Travelers Want to Book Directly With Hotels
A direct booking solution will help hotels to establish an online presence, attract more customers and increase revenue.
A 2022 survey conducted by GlobalData found that 39% of consumers booked directly with hotels or other property types, compared to the 17% that booked using an online travel agency (OTA). A separate survey conducted by Skift, found that 56% of independent hotel bookings came from direct channels in 2020, showcasing an increase from 39% the prior year.
Direct bookings are also expected to increase this year, as more travelers are turning to hotel apps for convenience, for special deals and to be in direct contact with hotels. Direct bookings are expected to surpass bookings by OTA’s this year, and will account for more than 50% of the total online leisure sales. More travelers are expected to book directly with hotels and a direct booking solution can help hotels to capitalize on the increase.
What is a Direct Booking?
A Direct booking is a reservation that is booked and confirmed directly with the hotel or other property type. Guests book directly from the hotel’s website, via email, over the phone or in person, without the use of an online travel agency (OTA) or 3rd party booking.
OTA’s such as Airbnb and Booking.com enables customers to book and pay for their hotel stays but charge hotels a commission fee before distributing the remaining payment to the hotel. Some OTA platforms can charge commission fees that are as high as 25%.
Direct bookings give hotels direct access to potential customers and increases hotel revenue through money saved from OTA commissions. A direct booking solution can help hotels to build a loyal customer base, hotels can attract more guests, increase their revenue, and lower customer acquisition costs.
Direct Booking Benefits for Hotels
Improved Payment Process
Travelers want a direct booking and payment experience that is easy and convenient. Hotels that offer guests a quick payment gateway with different payment options can improve the booking and payment experience and attract more customers.
Lower Customer Acquisition Costs
Direct bookings are more beneficial for hotels due to lower customer acquisition costs, OTAs can charge commissions of up to 25% to hotels for each booking. Hotels that increase direct bookings can increase their direct revenue.
Build Loyal Customer Base
Returning guests are more likely to book directly, as hotels offer special perks to guests that book directly from the hotel’s website. 28% of travelers preferred to book directly with hotels for extra perks. Many hotels offer special benefits to guests that book directly, guests can request special check-in and check-out times and can earn points and discounts that can be used during their next stay.
Upselling Capabilities
Direct bookings allow hotels to promote special offers and packages that customers can purchase. Hotels can generate revenue by upselling some of their services, allowing guests to upgrade rooms and book a variety of hotel experiences.
Gain Customer Insights
Direct bookings give hotels the opportunity to receive valuable customer data that can be used to improve the booking experience. Hotel websites can identify and track user behavior and offer tailored messages and promotions. Hotels can also gain valuable insight that helps to better understand customers and identify areas to focus on or to improve.
Vendor Spotlight: Guesty Direct Reservations Solutions
Guesty Direct Reservations solutions is a one-stop shop for direct reservations that allows hotels to control and boost their direct reservations, attract new customers and increase revenue.
Establish an Online Presence
Hotels and other property types can use Guesty’s Direct Reservations solutions to create a professional direct booking site that establishes their online presence. Hotels can streamline the booking process with a built-in booking engine that automatically collects payments.
Customize Guest Offerings & Experience
Guesty gives hotels more control to customize their guest offerings. Hotels can tailor their reservation terms, customize their rates, their cancellation policies and their special promotions.
Optimize Your Pricing to Maximize Profit
Guesty’s revenue management technology helps hotels to better attract returning guests with rate plans, coupons and promotions that attracts new and returning guests.
Avoid Dependencies
Guesty puts hotels in control of the booking experience, cancellation policies and their business terms. This allows hotels to make the necessary changes to quickly adapt to the changing Industry landscape.
Drive Repeat Business
Hotels can attract more returning guests, collect data, improve communication with guests and create personalized marketing campaigns geared towards past guests.
Vered Raviv-Schwarz, President & COO of Guesty: “We’re thrilled to launch our full suite of Direct Reservations solutions and offer our customers advanced tools to power their direct booking capabilities and build their brand. Guesty’s technology empowers hospitality providers to expand their distribution with direct guest engagement, communication and pricing. One of my personal favorite features in our solutions suite is Guesty Websites, which allows customers to create beautiful websites from scratch with easy-to-use templates, imagery, design elements and beyond.”
Namastay One Click Booking and Payment Solution
Namastay streamlines the booking and payment process for hotels by enabling one-click booking and payment technology. Hotels can offer guests a better booking experience by allowing them to book their hotel stays directly from the hotel website using digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Namastay allows hotels to transform the booking experience and attract more customers by giving them the ability to book their stays with one-click booking and payment. Namastay also includes a “pay now or pay later” feature that offers guests more flexibility while securing their reservations. The solution can be integrated into the hotel’s website and existing systems and provides a fast, secure, and seamless booking experience for guests.
Fast Payment and Booking
Being natively integrated in your website, Namastay provides a fast and seamless booking experience to your guests.
Complete Payment Suite
Namastay empowers hotels to offer secure and complete payment suite enabling customers to book and pay directly on your website.
Plug and Play
Namastay is compatible with major channel managers and PMS in the market.
Security and Compliance
Namastay guarantees enterprise grade security for your hotels and keeps your data safe.
Easy to use and Manage
Namastay allows hoteliers to create the booking experience they want and manage direct booking in no time.
Frédéric Robles co-founder & CEO: “We are very proud to implement Namastay in such a forward-looking and renowned international hotel group. By optimising the guest booking experience and facilitating hotels’ access to modern online payment technologies, we aim to increase hotel margins by increasing conversion, improving customer loyalty, and decreasing dependency on OTAs and legacy providers.”