Tips on how hotels can increase bookings by learning about the online guest trip

Posted by Andrew Smith on December 5th, 2017

When hotels market their company to travellers they need to think beyond planning and booking. There are several stages of booking a holiday that needs to be taken into consideration. Considering the multiple stages of making a hotel reservation is crucial in ensuring that travel firms engage customers in the best way. Companies have the chance to use technology to enhance the guest experience and create greater loyalty. This in turn will encourage future reservations and maximise revenue for the long-term.

Thinking about these stages will help with generating an amazing hotel online marketing plan for the future. Customers start off their booking experience by dreaming about their potential holiday destination and have a certain experience in their minds. The hotel needs to be discoverable online at this stage so should ensure that it optimizes its search engine presence. The next stage is selecting a residence so hotel companies must appear unique compared to rivals. Customers are searching for a reason to book a residence with firms, and one of the first things that effects their decision is how much they like a hotel website.

An accommodation’s site has to include incredible copy, beautiful images and be optimized for smartphones. There needs to be a call to action button on every web page of the site to ensure that customers can easily get to the booking engine. A loyalty program encourages travellers to want to reserve a room at the residence, as tourists adore getting awards for sticking with a residence. Developing a relationship with travellers during this crucial time is important to provide them with a memorable experience if they decide to book a room. The aim is to attract them to stay and then share their visit online on social media or review sites.

The stay phase of this process is also part of the marketing plan as companies still need to persuade tourists they made the right decision. The quality of service at a hotel is important, and can be improved if firms offer a hotel app. An app can be used to book a room, provide a virtual concierge and provide the chance to book lunch or dinner. This helps to persuade customers to share their positive experiences on major social media sites including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Increasing brand awareness is vital during this share phase and user-generated content on hotel social media accounts is great when attracting new guests.

The aim is to get customers to return to an accommodation, so firms should think about what they can do to achieve this. They should definitely hire a professional agency to help with social media accounts, their website and learning how to use hotel revenue management software for success in the competitive travel industry. The consultants at Digital Hotelier can help increase the profits of hotel firms through advice to create the best website design and booking engine. They have experts on hand to offer help with revenue management and how to gain more customers by creating a superb hotel app that will encourage bookings.