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Direct is best: Increasing direct bookings

If you don't have a big advertising budget, there are some creative, low-cost ways to help drive direct bookings at your accommodation property.

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Direct is best! We hear it all the time, and let’s face it, it’s 100 percent true.

You own the customer journey from start to finish. The net average daily rate you achieve should surpass that of the online agents. You will have a better revenue result.

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But how do you increase direct bookings? Strap in because I’m here to tell you how to do it, including a few hacks if you have no marketing budget. 

Paid ads

Let’s start with the basics: paid ads. They can work well, but I have often said in the past they aren’t the be all and end all. I truly believe in the current day you don’t need them if you can’t afford them. They’re nice to have, though, and they can help.

Running paid ads will allow your business to show where it counts, in front of customers on their daily scroll. Ensure you use a meta pixel if running Meta (Facebook / Instagram etc) ads as this will ensure you target guests who land on your website. You know how you get ads when you look at that cool new car you’re thinking of? This is what helps that process. If you’re using meta ads you MUST set up a pixel.

We’ve had clients we’ve run meta ads for, where a $400 spend has translated to 25k+ in bookings. You just need to get it right and test what works for your brand.

For Google ads, ensure you have Google Tag Manager (GTM) Containers on your websites, which means that the scripts will talk to Google Analytics. This ensures you can track traffic to your site and the conversions it makes.

For any paid ads campaigns, make sure you test, learn and track. Don’t be afraid to change things if it isn’t producing. 

Email marketing

Direct is best because you get to own the journey. Email marketing is an amazing way to drive direct reservations. These people are aware of your product—they’ve stayed before or at least landed on your website to hit the subscribe button.

Email marketing allows you to reach the masses for a low cost. It isn’t always about being on sale, sometimes it’s about ensuring you are front of mind. ‘What’s on’ and ‘upcoming events’ style messages help with this. Ensure you create clean, attractive emails with beautiful pictures. Less is more—you don’t want to lose the message with a heap of text or graphics. We find once or twice a month works best. Too many emails and they’ll be quick to say see-ya and unsubscribe.

User generated content

UGC as they call it—get content created by professionals, but made to not look too professional. Simple right? UGC creators sell your brand in their own voice, talk to both your followers and their followers, and allow you to reach a potentially new audience.

This is a great way to get additional content for your business and leverage marketing. Often a free stay is all it needs, though content creators can and often do ask for additional payments, so be sure that if you are going down this route you choose wisely.

Influencer marketing

Is influencer marketing still worth it? I think yes, but you’ve got to find the right one for your brand. If you’re a family resort, mumfluencers are the go. Just make sure you are researching, ask for their demographic data to ensure that their followers are engaged and the right people (sometimes followers can be bought too!).  These will likely cost you an investment in a free stay plus some form of payment in cash. Ensure you track influencer marketing with unique promo codes to quantify the spend on it. 

Direct offerings

When customers are landing on your website, they need a reason to book direct. Price is one, but you can also differentiate yourself with offerings. Early check in, late checkouts, free wine, upgrades or even a gift.

Cancellation policy is the next. You can offer a more flexible cancellation policy to direct guests.

There are so many options available to create value for guests booking on your website.  Think what you can offer that is attractive to guests and load it up!

The billboard effect

Now it’s time for my favourite freebie. The billboard effect is all about using the online travel agents (OTAs) as a free marketing tool to drive more traffic to your website. I’ve harped on about this for years now, so plenty of articles to find!

Optimise your OTA listings to create a situation where guests find you here, then book direct. Statistics show that customers look at anywhere between 12 to 38 websites to make a booking decision. Ensure that your website is the most attractive offering and an easy booking experience, and you’ll convert people direct simply by having OTA listings.

Increasing direct bookings can be done easily if you have the advertising budget to spend. If not you need to get creative and find low-cost ways to make it happen.

Make sure your booking experience on your website is easy and seamless. The online agents get so many reservations because they constantly optimise for experience—you need to create reasons for guests to book with you.