Managing Your Online Availability

A question which we are often asked is “how many of my rooms should I put online” and whilst the temptation exists for us to say “put all of them on” the reality is that this will really depend on your overall approach to online selling and distribution.

The key factors to consider are,

• Do you work with Online Travel Agents (OTA’s), if so, what percentage of rooms do you allocate?
• Do you have a Booking Engine on your website? if so, what percentage of rooms do you allocate? If not, how much time do you spend answering email enquiries?
• What percentage of your business comes from the OTA’s and your Website?
• How much time have you allocated to update your website and OTA websites?
• What commission do you typically pay OTA’s and your Booking Engine provider?

Once you have the answers to the questions above, you are ready to set some strategic goals for your online business, such as...

1. Reduce time spent answering Email Enquiries and Increase Direct Online Sales via your own website by investing in an easy to manage Booking Engine
2. Reduce time spent on updating OTA websites that are not performing
3. Reduce the allocation (or cancel the contract) of non performing OTA websites
4. Reduce the commission bills from OTA websites by increasing production through your own Booking Engine

Bookassist Makes Managing Availability Simple and Quick
The Bookassist Booking Engine enables you to easily manage one simple Room Allocation which can be sold on the website in a number of different packages, for example.



This reduces the amount of time you need to spend in updating 4 discreet room allocations, you simply update once and the availability cascades to all the relevant Room Offers that are linked to that Allocation.

This reduction in time makes your reservations operation more efficient, cutting down wasted time spent in updating OTA websites and giving you more control over your direct business via your own website.

The Bookassist Booking Engine has also been integrated with 3rd party Property Management Systems (PMS) such as Softbrands & Micros Fidelio which can increase your staff productivity even further by connecting your room inventory directly with your own website.

For More Information
Contact the Bookassist Scotland office on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or email Scotland@bookassist.com

Make your Booking Engine work for You!

At Bookassist we are all too aware of some of the challenges faced by Hotels in managing their business. In many cases staff are multi-disciplined, covering 2 or more roles, there is also a higher than average turnover of staff and the use of seasonal staff.

All of this means it can be difficult to be on top of some tasks, like effective administration of your booking engine. We are constantly striving to develop our software to make administration of your booking engine as hassle free as possible. Some of the key features include,




We are confident that our administration tools are easy to use, will enable you to maximise productivity and increase bookings. This is definitely time well spent. There are many other features of the Bookassist Booking Engine including;

• Multiple Language – Key reservation information is translated into 10 other languages as well as English
• Multiple Currency – Rates information can be translated into 15 other currencies as well as GBP
• Corporate Bookings – Give your key customers access to password protected special rates you control
• Loyalty Scheme – Reward frequent Corporate Bookers with points that can be used against overnight stays
• Integration with Google Analytics – Measure the exact ROI from your booking engine

What to do next
Bookassist Scotland can be contacted on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or Scotland@bookassist.com

Effective Online Rate Merchandising

There are many opinions out there about the most effective way to manage your online rates; however the principles are more or less exactly the same as you would apply to your Revenue and Yield Management Strategy. We won’t go into that in detail in this briefing; rather we will focus on some of the best practice being employed today.

Offer a “Best Rate Guarantee”
This should be the keystone of your Online Rate Strategy, you are essentially letting customers know that the BEST price they will pay, is DIRECT with you on your website. This engenders brand loyalty and protects you from erosion of your revenues via Online Travel Agents (OTA’s) websites, where you will pay a hefty commission but be expected to maintain rate parity.
You also need to make a noise about this guarantee, let existing customers know about it, use it in all your offline marketing to drive traffic to your website, and not an OTA website.

Enable “Rate Shopping” on your Website
You will be aware of the multitude of OTA websites and also Price Comparison sites, where consumers can compare rates from multiple hotels in one place before making a booking. Consumers are now very adept at identifying good value, and you should enable them to do this on your site by offering a selection of different room grades & board options on all room types. (see diagram).





Offer Extras and Packages
Have you ever been tempted at the checkout by the tasty chocolates or special offer, whilst you are waiting to be served? Your Booking Engine should be able to tempt customers in exactly the same way, by offering them some tasty extras to enhance their stay with you. From something as simple as Wine on Arrival, or Single Red Rose, or even a 3 Course Dinner in your Restaurant, this is a great way to maximise your revenue per booking and also make the guest feel special.

