Inns Magazine Issue 2 Vol. 19 Summer Gourmet 2015 | Page 12

CONNECT

t’s no secret that international travel is booming. In fact, the UNTWO reported that international tourism was on track to hit a new record at the

end of last year, with over 1.1 billion international tourists traveling the world in one single year!

Now is the perfect time for you to focus on attracting these global guests. How can your inn grab the attention of the international traveller?

With limited resources, it can be tough to come up with a single marketing strategy. You can only spend so much time and money on marketing your inn. This makes it difficult to target a diverse range of travellers who come from different cultures and have different preferences.

However, it’s definitely doable. All you need is the right approach to selling your rooms online.

Here are some ways to attract guests from around the world through online distribution:

Let them book directly from your website. International travellers are very comfortable with making bookings online. In fact, the ability to instantly check your room availability and secure a reservation has now become such an industry standard. Since they are often booking from different time zones, you will likely miss out on a ton of global bookings simply because you weren’t awake to respond to enquiries. An online booking engine makes you look professional and legitimate, making them feel more comfortable about staying with you.

Let them book through their favorite OTA (Online Travel Agency). Many regular travellers have an OTA that they trust and use time and time again. While some OTAs are widely used by all kinds of travellers (like Booking.com), there are OTAs for every kind of segment imaginable. It’s important for you to do your research and connect your inn to the OTAs that will find you the global guests you’re looking for. Just make sure that the OTAs you connect to always have an updated view of your inventory, so that your rooms aren’t double booked.

how to

CONNECT

with international guests

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