8 simple ways to increase direct hotel bookings

Any business's primary goal is to increase profits for stable revenue.

Of course, this is in addition to developing a brand and offering a superior customer experience.

Increasing direct bookings is one of the most crucial (but also one of the most difficult) tasks for any hotelier.

Given the vast market and share of third-party booking sites, it is becoming more and more critical for hotels to maintain a proper balance of OTA and direct bookings.

Here are the 8 simple ways to increase your direct hotel bookings.

1. Improve your website's performance.

Your website is the primary tool for showing guests what distinguishes your property from the competition and why they should prefer it to the competition.

Your website should be properly search engine optimized.

This increases the visibility of your hotel website on search engines, attracting more visitors.

To boost organic traffic to your website, consider using valuable content. Above all, your hotel website should be mobile-friendly.

Furthermore, it should be accessible on all devices, including laptops, PCs, and tablets.

The more accessible or reachable you are, the more likely it is that you will receive direct hotel bookings.

You made your website mobile-friendly.

Wonderful! People are searching your website and now want to book with you.

But that is not it!

Your website also needs an integrated booking engine!

In this case, more than a brand website is required.

You must incorporate an effective booking engine, allowing your guests to book directly with you from your website.

A booking engine that only retrieves direct bookings is insufficient.

It must entice guests to your website and transform them into bookers.

2. Positive guest reviews should be promoted on your website

Reviews play an important role in your guests' purchasing decisions.

Most bookers believe that reading reviews is essential before making a final booking.

Good reviews can have a significant impact on a traveler's booking decision.

As a result, it's critical to promote positive guest reviews on your website tactically.

You can also share excellent feedback on social media to help build a strong brand reputation.

And remember that simply collecting reviews is not enough; you must also respond to them promptly.

And to do so, you can use our pre-made review response templates to respond to website reviews quickly.

3. Run advertisements to encourage visitors to book directly

Your marketing plan should be tailored to your target audience.

For example, it should be unique to entice new bookers, visitors who have previously visited your website, and bookers who frequently use OTAs to book a hotel room.

And do you know which marketing strategy allows you to cater to each of these audiences separately?

Online classified ads.

You can run various online advertisements on Google, Facebook, and other platforms.

You can create target-specific advertising campaigns or strategies to boost hotel room sales and direct website bookings.

4. Provide special packages

Providing preferential value-added packages on your website could persuade potential customers to book directly through your booking engine.

Website visitors are attracted to exclusive packages, special promotions, and preferable rates.

Such distinguishing features may well result in direct bookings.

5. Make sure you have a safe and simple online booking system

An online booking engine with a payment gateway is required to continue driving direct bookings.

Many of today's travelers prefer to make their reservations online, which means you will lose a large number of bookings if you do not have an effective online booking engine.

When putting a booking and payment system in place, make sure to:

• Concentrate on security:

Display your PCI DSS compliance badge to demonstrate that your website meets online payment security standards.

• Maintain simplicity:

Allow travelers to enter their information and pay on the same page.

• Provide currency options:

Allow travelers to check prices in their preferred currency.

6. Use pop-ups and call-to-action button(s)

Most prospective guests visit hotel websites to look at images, amenities, and policies.

You can alert them to lower rates using appealing and persuasive CTAs and pop-ups.

CTAs and pop-ups are excellent ways to spread the word.

To boost direct website bookings, make your homepage pop-up stand out by providing an incentive to book directly.

However, you must ensure that the CTAs or pop-ups do not interfere with the booking process.

Visitors should be able to skip or close them easily.

It is difficult to change traveler behavior, but you can encourage visitors to return to your website.

CTAs and pop-ups are excellent ways to inform potential guests about the benefits of direct bookings.

7. Allow guests to book directly through social media

Hotel marketing has exploded in recent years as a result of the relentless march of social media.

As a result, advertising via social media is an extremely useful tool for dominating search results and driving social media traffic to your hotel website.

Furthermore, create a social media profile and unique post content to entice your followers to visit your hotel at least once.

Even better, you can incorporate your booking engine with your Facebook page and allow your fans to book directly from the page.

8. Use a live chatbot to respond to guest inquiries

When visitors arrive at your hotel's website and browse through it, they may have several questions.

You must respond quickly because if they do not receive a response within a few minutes, they may leave.

This could result in a negative hotel brand reputation.

In this case, having a chatbot allows you to respond instantly to your website visitors.

These were some of the most efficient and effective methods for increasing direct hotel sales on your website.

Take the first step and begin implementing the mentioned strategies to save thousands of dollars on OTA commissions.

If you'd like to learn more about any of these strategies in depth, have any more to share, or need help implementing them, please leave a comment below.

or take a look at our content on Hotel Marketing and Reputation management

We’d be delighted to assist!