BookOnlinenow Blog

Upgrade Your Pricing Strategy to Match Consumer Behavior

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Sun, 31 May 2020 14:03:00 GMT

How can marketing managers nudge consumers to purchase those higher quality goods and services that consumers say they want? Just as “life hacks” are small changes designed to make your life easier, we identify three “pricing hacks,” small tweaks in how retailers present prices to consumers that reduce sticker shock and increase the perceived value of their offerings. Recognizing these “hacks” enables retailers to guide consumers toward better, but more expensive options more effectively.

BookOnlineNow : We kept two (2) out of the three “pricing hacks” from this interesting article that could easily be applied to hotel marketing & sales strategy by e-revenue/marketing managers.

Hack 1: Frame higher prices as an upgrade.

Instead of offering a standard option for “$200” and a higher-quality alternative for “$250,” focus on the difference and offer the high-quality option for “$50 more.” In recent studies on how consumers perceive price-quality tradeoffs, we observed that focusing price communications on the upgrade premium itself (e.g., the superior option is available for $50 more) instead of the full price comparison (e.g., the superior option is available for $250) leads consumers to be more accepting of the cost of upgrade, increasing the likelihood of their choosing the higher quality item, and reducing their ratings of expensiveness.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that seasoned salespersons are already aware of this pricing strategy, but a limited number of firms seem to make use of this easy-to-implement pricing hack. Importantly, this upgrade pricing approach does not use deception — all the information is presented — but rather serves to increase the perceived value of the higher-priced item by shifting consumers’ focus during the purchase decision-making. It leads consumers to perceive the higher priced option as relatively cheaper, even as they remain fully aware of the final price at the cash register.

An important caveat here : Upgrade pricing is also not to be confused with drip-pricing, which hides additional fees and surcharges from the consumer until after the completion of the transaction. While drip pricing can increase short-term sales, recent research has found evidence that this pricing strategy can hurt long-term customer satisfaction and profitability.

How can this Hack be applied in our dedicated booking engine? Feel free to contact our sales team to have a short demo of our tool by filling out our contact form: click here .

Hack 3: Stack discounts in the right order.

From limited-time offers to the ubiquitous online promo code, discounts have always been one of marketers’ favorite tools for appealing to cost-conscious customers. “Stacked” discounts refer to cumulative discounts that are sequentially presented to consumers, for example, offering a 20% “first time buyer” discount, on top of a 15% “holiday weekend sale.” Research shows that stacking multiple discounts is more effective than providing one overall discount. For instance, taking “10% off, plus an additional 40% off” is more effective than taking “50% off,” even though the lump sum discount is larger.

Furthermore, stacking discounts from low to high (e.g., taking “10% off, plus an additional 40%) is more effective than the high-to-low order (e.g., taking “40% off, plus an additional 10%”). This asymmetric effect occurs because consumers treat the first discount they encounter as a standard and evaluate the size of the second discount with respect to this first one (40% off sounds great after 10% off sets the standard, whereas 10% off sounds measly after 40% sets the standard).

How can this Hack be applied in our dedicated booking engine? Feel free to contact our sales team to have a short demo of our tool by filling out our contact form: click here .

With consumers feeling stretched and caught between minimizing price and maximizing quality for money, price formats and their effects on consumer purchase decisions matter more than ever. However, retailers should take the long view when choosing pricing strategies. Immediate increases in sales should be weighed against other measures of profitability, such as customer satisfaction and return rate to ensure the sustainability of the business in the long run.

To read full article visit : Harvard Business Publishing

David J. Hardisty is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

Thomas Allard is an assistant professor of marketing at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Dale Griffin is a professor in the marketing and behavioural science division at the UBC Sauder School of Business.

6 BookOnlineNow tips on how to increase your direct bookings in 2020

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 09:24:00 GMT

As the new year has arrived, it is now the perfect time for you to make a fresh start, rethink of your hotel marketing strategies and set your 2020 business goals.

BookonlineNow has gathered for you the most up-to-date strategies and tactics in order to maximize your direct bookings and see your revenue growing up.

The first step in order to increase direct bookings and maximize your revenue is to choose the right Booking Engine for your website. OTAs (eg. Booking,Expedia etc) are inevitably a way to promote your rooms and secure some bookings. However, the commission you are forced to pay definitely diminishes your net profit. Thanks to the low commission a Booking Engine charges, it allows you to decide the rate you want to charge and receive directly the payment for the reservations.

Integrating a user-friendly Booking Engine will attract the client and force them to book their stay through it. A Booking Engine must have the following characteristics:

2.Enable Online Payment

When using a Booking Engine you definitely want to be sure that once the reservation is made you will directly receive your money in your bank account. BookOnlineNow has now launched Online Payment Suite which is a complete solution for managing online payments with just “one-click”. Via a Payment Gateway hoteliers can control both the reservations coming from their booking engine and their OTAs.

