How to get more online bookings on your hotel website

The current popularity of online travel agencies (OTAs) for booking hotel stays has led to them being responsible for a large part of online bookings, being almost the channel par excellence for tourist reservations. Not surprisingly, according to the HSMAI foundation, only 24% of hotel bookings are made through the hotel’s website, while the remaining 76% are made through online travel agencies.

And, although appearing on OTAs is a great way for the hotel to get bookings and visibility, the truth is that these types of online bookings have an impact on the accommodation of between 10-15% in terms of commissions. It is for this reason that hotels have begun to strive to achieve a certain independence from the different OTAs, and the first step is to develop strategies for the hotel’s own website to increase traffic and, consequently, bookings. These are the main ones:

OTAs as a source of traffic to get bookings on the hotel’s website.

Using OTAs to create brand awareness is great, but it is also important to try to ensure that those customers who visit the hotel’s own website to learn about the hotel decide to stay there to make a reservation. Google observed that 52% of travelers visit the hotel’s website after seeing the information through the OTA, so the hotel must have an attractive, user-friendly website that rewards direct bookings with better offers, promotions or services included.

The importance of having a multi-platform website to achieve online bookings

Nowadays online reservations of hotel rooms are made through different devices, since new technologies allow it. The computer is the device by which most bookings are made, followed by the smartphone, which is increasingly used for online bookings, and lastly tablets. Therefore, the hotel’s website must be optimized to be used comfortably on different devices. And not only the website, but also the booking engine and the payment gateway must be cross-platform, for secure and easy payment of the reservation.

A fast and secure payment gateway as a partner

A common fear is the possibility of losing a potential guest who had already decided to make a reservation but decides to leave it halfway through the payment process. To avoid this, it is very important that both the booking engine and the payment gateway provide a simple, fast and very secure booking and payment experience. It is also important that the process inspires confidence, as the customer will be providing sensitive data and needs to feel secure.

The more payment methods available, the better

Nowadays there are different payment methods that are popularly used and the more payment methods an online business offers, the easier it will be not to lose any customers. This is especially important in the case of hotels, which receive customers from different parts of the world with different payment cultures. And of course it will also be necessary to have a dynamic currency converter, which will make it easier for those foreign tourists to pay with their local currency without any problem.

At PaynoPain we work with the most advanced payment technologies and have specific tools to meet the needs of hotels. That is why many hotels trust us for their web booking payments and have already achieved better results, while complying with PSD2 regulations without any effort.

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