Hotel E-Commerce
There are many OTAs in the global hospitality sector. Some of them serve primarily in specific locations, while some of them are limited to large hotels as opposed to small accommodation providers. Distribution channels spend a significant amount on marketing and have a much better reach to the guests compared to a hotel website.
Why should you have more OTA connections for your hotel?
In the hospitality industry, more is better. When the ultimate goal of a hotelier is to impart best guest experience, you can’t deny the fact that the experience starts right from when he makes the booking.
And as you become more accessible to your guests, its only natural for you to get more OTA connections for your hotel. Here are a few of the many reasons to have more hotel OTA connections:
Increased Exposure (Visibility)
Through OTAs, your hotel gets a wider exposure to the travelers worldwide. You get an increased visibility thus, making you known to the guests your hotel caters to.
Drive Traffic
Believe it or not, but online travel agencies can actually drive traffic to your hotel website. The travelers browsing your listings on an OTA often get curious enough to check out your hotel website and gauge the standard of services you provide.
52% of travelers visit the hotel’s website after seeing the room listed on an OTA.
More Bookings
Enough said, the more the exposure; the higher number of bookings you get. More so, your ranking on the OTAs will also play a significant role here, making sure that your guests find you easily.
Right Guests
Do you own a resort, hotel, motel, serviced apartments, or hostels? Regardless of the property type you own, listing on multiple online travel agencies will bring the right kind of crowd at your hotel, thus allowing you to cater to the guests in the best way possible.
Better Rankings, Better Reviews
OTAs allow bookers to check out reviews and get an idea of your hotel’s services, eventually giving them a push to book with you. While a considerable number of guests go through the reviews before booking their stay, positive reviews will make you more visible through better rankings on the OTAs.
Considering the above points, getting optimum performance from just a few OTAs is not feasible. It is advisable to have a smart strategy for your hotel’s online distribution and thus go for more OTA connections for your hotel. Without proper distribution management, you are likely to miss out on vast revenue generation opportunities.
Now, how to handle more OTA connections easily?
Managing multiple OTA connections for your hotel becomes a challenging task, where you need to constantly keep a check on uniform inventory and rate parity throughout all the distribution channels.
A smart decision apparently, would be to go for a hotel channel manager which simplifies your inventory distribution and rate management on the online distribution channels you’re connected to.
A channel manager will also reduce your under bookings and overbookings with instant inventory updates on all channels.
Inadvertently, while you’re focusing on getting bookings from OTAs and thereby increase your visibility, do not set aside the fact that direct bookings are equally important. That’s why you should parallelly work on getting more direct bookings on your hotel website in order to be the most preferred choice for guests.
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