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IdoBooking
Targeting promotional offers as an effective tactic to gain bookings
As the largest booking site, Booking.com handles thousands of bookings from all over the world on a daily basis. With such a huge database, as well as numerous analyses and tests, it develops promotions that really work. However, in order to use them successfully and to control revenue, it is worth connecting all sales channels to one system. This is where Channel Manager, a tool from the IdoBooking booking system, comes in with a solution.
Price depending on the number of guests per room
Currently, there are still many establishments that charge a fixed rate per room regardless of the number of people staying in the room. In contrast, research conducted by Booking.com shows that travellers appreciate it when establishments adapt to the type of guest and offer different room rates depending on how many people are staying in the room. In addition to this, such a measure helps to optimise the performance of venues and also benefits visibility on the Booking.com platform when bookers use the website's filtering of offers. Changing your pricing policy and being more flexible with your rates can yield excellent results. According to data collected by Booking.com, venues using guest-dependent pricing saw a 4% increase in bookings and a 3.5% increase in revenue.
Activating guest-dependent pricing if you have IdoBooking's Channel Manager does not require any changes to Booking.com's extranet. All you need to do is select the 'price dependent on number of people' option in the settings of the specific accommodation and then enter the rates in the relevant fields.
After saving the changes, the data will be sent to Booking.com within a few moments. What's more, if you would like to have a single room price for a season, simply enter the same amount in each field. You can also use ranges for larger rooms, e.g. one rate when between 1-3 people, and a higher rate when 4-6 people are present. It is worth testing different options to find the most effective one.
Straight from the IdoBooking panel, you can also enable discounts or discounts depending on the length of stay. These settings will also appear on the Booking.com extranet, with no additional settings required. However, please note that they are combined with other promotions set in the portal panel.
Discount for mobile devices
Booking.com, when analysing booking sources, discovered that more than 80% of travellers use a mobile app when looking for accommodation, and more than half of bookings are made via mobile devices. Such potential is worth tapping into and increasing conversions. One way could be to give a special discount to customers using mobiles and tablets. According to Booking.com's calculations, giving, for example, a 10 per cent discount for a booking on a mobile device increases the number of such orders by 28 per cent.
Prices for mobile devices can be set on the extranet in the promotional offers section, they come in two variants - "apps and mobile version of the website" or "apps only". What you need to keep in mind is that the discount covers all rooms and price plans at once and is combined with other promotions (except for prices to selected countries and limited offers) and the Genius programme. It is valid all year round, but you can turn it off for 30 specific days. When it is activated, guests searching for a property will see a special label with a discount prepared for them.
When a guest makes a booking with the discount, the order will be sent to IdoBooking at the discounted price. Before enabling it, it is a good idea to check all price settings in the system to avoid combining too many promotions at once.
Prices for selected countries
Another option worth testing to increase bookings are prices for selected countries. Booking.com, having access to data of various facilities and guests from all over the world, is able to prepare a list of countries from where tourists are willing to visit a selected destination. By reducing the price for a specific region, you will attract foreigners and increase the chances of your hotel or guesthouse being filled to the brim.
Identical to mobile pricing, the promotion is triggered on the extranet and combines with most discounts set in the system. Booking.com suggests applying a discount of at least 10%. Base rates for accommodation are sent directly from the Channel Manager, and then when booking through the portal, the price is reduced and in this form goes into the IdoBooking calendar. Always track the discounts and discounts applied in the panel, as well as other promotions selected in the extranet, before activating the price options for selected countries.
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