Nowadays, that more of 80% of the population own a mobile phone, a key to ensure clients’ bookings is to offer your clients a mobile-friendly booking experience. The legible font, the concise content, the easy navigation without scrolling and zoom-in and the specific design are only some of the characteristics that will make the booking process easier and efficient.

4.Promote the best deals and packages through your website

A secure way to maximize direct bookings is to ensure the visitors of your webpage that the rates and offers found here are the best they can find online. If your question is how can I promote my Booking Engine as the most value-for-money reservation way the answer lies between:

5.Create loyalty with your clients

Once a customer makes a booking he/she is directly considered as a member of the hotel. One of the most important techniques that lead to a direct booking is the existence of loyalty programs for the repeated clients of a hotel. BON Loyalty Suite rewards program is a way to say thank you to loyal guests, while also giving them an incentive to book their next trip by offering them special prices, extra services, free gifts depending on the “level” of their loyalty.

6.Be connected with meta-search

In our days metasearch has become a strong player in hospitality industry. A metasearch basically compares rates from various online travel agencies(OTAs) all in one place. When clients check the prices on a metasearch and find a deal they like, with just one click they are taken to the page of the original source(an OTA or the hotel website) in order to complete their booking. Since our goal is to maximize direct bookings it is highly advisable that the Booking Engine we use is connected with these metasearch pages. BookonlineNow Booking Engine is now connected with Google Hotel Ads, Trivago and Tripadvisor.

BookOnlineNow – Online Payment Suite

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 10:50:00 GMT

BookOnlineNow – Online Payment Suite

BookOnlineNow gets fully compliant with the new requirements of the PSD2 Directive through its new module called Online Payment Suite . At the same time offers hotels a complete solution for managing payments of their online reservations, including those via our booking engine and OTAs through Channel Manager.

What Online Payment Suite (OPS) offers to Hotels?

Through BON OPS all charges of the hotel online reservations can be easily made through BON extranet. BON OPS can directly charge the credit card for any reservation according to its payment/cancellation policy.

What it offers:

Benefits:

If for any reason, the system cannot charge the credit card, it automatically sends a Payment Notification email to the guest, asking him to complete the payment.

Payment Gateways supported by BookOnlineNow

BooKonlineNow supports the following Payment Gateways:

Paypal, EveryPay, CyberSource, Cielo, Mercado Pago, Ingenico (Ogone), iPay88.

Below is a list of Payment Gateways in the development process:

WebPay, Stripe, Iyzico, 2c2p

The European Commission’s revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is set to go into effect from 14 September 2019. The Directive requires financial institutions such as banks, payment gateways and other third-party service providers to adopt more secure forms of authentication and data transfer. We are working to ensure that all our integrated payment gateways and banking services are PSD2 compliant.

Reservations coming from OTAs

Either the OTA passes on the guest’s credit card details or the OTA charges the guest and issues a virtual card that passes to the Channel Manager. BookOnlineNow Online Payment Suite handles both options similarly as it handles direct reservations from the booking engine.

Payment Notification Email

If the guest’s credit card is not able to accept the charge, the hotelier should change the status to “Credit Card Invalid”.

In that case, the system will automatically send an email to the customer requesting him to pay the amount through a Payment Gateway link or bank transfer. The Payment Notification email states how many days the guest has to complete the payment before the system cancels the reservation.

Installments

BON OPS gives guests the option to decide whether they want to pay the total amount of the reservation or pay by installments.

Installments are configurable if the Payment Gateway supports it. In that case, the hotelier decides the minimum installment amount and number of instalments.

Start Working with OPS – How to activate the service

The process is straightforward:

The process usually takes no more than 4-5 working days, depending on the time required to complete step 3.

For more information on how to activate BON Online Payment Suite (OPS), please send us an email at globalsales@bookonlinenow.net or contact us directly at +30 210 9920411 .

Hotel Messenger: Online Marketing tool in BookOnlineNow Booking Engine

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 14:14:00 GMT

Chatbots, WhatsApp together with Facebook Messenger are a real powerhouse and represent the future of Hotel Marketing.

Why chatbots?

In traditional online and social media advertising, we call “engagement” the click on an ad or the play of a video. Engagement via a chatbot, on the other hand, is an active real-time conversation with a user that is prepared to take an informed decision.

Hotels will now be able to provide a personalized customer experience through Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.

A personalized experience to increase Hotel bookings!

BookOnlineNow provides a service that opens new doors and creates new opportunities for Hotels. It allows Hotels to maximize the chance to personalize the engagement experience.

The great thing is that chatbots, Messenger or WhatsApp work inside your Hotel’s Official Booking engine , and customers don’t have to install any apps in order to take advantage of this feature. A now growing trend in retail digital experiences is the use of chatbots to engage users in conversational mode. Concerning Hotels, this opens a new world to implement already known services in a new way.

Your chatbot is an extension of your Hotel brand, Hotel brand booking engine, Hotel brand Messenger and voice. These are reflected on the small details like the name you give to your Hotel chatbot and the big details like the design of the conversation model your Hotel chatbot uses in order to interact with your customers.

