{"id":1034,"date":"2019-08-08T09:43:33","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T07:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2025-10-19T10:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T08:14:25","slug":"increase-direct-hotel-bookings-guest-loyalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/blog\/hotel-loyalty\/increase-direct-hotel-bookings-guest-loyalty\/","title":{"rendered":"How to increase direct hotel bookings by fostering your guest\u2019s loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why is Hotel Data crucial for fostering guest loyalty?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The increase in technologies that allow you to compile data about your guests has led to several different ways of retaining hotel guests<\/strong>.<\/a> Owners can now view future marketing campaigns, and can even assess new ways of spreading their brand\u2019s message through the use of technology. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Data collection allows you to act in ways which leave a bigger impact on the client. Data analysis, meanwhile, allows you to verify the most successful strategies which might be worth repeating.<\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One\r\nof the many benefits of technology-based data collection is the ability to\r\ndirect your retained clients to the direct channel for potential future\r\nbookings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why is it so important to get clients to make bookings through the\r\ndirect channel?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On\r\naverage, hotels receive 90 % of their bookings via commissioned channels<\/strong>\r\n\u2013 such as Booking or Expedia \u2013 with only 10 % making payments through the hotel\r\nwebsite\u2019s booking engine. This entails a significate annual expenditure on\r\ncommissions <\/strong>for hotel owners. If an alternative is not sought for this\r\nsituation, this shall be a long-term expense for the hotel that it has no\r\noption but to pay.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However,\r\nthanks to various client retention practices, it is possible to draw clients\r\ntowards the direct channel. By doing this, they can make their future bookings\r\ndirectly on the hotel\u2019s website instead of booking rooms via commissioned\r\nchannels. This allows the hotel to spend much less money on commissions for\r\nintermediary channels.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To do\r\nso, hotel\u2019s need to invest in technology<\/strong> and make organisational changes\r\nto the hotel. The incorporation of technology helps to transform the hotel\u2019s internal\r\nprocesses<\/strong> and creates a loyalty culture<\/strong>, which clearly benefits the digital\r\ntransformation<\/strong> of the brand\u2019s properties.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How are guest loyalty strategies used to increase direct bookings?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One\r\nof the most successful guest loyalty practices is the sending of\r\npersonalised and segmented emails<\/strong>. In other words, you should initiate\r\ncontact with the client with a personalised message. You are already well aware\r\nof the importance of making your guests feel like they are unique and special\r\nfor the hotel. As such, receiving emails from your brand after staying at your\r\nhotel leaves a positive impact on them. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In\r\norder to devise a strategy that directs repeating clients towards the direct\r\nchannel, you will require several pieces of information that are crucial for\r\nestablishing effective communication. This information can be obtained through\r\nthe following channels:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1. Hotel Data<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hotel Data<\/a> is the universe comprising every piece of data that you store about your guests who have previously stayed or are due to stay in your hotel. This data can be used to develop effective strategies to strengthen the relationship between the client and your brand.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In order to effectively draw them towards the direct channel, your Hotel Data must contain verified high-quality data<\/strong> that adheres to the GDPR<\/a>. Besides booking details, this information also includes valuable information about your guests\u2019 interests, habits, customs, etc. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The\r\nmore you know about your guests, the greater impact your actions will have on\r\nthem \u2014 especially with regards to retaining them and offering them new\r\nproducts. If you stop and think about it, this is a win-win situation<\/strong>: your\r\nbrand attains a repeating client, and the guest will return to the hotel with a\r\nbetter experience.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One\r\nthing you can obtain information about is the booking channel<\/strong> used by\r\nthe guest. This will allow you to measure the number of bookings made per commissioned\r\nchannel. By doing this, you can ascertain the places from which you should aim\r\nto draw clients towards the direct channel. As you are well aware, commissioned\r\nchannels do not share all their information with your hotel<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They\r\ndo not share an important block of information known as the basic data block<\/strong>\r\n(email address, age, language, nationality, etc.). They do, however, share\r\ninformation from the transactional data block<\/strong>, providing you with\r\ninformation such as the room they have booked, the type of board they opted for\r\n(half board\/full board) and whether they are staying with adults and\/or\r\nchildren. However, the basic data block is required for the Hotel Data and for\r\ndefining the client retainment strategy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This\r\nis why directing bookings to the direct channel will allow Hotel Data to\r\nobtain all the valuable information about the guests<\/strong>, using this data to\r\nensure their satisfaction. Hotel Data can compile 60-95 % of the data<\/strong>,\r\nmaking it a vital source of information for your various strategies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How is the Hotel Data activated?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nowadays,\r\nvarious technologies are being developed specifically for hotels<\/strong>,\r\ndevised by experts in the hotel industry<\/strong> aiming to put together their\r\nown Hotel Data. Not only do these tools allow you to compile data, but they can\r\nalso be used to generate automatic activities for your guest loyalty strategy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For\r\nexample, the Hotel Data will allow you to automatically send segmented\r\ncommunications<\/strong> after a specific event, such as a repeated booking. This\r\nentails a more effective communication with your client, as it will be of\r\ninterest to them and will be related to their latest activity. As such, it will\r\nretain their trust in your brand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2. CRM<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For\r\nyour client retaining system to be a success, the automatic sending of personalised\r\nemails<\/strong> is crucial. This could take the shape of a CRM (Customer\r\nRelationship Management) that focuses specifically on the hotel sector<\/strong>. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The\r\nquantity of information obtained about your guests requires proper organisation\r\nand a correct follow-up of every piece of data recorded. This is particularly\r\ntrue for the tracking of sales using the booking engine<\/strong>, which links\r\neach purchase with each repeating guest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This\r\nwill help you to exclude the guests who have made recent bookings from your\r\nupcoming campaigns. By doing this, you can appropriately direct the clients\u2019\r\nattention to the direct channel without harming their trust in your brand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3.\r\nEmail marketing<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sending\r\nemails to your guests is a magnificent way of securing direct bookings.\r\nHowever, the sending of emails by means of securing bookings through the direct\r\nchannel requires a professional planning of the email marketing strategy<\/strong>.\r\nRemember the importance of maintaining healthy contact with each client.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On\r\none hand, to create the perfect message for each group of guests, you must create\r\nhigh-quality content that they consider to be of value.<\/strong> On the other hand,\r\nwhen sending emails you must be sure to monitor various important aspects<\/strong>\r\nin order for the communication to be successful. These may include the\r\nsegmentation, the established delivery and spam regulations, subscription\r\nfollow-up, etc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Who should dictate the professional planning of the email marketing campaign?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One\r\noption is to leave it in the hands of digital marketing agencies who specialise\r\nin the hotel and accommodation industry. Alternatively, you could leave it to\r\nin-house experts who have a proven track record.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the main benefits of fostering loyalty is the opportunity to obtain new bookings from repeating clients via a direct channel, thus saving expenditure on commissions. To do this, you will need to focus on the contact details contained in the increasingly important Hotel Data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[28,25],"class_list":["post-1034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotel-loyalty","tag-hotel-data","tag-loyalty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13379,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions\/13379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotelinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}