Web Booking Engine Underperforming? Learn How Your Hotel Can Boost Direct Booking Conversions

With internet bookings escalating every year, it's safe to say that the web booking engine is probably the most critical component of a hotel's website. Skimping on a responsive booking engine is unthinkable today – and yet the number of properties that still depend entirely on OTAs is truly surprising! 2016 seems to be heading in a different direction though. Awareness about cloud technology and software-enabled management has been growing and many establishments will be migrating to the platform this year.

But efficient management isn't going to guarantee more reservations. In order to truly maximize their property's potential, hotels need to focus more on the audience and their preferred booking channels. And with millennials firmly establishing themselves as tomorrow's primary spenders, it's their interests that hotels will be going after. Millennials are into mobile. It seems like an age ago that we were talking about how website bookings are the main source of reservations – mobile bookings are growing so rapidly that Google estimates the majority of internet searches to be carried out on these devices within the next couple of years!

Mobile compatibility is absolutely crucial to a hotel's success today – but we still see a large number of properties that aren't even equipped with compatible websites. I mean, we shouldn't even be discussing things like compatibility today. We should be talking optimization! This is a very real problem that owners should take more seriously – the internet has gained notoriety for making people impatient, and prospective guests are no exception. If the page takes too long or isn't properly optimized for a mobile device, they'll just head for an OTA!

Here are some of the best practices to follow in order to improve your hotel's direct bookings:

• Make sure that you display your booking console at the homepage of your website. This ensures that your site's visitors have ample opportunity to reserve when they're ready.
• Try to come up with a creative call-to-action, besides the regular 'Book Now' – change is a good thing!
• Try to distribute your site's content optimally throughout a single webpage, nobody likes to scroll through pages and pages of content.
• Ensure that it's easy for visitors to navigate to different sections of your hotel's website. The contact, amenities, and all other informational pages must be easy to find.
• Make sure that you leverage geo-based promotions for different countries.
• Optimizing your site's design is integral to maximizing bookings but having high quality content is also a crucial part of this process. Once you've gotten guests to stay on your site, you'll need to have high quality content to present them with – many companies today underestimate the value of that.
• Ensure that your room and rate descriptions are up-to-date and clearly reflect the kind of experience guests can expect at your property.

You can experience the benefits of a well-integrated booking engine by trying a system for free - click here

Property Technology Revenue Management Digital Marketing