Creating a pre-stay relationship with guests will definitely improve Hotel business performance in 6 different ways:

It’s now clear that these new communication tools will allow to open a brand-new chapter in the relationship between Hoteliers and Guests. From a Hotel perspective it will definitely contribute to an increase in guest satisfaction and a better business performance. Hotel Chatbots and Messenger tools are the perfect match between hospitality, technology and online marketing.

Learn now more and ask your dedicated account manager on how you can activate it today!

BON Localize Feature: Display local currency in rate plans without converting prices via exchange rate

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 13:08:00 GMT

What are the ways to show country-wise different prices in local currency on your booking engine?

Hoteliers in several countries come up with this request/question when they actually want to serve their local market and cover a demand on their local currency without having to deal with exchange rates converters that change all the time and have an effect on the direct sales in their original market. In particular, they want to be able to control the ‘displayed-currency’ in specific rate plans while their main default sell currency in all the other rate plans handled is a different one.

A great example comes from the Egypt Market. Usually, the displayed default currency for hotels’ rates is $ USD. However, some hotels are in need of displaying to the market the same rate plans in ￡EGP without though the booking engine having to convert the $USD to ￡EGP – Their aim is to set on the booking engine flat direct rates in ￡EGP which should be shown via IP recognition only to Egyptian visitors.

BookOnlineNow, being a global leader among Online Booking Engines, has developed the Localize feature for hotels that do wish to control both ‘displayed-currency’ and ‘transaction-currency’ regardless which is the default currency they had initially used globally.

More information can be requested here: globalsales@bookonlinenow.net

Responsive is no longer satisfactory: BookOnlineNow Dedicated Version only for Mobile Devices

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:11:00 GMT

Is Your Booking Engine Responsive? A question that is normally raised by hoteliers to our sales team.

Of course, it is. That would be absurd. Every booking engine is expected to be responsive these days. Delivering anything less would be a crime towards your clients. Responsive design is the new minimum characteristic. It’s an expected human right, like shelter, food, water, and internet access.

From our point of view, it’s no longer a selling point when everyone is using it. And it ‘s not impressive if you have designed your Booking Engine lazily.

Desktop vs Mobile approach

BookOnlineNow design has followed a desktop-and-mobile-simultaneously approach. Neither one or the other got more attention. Both are structured so that our technical team could develop proofs of concept for each one of them as early as possible within the design process. Our experience showed us that the process of designing for big and small screens, touch and non-touch, can each uncover different design solutions that can then be adjusted to the others.

This is the main reason that we run different Booking engine versions for Desktops/Tablets and Mobile devices and we are proud for the conversion results of hotels.

The mobile experience is clearly different from the desktop experience, and therefore needs to be treated differently.

Having the same experience on desktop as on mobile, a typical “responsive” approach, is simply not good enough anymore. Each platform, either desktop or mobile, needs to be optimized for its users and their experience and cover their expectations.

Need to learn more about our Desktop & Mobile versions?

Increase Brand Recognition & Brand Awareness: Customized Look & Feel of Mail Settings in BookOnlineNow

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 09:37:00 GMT

Brand recognition is when people simply recognize your brand based on logos, fonts, products, and other marketing materials. How can your online booking engine help you with that?

On default, all booking engines send predefined emails when a client is reserving a room or even when canceling or modifying existing reservations. Those emails are usually simple emails that have the on-default booking engine template and pre-defined content. What if you could use your own logo, your hotel pictures or even your preferred message in those emails that are sent to clients?

BookOnlineNow is taking under consideration the need for Brand Recognition in each hotel and it has enabled on default the opportunity to set customized Look & Feel to all the emails that are sent to clients who book direct.

BON customized Brand Recognition Emails can be set for:
• Confirmation Email: Contains all details of the client’s reservation.
• Loyalty Member Email: Information and acceptance for becoming part of the Loyalty Reward Scheme of the hotel or chain.
• Cancellation/Modification Email: Contains all details of the cancellation or modification done.

Sample of a hotel selected look and feel confirmation email:

Brand Awareness is when customers are aware of more in-depth aspects of your company, such as its culture, values, reputation, and quality.

Creating brand awareness is ideal because it makes consumers associate your brand with certain feelings, emotions, and desires. For example, if you have Spa Treatments at your hotel, you want people to immediately think of your hotel brand when they’re craving for relaxation, not just when they notice your sign out of the corner of their eye.

To drive brand awareness, you need to keep putting branded marketing materials out into the world. How can you achieve this with BookOnlineNow?

BON customized Brand Awareness Emails can be set for:

Samples of Pre & Post departure emails:

Branding your hotel takes time. Be persistent and consistent, and keep trying new marketing methods to get your hotel’s name and logo out there. Use identifiable color schemes, logos, catchphrases, and designs that fit your hotel’s overall aesthetic. Elaborate on the strategies that work, and learn from the ones that have floundered.

BookOnlineNow is RevDirect ready by Sojern

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Fri, 10 May 2019 07:46:00 GMT

BookOnlineNow has finalized the connection with Sojern and its RevDirect Product.

