Why successful Hotels & B&B have a website
Listing your hotel or B&B property has never been so simple. With so many online travel agencies(OTA) like Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, Airbnb just for naming a few, many property managers question if is it actually worth it to have a website.
Here is what we learned after working with several hotels, bed & breakfasts for the past years.
For new property managers that have seen the majority of their bookings coming from OTAs will be insane to think that building a website is worth it. These platforms make it so easy so you don’t need to worry about SEO, driving the correct traffic, where to advertise, and so on. But you are paying a high price for this simplicity and is not just the high commission that you pay per booking. There is a long term consequence. Guest Ownership
Exactly. YOU don’t own the guest when they book using an OTA. I repeat “YOU DON”T OWN IT”, so you are limited for the long term because that guest is building loyalty to the platform not to your property.
Your business relies on the algorithm of these platforms. As soon as your visibility starts decreasing your bookings will also go down. A very dangerous game to play.
That is why when property managers try to scale their business, either by building other hotels and start thinking about building a brand or a hotel group. This is when they regret not having a strategy from day one.
What is the right thing to do?
Well, I don’t want to keep you reading a long blog so let’s get to the point. Here are just some steps you can start doing to build that long term strategy that will make your hotel survive difficult moments.
- Start putting effort into your social media channels and engaging with the community. Set a goal to increase your booking coming from social media.
- Have a website that you can control and collect emails from your visitors.
- Send regular emails to your community. Give them information that they like not just your promotions and offers.
- Build a network of influencers that love your hotel and use them to bring more engagement.
If you want to know more about this topic, leave a comment and we will write an article with more details.
Have a nice day,
