OTA fees can take a substantial chunk out of your hotel’s revenue. In fact, PhoCusWright estimates that OTA market share will reach 41% by 2020. While some amount of OTA booking is unavoidable, there certainly are ways to combat the fees and bring guests directly to your hotel website.

Promote Your Hotel & Increase Online Exposure

Vanity Hotel Websites

First, having a hotel website in today’s hospitality industry is a necessity if you ever intend to significantly maximize your profit. Your hotel website is where you can show travelers that your hotel is best suited for their upcoming travels. To start, your hotel website should definitely have a strong marketing message that gives travelers a clear view of what staying at your hotel will be like. You must make sure your website’s content is engaging and interesting enough to reel them in. It’s essential for your website to work responsively on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones in order to maximize booking.

Social Media Marketing

Additionally, social media is a big game changer for hotels. Every single hotel should utilize social media as a marketing platform. These mediums help reach travelers across the entire world. This type of exposure is central to increasing direct bookings and minimizing costly OTA fees. Traditionally, most people start social media accounts for personal usage, but businesses are following the trend and reaping rewards from it. Make sure your hotel is taking advantage of the great marketing opportunities that social media has to offer.

Ways to Drive Direct Bookings

Whether you plan to use a vanity hotel website or social media networks like Facebook to promote your hotel, there are best practices you should follow. Below you can find three recommendations for optimizing your presence on each platform to help you get started.

Utilizing Website Optimization

• Implement call-to-action buttons across each page of your site. That way, guests can book directly after seeing something about your hotel that sparked their interest.
• Increase your SEO-friendly features and listing optimization so that your site can rank higher on search engines. Even a small increase in visibility can lead to higher occupancy.
• Include custom pages on your site that demonstrate your accommodation types, amenities, special packages, and high-resolution photos.

Integrating Social Media Marketing

• Inspire guests with custom social media posts that encourage travelers to book your hotel. Did you know that 40% of users under 33 prioritize “Instagrammability” when choosing their next vacation destination?
• Integrate ad dollars into your social media efforts to target your specified audience through their feeds. Targeted advertising will increase your exposure and conversions.
• Improve your engagement by following top social media marketing tips. that will help direct more travelers to your hotel’s website.

 
As a whole, hoteliers should look for new ways to drive direct bookings and decrease OTA fees. To learn more about how you can start making changes, check out our Hotel Websites and Social Media solutions.