RevDirect is a proven commission-based marketing solution for independent hotels and chain properties. In other words your hotel takes control of the Direct Online Demand .

Risk Free!

About Sojern

Sojern has specialized in traveler path to purchase data for over a decade and our aim is to know all the world’s travelers and move them from dream to destination. They now partner with over 8,500 customers around the globe.

You love Direct Bookings and so do we!

It’ s all about how effectively you can maximize your conversion rate on your Direct Channel and BookOnlineNow is here to offer to you the most advanced tools to achieve it.

For more information about the product visit: https://www.sojern.com/revdirect/ or contact our dedicated BookOnlineNow Sales team to guide you on how you can activate the tool email: globalsales@bookonlinenow.net

BON Loyalty Suite : Activation of Automated Loyalty Levels

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 09:04:00 GMT

Rewards or loyalty programs are popular within the hospitality industry, and for good reason. Travelers are loyal to hotel brands they can trust, demonstrate consistent value, and customize an experience both while on property and in between stays. BON Loyalty Suite rewards program is a way to say thank you to loyal guests, while also giving them an incentive to book their next trip.

” What is new in existing BON Loyalty Suite?

Multiple revenue-based membership levels

Hoteliers can now set different Loyalty Groups (VIPs Levels) based on the Amount of Revenue or No of reservation each customer has generated in the hotel booking engine. This way when a member customer reaches the criteria of a new Membership level, then the system automatically moves the member customer to the new Membership Level.

Bringing New Energy to Your Brand

If you don’t already have a loyalty program, now is a good time to start one. If you already have one in place, brainstorm ways to improve it. Guest loyalty is beneficial all around. Of course, you want people who enjoy your hotel to return as often as possible, so why not give them an extra incentive to do so. The more consistently you communicate the benefits and your appreciation for their patronage, the more they will feel like you are creating an experience customized for them, which is the ultimate goal.

BookOnlineNow & Adara Intelligence transform customer Engagement

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:31:00 GMT

BookOnlineNow announces the connection with Adara the world’s Travel Data Co-Op. ADARA provides the travel and tourism industry with greater visibility into the needs and wants of in-market travel consumers. We provide a unique, holistic understanding of patterns, trends, and behavior. Traveler resolution gets clearer and more precise with each partner that joins.Hoteliers achieve by participating an increase of performance and loyalty with direct bookings from risk-free advertising campaigns.

Over 200 of the World’s Largest Travel Brands Trust ADARA

Contact our BookOnlineNow Sales Team for more information to join this new marketing opportunity for your dedicated hotel.

Google Hotel Ads: Direct connection to Google hotel ads is built into BookOnlineNow!

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 09:53:00 GMT

If you search for accommodation on Google or Google Maps on a desktop, tablet or smartphone, you will often see a special section on the first page, where Google displays a small map and lists various accommodation options – that’s Google Hotel Ads .
Potential guests from all over the world will see Google Hotel Ads when they’re looking to book a hotel like yours, and you’ll only pay when your ad generates a booking. Guests can check prices and availability on Google right away, and book a room there and then.
The bookings that you get from these hotel advertisements, Google will send them directly to our dedicated Booking Engine. You pay charged commission only to Google . Hence, you will receive direct bookings through GHA campaigns.

What if you do not join Google Hotel Ads?
There are millions of searches made for hotels on Google all the time. Then why not you enter with your own property to the Google Hotel Ads Commission Program and get more direct sales? That means umpteen potential bookings are there for you to grab though these ads, that you might miss if you are not enrolled.

BookOnlineNow – Whip hotels connectivity

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 23:59:00 GMT

BookOnlineNow empowers your online sales by cooperating with WHIP hotels , a leading marketing company which helps hotels increase direct bookings. By this connection between BookOnlineNow and Whip , hotels on board have the opportunity to use one single dashboard that gives transparency and control over how budgett are spent on each Meta-Search sites. Sort by ROI, revenue, ad-spend and more.

easily manage your hotels based on ad-spend, ROI, conversion rate or get more granular and manage each platform individually per hotel. Turn on/off the entire hotels on all platforms in one click. If you want to play it safe, set budget caps per hotel, or hotel channel, and never lose track of your CPC spend.

Contact our support Team today to get more information on how to get advantage of this new connection offered by BookOnlineNow

Trivago: Connection with BookOnlineNow now active

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 23:59:00 GMT

Reduce your distribution costs
The more travellers who book direct, the fewer third-party booking commissions you’ll pay to fill your rooms.

Own your customer relationships
Each direct booking is an opportunity to market your property, build your brand, and generate repeat business with guests.

Control your advertising costs

Optimise your campaign performance

Target your international customers

Pictograms for room facilities & amenities

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 23:59:00 GMT

The international language of ISO graphical symbols

Graphical symbols are vital for giving information when written words are not adequate. International Standards developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provide people all over the world with a coherent set of graphical symbols to help overcome language and other barriers.

