As we have already discussed in our blog post “Spread your booking sources“, a good business strategy for your hotel is a mixture of increasing direct bookings and spreading your booking sources, by being listed on different OTAs websites.   OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com have a very large share in the online hotel rooms reservations. Thus, it is good for small hotels/B&Bs to be listed on those websites. Here are two way OTAs can help your hotel.

OTAs can increase awareness of your hotel

The also called “billboard effect” of you being listed on a popular OTA website can help you increase the awareness of your hotel and can help driving traffic to your hotel website. Google survey showed that 52% of travellers are visiting hotel websites after seeing those hotels on an OTA website.  Thus, OTAs increase awareness for hotels, especially for small hotels, for which it will be harder to drive traffic to their website if they are not listed anywhere.

OTAs can help you increase direct bookings

You might wonder how you can increase direct bookings through the OTAs. Well, once a guest has found you on the OTA and visit your website you can use the opportunity to offer some special value to encourage them to book directly through you. For example, for the same price as listed on the OTA website you can add something extra, such as include breakfast, offer some complimentary drinks or sweets. This way, you can ensure that guest will book directly through you. You can find out how to create special offers in our post 3 Tips for Special Offers.

As we had said multiple times a good business mix includes direct bookings plus a diversified strategy with Expedia and Booking.com.

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