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Santa
Fe, NM – September 2021 / Newsmaker Alert / In the hospitality industry
today, convenience is everything. Given the events of the last year, there’s
no reason for hoteliers to prefer their customers come to them exclusively
through their own channels. Instead, hoteliers should accept that customers
have their own preferred channels and realize that customers can show brand
loyalty without channel loyalty.
The
reality of travel in 2021 is that travelers have options when it comes
to how they book and where they stay. Securing brand loyalty should be
prioritized over channel loyalty. After all, if one customer books 5 stays
through an OTA like Expedia or Travelocity, and another customer books
4 stays directly through your voice channels, would you value the first
customer any less?
In
short, no. At the end of the day, reservations are what matter. To comprehend
loyalty in today’s travel landscape, hoteliers must understand today’s
travelers, recognize what booking channels are preferred, create offers
that appeal to travelers on their desired channels, and make it easy for
travelers to book across all channels.
1. Understanding
today’s travelers
When
OTA’s first emerged onto the travel scene, they were highly disruptive.
That’s because, in the past, most bookings occurred through direct channels
or traditional travel agencies. The introduction and mass use of online
travel agencies was now changing the travel landscape. Consequently, hoteliers
saw a loss in direct booking revenue as online booking options became mainstream,
making OTA’s the antithesis to a hotel’s revenue.
Since
then, the hospitality industry has adjusted to the presence of OTA’s. Afterall,
they still present hotels with valuable insights, such as data that revenue
professionals can use to help secure future reservations. And for the marketing
team, this information can further their understanding of today’s travelers
to establish brand loyalty.
Today,
hoteliers exist in relative harmony with the many popular online booking
options. In part, because travelers enjoy the convenience and numerous
benefits available through their preferred booking channel. Regardless
of where hoteliers stand on this topic, OTA’s have forever shifted the
marketplace, and they are here to stay.
The
simple truth is that OTA’s, alone, no longer pose the threat to hotel revenue
streams that they did when they first appeared. Now OTA’s are institutionalized
in the hospitability industry and should be embraced by all parties.
At
the end of the day, travelers are going to do what’s easiest for them to
book. If that’s booking through an OTA, then hoteliers must understand
why travelers turn to OTA’s and ask, “how can they create brand loyalty
without channel loyalty?”
2. Should loyalty
always be defined by source?
Emily
Bowen, CRME, CHDM Director of Revenue Strategy, questions whether the
source of the booking becomes less relevant as long as it meets the emotional
needs of the guest during their transactional experience.
The
variability in each traveler’s needs, the emotional weight of today’s travel
decisions, combined with general decision fatigue could make meeting the
guest where they are in the purchase journey even more critical in connecting
the emotional journey to the transactional one, creating a higher likelihood
of return.
According
to Emily Bowen, “people external to the travel industry likely do not understand
the nuances of booking sources and their importance to a company’s bottom
line. When we become hyper-focused on the source, we may risk the guest
perceiving that they are doing something wrong and ultimately, affecting
the [emotional] connection to the guest.”
3. Recognize what
booking channels travelers prefer to use.
When
a traveler books your property through an OTA, your CRM can still house
their data. So, despite the traveler using a third-party channel, hoteliers
still have access to a traveler’s stay history, booking patterns, and more.
From this data, you can learn how to market to that OTA guest in-house
for future reservations.
Similarly,
once a hotel identifies what a traveler’s chosen booking channels are,
they can work to facilitate future bookings. If it’s apparent that many
travelers are booking through certain third-party sites, appeal directly
to those travelers on their current channel of choice and offer special
rates and promotions exclusively for those OTA channels.
4. Create offers
that appeal to travelers based on the channels they prefer to use.
Hotels
can still work to build brand loyalty with guests who book through OTA’s.
As noted above, enticing travelers to book through their favorite OTA’s
with exclusive promotions and special rates will persuade guests to book
your property again.
Repeat
bookings, even through a third party, help establish brand loyalty. Incentivizing
travelers with exclusive deals and promotions through their chosen OTA’s
will urge them to develop brand loyalty, despite them having channel loyalty
to an OTA.
Traveler’s,
like all consumers, are habitually driven. As discussed in The
New Wave of Brand Loyalty, purchasing behavior can be incredibly difficult
to influence. Once a purchaser, or in this case, a traveler, has their
mindset on a booking channel, they’re likely to return to that same channel
for future travel.
According
to Emily Bowen, “Travelers will follow the path of least resistance when
it comes to booking their stays.” By using targeted promotions on OTA’s,
hotels can create a path for travelers to follow that ends at their properties.
5. Make it easy
(fewer restrictions, more flexibility)
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When
addressing the presence of OTA’s in the travel marketplace, John Smallwood,
Travel Outlook President,
acknowledges that many travelers will favor OTA’s over direct channels.
But what truly matters is travelers having options. “OTA’s have changed
the way we do business and the way most travelers now plan their stays.
Hotels should accommodate and facilitate all reservations regardless of
what channels they come from, while still actively promoting the use of
direct channels.”
Instead
of fighting an uphill battle to attempt to change a traveler’s purchasing
behavior and convert them to a direct channel user, facilitate their booking
process on their channel of choice, which includes your hotel’s voice
channel. Then focus your attention on incentivizing repeat bookings.
In
summary, giving travelers the ability to conveniently book through OTA’s
and providing travelers with reliable direct channels will increase
reservations and build brand loyalty.
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About
Travel Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center
Given
its progressive approach to the voice channel – in terms of performance,
training, transparency, testing and the tools used to measure performance
– Travel Outlook Premium Hotel
Call Center has become the premier voice reservations team in hospitality.
Travel Outlook’s valued client list includes Catalina Island, Columbia
Hospitality, Highgate Hotels, KSL Resorts, Outrigger, Pacific Hospitality
Group, Proper Hospitality Group, The Irvine Company, Viceroy Hotel Group
and many others. Travel Outlook’s team and approach increases sales conversion
and helps to create more effective voice communication between hotels and
their guests, resulting in improved social scores in addition to increased
voice channel revenue. For more information, visit www.TravelOutlook.com.
About
Emily Bowen, CRME, CHDM
Director
of Revenue Strategy
Emily
Bowen is a practicing Revenue Management professional with more than
15 years of experience in operational and strategic management in the luxury
and independent hotel and resort space. She holds certificates through
HSMAI as a Revenue Management Executive and Hotel Digital Marketing and
was a recipient of their Revenue Management Professional of the Year award.
She is a proud alumna of The Pennsylvania State University, where she works
as an executive for the Hospitality Services team, has contributed to the
School of Hospitality Management as an Adjunct Professor and is currently
serving as a Board member of the Recreation, Park and Tourism Management’s
Affiliate Program Group.
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Media
Contact:
Raul
Vega
LEVEL
5 Hospitality
www.LEVEL5hospitality.com
Mobile:
954-817-6371
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