In part 3 of our Digital Marketing Summit for Hoteliers, David Chestler, EVP Global Enterprise Sales & Business Development of SiteMinder and Joey Egan, VP Marketing of Leonardo discuss how to win the hotel booking and increase direct bookings for your hotel.

1. Let’s Book It!
Winning The Hotel
Booking
12:30PM – 1:00PM ET #EvolvingTravel
Joey Egan, VP Marketing, Leonardo
David Chestler, EVP Global Enterprise Sales & Business Development, SiteMinder

2. The Direct Booking Challenge
Why Traveler Shoppers Book with OTAs
Source: Megatrends Defining Travel in 2016, Skift | Millward Brown Digital on behalf of Expedia MediaSolutions, 2016 | Google, 2014
OTA Percentage of Hotel Bookings
41% 69% 64%
Share of Influence During Each Phase of
the Travel Shopping Journey

3. Drive Direct: Best
Practices for a High
Performing Website
Joey Egan
VP Marketing, Leonardo

8. What Do Travel Shoppers Care About?
They want to “see” what is unique about your hotel, they want to “see” your rooms, and they want a deal!

9. 1. Guest Rooms
2. Restaurant
3. Recreation
4. Lobby
5. Map
6. Business Center
7. Pool
8. Amenity
9. Exterior
10. Bar/ Lounge
Viewed Images
on Travel WebsitesTop 10

17. Social Proof

18. Social Proof

19. Social Proof

20. Social Proof

21. Social Proof

27. Best Practices for a High Performing Website
1. Give travel shoppers what they want and make it
easy to understand why your hotel is right for them
2. Tell interesting stories of your property in pictures
(lots of them), videos that are relevant to your
target guests
3. What others think matters - pull in user-
generated content and reviews to keep travel
shoppers on your site
4. When they are ready to book, be sure they won’t
be stopped by a confusing or frustrating
booking process
5. And make sure they can do everything they would
on a desktop, on a mobile device too

28. Let’s Book It!
Winning The Hotel
Booking
David Chestler
EVP Global Enterprise Sales &
Business Development, SiteMinder

29. Travel Bookings
History Timeline
History of Travel Bookings

30. Travel Bookings
History Timeline
History of Travel Bookings

31. The changing balance of booking power...

32. Hotels are being sold on multiple platforms, and are just one piece
of the guest’s complex travel booking experience.

33. Source: “5 Min Guide: What’s happening to bookings?”, Spring Metrics
Where they’re booking What they’re searching for
We must get to know today’s global traveler...

34. ...and figure out how to attract them...
According to Phocuswright research co-sponsored by SiteMinder….
OTAs will continue to grow
market share in the short-term
- representing 52% of online
gross bookings by 2017
71% of independent
hotels’ marketing
spend goes to
online channels
Distribution cost as well
as lack of control are the
most frequently cited
challenges with OTAs
52% 71%

35. ...with a holistic
distribution plan.
 OTAs, metasearch, and the
GDS are all part of balancing
your distribution.
 However, 72% of independent
properties believe their direct
website to be their most
important channel.

36. How to use technology and win
the online booking....direct!

37.  Reach travelers anywhere, on any device
 Boost revenue with upsell opportunities
 Build guest loyalty through pre- and post-stay
email campaigns
 Offer a quick and secure booking process - plus
seamless connection to marketing channels such
as Facebook
What do you need from an
online booking engine?
Your internet booking engine
should help you:

38.  Capture guests in ‘the mobile moment’ with a
tailored offer - they’ll book sooner instead of
waiting for their desktop
 Mobile offers will speed up conversions - just
ensure your site is fully-optimized too
 Restrict a rate plan to mobile and drive guests to
only book direct with you
 Analyse your website’s mobile activity - is it
increasing? Can you geo-target mobile-only
offers to high volume groups?
Think about mobile-only
deals & promotions...
TOOL
TIP:
Remember that 45% of
travelers are now booking
directly on mobile.

39.  Guests that book with a lead time of under 7 days are
3x more likely to buy extras during the booking
process
 Consider spa packages, shuttle services,
Champagne, fruit baskets or anniversary packages
as a value add
 Partner with local tour and activity providers to boost
the local economy
 Ensure your booking engine can easily offer these
extras to boost revenue
Think about the upsell
opportunity & add value...
TOOL
TIP:
Consider earning commission
by selling extras such as tours
via your direct bookings.

40.  Check if your technology provider is PCI DSS
compliant and meeting stringent
data security measures
 Appoint a security champion who can answer
questions within your hotel’s team
 Consider if your website looks professional and
trustworthy - would you share credit card details
with your site?
 Ensure you never print credit card details by
having a booking engine that takes care of
protecting the vital data
Think about security &
building trust...
TOOL
TIP:
Look for the PCI DSS
certification symbol on your
tech provider’s website.

41.  The booking process should be two-step and
seamless for your guests
 Connect your booking engine to a PMS, website
editor, Google Maps, and even Facebook
 Manage direct bookings and diversify distribution
with a channel manager - make it your most
profitable channel
 Consider how you will accept guest payments -
can your booking engine send payments direct to
your bank account?
Think about seamless
integrations & connections...
TOOL
TIP:
Broaden your global reach with a
multi-lingual and multi-currency
booking engine - it’ll convert
overseas guests faster.

42. Thank you for your participation!
For more information on driving direct bookings, download our free eBook:
“Your direct booking strategy: Are these 6 groups of
travelers your future hotel guests?”
www.siteminder.com/leonardo-direct-bookings

43. Up Next
Let Me Take a Selfie:
Traveling & Sharing the Experience