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HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW

JUNE FOCUS: Sales & Marketing

 

6 Ways for Your Hotel to Compete With The OTAs

By Daisy Wolfenden Managing Director, Wolfenden Agency | June 2022

Research from Statista released in December 2021 shows that a third of UK holiday makers book through OTAs. Given they can take up to 30% commission, it's easy to see why they present a constant challenge for hotels.

Now whilst it's not always feasible to compete on price alone, there are plenty of things you can do to fully assess the value of your customers coming through OTAs and to encourage more direct bookings.

1. Understand The Role of OTAs for Your Hotel

To truly understand the role that OTAs play for your hotel there are a few questions you must ask:

  • Do the OTAs introduce you to customers and increase visibility for your hotel?
  • Do they drive additional assurance and information to the customer?
  • Are they simply pushing conversions at the end of the customer's journey?

One of the best ways to get answers is to speak directly to the OTAs and ask what's driving interest in your hotel on their platform.

The OTA's measure everything and will have huge amounts of insight that they are generally happy to share. Once you have this, compare their conversion journey to yours. Does yours reflect a straightforward journey, or is theirs easier? As the expert in your brand and service, you really should have the more enhanced customer journey.

Mapping out the digital landscape goes hand in hand with this. You know that from a search point of view, destination searches lead the way, followed by experience – for example, "golf break", or "spa hotel" followed by a type of accommodation. So, do some keyword research around relevant terms here and start to map the language out.

Additionally, once you bring all your data points together, begin to map out the customer journey and this is where you'll start to highlight opportunities and tactics to increase your visibility. You'll also have better visibility of where the OTAs might actually be helping your direct bookings, or indeed where they should be.

Remember, the OTAs may be leading when it comes to hotel bookings, but they don't know what else you offer – so if you have other services like a golf course, conference venue, wedding, venue, restaurant, etc. – this is where you can really own the rankings, both organic and paid.

Use your keyword research to frame your content strategy, as well as your ad campaigns. Coupled with a stay as well, these sorts of bookings are likely to come with a higher value. Soon you'll gain visibility across the customer journey and in places the OTAs aren't.

2. Discover if You're Giving The Customer What They Want

COVID-19 has accelerated the expectations of what great customer experience is online. Despite steady satisfaction ratings across multiple pieces of travel market analysis post-pandemic (McKinsey Sept '21), negative sentiment is seeing a rise. Customers are unwilling to let standards drop.

The forced break in travel has created a unique opportunity to capture loyalty when customers are looking for a new experience or refresh their expectations and there are a few steps you should follow to ensure you take full advantage of this.

A) Know Your Customers: Use 1st Party Data / Social Media / Search Language / OTA Insights / Industry Trends:

  • Allow customers to feedback, collate and consolidate
  • Analyse social interactions, sentiment and engagement
  • Look for common themes from the search language in Google Search Console

B) Move Fast – React Directly to Your Customer's Needs by Channel

C) Capture Customers at The Discovery Phase:

  • DTC activity has accelerated during the pandemic
  • Using 1st party data allows you to target your customers and lookalike audiences directly
  • Discovery happens before a search so you can inspire the customer early
  • Respond to social media posts in relation to relevant locations, events, local knowledge, hashtags or trends

D) Support Your Customers Through The New Journey:

  • The pandemic has led to a market that is rediscovering itself
  • Customers are looking for security, flexibility, information and support
  • Customer's needs and motivations are changing (better work-life balance / improve mental health / live more sustainably)
  • Does your digital offering carry through the whole customer journey? Integrate more.
  • Do you encourage repeat custom?

The most important element for encouraging repeat custom is your customer data – with this, you can segment and tailor your marketing efforts.

There are so many ways you can use your data to encourage repeat stays. For example, groups who book spa days are often doing so for a special occasion like a birthday, so be sure to target them a few months before the same time next year with an offer to rebook.

You might also have customers who have travelled for business trips – send them bespoke offers that their company can use to book directly with you. If a couple have stayed for a honeymoon, then target them to come back for their first anniversary. This information can all be easily managed and as long as you are delivering on your promises of great experiences, you should have no problem encouraging repeat custom.

Don't forget that it's often far less expensive to attract repeat guests, so you could also look at introducing a loyalty scheme to encourage bookings time and time again. Frequent guests are also more likely to spend on your additional services too – such as the gym, spa, and restaurant.

