How we're driving direct bookings as hoteliers make a comeback

As hoteliers make a comeback from an undoubtedly testing time for the economy, it’s never been more important to achieve high direct booking rates.

Since March, the majority of hotels have remained closed, leaving many keen travellers questioning just how they will welcome back their guests. Above all else, it is essential that hotels begin their recovery equipped with the necessary tools, and a fully optimised website. This will allow them to drive more traffic to their website, and increase conversions.

Not only do OTAs charge high commissions, but they also direct the valued customer away from the hotel website and prevent hoteliers to build guest relations.

So, here at Profitroom, we’ve partnered with The Hotels Network to offer hoteliers a simple solution to helping them take back control of their direct channel, whilst strengthening their direct relationships with guests.

Working with over 5,000 hotels in 90 countries worldwide, The Hotels Network offers hoteliers a comprehensive platform to maximise direct bookings. By leveraging a series of integrated tools and analytics driven by machine learning, hotel brands can attract, convert and engage guests throughout the user journey.

To achieve our ultimate goal of driving more direct bookings, our plan is to insert The Hotels Network’s conversion solution into our own booking engine. This will provide real-time rate comparisons for all channels, and offer hoteliers the opportunity to showcase any other benefits of booking directly – such as late check-out.

James Whitemore, Head of Partnerships at The Hotels Network, has spoken to us about his thoughts on the collaboration: “The Hotels Network is very excited to enter into this partnership with Profitroom and to be able to generate direct bookings for their hotels clients from day one. Over the coming months, as travel intent gradually recovers but uncertainty remains, updating personalised marketing messages on hotel websites in real-time will make a real impact on results. By leveraging the combined capabilities of both platforms, hoteliers will have everything they need to drive higher conversions when it matters most.”

At Profitroom, we are very much looking forward to see the progress that hotels make following this new integration – and we’re excited for the future, with possible further product integrations very much in the pipeline.