BookOnlineNow following the global standards and being a step ahead in increasing your brand awareness and online presence, has launched the Pictogram section in each room type. By this feature hoteliers can highlight each room facilities & amenities and achieve full user experience.
Visit BookOnlineNow extranet and go to Room types section and activate Pictograms feature today!

Target registered visitors via Facebook or Gmail

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 23:59:00 GMT

Secret discounts offered depending the registration method

Drive your everyday visitors to registration process by offering secret deals that are visible only to registered users. Apply different discount levels for FaceBook Lovers or Gmail users and take full advantage of the VIP feature of BookOnlineNow

BookOnlineNow gives you the oportunity to combine rules and offers with different VIP levels and increase your direct conversion rate. Visitors will have second thoughts to leave the booking process

Visit BookOnlineNow extranet and activate VIP feature or send your request to your dedicated account manager!

New Fully responsive front end version live

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 23:59:00 GMT

Explore the new demo

Think really small . . . and very big

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 23:59:00 GMT

Think really small . . . and very big

The smallest edge can make the biggest difference. Consider the remarkable photograph below from the 1896 Olympics , taken at the starting line of the 100-meter dash. Only one of the runners, Thomas Burke, crouched in the now-standard four-point stance. The race began in the next moment, and 12 seconds later Burke took the gold; the time saved by his stance helped him do it. Today, sprinters start in this way as a matter of course—a good analogy for the business world, where rivals adopt best practices rapidly and competitive advantages are difficult to sustain.

The variety of stances among runners in the 100-meter sprint at the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896, is surprising to the modern viewer. Thomas Burke (second from left) is the only runner in the crouched stance—considered best practice today—an advantage that helped him win one of his two gold medals at the Games.

The good news is that intelligent players can still improve their performance and spurt back into the lead. Easy fixes are unlikely, but companies can identify small points of difference to amplify and exploit. The impact of “big data” analytics is often manifested by thousands—or more—of incrementally small improvements. If an organization can atomize a single process into its smallest parts and implement advances where possible, the payoffs can be profound. And if an organization can systematically combine small improvements across bigger, multiple processes, the payoff can be exponential. By Helen Mayhew, Tamim Saleh, and Simon Williams-Digital McKinsey

Bookonlinenow Loyalty Suite

Bookonlinenow Loyalty Suite converts your booking engine to a communication and sales platform

Bookonlinenow Dynamic Pricing combined with Loyalty Suite allows you to offer rates and discounts that can apply based on different membership-level, room type, rate plans, search criteria and special conditions.

Connect with your guests and customers and increase your conversion rate by at least 50%

New dedicated Mobile version is live!

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 23:59:00 GMT

Explore the new mobile version

The OTA’s Myth

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 23:59:00 GMT

The OTA’s Myth

Going on vacation? Hop onto any Online Channel and get the best price. Right? Not necessarily. Nothing against online travel agencies (OTAs) are just as unlikely to beat hotels’ direct rates.

Love/hate relationship :

Hoteliers harbour mixed feelings towards OTAs. They love the wide reach. They hate the model. Unsurprising when OTAs typically take over 20% of the booking cost. Hotels’ profit margins are being painfully squeezed by people buying into the belief that OTAs will get you the best rate.

Hotels are serious about matching OTA prices:

Chain brands are aggressively trying to wrestle bookings back from OTAs. Their tactic? Price promises. Some great hotel Chains are so bullish that they offer the best rate that they’ll bet on it. “Find a lower rate and we’ll give you a 10% discount or 2000 member points” their website proudly claims.
And if you’re big on your loyalty programs, some brands will only allow guests to rack up loyalty points through booking direct.

So how do OTAs maintain a stranglehold on bookings? :

Reports show that 76% of online hotel bookings go through OTAs. And OTAs are smart. They work hard on building relationships with their customers, have powerful SEO, and love to shout loudly about unbeatable rates. The last thing they want is to lose a customer to a specific hotel. Booking.com do this by blocking the sharing of their customers’ personal information with the hotel. That way the hotel can’t get in touch the guest after their stay, can’t ask them for feedback, can’t mail them special offers, can’t steal that commission right back from OTAs. This is difficult for hotels. It has a major effect on driving loyal repeat custom.

And why do people use OTAs?:
We’re creatures of convenience. First time visitors to a new destination are unlikely to have an intimate knowledge of the local hotel landscape. OTAs have the lowdown. Location, amenities, price, availability – all in one place. The longer you spend browsing an OTA, the further down the decision funnel you slip. Spend half an hour weighing up a few hotels, reading a few reviews and before you know it, they’ve got you. You’ve booked. We’re all suckers for the easy option. And that may be exactly what some people are looking for.

