We often think that the best way to gain online bookings is to rely on the hotel website. But that’s not how the online reservation market works. The OTAs have a significant impact on the online booking trend.
They have done a lot of investment in marketing and significantly expanded their reach too far corners of the earth.
If we take the online market share into consideration then Expedia.com covers up to approx 28%, while Priceline.com and Booking.com have the share up to 16% and 19% respectively.
Many of the hoteliers choose to stay with two or three OTAs. But does this bring in enough online bookings?
If your answer is yes, then congratulations you are working with the right OTAs. If it is a no then it is time to get along with more OTA partners.
The success rate does depend on the number of connections you have. That’s why many hotels understand the benefit of having more connections with the OTAs.
Almost 2/3rd of all online bookings are made over OTAs and it is enough proof that by limiting your hotel with a few OTAs you are killing the chances of higher bookings and market reach.
Advantages of having more OTA connections
When you add your hotel on more OTAs, ultimately you make it possible for travelers to discover your hotel and rise the opportunity for them to stay at your property. Hence, here are some of the advantages you get from multiple OTA connections:
1.Increase in website traffic
It has been observed that about 52% of travelers that see hotels on an OTA do visit the hotel website. After seeing the hotels on OTAs the travelers get curious to know more about the hotels. They get excited to see what kind of services they can experience in the hotel by checking the hotel website.
Therefore, through OTA listing you can definitely drive a high traffic to your hotel website. This will, in turn, improve the SEO and also increase the ranking of the website.
2.More visibility
As I explained earlier in the blog, that OTAs have spent a significant amount of their revenue on marketing and advertising. One of the main consequence of this spending is that every OTA is well known in some particular location and the travelers prefer to book through it.
Thus, with more OTA connections you open up the opportunity for travelers to know about your hotel which would not have been possible through your own website.
3.Increase in bookings
As your hotel gets more exposure, it also increases the number of bookings. The rank of your hotel on OTA also an important aspect as the higher the rank of a hotel is the easier it is for the guest to find the hotel.
4.Attention of the right travelers
It doesn’t matter whether your property is a hotel, B&B, an apartment or a resort. By listing your property on multiple OTAs you will be able to grab the attention of right kind of guests. As a result, you’ll win the chance to serve your guests with the best stay experience.
5.OTA ranking and reviews influence travelers
Before booking a hotel the OTAs allow travelers to view the reviews to check the reputation of the property. The volume of reviews does have an impact on the rankings on of hotel on OTAs similar to review websites.
Therefore, positive reviews boost hotel OTA ranking and at the same time encourages travelers to book with you.
How to manage several OTA connections?
Managing hotel profiles on various connections is a tedious and time-consuming task. You need to continuously update/check the rates and inventory through the distribution channels.
There is a smarter way to handle all the OTA connections and that is through the channel manager which is connected to your hotel reservation system.
It will help you to easily update the room rates and inventory from your reservation system to other OTA connections simultaneously. Another advantage of a channel manager is that it also reduces the chances of overbooking or under booking.
Conclusion
Relying on a few OTAs hinders the growth of revenue. Therefore, to get great results it is best to start using more OTAs connections. Doing so will make your hotel reachable to travelers which otherwise is quite difficult.
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