Blog Post #1: Revenue Management's Best Practices

(Agreement)

The revenue management team in a hotel makes decisions that drive the property's bottom line in a positive direction. "Revenue Managers- The Next Generation" written by Darlene Rondeau discusses the importance of revenue management and incorporating digital marketing into daily practices of driving profit into the hotel.

Believe it or not, your hotel website contributes greatly to the bottom line, and it is in fact the most influential factor when travelers are researching accommodations.

Up to 60% of customers will visit the hotel's website before making a decision pertaining to booking, because they trust that the online platform will give them the most accurate information about the property.

Hotel websites should use third party sites to supplement online sales, because a majority of a hotel's RevPAR results from direct booking. One of the biggest problems guests have with hotel websites is difficulty in actually finding the site, so it is important to alter the site's settings to ensure it's easy to find in search engines.

Sites should also be easy to navigate, and the home page should have the option to "book now" at the very top of the page. Precisely, this article discusses five best practices for a high converting hotel website.

First, a unique story should be told. The site should explain what is special about the hotel, along with why they should stay there instead of the competitors (ie: a strong mission statement, what amenities are offered, packages, etc). This can be done with the use of words, photos, visuals/videos, captions, etc, and it will help create emotion within the guest.

Second, you have to lead the guest with photos of guest rooms. People want to see where they are sleeping before booking a room. The last three steps are to provide social proof, special offers, and to be mobile.

Driving more direct bookings goes hand in hand with understanding digital marketing on a deeper level, and it’s important to develop your hotel website because that is the single most profitable booking channel.

I saw this come to life when I shadowed the revenue and sales departments of the hotels I worked at, and I saw how they compared their digital appearance to those of third party booking sites. The hotel would match the revenue to booking.com, and I saw how important it is to make your site easy for the customer because if it is too difficult the guest will chose to stay elsewhere.

https://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article97099.html