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When Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) first emerged, they were heralded as the best way to get customers to hotels. But today, the high amount of commissions OTAs charge have made them an undesirable necessity for hoteliers. This is evident by the news that surfaced this month: around 270 hotels in Ahmedabad boycotted MakeMyTrip and GoIbibo because they started charging a commission of over 40%. That’s a huge number. And all OTAs have to do is spend money on marketing to get more bookings while hoteliers have to spend money on OTAs as well as providing an amazing guest experience to get more customers, which eats a huge chunk out of their profits. OTAs Are Now Competitors Instead of being a helping hand, OTAs are now a hotelier’s main competition. They have massive digital marketing budgets. When a prospect searches for your hotel’s name, they get a number of OTAs listing your hotel on Google. But if you purchase Google Hotel Ads, you have more than a fair chance....

Back in September, TripAdvisor announced that they would be bringing a whole host of changes to their platform soon. Last week, they launched the biggest change of them all: a travel feed, similar to the feeds on Facebook or Instagram. The Need for Feed Why this change, all of a sudden? TripAdvisor’s co-founder, Stephen Kaufer, found that travel experiences differ from person to person, even if they’re visiting the same city. Upon asking TripAdvisor users, the company also found that 66% prioritized reading reviews while planning a trip, while 62% prioritized recommendations and suggestions from their friends and family. While reviews have always been a staple on TripAdvisor, they wanted to harness the potential of travelers relying on suggestions by friends and family in order to provide a complete planning experience. Users can follow pages, make connections or just search for a place they want to visit, and the feed will throw up not only accommodation choice...

Like any business, customer loyalty is an important factor in a hotel’s success. Of course, all customers are valuable, but you cannot discount the importance of repeat customers. The real profits lie in retaining your customers. They don’t just come back, they bring others with them. Let’s take a detailed look at why your hotel needs repeat customers more than anything else: Good Word-of-Mouth It’s common knowledge that most customers rely on reviews to choose a hotel when they travel. Do you know what they trust more than online reviews? Recommendations from their friends and family. And your repeat customers will more often than not recommend your hotel to others, helping you get continuous revenue from just one customer. Get several loyal customers, and you’re looking at consistent and reliable revenue generation. They Spend More Money A survey by smile.io found that repeat customers are the most profitable. The reason is simple: repeat customers...

Modern hoteliers have their hotels listed on multiple OTAs and also have a website and booking portal set up for direct bookings. But handling every booking coming through multiple channels with hands-on inventory management is near-impossible. The solution lies in choosing a hotel reservation system/booking engine linked to these channels for optimum inventory management and customer experience. So, how do you choose the best Hotel Reservation System for your hotel? Accessible On-the-Go The best Hotel Reservation System is one which can be accessed anywhere and at any time. Basically, such a system is cloud-based, making all relevant information accessible on any computer you use to login, or even a smartphone. It allows you to manage your hotel efficiently without having to be at the hotel. Real-Time Inventory Updates Multiple OTAs and other channels sending you constant bookings and reservations can become a huge problem if handled manually. ...

Your hotel probably gets its fair share of business travelers. They are no-nonsense guests traveling because of work, and their requirements differ to a great extent from those of regular vacationers or families. Especially in this day-and-age, business travelers include high-functioning 20 and 30-somethings that are tech-savvy and looking for a fix that matches their work requirements as well. Here’s how you can modify your hotel experience in order to accommodate the increasing percentage of business travelers staying at your hotel: Acknowledge Their Busy Schedules Websites like Booking.com ask customers whether they’re traveling for work or leisure. Do the same for direct bookings on your website, or if you rely primarily on bookings through OTAs, reach out to the customer and ask them this question. Keep services separate for customers visiting for leisure and customers visiting for work. Have spacious workspaces in the rooms, and provide conven...

When you run a hotel, you can control a few things - the guest experience, the inventory, the amenities etc. One thing you can’t control is last-minute no-shows and cancellations. No-shows and cancellations can affect your hotel negatively - there’s an empty room left to fill with very little time to fill it. If you can’t, you lose revenue and profitability is affected. The Difference Between No-Shows and Cancellations A cancellation is when a person goes through the channel they used to book a room at your hotel, to cancel their reservation. A no-show happens when the guest is unable to cancel the booking, or if it’s too late to do so, so they decide to just not turn up and leave it at that. How to Handle These Kind of Cases? Most of the reservations at your hotel probably take place through online channels and OTAs. Have a robust cancellation policy defined to handle these types of cases. And have this policy displayed clearly and precisely on th...

The internet has revolutionized the world of hospitality for good. But it goes without saying that everything has its advantages and disadvantages, its positives and negatives, it's good and bad. Online booking has a lot of advantages - convenience, visibility etc., but there are a number of disadvantages that can cripple your business if not handled well. Let's take a look at some of them, and let's see how you can counter them effectively: 1. Too Many Options Customers looking for accommodation online have just too many options nowadays. At one point they'd be on your website, the next on an OTA looking for other places. This way, your hotel is forgotten just as quickly as it is seen. This is normal customer behavior, but you can counter it by using Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. How? These platforms generate a small line of code that can be added to your website. So, when a potential customer visits your website, it captures...