How boutique hotels balance direct and OTA bookings

OTAs bring the reach. Direct bookings bring the margin, and the guest data.

Online travel agencies (OTAs) are both an opportunity and a threat for independent boutique hotels. The way guests choose and book a stay has changed beyond recognition, and there are still good ways to encourage direct bookings. Plenty of reasons to try: the difference goes straight to your margin.

On the one hand, OTAs offer a unique channel for promotion and market access. The volume of traffic they command gives independent hotels the chance to get offers in front of thousands of potential guests who might never otherwise encounter them.

On the other hand, competition is often ferocious. Many independent hotels find themselves in a disheartening race to the bottom, where the only winners are those willing to cut profit margins to the bone, and some operators seem willing to boost occupancy at almost any cost.

The obvious benefit of direct bookings is that you pay no commission to a third party. It is all between you and the guest, giving you far more scope for a healthy profit. You also get full access to your guests' data, which would otherwise stay with the OTA, so you can get back in touch after the stay.

With that in mind, here are four tried-and-tested ways to boost direct bookings and drive up profits.

User-test your website

Most hotel research now happens on a mobile device, yet many hotel websites still make it difficult to reserve from a phone. User-test yours: make sure you can complete a reservation from your smartphone easily and quickly. If you are not getting as many direct bookings as you would expect, this is the first place to look.

Guests are impatient. If your website is not properly optimised for mobile, or lacks a touchscreen-friendly booking engine, they will abandon the reservation at the first hurdle. Loading speed matters just as much: a slow site loses visitors before it has even finished loading.

Make the phone number on your website a clickable link, so mobile users can call you with one touch instead of dialling manually. The easier you make it to get in touch, the more calls you will get. It sounds simple, and it is, but it is surprising how many hotels never test their website the way a guest would use it.

Check your site from a guest's perspective regularly, at least once a month. It should also be the first thing you do if you notice an unexpected fall in direct bookings.

Make full use of Google Business Profile

Plenty of free resources go underused, starting with Google Business Profile. Registering your hotel is free, and the profile is packed with tools to get more visitors to your website, and ultimately more direct bookings.

Guests in your area see a full, detailed listing for your business when they search for hotels in Google Maps, and you can display special offers, photos and updates right in the profile.

Although the tool is available to every hotel, it is surprising how many do not take full advantage of it. Make your Google Business Profile a browser favourite and set a weekly reminder to add new content. Respond to the reviews you receive; even negative ones can be turned to your advantage with a little skill.

Keeping the profile updated with seasonal opening times and current offers boosts the overall traffic your website receives, and helps your ranking for the search terms that matter.

Use influencer marketing for changing habits

Leisure habits have changed dramatically. Audiences, younger ones in particular, now spend far more time on social media and online video than on traditional TV, and that is where they discover places to stay.

You can take advantage of the shift with influencer marketing. Getting your hotel's brand in front of a new audience lets you micro-target very specific demographics, and it is often surprisingly cost-efficient compared with other forms of advertising. Best of all, you can tie a special offer to an influencer campaign, which lets you measure the exact return.

This route lifts you out of the run-of-the-mill comparisons that afflict OTA websites, and lets you package a stay at your hotel as an experience in its own right, rather than a convenient stopping-off point for a quick sleep.

Turn drop-in visitors into direct bookers

A major source of direct bookings could be walking in and out of your front door every day. People use your reception, bar and restaurant for business meetings, to catch up on email, or for an after-work drink with colleagues. With guest Wi-Fi that captures an email address at login, you can turn those drop-ins into contacts and entice them back with carefully selected offers.

Drop-in visitors could be your best source of direct bookings, because they already know where your hotel is and they have sampled your service. They are more likely to be tempted back by an offer of a free extra night or a room upgrade. And when you email previous visitors, you are not competing with anyone else for their attention. You have direct access to their inbox, and a carefully crafted campaign can woo them back again and again.

Getting the balance right

Those are four methods, from basic to advanced, for balancing the direct and OTA bookings your hotel receives. The growth of online competition might look disheartening for independent hoteliers, but each of these steps turns the tide a little further in your favour. Start with the website test this week, then work down the list.

For more on keeping those direct guests coming back, read our hotel loyalty tips.