Love them or hate them, the hotel industry would be hard pushed to live without them today: online travel agents (OTAs) take a share of revenues but they also deliver customers, create opportunities to build loyalty, and sell rooms that may otherwise remain unoccupied, reports Amit Vyas, CEO Nexa.
OTAs provide attractive consumer convenience to search and compare destinations, properties and prices; but the OTA channel benefits come quite literally, at a price. A fact most hoteliers are painfully aware of is that booking hotels through an OTA results in a large slice of commission paid — typically 15-30%.
While some critics believe we may be coming to the end of the dominance of the OTAs, still they continue to invest billions of dollars in marketing, advertising and technology, providing an essential and valuable ‘billboard’ effect that hotels can use to their advantage.
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Hotels need to optimise all the benefits of OTAs while continuing to push their own brands equally. After all, customers often still book directly with hotels even after visiting an OTA. Hotels can learn a lot from OTAs, and while they may not have the resources to achieve quite as much reach, these tips may help build brand loyalty and increase direct bookings.
So what are OTAs' big secret?
There isn’t one. In fact it is very clear: OTAs’ success lies in skilful use of the internet, good websites, and the digital marketing of their huge inventory of hotels. Other attractions are that hotel reviews, profiles, images and database information are organised conveniently in one place for the customer.
Leveraging powerful content
It’s not just the online content and the millions of visitors that make OTAs powerful — it’s how they use them. OTAs use their content to rank highly in search engines and on paid sites. They also advertise strategically online and track the activity of site visitors, including their movements through Google, Facebook and Twitter. OTAs re-target the same visitors, advertising specific locations or properties that these prospective customers have viewed on the OTA sites.
Start with the website
For any hotel wanting to balance OTA revenues with direct bookings, the most important place to start is the website. When a potential customer visits your website, you must create a positive first impression. Simply look at an OTA such as Booking.com to see the calls to action and design layouts, which are great examples of how sites can work hard for you.
Understand user experience
Hotels have to better understand the user experience online in order to make their websites more effective for visitors. Today’s online audience has less time and patience when browsing, so if a website takes too long to load, or the content is confusing or unclear, visitors hit the ‘back button’. Check the bounce rate and see if visitors are only looking at one page, and then leaving — if so you need to change that pattern.
Make visitors stay on your website
Content must be helpful. Create content that adds value to a hotel experience rather than just focusing on sales — for example, your ‘Ultimate Dubai Guide for First Time Family Visitors’ can be branded and shared, and may also become the preferred guidebook for visitors during their stays. Website content can also lead to indirect revenues through highlighting spa / F&B opportunities, as well as offering booking incentives and rewards.
Mobilise your site
Bookings are as likely to be made from an iPad or mobile app as from a PC, so make sure the site is mobile-enabled.
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