TripConnect Increases Direct Hotel Bookings

Achieving the best marketing mix for a hotel has become a strategic art. With multiple channels like OTAs, GDS, Metasearch engines, Google AdWords, the hotel website and more, a hotel’s online marketing plan is critical for maximizing occupancy and achieving better RevPAR.

Though OTAs and GDS have been more popular channels for online distribution with hotels, high commission rates have forced the hoteliers to look for ways to increase direct bookings. Direct Bookings can impact the overall RevPAR of a hotel.  It is no wonder then that TripConnect- the offering from the world’s largest travel website TripAdvisor, has created a lot of positive buzz within hoteliers.

TripConnect has all the advantages of the OTAs, eliminates its biggest disadvantage and adds to its own special flavor to get the ultimate channel for increasing direct bookings.

Here are a few reasons why hotels should look at TripConnect for increasing direct traffic on their website

1. Best channel for increasing online presence

To increase direct bookings, it is imperative to have maximum online presence. A lot of hotels are listed on OTA’s to get a chance at more direct bookings. In spite of high commissions, their only aim is to increase their hotel’s presence in the online world. TripAdvisor, being one of the most popular travel websites with maximum online traffic is therefore considered the most important channel today for a hotel to increase their online presence.

2. Cost effective… even more than Google AdWords, Hotel Finder and OTAs

TripConnect works on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Model like Google AdWords. The advantage with TripConnect is that the hotel will not be displayed on the listing if rooms are unavailable, unlike Google AdWords, thus being a more cost effective way of making the best of CPC model. As compared to OTAs which take a huge chunk of the hotel’s revenue through commissions, TripConnect’s cost is considerably less.

3.More intuitive selling = more conversions on the booking page

If one has to compare all the available channels for a traveler to book a room, TripConnect comes out as a clear winner. With TripAdvisor as the backbone, TripConnect offers the traveller the ultimate intuitive platform for the complete booking process. It allows the traveller an easy and thorough way to compare, analyze and make the choice. With best rates, research, price comparisons, miscellaneous information, quality rating and reviews, the traveler has all the tools at his disposal to decide where he wants to book a room. Armed with all this information, the traveler who clicks on the Book Now button is much more convinced about completing the booking and thus makes a highly qualified lead for the hotel resulting in higher conversion rate per click on TripConnect.

4.Opportunity to get direct bookings for small and mid-sized hotels

Since TripConnect works on a pay per click model, one of the biggest constraints that the small and mid-sized hotel might face would be that the bigger hotels and chains would always outbid them for a better place on the listing. This would be the case while advertising with Google AdWords as well. However, TripConnect provides an opportunity to get more direct bookings in cases where the big hotels are sold out and will not appear in the listing in spite of higher bids. Also, in cases where travelers prefer not to stay with big chains, TripConnect offers much better visibility.