below is a checklist of questions you should always be asking:
Do you have a keyword strategy?
Have you checked your SEO optimisation?
Do you have a content marketing strategy?
Have you checked the back links from other websites to your website?
Do you check the analytics?
The more visitors you attract to your site through targeted keywords increase the chances that the prospective guest will make a direct booking, through your hotel website.
Adding Value to Promotional Packages
Prospective guests are looking at value for their money.
Having a value approach to your hospitality offerings like creative rate packages, investigating different market segments and novel marketing activities are ways you can add value to guests.
Encouraging direct bookings on your website, by promoting exclusive advantages to guests that book direct or convert those that come from OTAs are a good way to add value for the prospective guest.
Implementing an omni-channel marketing approach where all channels are interconnected and aimed at driving traffic to your hotel website is a smart and resourceful way to increase direct bookings.
An omni-channel approach enables you to create a consistent experience for customers across multiple platforms.
Boost Direct Bookings and Save on OTA Fees
Most hotels and lodges are linked with Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).
These are excellent avenues for building brand recognition and increasing revenue.
OTAs like booking.com have a reach of nearly 404 million monthly users worldwide.
However, OTAs need to be thought of as a part of your distribution mix rather than the sole channel to rely on as they take a BIG part of the revenue for themselves, in some cases up to 30%!
Having a five-star website that is geared toward conversion as well as an omni-channel marketing approach can be a great way to save money as guests book directly through your website.
Direct Bookings are first prize!
In conclusion
Having a five-star website that is both sleek and geared towards conversion can be an effective way to boost direct bookings in the hospitality industry.
Implementing effective SEO is important to increase the online visibility of your hotel.
SEO strategies like keyword placement and following meta guidelines can increase search engine ranking and visibility.
Adding value to promotional packages and an omni-channel marketing approach help increase hotel occupancy.
