This may not suit all hotels in all locations, but we hope at least some of the points prove useful.
Compared with 2 years ago, most of our customers are now using OTA's (Online Travel Agents, or Booking Engines) to help sell their rooms. This tends to cause some grumbles about the commission hotels are paying, but if you are using OTA's we suggest that you get the most out of them.
If you are a Hotel Owner Manager, or if you are Reservations Manager, lock yourself in a room for 4 hours and use the following checklist as a guide to make sure you are getting the most out of your OTA's
1. Save yourself Rate Parity issues, dont be selective, ensure that all your basic room types are set u on all channels. Check that you have all the basic room types set up on ALL the channels. We frequently come across OTA's where just a double and twin are set up, whereas Singles are one of the most popular sellers online (due to Business Users) and the Treble is the fastest growing room type due to social demographics (single parent families etc)
Basic Room Types are; Single, Double, Twin, Treble, Family.
2. Keep in mind that many people sort by price on OTA's, so it could be beneficial to have some availability of your cheapest rooms on the OTA's to ensure you are at the top of the list (ie Single/Room Only etc).
3. Do not get caught up in your 'up market' room types ie 'King Room' 'Deluxes' 'SeaViews' etc Have you ever heard someone say they are going away for an 'Executive King Room this weekend'? No they are going to shop or relax or for an event and for customers viewing rooms on OTA’s the room is secondary. If the customer was very fussy about their hotel and room type they are more likely to book direct with the hotel. When searching on OTA's they are probably more interested in the 'destination' itself.
(The Property above was amazed to find after checing their AccuBook Statistics that the Double Twin None Refundable was accounting for 32% of their Online Room Sales)
4. Ensure you have an Advance Purchase set up on all channels (It would seems that the concept of 'Advance Purchases' are entering the public consciousness, and customers are actively seeking this, AND they help your cash flow as you can charge as soon as you receive the bookings, usually.
5. Ensure that you have 'Multi Night Discounts’ set up on all channels (ie stay 3 nights and get 15% off). Most OTA's can handle this and usually its just a setting in their extranet, you dont have to do anything)
6. On some of the larger OTA’s they request a ‘Package Discount’ ie the price they bundle together with a flight when a customer makes a combined search. Again this is usually just a ‘setting’ on the OTA Extranet and you do not have to do anything once it is set up.
7. Check the OTA website to ensure that they are uysing your latest images (Maybe you have done up the rooms or added a Leisure Centre since you signed the OTA contract.
8. Check the text of your description on the OTA. Does it contain 'keywords' and does it focus on your location and attractions (Imagine you are a London Hotel, Descriptions such as 'Old Style Traditional Decor offering traditional service’ etc would be better replaced with '30 mins from Heathrow, 2 mins from Kings Cross Tube Station’ etc.
9. Check that you are actually displaying on the OTA website, we estimate than 1 in 20 hotels are busy loading inventory into an OTA without realizing that they were 'switched off' last year due to an obscure invoice issue.
10. Do yourself a list of 'Upselling Items and Extras', OTA's are getting better at selling these. Breakfast or Dinner is a classic one.
11. Finally put a call into your Key Account Manager at the OTA and ask them if they have any ideas how to improve your room sales. Each OTA has its own strengths and weaknesses will know instinctively what has to be tweaked to improve room sales.
We hope that helps!