1. Invest in your booking engine
Direct sales are a crucial resource.
Betting on a direct booking engine will bring you more autonomy from distribution channels and will allow you to offer a more complete experience to your guest.
Remember that it is important to hold the guest on your booking engine to make the booking happen! And for that you should pay attention to the quality of the images, check if you have a good description of your propriety and location, include extra service information, special prices, and exclusive promotions, flexible cancellation policies ... all these aspects are important to boost the reservations!
Having a Booking Engine with loaded and reliable information will guarantee you great results.
2. Focus on good online communication
More than ever, it is necessary to invest in online communication. Creating bonds in such a digital world. That's what it's all about.
Be present on the social media where your clients are, communicate directly with them: share daily bases, offer relevant content. Get the attention and stimulate the purchase!
Creating relevant and attractive content, both on social networks and the website will help to increase the interaction and improve your communication. If at this point you combine a direct booking engine, integrated into your website and your Facebook, the opportunity of getting more direct bookings grows exponentially!
3. Give priority to your client's online experience
Good service starts well before the client arrives at the hotel. Prioritize your client's experience in all stages.
Remember that your website and your Booking Engine are your web front office: they must be responsive and intuitive, with clear language and attractive images to the experience.
And don’t forget, there are other services that you can include to make the experience even more complete: include a payment provider to make the purchase more secure, combine the system with a chatbot to make communication more pleasant right from the first contact, and even allow pre-check-in online through any mobile devices.
Make your network: advertise your Booking Engine, your special offers on social media, and have a call to action button to encourage instant direct bookings
4. Invest in after check-out
To build customer loyalty, the contact and the relationship should continue after check-out.
Ask how they stay went, what the guest liked the most about the experience, and what suggestions they can share with you to improve! Involve your client and make them feel that their opinion is relevant. Use the feedback you get to improve services and share with your community what your guests say.
There are no standard formulas for success, and each propriety will have to find its value to present itself as "the solution" for the guests.
At e-GDS we work daily anticipating the future to create the technological tools necessary for the greatest success of our customers: responsive booking engines integrated into Facebook, with special rates for exclusive guests (loyalty), with the possibility of rates only for Facebook, only for mobile, by geolocation or even "flash deals" in a certain period!
And we know there's more: include a payment provider to give security at the time of purchase, activate multiple payment methods so that your customers choose the most convenient, work on the relationship with the client with the help of a chatbot,... Send promotional codes, exclusive opportunities!
Involve your customer, increase the curiosity and disposition of the experience. Create involvement with the brand, with the dynamics of the propriety and its values. We are together!