How to Supercharge Direct Bookings as Recovery Continues
Lina Ang
By Lina Ang, 22 October 2023
The numerous challenges hotel marketers have faced since 2020 still persist today despite a robust recovery in the industry.
Our data shows global flight bookings to South-east Asia have reached 84% of 2019 pre-pandemic levels, surging 125% in 1H2023 over 1H2022. Most of the bookings (63%) in 1H2023 were by international travelers. The top five feeder markets were South Korea (12%), China (10%), US (8%), Singapore (5%) and Japan (4%). East Asian markets continued to recover, with numbers from China rising more than 1,000% in 1H2023, from 1H2022, and there were substantial increases as well from Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Macau and Japan as borders gradually reopened.
But while bookings are strong now, booking trends are continually changing and hotel marketers must navigate an ever-evolving landscape to seize recovery while it lasts. How? By prioritizing direct bookings. With precise data and well-crafted digital marketing strategies backed by integrated AI technology, hoteliers can reconnect with existing customers and capture new travelers at the right time, ultimately boosting direct bookings.
Here’s How
Biggest challenges hotel marketers face
First, many hotels are still over-reliant on OTAs, which handle more than 50% of all room reservations. Given that some commissions have nearly doubled since 2014, hoteliers are paying a heavy sum for every stay.
Second, when travel dipped in 2020 and 2021, hotels slashed their marketing spend and payroll by 50% on average, which means marketers had to do more with less. Between reduced budgets and labour shortages, both talent and technology have been depleted. In fact, many hotels said that they are unable to run digital marketing campaigns in-house due to a lack of staff. So proving ROI for any campaign is more difficult than ever before.
Understanding the traveler path to purchase can help marketers reduce reliance on OTAs while deploying campaigns with demonstrable ROI.
Changing path to purchase
Travelers are no longer booking just seasonal getaways; they are booking travel throughout the year, which evens out the traditional spikes between high and low seasons. Their booking window and length of stay have also changed. Our data shows that they book two months in advance and 50% of bookings are for stays between two and seven days. Corporate travel hasn’t recovered fully, but bleisure and remote working continue to rise.
As traveler behavior evolves, so does the number of touch points along the path to purchase. While customers actively search for location, price and overall experience, more than ever they are seeking what aligns with their values, for example selecting sustainable destinations and accommodation. This shifts their brand loyalty. Consequently, hoteliers must reach travelers at the right moment and with the right message to woo them to book.
New direct booking strategy
By activating a full-funnel marketing strategy that covers the entire customer journey, marketers can effectively engage with travelers at various stages of their path to purchase, from discovery, planning and booking right through to their stay. Here they can use AI-powered technology to improve guest engagement by up to 600% while decreasing front desk calls by as much as 65%. Using travel intent data enables marketers to engage with travelers early in their decision-making process and activate the most effective channels during each phase.
In the discovery phase, displaying inspiring videos on social media, and non-branded keyword bidding, can help marketers reach new travelers who are contemplating booking in their area but aren’t sure yet of where to stay.
During the planning phase, retargeting becomes valuable in keeping the brand top-of-mind as travelers approach the booking stage. This can be done through custom audiences on social media, branded SEM and metasearch, especially if customers have already explored your website and are now looking for the right offer or experience. As they move further down the funnel, you can apply similar tactics to encourage them to book directly.
To ensure the success of your full-funnel marketing strategy, having the right data strategy in place is crucial. As third-party cookies phase out, it’s essential to establish a first-party data program. This program not only facilitates the collection of first-party data but its organization and compliance with privacy standards. The data includes loyalty program information, booking details and observational data about guest interactions – essentially, everything you use today to deliver personalized on-site experiences.
Once you have started collecting first-party data, enrich your customer profiles with a CRM platform to gain deeper insights into your guests. From there, you can activate your loyalty program and guest history data to tailor campaigns by region, ensuring personalized experiences for returning guests and enriching your customer profiles to find new guests.
Conclusion
Increasing direct bookings is every hotel’s ultimate goal. By understanding current challenges and what travelers want, then collecting and activating traveler data to deliver relevant messaging using the right channels, marketers can supercharge their direct bookings and seize recovery.
About the Expert
Lina Ang is managing director APAC at Sojern, a leading travel marketing platform designed to boost growth and profitability for the travel and hospitality industry. In her role, she oversees Sojern’s Asia-Pacific office based in Singapore.