There is a wealth of data generated by your hotel booking engine, much of which can be used to bolster direct bookings – putting more money in your pockets. In the modern world we now live in, where technology is king, online bookings drive revenues for hoteliers. However, this data can be used for much more, and learning how to use it effectively can unlock a competitive advantage against rival companies.
The simplest function of your booking engine is to let customers search for availability and book directly, meaning the easier it is to use, the more conversions it will lead to. It can also let you gather information about potential guests – such as how to contact them – which will let you form strong connections with them. The more powerful the connection, the more likely it is that they will keep coming back for repeat business. Other key data can be collected through the booking engine, such as search patterns, customer insights and lead time information.
To get the most from this, you have to integrate the data demand forecasting and sales strategies, as when properly utilised it can enhance forecasting and boost conversions. Here is a overview on how this data can be used to create highly successful marketing strategies. Learning what customers valueDon’t just aim to know customers’ price thresholds, aim to know what’s actually valuable to them. How much something costs plays a big role in conversions, but there’s more to it than that. What customers perceive as the value of the the product can be more important, as uniqueness can override price in some cases. How do you learn what customers perceive to be valuable? Using your booking engine in conjunction with well-researched client personas is the key. Look at what packages are proving to be to the most and least popular, what is offered with them and what their cost is. Once you find the common themes, you will be able to get an idea of what your customers perceive value to be. Examine tariff lead times Rather than focusing on simple lead time conversion rates, look the lead times of all your tariffs and find out which converts the furthest in advance, as well as what the most common characteristics of these tariffs are.
Understanding which type performs best will allow you to target customers with relevant offers, leading to better conversions. If you use the data generated by the booking engine to set your tariffs, you can find the best times to launch offers that will attract the most business. Review inventory type lead times Instead of scraping the surface, go deeper and examine the lead time conversion rates of different inventory types, as this can help you create a solid distribution strategy for the most popular kinds of inventory. Analyse geographical characteristics.The data produced by your Hotel booking engine can help you learn about the characteristics of your key geographic markets. Identify common characteristics – such as length of stay, board basis and rate type – among customers from different regions, as this will allow you to create more targeted marketing strategies. From this data, you will know which potential guests are likely to respond to special offers and what time of year they’re more likely to book. This customer information will help you create a more holistic picture of your client base and can be used to create better content to bring in traffic. Demand insight Overall booking patterns should be reviewed regularly to gain critical insight into the efficiency of the website and to analyse conversion rates.
One of the key strengths of the booking engine is to track search patterns for future dates, helping you to forecast demand and properly manage revenue. Revenue management is an essential part of any business’ conversion rate strategy, as it will allow you to see when bookings are strong, and where searches are high but bookings are low. This data is invaluable and should be closely analysed to get the most from it. No availability dataYou should regularly compare future demand and booking stats with no availability data, as it will give you insight into key opportunities for your business. Utilising this type of data will help you to make decisions confidently, insteading of blindly guessing, as this can be damaging to profitability. Examine no availability data thoroughly, as it will allow you to highlight the demand and conversion rate on particular dates, helping you to calculate how many more direct bookings could be converted.
