A Common Mistakes for Booking Engine. Almost every hoteliers or villa owner is looking for ways to maximize their revenue; from a large hotel to independent boutique hotel or even a small villa, they are looking for ways to boost their sales. Most hotel acknowledge that the hotels website is an important revenue generator, ‘but rather than using it as the cost-effective and dynamic tool that it is, they lose focus and turn it into the equivalent of an online brochure. While brochures have their place in the marketing mix, they are not directly responsible for a hotels profit, whereas your website can be... How?? By optimizing the booking engine, hoteliers can maximize bookings and revenues through this important portal. ‘But First, hotel websites must avoid some of these pitfalls: 1. Don’t hide the Booking Engine. When designing websites, try to present the website visitor with a one-two punch: - 1st, the emotional reaction - Oh, I want to go there! - accomplished by beautiful images, often as a subtle slideshow. - 2nd, a very clear call-to-action: the quick availability and rate search. When those two aspects- which are the most effective at encouraging bookings- are the centerpieces of a successful web strategy, the propertys online revenues increase dramatically. The Reservations button hidden in a corner or at the bottom of the website will not make the grade, make it easy for them to find (and use) it. If they dont see your call-to-action right away, their next click will be on the back button. 2. Your website is not a comic book for 1st graders. This is the biggest mistakes. Popups are the most reputed internet annoyance for consumers shopping for a hotel online. You dont want your booking engine to be scaring consumers away. The reasons for using popups vary and although there are ways to avoid being caught by a popup blocker, why take any chance that your booking engine will either annoy your customer or be blocked altogether? 3. Start, ‘but Not till Finish. Before your booking engine can be the central feature of your website, it must first be fully and dynamically integrated into the website - as cleanly and seamlessly as possible. So that consumers believe expect a seamless booking experience similar to the one they have on third party sites like Orbitz or Expedia, and if they cant get it through your propertys site they will go elsewhere. So what is the right way to do it? A consumers typical online purchasing process goes something along the lines of this: • Arrive at the home page, get rates for room types from booking engine. • Decide whether your rate and availability suits their needs- Is the rate too high? Are you booked solid through their travel dates? Then, especially in the current climate, consumers will search for specials and deals that may be available. • So the price is right and you have availability, next consumers want to find out what your property has to offer - pool, spa, tours, restaurant, valet, etc. Dont forget to include photos! Again, they have to decide whether what you offer suits their needs. • Hopefully, theyve made it this far and they are happy with what you have to offer. So they click on the BOOK NOW button and once again, either reject or accept your cancellation policy, additional fees and security and safety of your site. • The consumer will look if the website is secure and then they enter the credit card details and confirm the booking. As you can see, consumers who are ready and willing to book their stay goes through multiple accept/reject check points. And at every one of these booking stages, you run the risk of losing the customer. If your site changes its look or there is a visual disconnect with what you are offering, forces a popup, includes broken links or incorrect data, or seems incomplete and difficult to navigate through any of the touchpoints, it is highly likely that you will lose the booking. And always make sure when they make reservations, the booking engine is NOT JUMPING to other pages with “DIFFERENT DOMAIN NAME” or in other words, make sure the BOOKING ENGINE it stay on your Web site. Why? This is vital to create trust and a high level of comfort. 4. No Specials ?? Bhhhooooo... The most effective way are, create a promotion and specials. For example, a traveler with a large family that needs three rooms might be hoping to get the third room at a discount. A late-booking visitor, knowing that your property has availability, might be looking for a last-minute discount. Offering specials to these willing customers and then clearly outlining them in rate quotes (and again during the booking summary) will increase conversion rates tremendously. Create a banner on your home page, so the consumers know that you have any promotions or any specials. 5. https://securepayments ?? One of the challenges the online booking has always faced is trepidation - even sometimes hesitation - on the part of consumers to give out credit card numbers online. Make sure your security certificates are up-to-date, visible and recognizable. Use the best encryption and information security practices available. Keep your potential customers privacy as the central factor in deciding whether to collect any information because you can be sure, if their information is ever compromised, thats the last sale that your property will ever get from them. If you have an effective reservation department that can follow up on email inquiries, ask for name, email and phone number in the step prior to the credit card details. If the user for some reason has second, you still have a hot lead that you can call back to help complete the reservation. Conversion ratios on abandons tend to be much higher than regular email leads, especially if agents are empowered to offer small discounts as part of the process. Clearly, your propertys online success also depends on many other factors beyond just the specific booking engine: low traffic, poor search engine optimization, lack of brand recognition or support revenue management will be equally detrimental. The most important is the concept, however..you have direct control over your website and booking engine so if its not working, fix it! Rededicate your website for the purpose of not just driving sales or increasing leads, ‘but creating revenue. Help your booking engine to contribute to your bottom line, rather than ruin it.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 03:57:44 +0000
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