It is not unrealistic for a property to increase RevPAG by 200-300 % by planning a welldesigned booking experience with timely prompts that encourage guests to book additional activities that enhance their on-property experience .
An online booking engine will also help you recuperate revenue lost to OTAs . When you choose the right hospitality partner to build your online booking engine , that partner will not take a percentage of the room bookings . Guests who make reservations on your website will receive the same price as advertised through an OTA , and you will save the 15 % to 30 % commission you were paying the OTA for those reservations .
Your online booking engine will also help you establish a stronger connection with guests . Reservations through your online booking engine are booked using the guest ’ s email address rather than one generated by an OTA . Having your guest ' s personal email provides you with an opportunity to communicate with them directly using your own branded content . Based on their bookings you can further enhance their experience before they arrive , during their
50 ILHA stay , and post-stay with targeted communications and relevant promotions , thereby building a targeted customer relationship strategy .
A Comprehensive Strategy
With all the advantages of an online booking engine , listing and maintaining your property through OTAs may seem redundant , but this is not the case . The best solution for maximizing your online bookings is to use OTAs through a channel manager and your direct online booking engine in tandem for a comprehensive approach to sales . OTAs can serve a valuable role in the marketing of your property to new guests . The strength of OTAs is their visibility and reach . The money OTAs spend on advertising and SEO makes them some of the most visible brands in hospitality . Keeping a listing with OTAs allows your property to leverage its visibility to increase your exposure to potential new guests . When these new guests discover your property on an OTA , they will visit
your website to learn more about your property . Once there , your online booking engine will take over . Your booking engine will allow guests to reserve a room at the same price as the OTA and book dining reservations , spa treatments , golf , activities , etc . to customize their own stay . Guests are returning to travel , so now is the time to reach out to your hospitality technology partner to start building your online booking engine .
About the author Frank Pitsikalis brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to his roles as Founder & CEO of ResortSuite , and as International SPA Association ( ISPA ) Chairman . Combining his knowledge of the hospitality field with his background in enterprise-level technology , Frank founded ResortSuite , establishing a position as the leading provider of true integrated , guestcentric , hospitality , and leisure management technologies including spa software and resort software .
For more information on ResortSuite and property-branded apps , visit
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