Google search results for "cottages in Yorkshire"

3. Tailor Your PPC Ads as Much as You Can

OTAs will not hesitate to bid on your brand name so they get the top spot on the SERPs, which will grant them the majority of the traffic for that search. But they can only display a fairly generic ad listing. You, on the other hand, can make your ads really bespoke to specific searches, using ad extensions to make your ad more appealing and taking up more space on the page.

To start off, take a look at keyword frequency. Ensure that your keyword is shown throughout your ad consistently, providing the user with full transparency of the service you're offering. The more your keyword is shown in an ad, the better the chances of greater ad rank and quality score. Increasing quality score will then lead to cheaper CPCs, helping you drive more traffic for less and maximising your budget.

By adding sitelink and image extensions to your ads, you can advertise additional services that you think could be useful to what the user has searched for. For example, you might have a Wedding & Events service, restaurant, or a spa – the OTAs won't put this information in their ads so you have the chance to showcase more of what you offer, giving users the option to click through straight from the ad.

Call extensions will also improve the user journey and can't be shown in OTA ads. Adding your phone number as a call extension so that users can call you directly from the results is a great way to encourage more direct bookings and is an invaluable feature for mobile visitors.

An example of Google ad extensions from Crabtree and Crabtree

Google has continued to automate certain features within the Ads platform, and it's been announced that the expanded text ads (ETAs) will be phased out later this year. This shifts our focus towards responsive search ads (RSAs) which provide us with a more robust testing option, as Google's algorithm rotates various headlines and descriptions to find the best performing combination.

You have the option to implement 14 headlines and 4 descriptions to your ads, fuelling the algorithm with options. You should ensure your ads contain three key aspects:

  1. Relevancy (supports Ad Rank/QS): This helps support your ranking quality score and again, rewards you with cheaper CPCs allowing your budget to go further.
  2. USPs: Reflect the USPs about your hotel and what makes it special.
  3. Incentivised CTAs (improves CTR): Whether it's free cancellation or another offer, provide an incentive for the users to click through.

4. Don't Forget to Bid on Your Own Hotel Name

It's a good idea to bid on your brand name so you are in those key first few results.

If you're spending a lot of time and budget on activity elsewhere to drive awareness of your brand, then there's nothing worse than your consumer searching for your hotel by name and clicking on the OTA because it comes up first.

You can remarket to visitors who have been to your site but not booked – sending them adverts with tailored messaging to increase the likelihood of them coming to book direct through you.

You can also turn the tables on the OTAs by using you research to discover which OTAs you're specifically up against and bid on keywords that include your hotel name and that OTA name, e.g. "The Grand Hotel York Expedia".

To encourage return custom, you can also use a Google feature called Customer Match to upload your customers' email addresses and target them within a specific time period to encourage them to come back, perhaps offering an incentive to book direct.

5. Curate Your Brand Rather Than Always Chasing Sales

In the long run, it is always better to curate your brand rather than chase sales. There is huge long-term value in building brand advocates - but to do that you first need to widen your brand reach.

There are a multitude of potential channels to get in front of your audience, so finding the one which works best for you is key. As already discussed, understanding your data, and gaining insights into such things as how the customer booked vs. how much they spent, for example, can give you so many insights to feed back into your targeting.

You are unique, so lean into your USPs. No other hotel is like you, you might have a unique location, facilities, or customer service, so find your strengths and communicate them. Unearth the things that will bring your business to life and reach your potential customers.

One of the strongest ways to build your brand is through content and PR. You can hit a variety of objectives, so not only does well targeted and positioned PR help you reach your target audience but done in the right way it can help lift your organic rankings and visibility too.

6. Use Digital PR to Reach Wider Relevant Audiences

Digital PR provides you with the opportunity to reach your target audience directly and build the customer base that you want. You can discover who exactly that should be with the insights gleaned from your data analysis.

Your target publication list should be crafted based on your target audience and who precisely you would like to reach. For example, if you find the majority of lead bookers are females aged between 30-55, you might want to target female-led lifestyle and travel publications (the ones you know your audience will read).

