direct bookings

Give Yourself a Round of Applause…

Vertical Booking | April 18, 2019

By Mark Lewis-Brown, CEO & President of Vertical Booking USA It's an exciting time for you, as a hotelier. Why, you ask? Because hotels are making huge leaps in taking back bookings from the OTAs. According to Phocuswright, "direct bookings accounted for around 49% of U.S. hotel and lodging online gross bookings, versus OTAs at 51%" last year. And here's some even better news… Phocuswright predicts that direct bookings will increase to a 50% share by 2022! Can you imagine that?! For the first time, possibly ever (since the invention of the Internet), hotels will have greater control over their own bookings and revenues. And h...

Want More Direct Bookings? Give the Best Answers

Tambourine | March 6, 2019

Driving direct bookings on your hotel's website isn't just about using tactics like social advertising, PPC campaigns and SEO to ensure a steady flow of visitors to your homepage. It's equally important to ensure that once those viewers arrive, your site is anticipating and answering the questions potential customers have, which in turn moves them along through the booking funnel. According to research by the Nielsen Norman Group, you have about 10 seconds to convince a visitor to stay on your site and potentially make a purchase, before they bail and look elsewhere. That's true for customers looking to buy a hotel stay or a new pair of...

How 5 Hotels Compete With OTAs by Showcasing Unique Local Experiences

Nancy Huang | October 25, 2018

By Nancy Huang Today's travelers are no longer content with merely visiting a destination and have the same experience as everyone else. They increasingly yearn for something unique and want to explore the places they visit through a local perspective. This emerging need represents a huge opportunity for hotels. By creating in-depth destination guides, or by hosting their own locally-led tours, hotels can make their properties more desirable to drive more direct bookings. The following post highlights five hotels that are promoting their destinations with engaging neighborhood guides and authentic local experiences. But before diving...

Choosing the Right Online Marketing Channel, a Concern for Business Owners

TripAdvisor | July 26, 2018

Online Reputation Management, Mobile Experience and Driving Direct Bookings Critical Areas of Focus for U.S. Travel Businesses, According to New TripAdvisor-Ipsos MORI Study NEEDHAM, Mass., July 26, 2018 -- TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) today announced the results of its 2018 "Hospitality Sector Report" in partnership with Ipsos MORI showcasing the top concerns and areas of focus for travel businesses, including hotels, restaurants, experiences, tours and attractions listed on TripAdvisor. The results of the study reveal a U.S. travel industry adapting to an increasingly mobile marketplace, focused on online reputation mana...

Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) Leads the Successful Sale of the Downtown Milwaukee Hyatt Regency

SiteMinder | July 5, 2018

Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) is pleased to announce the sale of the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. PLA was exclusively engaged to represent the seller in the transaction of the 481-room full-service property in downtown Milwaukee. The marketing efforts were led by Senior Managing Directors Bennett Webster and Brent Clemens, and Managing Director Adam Montufar. "We were pleased to continue our strong track record of success in Wisconsin and we were not at all surprised with the particularly high offer count on this deal," noted Montufar. "We feel the activity is emblematic of the strong growth prospects for downtown Milwaukee with the open...

Discounting Is for Dummies – Part Two

Vertical Booking | June 8, 2018

Drive More Direct Bookings Without Sacrificing Your Bottom Line By Mark Lewis-Brown, CEO & President at Vertical Booking USA Remember last week when we decided that discounting is for dummies – and made it official by shouting it from our rooftop patios? If not, you've got some catching up to do! Today, I'm going to share the second (of three!) important takeaway from this article series: how hotels can boost direct bookings WITHOUT discounting or adversely affecting their bottom lines. So, let's get started. Close your eyes and think back to the last time that you were more than satisfied with a hospitality experience –...

Discounting Is for Dummies – Part One

Vertical Booking | May 29, 2018

Drive More Direct Bookings Without Sacrificing Your Bottom Line By Mark Lewis-Brown, CEO & President at Vertical Booking USA For many years, hoteliers have been throwing away potential revenues right-and-left, offering huge discounts to lure bookers back from the OTAs and alternative accommodation options. I'm here today to tell you something that I need you all to hear: discounting is the best way for your hotel to go from profitable with a high cost of acquisition, to a property with high occupancy, a low cost of acquisition, but (and this is a BIG but) one that is barely able to afford to stay in business. I know that if I listen...

Three Ways Hoteliers Can Increase Direct Bookings Today

Vizergy | April 30, 2018

With the constant evolution of the bookings landscape and the hospitality industry overall, comes the indefinite anxiety of optimizing marketing channels to maximize revenue and the questions of "could we be doing more to boost direct bookings?", "How do we decrease customer acquisition costs?", or "how can we minimize revenue lost to OTAs via commissions?" The one initiative within the hospitality space that major brands have taken on with a fury and huge marketing spend is the push to drive more direct bookings and pull business away from Online Travel Agents (OTAs) which charge hotels ever-rising commissions for bookings. While book...