Developing the ideal mix of actions in order to generate the best revenue for a hotel with the lower promotional cost is a challenging goal. Hotel revenue managers have to consider various financial and quality parameters.
One of the most important factors that determine the success of the hotel’s revenue strategy is of course the pricing policy; to set the rates that will not only increase your property’s figures, but also correspond to your hotel’s value, maximizing your profit at the highest level of guests’ satisfaction.
So, the tricky question is, what are the actions that I have to take in order to increase my revenue without asking my guests to pay more? The answer lies in minimizing the gap between gross and net rates.
Use OTAs to promote your hotel and widen your distribution, but make sure that booking through them will not be more appealing than from your own website. Choose a booking engine that is trustworthy and follows an easy reservation procedure and give some small incentive for guests to book directly.
But, it’s not only direct reservations. A great way to reduce commissions is by managing your OTAs better. Calculate the commissions that you pay to each OTA, compare commission percentages and actual numbers, review payment flows, check the impact that they have on your direct revenue and enforce the ones that will reduce commissions and increase profit.
And of course you need the tools that will make this procedure easier for you. First you need a conversion oriented hotel booking engine that will increase your direct reservations and then you need a business intelligence software that will assist you with understanding the big data of the OTAs.
Bookwize is both; a state-of-the-art booking system for your hotel’s website that can increase your direct reservations and an innovative software with valuable reports that help you understand your data and the OTAs’ impact on your overall revenue.