With countries around the world starting to ease the lockdown phase, we are seeing encouraging signs with travel related bookings starting to trickle in. Travel businesses including hotels are in a crucial stage where they need all the support to attract guests to their properties. We as technology providers offer seamless connectivity to multiple channel partners for you to expand your online brand visibility. Booking.com, one of our key connectivity partner, has rolled out a very useful Recovery Toolkit to help you convert demand into tangible bookings. The toolkit covers a whole range of things – from showcasing the latest platform updates and tools, to expanding Solutions content to help hoteliers make the right business decisions.
Here are some highlights of the Booking.com Recovery Toolkit for your reference –
The importance of flexibility – Given the dynamic nature of current times and evolving travel advisories around the globe, it is important that hotels and accommodation providers offer flexible booking and cancellation policies. Travelers want to have the option to adapt travel plans if a change in circumstances affect them. Increasing the flexibility of policies will make the property more attractive to the travelers and will give the property a better chance of being booked. Booking.com has built a new tool to help hotels easily update their rate plan policies and secure more bookings in times of low demand and high uncertainty. In one step, hotels can convert multiple free cancellation policies for their existing rate plans to “Flexible – 1 Day”. This will allow guests to cancel for free up to one day before the arrival date. If they cancel within one day before the arrival date, the guest will be charged the cost of the first night.
Optimize your pricing – Booking.com’s research shows that potential guests currently want flexibility and a great price. Through the Booking.com portal, hotels can see both local and last-minute bookings in countries where recovery is beginning, as well as future travel planning. But travelers want to be confident that their bookings are flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances. com’s new framework makes it easier for hotels to understand how the pricing solutions can help them respond to travelers’ requirements and drive the occupancy they need.
Showcase your property’s safety measures – It has become super important for hoteliers to show how they are protecting their guests. com’s new Health and Safety Protocol provides guidance to help minimize risk for both hotels and their guests. Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, few travelers gave a second thought to sleeping in a bed that hundreds of others had slept in. But now, what travelers touch and who they interact with is at the top of their list of concerns. It’s now critically important for hotels to build confidence and set expectations for guests around health and cleanliness, so you can capture available demand. Your goal is to make guests feel confident that their stay will be as safe, clean, and comfortable as in their own home.
- Safety features and cleaning – If you offer hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, or follow specific local regulations, indicating these will help you inspire guest confidence.
- Physical distancing – Highlight contactless check-in and check-out, cashless payment, or other ways that you are helping guests maintain social distance.
- Food safety – Point out changes in your operational practices that are designed to support food safety for in-room and public dining.
Increase your visibility through Genius program – Attract travellers to your hotel with the Genius Program. It can help you get more bookings, faster. As a Genius partner, your property will get a special Genius tag, ranking boost and better visibility in search results on Booking.com. On average, hotels who join Genius increase their bookings by 18% and their revenue by 17% (even including the cost of the discount).
There are a host of additional solutions through which your property can benefit and attract more bookings. You can get full details of the Booking.com Recovery Toolkit on their partner page.
In times like these, it’s especially helpful to get support from other partners. Share insights and advice on #Rebuilding with fellow Booking.com partners – https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/community
