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In the ever-competitive world of hospitality, the first impulse when faced with a dip in bookings is often to lower rates. However, slashing prices isn’t always the best strategy to maintain profitability or protect your brand’s value. Instead of sacrificing your rates, there are creative and effective ways to drive immediate exposure for your hotel while maximizing revenue. Below, we’ve compiled six powerful hacks to help you attract guests without reducing your rates.
Don't forget to check out the BONUS TIP!
1. Exclusive Offer Posted Through Social Media with a Direct Link to Your Booking Engine
Social media is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal for driving exposure. It’s instant, wide-reaching, and allows for creative, targeted offers that resonate with your audience. Post an exclusive offer for your followers with a direct link to your booking engine, bypassing OTAs altogether.
This hack not only incentivizes potential guests but also drives more direct bookings, which helps you avoid paying hefty OTA commissions. Make your posts time-sensitive or create urgency with a "limited availability" caption to encourage immediate action.
Pro Tip: Make sure the offer is compelling! Offering value-adds like free breakfast, late checkout, or room upgrades can entice guests without requiring you to lower your rates.
2. Increase Meta Spend to Push Up Your Direct Rates Against the OTAs
Meta search engines like Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, or Trivago have become crucial battlefields for direct bookings. By increasing your meta search spend, you can improve your direct rates' visibility compared to those on OTAs.
This hack ensures that when potential guests are price shopping across platforms, they see your official website rates at the top of the results. A strong meta strategy not only boosts exposure but also helps you maintain rate parity while driving more traffic to your booking engine.
Pro Tip: Optimize your meta campaigns by bidding higher on high-conversion periods and geographic markets that generate the most traffic.
3. Email Marketing Campaign to Loyal Past Guests: Offer an Exclusive!
Your email list is one of your hotel’s most valuable assets. Craft a targeted email marketing campaign that offers an exclusive deal to your loyal past guests. This offer could include perks like discounted room upgrades, complimentary amenities, or a special package that adds value without dropping rates.
Emails allow you to personalize your communication, making guests feel special and appreciated, while also driving repeat bookings. The key is to offer something unique that makes them eager to book again, all without cutting into your profit margins.
Pro Tip: Segment your email list based on guest preferences or past behaviors (e.g., family travelers, business travelers) and tailor your offers to appeal to each group.
4. Use Expedia’s Accelerator Tool to Target Need Periods
Expedia’s Accelerator Tool is a great way to enhance your visibility on their platform during specific need periods. The tool allows you to boost your ranking on Expedia’s listings without adjusting your rates.
This hack is especially useful when you want to target slower periods or need to fill rooms quickly. By paying a higher commission to Expedia for a limited time, you can ensure that your property appears at the top of search results, driving more exposure and bookings when you need them most.
Pro Tip: Use the Accelerator Tool strategically. Focus on dates where you historically have lower occupancy, and make sure you can absorb the higher commission without hurting your profitability.
5. Take Advantage of Booking.com’s Visibility Booster to Increase Your Ranking
Similar to Expedia’s Accelerator, Booking.com’s Visibility Booster allows you to gain better placement in search results without cutting rates. This tool enables you to increase your hotel’s exposure by adjusting your commission rate.
This short-term visibility boost can make a significant difference, particularly during times of high competition. It’s a straightforward way to increase bookings while maintaining your pricing structure and avoiding rate cuts that could hurt your brand.
Pro Tip: Activate the Visibility Booster when competitors are ramping up discounts but your property needs to maintain pricing integrity.
6. Turn on Agoda or Priceline Growth Campaigns
Agoda and Priceline offer growth campaigns that can increase your property’s exposure to a global audience. These campaigns are designed to promote your hotel in key markets where demand is growing or during periods where your occupancy is traditionally low.
By leveraging Agoda or Priceline’s massive distribution network, you can reach a wider audience and attract more international guests without having to lower your rates. This is particularly beneficial if you’re looking to fill rooms during need periods or tap into emerging markets.
Pro Tip: Review your property’s market performance on Agoda or Priceline and activate these growth campaigns in geographic regions that align with your business strategy.
BONUS HACK! Plug in a Pay-On-Performance Media Campaign with No Upfront Costs
A Pay-On-Performance media campaign allows you to gain immediate exposure for your hotel without any upfront investment. Unlike traditional advertising models, this approach only requires payment when specific actions (such as bookings or clicks) are achieved. This makes it a low-risk, high-reward option for hotels looking to increase visibility without stretching their budget.
By using this method, you can reach a broader audience across different channels like search engines, social media, and travel platforms, ensuring your hotel is front-and-center when potential guests are searching for accommodations. It’s a smart way to drive traffic to your direct booking engine, increase brand awareness, and compete with larger OTAs without the hefty marketing costs.
Pro Tip: Choose your media partners carefully. Look for platforms that specialize in hospitality or travel and have a proven track record of driving conversions. Always monitor performance metrics closely and adjust your bids or targets as needed to ensure you’re getting the most out of your investment.
Conclusion
There’s no need to lower your hotel’s rates when you have a wealth of tools and strategies at your disposal to drive bookings. By implementing these six hacks, you can increase your hotel’s visibility and occupancy during need periods without sacrificing profitability. Whether you’re leveraging social media, boosting your meta search visibility, or using OTA tools strategically, each of these methods can provide immediate exposure while protecting your rates and brand value.
Staying ahead of the competition doesn’t have to come at the cost of your rates. It’s all about working smarter, not harder, to maximize your hotel’s potential.
About RevOptimum.
30 years empowering the hotel industry's revenue growth, RevOptimum is dedicated to advancing hoteliers and hotel organizations' achievement by:
- Pioneering remote hotel revenue management solutions and revenue platforms.
- Creating innovative and cost-effective revenue-growth tools and effective strategic plans.
- Committing to impacting hospitality groups and communities worldwide positively.
- Empowering every hotelier and hotel business to achieve higher revenues and make it sustainable.
- At RevOptimum, we are dedicated to advancing hoteliers' and hotel organizations' achievements by:
- Pioneering remote hotel revenue management solutions and revenue platforms.
- Creating innovative and cost-effective revenue-growth tools and effective strategic plans.
- Committing to positively impacting hospitality groups and communities worldwide.
- Empowering every hotelier and hotel business to achieve higher revenues sustainably.
- Our experts understand revenue management dynamics, hospitality industry strategies, revenue systems, tools, and technology to achieve supreme hotel performance.
The RevOptimum team is a revenue increase-proven group that knows how to develop a unique approach to reignite your business growth. We are ready to step in and seamlessly integrate into your day-to-day operations to attain the most dynamic results for your hotel.
Are you interested in learning more about outsourcing hotel revenue growth experts? Contact us at RevOptimum - the pioneer of remote hotel revenue management.
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