Travellers have spoken, booking direct is their preferred channel so time to capitalise on this momentum

SiteMinder and industry-leading partners discussed the key strategies you need to switch on to accelerate direct bookings. Delivered across several markets, each bore remarkable similarities. No matter where you are based, the mindset of the traveller is the same. They want to travel now, and they want to travel with confidence, can you give it to them?

Catch-up with the key takeaways from the webinar and deep-dive into the replays to discover more ways you can enhance your direct bookings.

Direct Booking Blockers

For many hoteliers, they will be out of forced hibernation. That means now is the time to check your current details are correct (since many hit snooze on web refreshes back in mid-2020). Your website is the source of truth, and where OTA’s pull information on, the key areas to review are:

• Are the contact details correct? Do you have someone currently managing that inbox or phone line?
• Is your cancellation policy up-to-date to showcase a focus on flexibility?
• Are your price strategies current?
• Is your health and safety procedures front and centre?
• Do you have the proper payment gateways that travellers prefer to use, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay and AfterPay?

Poor online experience
It can be overwhelming when you look at what large OTA’s are spending on advertising and how you can even compete at any scale.

“You can never compete with the TheBooking.Com chequebook, but you can compete with the tactics you use to drive users to your direct booking channel,” Josh Beckwith, from Sojern.

“Focus on being uniquely you, not Expedia”, Edward St. Onge, from Flip.to.

Start by improving your website and experience it as a potential guest. Is it seamless? Does it make sense?

“Remember everyone coming to your website is a human, not a KPI. Our direct channels can lack the hospitality we offer, from start to finish engage them and don’t forget to sell the why,” Edward St. Onge

Ensure at every point the user is nurtured. Your booking journey should feel connected, however, when many teams are involved it can result in a very piece-by-piece build.

“Disjointed digital experiences [is a blocker], different departments own different levels, and the problems arise when each measure different metrics. This means at every stage of the funnel; it can look different to the potential guest depending on where they are in their booking journey.” Russell Daiber, from Laasie.

Not knowing your numbers
By diving into the behind-the-scenes of your bookings and website activity, you can better understand what’s working, what’s not, and most importantly, where you are losing potential guests.

“Understand the current situation with your analytics. Where is your traffic coming from, and compare your performance to the market? Instead of looking at the overall conversion rate, look at the different stages of the funnel. Use this to identify where issues lie [in your website purchase journey. Fiona Gillen from The Hotels Network.