Being in the hospitality industry has been extremely difficult in recent times. The pandemic made matters worse. Moreover with the hefty commissions the OTAs charge it becomes crucial for a hotel to figure out strategies to generate direct bookings. Apart from having a website that becomes the base of generating direct bookings, this article highlights 5 unique strategies to generate direct bookings

5 strategies to generate direct bookings for your hotel

1. Magazine

An online platform created with highly targeted content primarily focused towards sharing detailed information about the destination. Over here you are sharing extremely critical information about the destination, its culture, people etc. The aim is to become the #1 source of information were users come to when researching about the destination.

Here’s a great example of a magazine that is maintained by Ama Stays and Trails.

Having rich content on your website will help search engines crawl your website more often. Not only that it also makes a probable traveller come to your website, and check out the accommodations & promotional offers.

These strategies to generate direct bookings work wonders since your content marketing efforts capture a wide variety of keywords. The more keywords or search terms your property website ranks for, the more traffic your website would end up getting. As more people get aware of your presence in the destination your property cements its position in a probable guest’s mind. When they are making a final choice, they will come back to your website. If offers & promotions are designed for success you shall convert the web user to a guest.

2. Social Media

This works best when you share posts which are as relatable as possible. If you have a resort/property in the mountains, think about what activities can one do when staying at your property. If someone can go hiking, then share videos & photographs of the hike.

Create an informative article in your magazine & share that on social media.

A customer had a great time while staying at your property. Try to have a small interview of them describing their experience. Share that on social media. Ask the customer to share the post if that is possible. That way, your property gets to penetrate the social circle of the customer thus increasing your awareness. Apart from that make sure you reply to all queries which are coming through the social channels.

Another key aspect of utilizing social media is to engage in community groups by sharing valuable information. Remember, not all inquiries would become your customer.

Supplying an enquiry with good information makes you look like a trusted source of authority. You can share your magazine link with them. That way they enter your top-of-the-funnel & with proper communication they may end up visiting your property for a cup of coffee even though they are staying at another property altogether.

3. Influencer Marketing

In the past 5 years, this has become a buzzword. Whenever we think of influencers we inherently think of users who have a good amount of social media following. While that is true, an influencer at its core describes people who can influence. Take for example Mike is well-known in the riding community. If he/she chooses a particular place for their next journey the rest of the group follows inadvertently.

Identifying such influencers for your property can help channel the communication in a much more targeted aspect whereby the influencer is provided with offers/promotions to come to visit your property.

4. Review Marketing

Reviews play a key role when someone is looking for a property to book. There are a host of places where travelers can give reviews. It can sometimes be a daunting task to manage & reply to all reviews. Nevertheless, managers should not take this activity lightly and put more time and effort into replying to the reviews.

If someone gives a good review reply back to them with an offer where if they come back again the property will make their stay even more worthwhile. Or you can also communicate by saying that if they liked their stay & want to refer a friend they can do so That way both the friend & they receive a % off discount on their visit etc.

On the other hand, if a bad review comes in go above & beyond your means to get that person back to your property & give them a better experience thus elevating your reviews.

5. Video Marketing

Videos play a huge role in this digital era. On average, a user spends 2hrs 28 mins on social media. Reels make up more than half of content reshared through Instagram Direct Messages. If you have not seen a reel in all probability you are dead or not born yet.

I hope you understand how critical video is in your overall digital positioning strategy. Giving the customer a seamless customer journey of booking a hotel is essential in increasing your direct revenue.

Not only reels, but long-form content on YouTube along with explaining the services one can enjoy while staying at your property is an important area to cover through your video content. Informative content along with interactive content can help position your property in a prospective buyer’s mind significantly higher than any of your competitors. Not only that if you end up monetizing your videos there’s a high chance that you get back money from advertisers through the ad-sense scheme of all digital platforms.

Another way of looking at video content is to produce relatable videos that your target audience can look at & forward to their friends/family. Increasing awareness of your property is a result that will follow.

A probable customer gets to know about the promotions through these channels. They then connect with you & book directly thus saving the commission that the OTA charges.

Check out the comprehensive guide to video marketing strategy to help you understand the video marketing landscape in the hospitality industry. If you are already getting started with marketing your property with videos you might want to check out 21 video marketing ideas for hotels. It can give you a good starting point to start executing video marketing projects for your property.

Like what you read? You might want to check out this article highlighting the customer journey while booking a hotel.

Conclusion

Strategies to generate direct bookings can vary depending on the property you are marketing. It will differ if you have a business hotel or a luxury property. Depending on the location in which you service the communication medium & tone should change. Having an editorial calendar can help structure what content should be generated at what time. It also helps mitigate any gaps in keywords that might slip through the cracks making sure your strategy covers as many keywords as possible.

If you liked reading this article you may want to check out the comprehensive guide for a book direct strategy for hotels & resorts where I go in-depth in explaining what are the key requirements to have a successful book-direct strategy.

Would you need help creating a content calendar for your property? Get in touch with me. I can help you in creating a content calendar. In it, the strategies to generate direct bookings would be baked in. That way not only do you have a content calendar to follow, but you also have a foolproof strategy that is guiding you to take back booking shares from OTAs.