“How to get more bookings and more revenue on my WordPress hotel booking website?”

We do know that increasing direct bookings would be one of the most difficult challenges for any hoteliers. This is a question they have to answer if they want to keep their business alive.

There's no denying the role OTAs play in helping you get more bookings. However, increasing the number of direct bookings is better for your hotel business. Because it helps you reduce the cost of OTA intermediation.

Your website is one of the distribution channels you will ever have. Your hotel website is not only a place where potential guests can browse information about your business but also a place where customers can book directly and ensure you don't have to split the commissions commonly associated with other third-party agents.

Hotel booking tips: How to get more bookings on your WordPress hotel booking website

1. Optimize your website

The first thing when you are trying to get more bookings on your WordPress hotel booking website is to optimize your website. Your WordPress hotel booking website should look attractive on any screen, easy to navigate, and should be user-friendly.

Your website should be properly optimized for search engines. Then, this will make your website more visible on search engines, thus attracting increased visitors.

According to Brand.com, they found that:

Out of 100 visits to the property website, 45 originated from desktop, 47% from mobile and 8 from a tablet device

Mobile devices saw a huge 26% increase in revenue generated in 2017. 2018’s low increase indicates that users are wanting to use their mobile device, but many are still not comfortable completing a booking from their mobile device.

Also, your WordPress hotel booking website should not take a long time to load. According to Tnooz, 32% of booking on mobile devices are abandoned due to slow loading time. And, around 30% will abandon a transaction due to poor mobile responsiveness. Then, this could lead to an approximately 10% reduction in direct booking conversion.

If you have any problems with optimizing your WordPress hotel booking website for search engines, you can leave comments in the section below or share with us at [email protected]. We are willing to answer all of your questions.

2. Incorporate a booking engine into your website

Integrating the booking engine into your website allows visitors to see availability in real-time. The real-time information provided to them is one of the easiest ways to increase direct hotel bookings.

If you are looking for the best hotel booking WordPress plugin, you can consider our WP Hotel Booking plugin - a scalable and fully-featured for different types of booking systems such as hotel, hostel, resort, villas, apartment rental services.

This WordPress hotel booking plugin comes with all the functionality needed to run a hotel business website and manage reservations. You can easily integrate with your new website or template. You can manage hotels, room types, amenities, occupancy, hotel rates with different date ranges, and smart monthly prepayment. Manage online reservations in the back-end.

You can visit the WordPress Hotel Booking DEMO for better conversions.

3. Promote positive guest reviews on your website

Nearly 98% of travelers read hotel reviews and 80% of them consider them critically important before making a final booking. Good reviews can have a big impact on a traveler 's booking decision. This is why you can use customer reviews as an important strategy.

Besides, you also need to actively follow up reviews and respond to them, especially bad reviews. The communication between you and your customers shows potential customers that you really care about them and will definitely bring your hotel more customers.

See more: Must-have features you really need on your WordPress hotel booking website

4. Entice your website visitor with gifts and offers

Get your visitors to book by giving them compelling reasons to book directly with you. Clearly mention the types of perks they are received if they make direct booking.

According to Skift, approximately 45% of travelers consider offers and perks important to make booking.

Maybe “Get 30% off on your F&B bill if you make a booking today” will help you drive more bookings to your WordPress hotel booking website. Likewise, you can offer special offers like free breakfast, free Wi-fi, and quick to attract more customers.

Consequently, customers will be happy to book directly from your website instead of pre-order from the OTAs. Offering discounts is much better when paying high commissions for OTAs.

5. Handle booking abandonment tactfully

Are your visitors leaving your website while in the search stage? They visit your website, sign up by email and phone number, but don't hit the "Book Now" or "Pay" buttons. This is not good and directly affects your online booking.

So, what you have to do?

You can use a popup display when a customer wants to leave your website. Leadflows - a smart tool from Leadee Ai can help you deal with this problem.

Exit-intent Popup is an advertisement that appears at the time when users intend to leave your website. By monitoring the mouse pointer, Leadflows will help you determine who is about to leave the website and immediately send that customer an Exit-intent Popup with an attractive message.

See more: How does online scheduling change the way hotel business owners work?

6. Enable booking via Facebook

Facebook was the first social network to surpass 1 billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. This is the most popular social network today.

You can make the booking process easier for travelers through social media platforms like Facebook. Booking engine implementations that can be integrated with your brand’s Facebook page. It will help travelers to book a room directly with you from the hotel's Facebook page.

Besides, you can check out a video on how to create a booking form for your website

Conclusion

Above are some of the ways to help you attract more direct bookings, but you can evolve using more ways to grow your hotel business.

In the end, it all depends on the effort you are putting in to deliver the best experience to your customers. If you can make them like your services, you can turn them into loyal customers.

CMSmart provides a wonderful WordPress Hotel Booking plugin, you can try the DEMO to experience it.

If you have any questions about our products, feel free to contact our support team. They are ready to help!

Thank you and best regards.

Rose Helen

Shop Owner

Rose Helen is a highly accomplished Ecommerce Project Consultant with a strong background in managing and guiding successful e-commerce projects. With her exceptional expertise and strategic mindset, she helps businesses achieve their goals in the digital marketplace.
With years of experience, Rose Helen possesses an in-depth understanding of e-commerce platforms, technologies, and best practices. She works closely with clients to analyze their needs, develop tailored strategies, and execute effective project plans that drive growth and success.
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