Running a successful hotel can be challenging as various factors might affect your business. While we can anticipate elements such as seasonality and competition affecting RevPar, external considerations such as local events, concerts and travel disruption can add additional complexities that are only known in the shorter-term.
Certainly maximising your hotel revenue and increasing direct bookings is a team effort as there are many activities that will contribute to achieving your targets and desired outcomes. Here are our top ideas, you can use right now, to help you boost occupancy levels, reduce OTA commissions and drive direct and repeat bookings all year round.
- Know who your typical guests are and what they are looking for
It is essential that you understand who your customers are and why they are choosing to book a room in your hotel. Create hotel guest personas to tailor your messages to them.
- Make sure your hotel website is intuitive and easy to use
A website where people can quickly find everything you have to offer and easily book will help you get more direct bookings.
- Know the strengths and unique selling points of your property
Find out what makes your hotel special to your guests, what they like the most and what differentiates you from others and communicate that on your website, social media and marketing campaigns.
- Reward your guests for booking direct
Make sure that your website offers a discount to people who book directly or surprise them with a gift in-room on arrival alongside a thank you card. Sometimes the little things go a long way.
- Give a little extra to your loyal customers
Tech giants have created today’s digital customers. If a guest is returning to your hotel, they would expect you to know they are loyal customers and will really appreciate and reward you for being treated as such. So ensure to ‘welcome them back’ with an email or at reception.
- Focus on the guest experience
Research shows that customers who have a great experience spend much more than customers who have a poor experience. And if guests are satisfied, they will come back! Happy customers also mean more positive reviews and more direct bookings from people who will read those reviews.
- Ensure your website is mobile friendly
According to Statista, in 2018 mobile traffic was responsible for 52% of global internet traffic. This means that every two people, one is visiting your website from a mobile platform, so it’s really important that your website is optimised for mobile devices.
- Know your price points and price room consistently, taking into account seasonality
Seasons, local events and other external factors have to be taken into account when pricing rooms to ensure you can increase RevPAR.
- Make it easy for guests to leave a review
After their stay, invite guests to leave a review for your hotel. Companies like GuestRevu help you to collect, analyse and optimise your online reviews. You can also gain more reviews by creating your own hotel app.
- Make the photos of your hotel and facilities shine
Show the most beautiful corners of your property with professional photography and videos on your website and social media channels.
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Discover the rest of the top 25 tips and read the full post on the Criton website
