Aug
11
To use Online Travel Agent (OTA) sales websites as part if your distribution plan and get the most out of it, you need to understand what your target customers are doing.
You know this already, but it’s worth repeating: People do not land on an hotel website, see a booking box with “book now!” written on it and suddenly feel a compulsive urge to book a room.
It doesn’t happen that way.
This is what really happens:
You know this already, but it’s worth repeating: People do not land on an hotel website, see a booking box with “book now!” written on it and suddenly feel a compulsive urge to book a room.
It doesn’t happen that way.
This is what really happens:
Stage One - The Need
Your prospect decides there is a need or want to be fulfilled.
• A wife might say to her husband, “why don’t you take me away for the weekend?”
• An engineer might have to travel to your town to fix a piece of equipment, it will take a few days and he needs a place to stay.
• A sales manager needs to attend a meeting in your town. She lives a long way away and will need to stay over.
• Someone decides to plan a holiday
None of these things involve the internet. In some cases they might be stimulated by an article on the internet, or in a newspaper, or an advert, or a conversation. Your prospect needs or wants to visit your area and decides to do so.
Stage Two - Information search
Your prospect starts trying to find out what’s available. They might look in the yellow pages, they might have a hotel guide book but if they have access to the internet, they’ll look at a website or two. But which ones will they look at?
This is your first problem if you only use a small number of sales websites. How do you know which ones people do their research on?
You don’t. So the wider you can spread your net, the better.
People will be looking for things to do and places to go. They won’t always be looking for a hotel straight away. Once they’ve decided on the right location, then they might be able to start thinking about options for hotels.
Because you don’t know where they’ll enter this search world, you need to be found in lots of different places.
If you aren’t listed in the places your prospects are looking, they might never find you. These lists on sales websites add credibility to your online presence.
Use a channel manager to help you reach lots of different places.
If they’ve been able to find you on a listing, you might be on their list of places to consider. Now you have to stay on it.
Stage Three - Evaluation
Eliminating options and deciding who is best.
This is when people look for detailed information about the hotels they’ve found. They might look at websites such as Tripadvisor for example. Lots of sales websites have customer rating and feedback features.
They might also look up your own hotel website (now they know you exist!). They’ll check to look for special offers, they’ll compare prices, they’ll look at the detail. They might even phone you. What are they looking for? They’re looking for value. Options which don’t offer good value will be eliminated.
It’s important that you use your sales website listing and your own website to demonstrate the value you offer. Please don’t, under any circumstances, make a point of telling people your rooms have a trouser press and “tea and coffee making facilities”. Really, that’s not going to swing anything in your favour. They’re looking for a bit more than that.
Try to think about what your customers are looking for – where the value is – then tell them about it in your listing and on your website. Tell them:
• What is in it for them and
• Why they should buy it from you
Don’t follow the herd with your sales copy. Dare to be a bit different (most hotel sales copy is very poor so it isn’t hard to stand out).
Stage Four - Purchase
They actually commit to buying something. They make a booking.
Where will they be on the internet when they make that commitment?
Remember, they could be anywhere.
They might be on your website but they probably won’t be. If they’re buying flights or car hire at the same time they almost certainly won’t be. So you have to make rooms available in lots of places for them to buy. If they can’t buy your rooms on the website they’re using, they’ll buy somebody elses. Buyers won’t hunt around the internet to find you, so don’t make work for them.
Now, if you’re managing your online room stock manually this will heavily restrict the number of places you can place rooms to sell. You need to be in control. Use a channel manager to help you be in lots of places at the same time. Then you can see which websites work well for you and make more rooms available to them.
Stage Five - Buyers remorse
• Have they made the right decision?
• Could they have booked a better hotel?
• Have they bought at the right price?
You can do a lot about buyer remorse by being prompt, friendly and efficient in your response to a booking. Reinforce the booking decision by making the customer feel special, clever, loved or simply just appreciated. If you don’t make the right moves at this stage, there is a risk people might cancel.
