WoodStock Digital

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. ...