In terms of how to secure coverage, there are a few different tactics:

  • Hero Campaigns: with an experienced PR team, hero campaigns leverage timely and engaging angles that will resonate with your target audience.
  • Travel round ups: never underestimate the power of being included in a "8 staycation summer spots" type article. They are brilliant for repeat coverage and generating consistent brand awareness where it's most relevant for you to be.
  • Reactive opportunities: by understanding the wider conversation at the heart of your target customer base, you can secure coverage for some softer angles and get on the radar. Prepare for reactive commentary by creating a bank of key spokespeople so you can secure the opportunity for someone in your business as soon as it arises. Reactive does not mean scrambling to pull something together – if you are prepared, then you might have a few days to create a topical campaign and put your hotel at the centre of the conversation.
  • Business activity: Don't neglect your trade and business press. If nothing else, then it can be a great way to build linking coverage from high authority sites.

Key Takeaways

Look wider than the bottom line when assessing the value from OTAs. They can be a valuable part of your marketing mix but if you want to maximise what you get from them, you have to be able to understand their true value in terms of the type of customer they bring, their lifetime value as well as what part they play in the customer journey.

Make your paid strategy work harder. Use site extensions, bid on your brand name, introduce engaging ads. Not only do these increase the chance of a searcher booking directly with you, but they support the whole user journey and perception of your hotel.

Elevate your brand across all relevant channels. OTAs are generally only used in one part of the customer's journey, and only for specific reasons. There is so much opportunity for you to build awareness of your brand outside of just the search results for specific queries. Make sure you have an all-encompassing digital marketing strategy in place to increase your market share.

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11. MEMBERSHIP FEES

Hotel Business Review Subscriptions

If you choose to purchase a subscription, member subscription payments can be made in U.S. Dollars, as well as a variety of international currencies. Membership terms are Annual Recurring, and Monthly Recurring. The Annual Recurring subscription is an annual commitment and subscribers will be charged each consecutive billing cycle. Annual Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first billing cycle and within 30-days of the billing date for a full refund. Monthly Recurring subscriptions are ongoing and subscribers will be charged each consecutive monthly billing cycle. Monthly Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first month and within 7 days of the monthly billing cycle for a full refund.

12. PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION

Payment for the services provided to you in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive may be made by automatic credit card, debit card, direct debit, bankwire or Paypal and other approved payment means offered in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive, and you hereby authorize HotelExecutive and its agents to transact such payments on your behalf.

You hereby authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card to pay for your membership to HotelExecutive. You further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card for any and all purchases of products, services in association with HotelExecutive. You agree to be personally liable for all charges incurred by you in association with your access or other use of any content provided by HotelExecutive or any third party in association with HotelExecutive. You acknowledge and agree that your liability for all such charges shall continue after termination of your access or any type of membership arrangement with HotelExecutive.

In the event that you have chosen to have your membership automatically rebilled, unless and until you notify HotelExecutive that you wish to cancel or terminate your membership to HotelExecutive, you hereby agree and authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to automatically renew your membership to HotelExecutive on a continuing basis and to charge your credit card (or other payment means you have selected) to pay for the ongoing cost of your membership. You hereby further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card (or other approved payment means you have selected) for any and all purchases of products, services and entertainment provided to in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive.

13. PRIVACY POLICY

The following is the Privacy Policy for HotelExecutive

We can be reached via telephone, email, or online at our contact page. When you visit our site we do not log any information regarding your domain or email address. Information Sharing: We do not share user information with any third parties other than via press release distribution as described below.

Hotel Newswire is a newswire service that distributes press releases on behalf of our users. If you decide to submit a press release for distribution through our system we will transmit your entire press release including any personal information therein contained to our media contacts and online distribution points including search engines. This is the only redistribution of your information that we engage in. Your submission of press releases through our system indicates consent with this policy. The information we collect during your registration process is used to notify users about updates to our service and inform users of any special events hosted by Hotel Newswire. This information is not shared with other organizations for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Cookies: Our system requires the use of cookies to enable the user to log back into our website to access information from the newswire, without having to log in each time using the required username and password.

If you do not want to receive email from us in the future, please let us know by following instructions included in our communication with you. Users who supply us with telephone numbers online may receive telephone contact from us regarding their account, or informing them of new products and services available on the HotelExecutive website. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please edit your account and remove your phone number from your account profile. This can be done from your user account menu.

Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have any relationship with any ad server companies. From time to time, we may use customer information for new uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at any time, we will post the policy changes to our website to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to all information (including proprietary information) that we maintain about them. Users can access this information by logging in to their account.

Security: We always use industry-standard encryption technologies while transferring and receiving user data exchanged with our site. We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you on our site. We do not store credit card information in our systems.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us.

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