How can hotels react?:
Hotels are overly dependent on OTAs. With each passing year, hotels pass more and more money to Expedia, Booking.com and the others. As hotels and their would-be guests confront the plethora of electronic distribution channels, they face a complex picture of rates and availability of hotel rooms.
They’ll be sure to have to react with :
• Smoother booking engine
• More compelling promotional offers
• Have to shout louder about their “best rate guarantees”

In an attempt to sort out where client is offered consistently low room rates, better promotions & loyalty programs, BookOnlineNow Booking Engine has made considerable progress in fulfilling a stated goal of offering lowest-cost last-room availability marketing tools , Loyalty Scheme features and now launching Live Rate comparison of your hotel in competition with sites operated by third parties (OTA’S).

With this tool, your hotel displays your hotel’s room rates on other online channels alongside your own booking engine’s rates. Visitor can quickly compare the rates in one place without having to leave and search if he’s got the best deal!

Leading Booking Engine for Hotels

Take your online sales strategy to the next level

Understanding Tripadvisor Marketing

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 23:59:00 GMT

Understanding Tripadvisor Marketing Trip advisor offers many services for hotelier. I try to explain some of these services in this article. What Is the Business Listing? Trip advisor offers many services for hotelier. I try to explain some of these services in this article. As you know, Trip Advisor began as a review site. […]

Call Center Feature

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 23:59:00 GMT

Call Center Feature Activated in all Accounts

Transform your reservations desk or reception desk into a professional voice reservations center!
BookOnlineNow call centre solution, designed exclusively for your hotel.
Have your dedicated reservation sales agents answer your incoming reservation calls and enter new bookings directly into your booking engine.
Save time getting rid of unnecessary email communication with your clients. Your call center agent has complete access to real time prices and inventory of your hotel and can make automatically the reservation requested for the hotel clients.
Combine unique deals and secret promos and increase your conversion from direct visitors of your hotel contact page. Check Analytics and full report of your agent performance and measure the impact your voice reservations have in your hotel’s revenue.
Secure your clients credit card details
Your call center agent does not interfere at all with guest credit card data as the booking procedure automatically is being done via our PCI DSS compliant booking engine, which securely stores clients credit card data.

How this benefits your hotel

Art of selling your hotel online

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 23:59:00 GMT

ART OF SELLING YOUR HOTEL ONLINE

Selling a Ferrari is easy. A buyer can touch it and feel the muscle of the car. The Glittering hood of the car is convincing itself. If the seller is talented, then he can spray such a perfume so that buyer also inhales that pleasant smell, creating another reasonto buy this car!

Selling a hotel online is not the same thing. You are trying to sell your hotel to a customer who is 3000+ miles away.

On the consumer end, it is not easy to decide because they need to buy something they can’t see or touch it physically. Before they can experience any of these products, they need to purchase it not knowing what the service will be like, how the staff will behave and how the full experience will be delivered.

Selling your hotel online is ensuring you create a real online presence visually and create an imagination that sells your hotel to your customer.

This, in turn, will prompt them to commit to making that purchase based on theobserved content and imagination created.

How To Create a Good Online Presence

There are three important thing for your hotels online presence.

1.Your Website

Your site is a treasured tool for your hotel’s online presence. It is your hotel’s digital face. It is the first place where the customer creates his first impression about your hotel. No matter where your customer ends up buying your hotel, example a group, corporate, OTA or anywhere else, they will come to your website to see further details like photos, information, phone number, etc.

Your website image has two aspects.

First one is technology and design.

The second one is your website’s management. How often do you update your web page? Can your customer easily interact with you via your website? Does your websiteinclude all the promotions that you apply in other OTA’s etc.? Managing your website also builds trust between you and your customer, an updated website does not make the client less valued, Let me give you an example. If you put a Chrismas message on your website and forget to take it off until Valentine’s day than what the customer see’s is your website is out of date messages and content. In such a case, a client will think that this website is not updated and there is no one taking care of this website so why should I buy from this website, Why should I even choose this hotel while there are a lot of other options to buy from.

1.1 What Good Web Sites Include?

1-) Beautiful and Modern User Interface and Design.

2-) Elegant and Big Font

3-) Video Background

4-) More Photo, Less text

5-) Must have CMS (Content Management System)

6-) Must be compatible with all devices like mobile, iPad, laptop, desktop, etc.

7-) Easy to Navigate

2. Photos

Photos are critical for your online reputation as well, and you need good photos for your website, OTA, etc. Your photos will give your customer an idea of your hotel, and your pictures will ensure the client will be aware of the product offering.

A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective. — Irving Penn.So, make sure you have Professional photos and consider this is a vital investmentbecause the return is big!

3. Reviews

One of the most important thing for your online reputation is reviews about your hotel.

Reviews will be part of your customers deciding factor and are critical to ensure this is focused on.

Reviews are important, and it will be proof of your service quality. It will be good and honest feedback from your customer so you don’t need to pay a lot of money for inspection companies. Take them seriously….

Responding to reviews are as important as reviews them self. So make sure you respond to your reviews professionally and avoid negativity as your response is not only seen by this guest but all potential guests.

