the most cost-effective ways to attract & retain more guests
TRANSCRIPT
The right mix is the most profitable mix—and this doesn’t necessarily mean eschewing third-party bookings for direct bookings. In fact, quite the opposite may be true.
The "Right" Vacation Rental Channel Mix For Acquiring New Customers
A widespread presence across OTAs means meeting travelers at multiple points along their planning journey and creating a solid chance that they will be converted via a direct booking, an enhanced “billboard effect”.
Balancing the Growing Cost of Direct Channels with Third-Party Visibility
Understanding the cost of achieving each new guest is the first step toward maintaining an ideal balance across all distribution channels.
The 2nd Step
Create a thoughtful strategy that includes OTA distribution as a necessary driver of brand awareness and new guest acquisition. Find the balance between multiple initiatives of variable costs and profitability to achieve a reasonable cost of new-guest acquisition.
Mobile bookings are projected to outpace desktop this year. As Phocuswright notes, OTAs have invested heavily in designing a mobile user experience, and they are already responsible for nearly two-thirds of all mobile bookings.
Take Mobile For An Example
Slide 7
How Channel Management Boosts New Customer Acquisition Power
OTAs maintain a healthy share of the market by catering to the complete booking path. The opportunity for PMCs lies in identifying the channels that resonate most with their guest acquisition strategies.
Match Your Inventory with the Suitable Channel
Capturing millennial travelers might mean placing more affordable inventory on the
channels attracting them:
Airbnb and FlipKey for experiential travel
Expedia and Orbitz for the price and mobile booking
access
Repeat Guests: OTAs as a Gateway to Repeat Guests
If capturing new guests via OTAs is handled thoughtfully – which includes preserving rate integrity and branding – those new guests can
become highly profitable repeat guests over time.
Among their benefits, OTAs offer volume. Distribution among a wide array of travelers increases branding, visibility, and bookings.
Get More Bookings!
Trends & Strategies for New-Guest Acquisition: Where New-Guest Opportunity Knocks
The potential to convert new guests is higher if your accommodations are also available on mobile. Mobile bookers are avid travelers, spanning multiple generations. But this doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t still specifically target millennials.
Millennials are the only generation increasing their budget this year. Millennials are also more likely to extend a business trip into a personal vacation (62% did so last year.)
Capture and convert their business on mobile!
