Learn from the brightest minds in hospitality — Source: Triptease
Learn from the brightest minds in hospitality — Photo by Triptease
Learn from the brightest minds in hospitality — Source: Triptease

If there’s one piece of feedback we always hear from hoteliers who attend the Direct Booking Summit it’s that they left with a notebook packed with new tips, ideas and strategies to implement at their hotel right away.

But if you forgot your notebook or - even worse - couldn’t make it to the recent Direct Booking Summit Bangkok, you have nothing to worry about. The Direct Booking Summit Key Learnings Report is now available to download and enjoy from the comfort of your own home.

It’s packed with brand-new data, actionable insights, case studies and practical takeaways on some of the most important topics in hospitality, from over 20 industry-leading speakers.

So - other than the fact that the Rotunda Bar at the Sian Kempinski knows how to throw a spectacular barbecue party - what else did we learn at the Bangkok Summit?

The opportunity is huge if you switch the focus to direct

With over 70% of Asia’s bookings being driven by OTAs, there’s clearly work to be done in terms of reducing the reliance on OTAs and better using them to your advantage. Michael Belanger, VP of Commercial Strategy at GCP Hospitality, walked us through exactly what could happen if hoteliers switched just 1% of their direct web business mix away from OTAs.

GCP Hospitality wasn't initially focussed on direct bookings and it took them time to balance the use of OTAs with direct business, and to demonstrate the benefits of direct bookings to the leadership team. Download the Key Learnings Report to find out what they did and how to make their strategy work for your hotel too.

New Google travel data and tips to make the most of their tools

Arindam Das, Head of Business Development, Travel - APAC at Google, shared fascinating new data from the search giant. International travel is surging in Asia - but OTAs remain the more popular way to book online.

That could all be set to change though, as Arindam explained how hoteliers can improve their organic presence with Google and capture more bookings themselves.

AI has the power to optimize channel and direct booking revenue

Multiple factors influence pricing decisions, from historical data and competitors to length of stay, lead time and even operational constraints like housekeeping or renovations. That’s a lot of data and this is often manually decided by the Revenue Management team.

Sandy Wee, Senior Regional Director of Sales for IDeaS Revenue Solutions, walked us through the ways that artificial intelligence can take some of the pain out of revenue management decision making, and busted a few hotel AI myths along the way.

Ever thought about shutting off all your OTAs? This is what could happen…

Every hotelier has thought about it, Sunish Sadasivan, VP of ECommerce and Revenue Management at Chroma Hospitality, actually did it. Find out what happened when Sunish shut down booking.com for 30 days, and then rolled that same experiment out to all his OTA partners.

He shared real results and outcomes from his hotel, as well as an action plan for hoteliers who’d like to try the same thing…

Learn how to turn TikTok into a source of direct bookings

We were thrilled to welcome Tejveer Singh Bedi, Head of Travel-SEA TikTok, to the stage to help hoteliers understand the impact that TikTok can have on their direct bookings, and how to go about creating content that will drive new revenue for their business.

According to TikTok, 83% of customers prefer to see video ads from brands rather than blog posts, gifs or static images - so it is imperative to think video-first to connect with your audience and stay relevant. Check out the guide for Tajveer’s tips on creating great TikTok content for your customers.

How to create hotel content that converts

Panel discussions are always insightful at the Direct Booking Summit, and Bangkok was no exception. Anita Chan, Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing at Dorsett Hospitality International, and Blessy Townes, VP & Head of Digital at Discovery Hospitality, took to the stage to discuss what kind of content hotels should focus on to increase conversions. And when it comes to hotel content, what actually counts as a conversion anyway?

If you’re feeling uninspired in terms of your own hotel’s content strategy, this panel provided some fantastic starting points and ideas to test, track and learn from.

Game over OTAs? New strategies for turning data into direct bookings

Alasdair Snow, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, and Jonathan Hickford, Group Product Manager for Guest Applications at Triptease walked attendees through our latest innovation for hotels - The Triptease Data Marketing Platform.

Knowing who your best guests are is hard because it isn’t a stable picture - guest’s needs change continuously. On top of that, OTAs are adapting their pricing and offers all the time, and feeder markets are coming online at different times of the day. The whole market is rapidly moving around you, all the time.

The Triptease Data Marketing Platform is designed to help hoteliers take control of all that data, and to apply it across your marketing channels in a synchronised, joined up way. Download the guide to find out more about how Triptease is providing the data sophistication of an OTA for every hotel.

What else can you find in the report?

  • The current and predicted state of the industry - and the new trends hotels should capitalize on.
  • Optimizing profitability through product design and upselling.
  • What can we expect in ‘23? Hotel rate parity trends in Asia.
  • Customer micro-segmentation: the key to direct profit growth.
  • Live website audits with a user experience expert.

Whether you were at the Direct Booking Summit in Bangkok or would just like to learn from our experts, download our Key Learnings Report for the complete guide on how to improve your direct bookings.

About Triptease

Triptease is a SaaS startup building industry-leading software for the hotel industry. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Charlie Osmond, Alasdair Snow and Alexandra Zubko and has offices in London, New York, Barcelona and Singapore. Triptease's most recent funding was led by British Growth Fund alongside Notion Capital and Episode 1.

The Triptease Platform is built to help hotels take back control of their distribution and increase their direct revenue. The platform identifies a hotel's most valuable guests then works across the entire customer journey - from acquisition to conversion - to make sure they book directly at the hotel.

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