Bookassist Booking Engine enables effective Rate Merchandising by,

1. Allowing you to easily create multiple Room Grades, Room Types and Board offers
2. Gives access to our “Linked Pricing” function that allows you to change one rate that then cascades through all linked Room Types, Grades and Board Basis, saving you valuable time.
3. Providing you with a Best Rate Guarantee logo for your website which links straight through to your booking pages.
4. Creating as many “Add On’s” as you want in order to deliver the customer with a tailor made package.
5. Use our “Group Variation” function to group & sort similar Room Grades or Board Basis offers together that make it easier for the consumer to “Rate Shop”.

What to do next
To find out more about how the Bookassist Booking Engine can benefit your business, contact the office on +44(0)1292-521-404 or email Scotland@bookassist.com

Merchandising Your Online Rooms

The old adage borrowed from another industry of, “Retail is in the Detail” should be applied to how you promote your Rooms online. Customers who want to purchase online have the same needs and wants as those that come through your front door.

You wouldn’t ignore a customer who was hanging around the reception desk waiting for some information on a room rate before booking, and neither should your website.

Among the key factors that concern customer’s booking rooms online are,

• What does the room look like?
• What’s included in the rate?
• Is the rate good value for money?
• Can I picture myself staying in this room, at this hotel?

If you are on an accommodation website and these questions cannot be answered then you are much less likely to book online. In some cases you may grudgingly call or email the property, if you really really want to stay, but it’s just as easy to go back to your search engine and find another hotel website which can answer your questions.

Bookassist Makes it Easy to Promote your Rooms
Every Room Package loaded onto a Bookassist Booking Engine benefits from clearly displayed rates, high resolution room images and lot’s of descriptive text, together with an accurate reflection of any applied discounts.

You can see the from the example image that the customer is drawn towards the discount information presented in brighter colours, thus illustrating the value for money.
They can also see an image of room itself, which will expand when you mouse over it. And underneath the rate information, (which helpfully spans 7 days) there is significant text descriptions that is persuasive and alluring.

In addition to these key features, the Booking Engine also enables you to group different packages together, as you can see in this example which shows the Superior Rooms options.

What to do next
To find out how the Bookassist Booking Engine can help you to promote your Rooms more effectively and increase your online sales, please contact the Bookassist Scotland office on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or email us at Scotland@bookassist.com

Building long term online Relationships

Web 2.0, Social media or User Generated Content are just some of the terms being used to describe the next age of the internet. If this means nothing to you then perhaps the names Tripadvisor, Facebook & Twitter will.

These websites boast global membership counted in the 100’s of Millions, how many of those users are your customers? , how many of them have posted pictures, videos or reviews of your business?

Evolution of the internet
The so-called Web 1.0 that we are all familiar with today, is based on a rather traditional marketing model where a company wants to promote its brand, products and services to potential customers who have traditionally used search engines to find what they are looking for. Once they have found the business, they make contact and possibly purchase.

The next version of the Web (so called 2.0) is all about collaboration, creativity, user generated content, reviews and most importantly CONVERSATION.

How will this affect you?
If you do not participate in the conversation it will continue without you. The most concerning aspect of this is that you begin to lose control of your online reputation & brand, which will make it more difficult for you to attract potential customers to your website where they should be able to purchase from you.

Today’s online customer is looking for openness, honesty & transparency, without it they will not feel able to trust you enough to purchase from you. Given that the latest predictions are that more than 60% of all accommodation bookings will be made online from 2010 onwards, you really cannot afford to ignore this.




Bookassist RelationshipBuilder
RelationshipBuilder allows you to get involved in the conversation immediately. We will act as your dating agency, setting up the contacts, introducing you to your potential partners and then let you build the relationship! More than that we’ll even provide some support on keeping the relationship on track when things get difficult.

Your customers are out there listening and RelationshipBuilder can provide the tools that will allow you to talk with them not just at them. The RelationshipBuilder Program will;

• Identify the key brand values to be promoted by the business and develop the appropriate communication style and tone
• Create or update accounts for each of the social media websites, including initial content for the following:- Google Account, Facebook, Twitter, Tripadvisor, Picasa, YouTube
• Integrate analytical ROI tracking of traffic and online sales and advise on how best to monitor results and maximise returns
• Deliver support and Briefings to key staff on managing each account or provide a managed service maintaining relationships on clients behalf

Our RelationshipBuilder can deliver tailor made solutions for businesses to enhance their online reputation across the majority of Social Media platforms to ensure that a consistent corporate message is delivered and sales opportunities maximised and measured, this includes the setup of accounts and the ongoing update of content if required

Cost:
The RelationshipBuilder programme has an initial fee of £995 and includes the setup of online accounts for all the key Social Media platforms. Ongoing content management and copywriting is available from £195 per month – we however recommend that you are always better to make the communications with your customers yourself.

Contact us on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or Scotland@bookassist.com today to find out more.