That’s the five stages your buyers go through when they make a decision to buy a room on the internet. You can make your presence felt in 2, 3, 4, and 5, but if you’re not featuring in stage 2 you won’t be in play when the purchase decision is made.
To play a part in more peoples’ purchase decisions, they’ve got to be able to find you and they’ve got to be able to book your rooms. Wherever they choose to look.
Your prospect decides there is a need or want to be fulfilled.
• A wife might say to her husband, “why don’t you take me away for the weekend?”
• An engineer might have to travel to your town to fix a piece of equipment, it will take a few days and he needs a place to stay.
• A sales manager needs to attend a meeting in your town. She lives a long way away and will need to stay over.
• Someone decides to plan a holiday
None of these things involve the internet. In some cases they might be stimulated by an article on the internet, or in a newspaper, or an advert, or a conversation. Your prospect needs or wants to visit your area and decides to do so.
Stage Two - Information search
Your prospect starts trying to find out what’s available. They might look in the yellow pages, they might have a hotel guide book but if they have access to the internet, they’ll look at a website or two. But which ones will they look at?
This is your first problem if you only use a small number of sales websites. How do you know which ones people do their research on?
You don’t. So the wider you can spread your net, the better.
People will be looking for things to do and places to go. They won’t always be looking for a hotel straight away. Once they’ve decided on the right location, then they might be able to start thinking about options for hotels.
Because you don’t know where they’ll enter this search world, you need to be found in lots of different places.
If you aren’t listed in the places your prospects are looking, they might never find you. These lists on sales websites add credibility to your online presence.
Use a channel manager to help you reach lots of different places.
If they’ve been able to find you on a listing, you might be on their list of places to consider. Now you have to stay on it.
Stage Three - Evaluation
Eliminating options and deciding who is best.
This is when people look for detailed information about the hotels they’ve found. They might look at websites such as Tripadvisor for example. Lots of sales websites have customer rating and feedback features.
They might also look up your own hotel website (now they know you exist!). They’ll check to look for special offers, they’ll compare prices, they’ll look at the detail. They might even phone you. What are they looking for? They’re looking for value. Options which don’t offer good value will be eliminated.
It’s important that you use your sales website listing and your own website to demonstrate the value you offer. Please don’t, under any circumstances, make a point of telling people your rooms have a trouser press and “tea and coffee making facilities”. Really, that’s not going to swing anything in your favour. They’re looking for a bit more than that.
Try to think about what your customers are looking for – where the value is – then tell them about it in your listing and on your website. Tell them:
• What is in it for them and
• Why they should buy it from you
Don’t follow the herd with your sales copy. Dare to be a bit different (most hotel sales copy is very poor so it isn’t hard to stand out).
Stage Four - Purchase
They actually commit to buying something. They make a booking.
Where will they be on the internet when they make that commitment?
Remember, they could be anywhere.
They might be on your website but they probably won’t be. If they’re buying flights or car hire at the same time they almost certainly won’t be. So you have to make rooms available in lots of places for them to buy. If they can’t buy your rooms on the website they’re using, they’ll buy somebody elses. Buyers won’t hunt around the internet to find you, so don’t make work for them.
Now, if you’re managing your online room stock manually this will heavily restrict the number of places you can place rooms to sell. You need to be in control. Use a channel manager to help you be in lots of places at the same time. Then you can see which websites work well for you and make more rooms available to them.
Stage Five - Buyers remorse
• Have they made the right decision?
• Could they have booked a better hotel?
• Have they bought at the right price?
You can do a lot about buyer remorse by being prompt, friendly and efficient in your response to a booking. Reinforce the booking decision by making the customer feel special, clever, loved or simply just appreciated. If you don’t make the right moves at this stage, there is a risk people might cancel.
That’s the five stages your buyers go through when they make a decision to buy a room on the internet. You can make your presence felt in 2, 3, 4, and 5, but if you’re not featuring in stage 2 you won’t be in play when the purchase decision is made.
To play a part in more peoples’ purchase decisions, they’ve got to be able to find you and they’ve got to be able to book your rooms. Wherever they choose to look.
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