Briefly, If you want to build a good online reputation you should put these on your checklist;

Web Design
Web Management
Photos
Reviews

Traveling across screens

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 23:59:00 GMT

Hospitality marketers already face myriad choices in how to reach their guests and targeted travel shoppers, whether through search, social media, display media, or email marketing. In addition, recent changes in how consumers access information only serve to compound this challenge. These changes have been driven by the emergence of new devices that allow consumers to access media and services where and when they want, using one — or more — of 3 key screens:

• PC (desktop or laptop)
• Mobile (3G, 4G, Wifi)
• Tablet computers (such as the iPad etc.)

This “3 screen” landscape offers a variety of challenges for hospitality marketers. However, the opportunities available to marketers due to this “anytime, anywhere” access to information far outweighs the downsides — so long as you take advantage of them.

According to recent research, nearly 90% of all media consumption every day occurs across these 3 screens. PCs, mobile devices like smart phones, and tablets have replaced newspapers and magazines as many consumers’ go-to source for information and entertainment. Your ability to reach your customers going forward depends on your ability to reach across these 3 screens at the right time to engage and attract potential guests.

BookOnlineNow Tip : Multi Booking Sources & Mobile Tablets

Learn More : http://bit.ly/1fKk19q

Because of the growth of multiple screens and mobile technology, the digital travel lifecycle now encompasses all steps in your customer’s journey, including:

1. Research. Guests discover options for where to stay.
2. Booking. Guests choose the property that meets their needs and reserve their stay.
3. Experience. Guests arrive on-property. Mobile and multiscreen allow effective marketers to reach guests on-property in ways that haven’t existed before.
4. Relive. Guests post photographs and share stories with friends and family on social networks, reliving their experience again and again.
5. Return. Guests engage with the property post-stay, increasing the likelihood of a return visit.
BookOnlineNow Tip : Strengthen Guest Experience

Read More : http://bit.ly/1KS2h4E

Serving guests across 3 screens is not simple. As a result, making the transition from a “single screen” marketer will not happen overnight. Guest behavior will continue to evolve, as guests themselves grow more comfortable with multiple screens, retire some, and adopt others.

Your marketing activities will likely need to evolve with those changing behaviors.
Nevertheless, great hoteliers already know how to listen to their guests and accommodate their needs at any given time. In a multiscreen world, “listening” and “accommodating” simply translate to:
• Using your data to drive your digital marketing decisions
• Targeting your activities to your guests’ chosen devices and goals
• Ensuring consistent messaging across devices, including email and exploring cross-device functionality.

While no one can predict whether guests will use their PC, smartphone, tablet, or a combination of devices to find and research their next stay, this framework enables you to find customers and accommodate their needs no matter how, where, and when they choose to connect, today, tomorrow, and in the future. This means to increase engagement and revenue for your property.

Hospitality marketers must continue to explore ways for guests to collect information as they move across devices. However, by monitoring your hotel’s website data,your booking engine advanced stats and targeting your activities to the needs and goals that data suggests about your guests, you put yourself in a strong position to meet your guests’ needs, regardless of which screen they choose today or in the future.

Scarcity – Place Limitations

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 23:59:00 GMT

We have all experienced the excitement of narrowly grabbing a seat at a quickly sold-out event or finding a rare antique. Smart hotel marketers and sales people know this as using the scarcity principle, which motivates customers to make a purchase by letting them know there is a looming deadline or a limited supply.

The premise is to make planners act fast by creating a sense of urgency and inciting a ”fear of missing ou” (FOMO in millennial speak). An example of this is to embed urgency reminders (ie: “limited space remains”) on the venue availability calendar on your hotel website or booking engine. Or, offer an irresistible incentive to any planner that books their meeting within a specific period of time, capped by a stringent deadline.

Ignoring Beginners

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 23:59:00 GMT

Although most of the people believe that browsing online is a “given knowledge” and everybody, young or old, are familiar with the online world; many new sales researches have come across a completely different conclusion.
It is a fact that the number of internet users has grown rapidly the last 10 years but this growth depends on the continent, country, even city we are dealing with.
There are still rising economical markets where internet/online users have just started their first steps.
Those new users are searching, discovering and customizing their behavior according to their culture and needs .Their final goal is to incorporate as quicker as they can the knowledge they are lacking and follow the new trends that exist worldwide.
Some hoteliers/hotel marketers have an elite attitude that ignores beginners, thinking that going after the experts will make them exclusive, elite and big time players. This will usually backfire since you insult the beginners and have to focus on a smaller market.
Instead, treat beginners like royalty and you can then cultivate them into being loyal customers. The trick to doing this is creating “beginners navigation.”

Do not let the name fool you.
These navigation signs could be short or long, with or without direct links ,but one thing they all share in common is how detailed they are and how they can lead visitor into direct bookings.

“Why Simple is Scientifically Easier To Process: The reason less “visually complex” websites are considered more beautiful is partly because low complexity websites don’t require the eyes and brain to physically work as hard to decode, store and process the information.”

