How to distinguish your hotel online from competition
To differentiate from other competitors hoteliers opt for the lowest price strategy. The thing they don’t realize is that it may be a temporary solution. But in the long term, it will have a negative impact.
Moreover, RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) is used by hoteliers to measure the income which is based on the current sales strategy. Now if the same low rates strategy is applied then the hotels may receive more bookings. But this increase in the number of the bookings won’t maximize the profit.
Similarly, even after having hotel website relying too much on the OTAs is also not a good plan. It will adversely affect the brand value of hotel as guests will prefer OTAs to make reservations instead of the hotel website.
What hoteliers should consider displaying their unique selling point like their location, the facilities, features, room amenities etc. to enhance their image online. Hence, the website is the only place where hotels have the liberty to display their USP. So if a guest visits the website, he will less likely move to other competitor and place a reservation on the website itself.
By the following strategies you will get an edge over the competition and maximize bookings:
Present your hotel on website
If you really want to impress the travelers, then just displaying images or a lucrative text is not enough. You have to display what does your hotel offer that makes it so special. By showing high-resolution images and other visual content you showcase the value your hotel has to offer.
The travelers are always happy to visit a website that is easy to access and loads quickly on their mobile devices or computer. So, some more aspects to keep in mind are that your website must be user-friendly, responsive and load as quickly as within a few seconds.
Create promotional deals
One of the most common tactics is to provide an attractive promotional deal for travelers who book directly on the hotel website. The social media is also the place where you can spread the news of such deals to your fans.
You can also establish a partnership with offline agents to offer promotional packages to guests which are exclusive and not available anywhere.
Give rewards to your repeating guests
Many hotels run reward systems to keep their loyal guests happy and encourage them to make repeat reservations. You too can offer reward points to the frequently visiting travelers. Later they can redeem these points to get a free upgrade or room amenity etc. You can also offer a free night if customers book a selective number of rooms.
Partner up with famous online distribution channels
You must first research for the best and famous online distribution channels at your location or country. After that shortlist the top channels and start marketing your hotel on them. You should use a channel manager to easily manage your hotel rooms over these channels. This will indeed save a lot of your time and reduce manual labor.
Having a Call-to-action or ‘Book Now’ button on website
Let’s suppose a traveler visits your website, he may find what he was exactly looking for and wants to make a reservation. But to make a reservation he first needs to email your property to make a reservation.
In such cases, there are high chances that he will visit another website or OTA and move away from your website.
Therefore a simple ‘Book Now’ or CTA button make a huge difference during the booking phase. It provides a comfortable online experience and saves a lot of their valuable time.
Conclusion
Altogether the motive is to distinguish your property and make it stand out for its own specialty. With the mentioned strategies your hotel will have a unique image in front of the potential guests. Therefore, while you are receiving the online reservations from various sources you can concentrate on other aspects of your property.