The new Direct, complexities and rewards of Social Bookings

Social Bookings are a new hybrid category of hotel bookings that originated on social, super-apps such as WeChat, and others. They are a blend of direct bookings and third-party bookings, where the platform has its own custom-built booking module connected via API to the hotel's central reservation system or booking engine, delivering the bookings directly to the hotel without revenue sharing. Social Bookings are becoming the main direct booking channel for hotels in Asia and are expected to grow, especially with the increasing average time spent on social media platforms. To ensure high conversion rates, hotels need to invest in custom experiences per platform for each brand, which could be a new way for hotels to regain control of their direct bookings for the mobile era.

How direct bookings are going to evolve into a hybrid of technology plus channels.

Currently direct bookings are those bookings which happen through a hotel’s website (brand.com) and booking engine, call center or on property at check-in. Brand.com has worked for a few decades with very little change, originally built when websites were static brochure-like channels and hotels needed to add a booking element.

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The Hotel Yearbook 2023 - Annual Edition

As we have embarked on 2023, it is evident that the hotel industry has made a robust recovery from the pandemic. Occupancy and pricing have returned to their pre-pandemic levels. However, the future of our industry is contingent on how nimble the hospitality sector can be in adapting to ongoing innovation, changing market conditions, evolving consumer preferences, new staffing challenges, and sustainability realities. These uncertainties are the new normal in an unpredictable world.
www.hotelyearbook.com/edition/2023.html