BookOnlineNow :”Easy to navigate – Great presentation – Designed for conversion”

Strengthen Guest Experience
• Customized to match the look and feel of the hotel’s unique website.
• Fully customized Design – Customize the header, the footer, fonts, colors, buttons.
• Image gallery for better guest shopping experience
• Multiple marketing emails with endless promotional opportunities
• Automatically adapted to a user’s browser in any desktop, tablet or smart phone.
• Interactive features such as Rates and Availability Calendars and Special Offers links that make searching for rooms simple

Web ‘behavioral’ signals -Google Analytics-BookOnlineNow

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:22:03 GMT

Just because the traveler has made it past the “book now” button, doesn’t mean they’re completely sold on staying with you. Your booking engine must still continue to sell, while pushing them further and further into completing the reservation. Your booking environment shouldn’t be boring. Instead, it should reflect the unique character of your hotel and the essence of your hotel brand with the correct colors, text and layout.
Smart hoteliers are taking it one step further by embedding the same dynamic personalization technology in their booking environments as they have on their front-end websites. For example, if a visitor to the website spends more time on the meetings or business/corporate pages of your site, there is a strong possibility that she is a business traveler. Or, if a consumer clicks on all your F&B pages, he is telling you that food and entertainment are his hot buttons.
These web “behavioral” signals enable you to dynamically change the merchandising (photos, badges, reminders etc.) inside your booking environment, thereby reducing abandonment and keeping the consumer stimulated all the way through the actual purchase.

BookOnlineNow Tip:
Advanced Statistics
Get better insight into your business – Make Data-driven strategic decisions
Track and measure ROI on your online marketing campaigns (Retargeting, Google Adwords, Face Ads)
Target high return regional markets
Track device and visitor’s behavior and navigation
Insightful— Numerous performance reports and statistical tools enables you to measure and track the key metrics of your business and improve performance.

Marketing Tools
Lightbox Pop-Up window helps you advertise Special offers, packages, awards, local events etc, the first time a guest enters the booking engine
Special Offers section allows guests to directly see special offers gems. Decide which special offers will be visible to the guests.
Special Offers have their own specific link that can used by the guests to directly see the results of the Offer in the booking engine. Links can be shared to your website or to any promotional campaign
Email Retargeting: Bring back visitors who have abandoned the reservation process
Remarketing tool: Make special offers and rates to remarketing audience

The Billboard Effect /Targeted discounts/Loyalty program

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 23:59:00 GMT

The Billboard Effect By now, we’re all familiar with The Billboard Effect. It’s the phenomena where guests who discover your hotel via an online travel agency (OTA) visit your website. Many end up booking directly with you. Properties who list inventory on OTAs increase their direct reservations by up to 26%. It seems counter-intuitive, but […]

BookOnlineNow Loyalty–Build customer loyalty

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 12:15:40 GMT

Don’t know how to plan your online loyalty scheme? Don’t you want to run specific discount levels or point rewards for your hotel by your own via BookOnlineNow extranet? Do you need an innovative way to build clients trust?
This new BookOnlineNow connection brings to hotels an innovative Cash Reward program created by Guestbook .

Why It Works.
Online booking sites charge huge fees to independent hotels. The prices should be the same or less, so why not eliminate the middle man, support local communities, and share in the benefits.

How it works for your visitors

Sign up with your personal and/or business email address

Book direct from this site or with the hotel using an enrolled email address

Complete your stay

Choose Your Reward:

5% Cash Back
5% Charitable Donation
10% Trip Cash

Check how it works in one of our dedicated hotels hotelchristianiv .

BookOnlineNow Loyalty – Build customer loyalty

kdoukas@bookonlinenow.net (Kostas Doukas) — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 12:09:02 GMT

Smart hoteliers are taking it one step further by embedding the same dynamic personalization technology in their booking environments as they have on their front-end websites. For example, if a visitor to the website spends more time on the meetings or business/corporate pages of your site, there is a strong possibility that she is a business traveler. Or, if a consumer clicks on all your F&B pages, he is telling you that food and entertainment are his hot buttons.

These web “behavioral” signals enable you to dynamically change the merchandising (photos, badges, reminders etc.) inside your booking environment, thereby reducing abandonment and keeping the consumer stimulated all the way through the actual purchase.

BookOnlineNow Tip:
Advanced Statistics
Get better insight into your business – Make Data-driven strategic decisions

Track and measure ROI on your online marketing campaigns (Retargeting, Google Adwords, Face Ads)
Target high return regional markets
Track device and visitor’s behavior and navigation
Insightful— Numerous performance reports and statistical tools enables you to measure and track the key metrics of your business and improve performance.

Marketing Tools

Lightbox Pop-Up window helps you advertise Special offers, packages, awards, local events etc, the first time a guest enters the booking engine
Special Offers section allows guests to directly see special offers gems. Decide which special offers will be visible to the guests.
Special Offers have their own specific link that can used by the guests to directly see the results of the Offer in the booking engine. Links can be shared to your website or to any promotional campaign
Email Retargeting: Bring back visitors who have abandoned the reservation process
Remarketing tool: Make special offers and rates to remarketing audience