Mr. Rosser

Reservations / Online Pricing / Booking Engines

Designing for Conversion in the Booking Tunnel

By Drew Rosser, VP of Business Development, Whiteboard Labs

There are so many ways to engage a potential customer or a repeat customer. Any Web site must combine technology, content and creative in order to lead the consumer into the Booking Tunnel. It is how you apply the integration of these to support a guest experience focused on conversion at every phase in the consumer buying cycle. I would work on creating more of a vortex than a tunnel.

I am still amazed or maybe a better expression is frustrated with hotel sites that still have the online brochure approach to their design, content and technology use. In this age of social media, Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor, Yelp….. you would think that hotel sites would begin to take note and design their sites to engage the consumer in a way that they try to do on these various other sites. Creating that feel of communication is very important coupled with a design that engages and entices. Draw people in and have the stickiness to keep them and convert them. Once that sense of loyalty is established you must not stop there. That moment is one of the most critical. You must continuously engage your loyal consumers in order to keep them interested in you and promoting you.

First and foremost, you need to get eyeballs to your site. There are a myriad of basic best practices to be used in order to do this; solid search engine optimization, a well implemented internet marketing strategy (do not do the shot gun approach), email marketing, word of mouth and so on. Now that you have someone on the site, stickiness and conversion are the things you want to happen. Keep in mind conversion does not just mean putting heads in beds. Your conversion opportunities need to address more than just that. Convert viewers to loyalty program members, to sign up to receive your monthly e-newsletter, send video post cards to friends and family, buy from your online store.

Here are the steps or the path you want your viewers to take:

1. Pedestrian to Web Visitor
2. Visitor to Researcher
3. Researcher to Buyer
4. Buyer to Guest/Promoter
5. Guest/Promoter to Participant
6. Participant to Fan
7. Fan to Member
   

Every step has a purpose. You build enthusiasm and confidence along the way. By step 6 and certainly 7 you have secured what should be a life long user of your product as well as someone who be promoting you.

The design needs to express your hotel in a manner that is befitting of the product. Leverage what makes you unique, why people stay with you. Remember for many your site is the first impression of the hotel. Do not over or understate the reality. Keep the user engaged with the right mix of the right images but also inform with good relevant content. My view is that the entire site is the booking tunnel. It is more of a methodology than a thing. Your design needs to keep that in mind. Smart, engaging, factual, easy navigation plays into designing for the booking tunnel. Design based on what your selling points and features are.

Now with respect to the actual booking engine or conversion engine, here too detail needs to focus on the product. Clean, clear images with really well written and informative description information is the key to ensuring that the guest will make that commitment and purchase. Be very clear about your rates and expose any restrictions that might apply. Again do not over state or show images of room types that in reality may not be available. Such as showing the one renovated room you have in the hotel. You wont build any loyalty by doing that. You can however, show the room on your site as what is to come. Make people excited about what you are doing.

Please no missing room type images. I just do not understand how a hotel allows this to happen. If you are a hotel that builds on specific room type features, amenities or design then you need to expose those characteristics online. 1.5 x 1.5 size images will not cut it. Take the time and spend a little money to do it right. You will make it up many times over. Add more than one image if the booking engine supports multiple images. Add video if the booking engine supports video. People want to see what they will be spending time in. Again know your audience and know your product. Some hotels are selling a lifestyle and an image. Others are selling convenience and value. Do not lose touch with who and what. How you represent your hotel online will reflect either to your advantage when the guest arrives or negatively. Be truthful and do not misrepresent the property.

Take full advantage of the technologies that are available now. Over and above a quality booking engine you also need to look into customer relationship management applications, email service providers, mobile versions of your site, online point of sales and content management systems. There are so many choices out there these days and some very solid applications. The other side that needs to be considered is the ability to analyze the data associated with these various technologies and then build a plan around that data. That plan, will then need to be implemented. Implementation of the plan will require good communication throughout the hotel’s various departments. Marketing needs to be aware of rate forecasting in order to create specific marketing plans. Operations, needs to be aware of these marketing plans to better inform guests. Revenue Managers need to make Marketing aware of any changes up or down in the rate structure. Now your booking tunnel or vortex is taking shape. The key now is to establish a dialog that is continuous and not just a one-time event. This is where the use of other sites such as Facebook can help keep the interest.

Finally, just because you may have received a booking or a sign up for your loyalty program, does not mean the job is over. This time period is actually very critical and is optimal for the up sell and or the chance to help make the guest feel that you are listening. Allow the guest to tell you what their preferences are. Respond to this feedback. It is so important that your involvement with the guest continues during and after the stay. It is this level of communication that keeps your client base within your booking tunnel and exposes them to all that is available. Designing for conversion in the booking tunnel is so much more than just images and design structure. You need a plan and the ability to implement that plan. The design is your strategy. It is how you react to your clients and establish a level of communication with them. It is continuous and ever changing. Think of it as perpetual motion, a flywheel that you are constantly turning and refreshing. Stay in your guest’s minds eye, create loyalty and make them feel as if they are part of you and the experience. I think that you will find that if you just spend a little more time doing a few simple tasks you will see the benefits. You cannot afford to be complacent.

Drew Rosser joined Whiteboard Labs to focus on iHotelier CRS sales. After the sale of iHotelier to TravelCLICK, Mr. Rosser became the Director of Operations for the iHotelier division of TravelCLICK. He started in Orlando, Florida, then moved to Atlanta, accepting a position at Holiday Inn's Corporate Flagship Hotel as the Assistant Guest Relations Manager. He was Guest Relations Manager at another Holiday Inn property in the Atlanta area. Mr. Rosser sits on the Boards of Linx Technologies and Force 10. Both are technology based and deal with enterprise level systems. Mr. Rosser can be contacted at 713-333-9944 or drosser@whiteboardlabs.com Extended Bio...

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