Hotel Vikas is the next generation magazine for American Hospitality industry specifically created for senior Hotel CEOs and decision makers.

How to increase holiday bookings

Even huge industry players are evolving their online presence as they respond to the travel industry power shift. TripAdvisor, one of the world’s largest travel sites with more than 225 million reviews, has introduced a unique function called TripConnect Cost-Per-Click giving hotels the opportunity to cost effectively generate bookings.

Travellers can now quickly compare pricing and availability directly within TripAdvisor. Using a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) model, accommodation owners can compete for direct bookings and drive visitors directly to their own hotel’s booking page with no commission payable

The reputation of your hotel can be make-or-break for your business. Whether it’s Google reviews, customer feedback on OTAs, critic reception, or even plain old word-of-mouth, a poor reputation (even a newly acquired one) can quickly result in a drop in bookings. In some cases, it can even be more important than price.

Social media is now a lynch pin in many hotel marketing campaigns, but recent years have demonstrated just how powerful these platforms have become for the travel industry. One study from Skyscanner shows that around half of all survey respondents made travel plans that were inspired by the content they had seen on social media.

What does this mean for your hotel? Social media is powerful, and only becoming more so. If you don’t have a presence on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, you may be missing out on valuable bookings.

Offering discounts and specials has been a long-standing part of driving direct bookings. In fact, research has shown that a third of travellers would never buy a hotel room that hasn’t been discounted, and discounting and special offers have quickly become a regular part of hotel pricing schemes.

Hotels aiming to enhance their online presence should consider crafting holiday-specific packages, especially focusing on group holiday bookings.

This is also an excellent time to update room details to better reflect the holiday seasons. High-resolution images, virtual tours, and detailed descriptions bookings can provide potential guests with a clear picture of the festive experiences awaiting them.