By its very name, mastery implies a consummate passion for perfecting one’s craft through a combination of keen observation and in-the-field practice. It’s a process, and when it comes to maximizing direct bookings this means you must be ever vigilant to new trends and open to testing new approaches.
In a previous entry to this Direct Booking Mastery series, we touched on how to use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to win customers back from the online travel agencies (OTAs), specifically why the pace at which you email guests is important so that you don’t come off as ‘spammy’. All those tips still apply, tackled day after day as part of a continuous process of improvement.
Now, with a recent report by Siteminder finding that the OTAs are more often the starting point for an accommodation search over Google, this topic of ‘OTA Winback Strategies’ demands an encore.
To start with why, I’ve seen OTA commissions reach into seven figures for even small or mid-sized hotels. These channels are likened to a necessary evil because of this. They deplete net revenues and flexibility to innovate, and their guests are not your guests.
However, it’s unfathomable to turn off the OTA tap due to their occupancy contribution and the billboard effect.
The best practice for hotels is thus to execute a myriad of tactics amounting to a series of small, incremental wins that together add up to a meaningful channel shift for direct bookings and reduction in customer acquisition costs. This is accomplished through OTA winback campaigns, workflows and team procedures.
Make Your Website Convenient
Within all that can be done to convince OTA guests to either prefer booking directly with you from the outset or to get you their real email for future marketing engagement, what should be stressed is how we got here.
The OTAs help reduce the vastness and the complexity of travel for harried, ever-distracted consumers. Never forget that convenience usually wins for many travelers.
To the average person, travel is stressful and confusing. There are innumerable hotel brands, some familiar and trusted, others not so much. Many people are brand apathetic or oblivious. Then add to that the rigors of logistics – planes, trains and automobiles, and all the mentally taxing coordination therein.
Given these stressors, what’s going to win over first-timers who are comparing your website to an OTA — or encourage repeat stays — is having an impeccable digital storefront. You need to be more convenient and convey more trust than a third party that’s already built that brand equity. Many consumers want to build direct but are dissuaded by confusing layouts or informational inconsistencies.
A hotel website must therefore do its best to not only convey the story, experience and amenities of the brand, but also alleviate friction and stress in ways that OTAs aren’t wholly capable of.
Some considerations include:
- Content needs to be clearly stated and optimized for speed.
- Booking engines have to be unencumbered by too many options or packages and with simple, effortless flows that also allow for flexible payment options.
- Websites need to reassure prospective guests with breezy, uncluttered information and an overall feeling about the brand.
- Video content is now king, so build and deploy these assets now.
- Fourth, book-direct incentives such as loyalty perks, complimentary add-ons like a welcome gift and assurances of being handled with care.
- Now with AI search optimization (AIO) being a thing, you also need structured content through a combination of deep FAQs (frequently asked questions) and machine-readable schema like JSON-LD.
While more recent technologies allow for other OTA-like features such as flight integrations or multi-hotel shopping carts, most brands can realize solid gains over the short term by mastering these basics.
Make Guests Feel Something
One final aspect of convenience where hotel websites can really shine over third parties is by being hyper-local. This starts with well-organized hierarchical content that details all the services and local area questions a guest may have.
From there, hotels can differentiate themselves by properly curating their FAQs across the website, webchat, virtual concierge, AI voice assistant, live agents and all marketing journeys. So often these channels are treated as a ‘set it and forget it’ approach where content is uploaded and standard operating procedures are written, but then there’s no implementation on feedback. Updates are infrequent at best, reducing search engine optimization (SEO) and now AIO.
Every time a guest asks a question, it’s an opportunity to examine how you respond and why they are asking. It’s an opportunity to make guests feel special by giving them faster and better responses, no matter what question is posed.
You want guests to think, Wow, this hotel really understood my questions and is super helpful. They’re definitely going to be worth considering over other hotels.
In other words, great answers equal great first impressions. And it’s all about making guests feel understood, valued and emotionally connected to the hotel in a positive way.
This all comes down to business processes. You have the data that tells you what guests are asking or commenting upon; it’s now on you to act upon this information by updating the website, FAQs, all bots drawing from your FAQs and other places that can convey consistency like your Google business profile.
Emails That Build Trust
I hope the above is clear. Even with a great CRM and masterfully constructed marketing journeys, if the website doesn’t convey your brand and make it frictionless to book, then you limit your chances of conversion. That all said, OTA winbacks still largely revolve around email campaigns to first obtain a guest’s real contact information then get them to book direct.
If I were to cite the one single area where hotels are failing in the CRM game, it’s that they are being pushy, impersonal or spammy as mentioned in the intro.
The emails arrive in the inbox with almost no attempt to understand who I am besides writing my first name in the subject line. Then comes a slew of offers that are out of context for my stay occasion and don’t convey enough perceived value to merit the price.
Just like the website experience, what should come first with emails is trust and convenience. Are you sending me information to truly enhance my stay and make things easier, or if your hotel’s idea of ‘enhance my stay’ is simply another way of presenting a dozen or so upsells without first conveying that you care? Put another way, what’s ‘special’ about your ‘special offer’ delivered in email form if it’s exactly the same as what they can find on the website?
The whole point of a CRM is to remember who your guests are. Any manner of segmentation or personalization can mean the world to a stressed out traveler.
There are many points where asking for a real email can be induced, with some considerations including:
- Understanding ancillary spend history can give you a clearer idea of what types of services a guest may want, thereby narrowing what offers you present to reduce complexity.
- A one or two-night stay single occupant is less likely to opt for a suite upgrade, but a couple on vacation with a longer length of stay (LOS) definitely would, especially if there’s a discount or other incentive that’s bundled.
- Time of arrival, as asked during a prearrival email or digital check-in, is an important attribute as, for example, a late-night arrival implies different suggestions and upsells that someone expected by midday.
- Also important during a ‘what to expect when you arrive’ type of email are the helpful tidbits such as the type of power outlet in a given country, access to nearby attractions (or if any are closed) and where to contact for assistance.
- Post-stay communications and survey requests often lack empathy for what actually happens post-stay – planes, trains, automobiles and more logistical stress – reducing engagement and the chances of a winback, especially if no incentive is offered.
Above all, it should be evident that it isn’t one single tactic or process that will maximize direct bookings. There are many tangible and intangible aspects that must be handled, both on the front-end with your digital storefront and the back-end with your use of the CRM.
No matter the technology that hoteliers use, it’s ultimately about emotions: trust and convenience to alleviate the perpetually stressed traveler. Do that and you’ll find ways to win back OTA customers at every turn.
These are not isolated tactics, but competencies that strengthen with practice. Through Direct Booking Mastery Certification, hotels can continue developing these skills, turning everyday guest interactions into consistent, measurable direct booking gains.
Media Team
Media team | Revinate
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