Book Them While They re Surfing

Back Book Them While They're Surfing

by John Burns

Use leading-edge Internet Booking Engines and Dynamic Packaging to Maximize Web Site Effectiveness

Hotel web sites, whether for a brand or a single property, are fast becoming pivotal to a hotel's business volume and to its success. Site design and content, the quality of the booking engine embedded within the site, and the opportunity to develop and purchase packages are high-priority interests for hoteliers and web site managers alike.

The critical role a hotel web site plays in profitability results from the changing habits of today's increasingly Internet-savvy travelers who use the Web to a much greater degree. Forrester Research recently reported that 70 percent of the traveler group they survey consult the Web prior to making travel plans. Travelers are turning to web sites whether they are making reservations through toll free numbers, directly from the hotel's web site or through a third party intermediary.

"Go/no go" decisions about destinations, carriers and, yes hotels, are being made on the sole basis of what appears on hospitality web sites. As a result, an effective web site is essential. What makes a web site effective?

Suggestions for a Cutting-edge Site

Provide answers to traveler's questions through the presentation of detailed and appealing information, together with photographs and other "rich media".

The information should be easy to find with access points -- sometimes multiple access points -- that are clearly labeled. Each option needs to be readily apparent and identifiable to aid navigation through the site. The web site should also introduce the local area, highlighting important points of interest (including major local businesses) as well as links to significant attractions, maps and other visitor information. These features have proven to be useful to potential guests as they make their lodging decisions.

The site should also capitalize on the graphical capabilities of the Web by including still and video photography that feature facilities of frequent customer interest, including hotel rooms (not just suites), restaurants, leisure facilities, etc. A favored method for showing hotel amenities is to organize the images in galleries and tours.

The site should also have frequently overlooked items such as an FAQ page (perhaps displaying answers to questions often asked of the telephone operators, front desk staff and concierge), as well as food and beverage menus and guest room floor plans, etc.

Finally, the site should not overlook the fundamental guest question, "How do I make a reservation?" Access to the booking engine -- the booking "opportunity" -- should be easily found and presented on most, if not every, page.

Basically, a hotel web site should answer a potential guest's questions about the property. Does yours?

Build positive expectations through design and content.

Convenience is typically a high priority for business travelers. Have information on the site about in-room work areas, availability and high-speed Internet access costs, as well as the hours for various facilities such as the business or fitness centers. It is key that this information be complete, as well as succinct and quickly accessible. Leisure travelers -- searching for experiences -- might also be impressed by descriptions of features that make the property memorable, as well as by web cams, 360 degree room views, etc.

Accept bookings through a richly-featured Internet Booking Engine (IBE).

The IBE has assumed a central role in a property or brand web site. Now hoteliers and web site managers are eager to identify the features which define an IBE as leading-edge or "next generation", providing the robust functionality that will bring their sites to a higher level of performance and production.

Next Generation Booking Engines

Several attributes are viewed as indicative of the next generation in IBEs. They are:

Unparalleled "ease of use" achieved through intuitive design and graphical sophistication.

Every booking option available to the buyer should be clear and appealing. Within the IBE, the guest should have the opportunity to access descriptions -- about room types, rate types, the property, etc. -- with a single mouse click. This is an opportunity for hoteliers to really sell the room and give a proper description -- curt phrases and hotel industry jargon can be replaced with compelling content, coupled with high-quality photographs. This eliminates the frustration of being shown a rate for a room described as "Our Business Room", with no opportunity to determine what amenities that room type offers or how it differs from other room types at the property, for example.

Make sure that navigation within the IBE is simple and clear. Provide a clear, often graphical, indication of how to move from one step in the reservation process to the next. Also indicate at what stage in the process the user is currently at. Another useful option is to allow the user to opt out of the booking process or to divert to the IBE's start page or the site's home page and then return to the partially completed booking.

Also helpful is providing multiple-language options for the reservations screens. The language options should not only be for the booking field labels (first name, last name, address, etc.) but also for displayed information such as room type and rate type descriptors. The confirmation, similarly, should also be in the requested language.

Have help text available with just one click on a clearly visible icon. The text should be written in a simple to understand, non-technical style and display in the viewer's selected language.

Opportunity for up-sell.

The IBE offers a hotelier the opportunity to offer an unlimited number of products -- room type and targeted rates. The extensive description opportunity can be used to present the incremental benefits of selecting a more expensive option (a larger room, accommodation plus breakfast, etc.), allowing site visitors to up-sell themselves.

Ability to offer packages for sale.

The hotel industry now recognizes the value of offering additional service(s) while, or immediately after, the core lodging booking is being made. The reservation can be relatively simple or highly elaborate services -- a room service meal delivered at arrival, dining room reservations, spa appointments, specialty in-room equipment (such as workout equipment), etc. What many of these items have in common is their high profitability.

The value of the bookings themselves, the benefit of knowing advance demand on a facility and the increased guest satisfaction due to eliminating uncertainty about a service's availability following arrival are all powerful motivators for adding a services booking capability into the lodging reservation process. Equally powerful is gaining the guests' commitment in advance, rather than having them potentially being diverted to an off-property option after they check-in.

Adding a packaging capability.

The formats for offering a hotel guest additional services are still evolving. The technology supporting this kind of feature is in many cases still in its junior years. Currently the methods for offering the extras fall into three categories:

Pre-built Packages. Package components are defined in advance and the package is pre-priced. There is generally no option for modification of the package contents.
Customized Packages. A variety of on-property (and sometimes off-property but hotel-coordinated) offerings is presented to the guest. The package price grows as components are added.
Dynamic Packages. Hotel-supplied and complex, externally-supplied options (including air transportation and/or a rental car) are combined. Just like the customized package, the price grows as components are added.

In the dynamic packaging environment, numerous business rules exist in the background, determining which components can and cannot be sold on various days/dates, in various combinations and in various sequences. That complexity is sometimes initially intimidating to hoteliers as they gear up to use a dynamic packaging capability.

While the latter two formats offer considerable flexibility for compiling a selection of services to meet the traveler's interests, dynamic packaging is more complex than customized packaging. The good news is that a growing selection of dynamic packaging options is emerging. These products and services present hoteliers with the choice of either adding dynamic packaging functionality into their web site or offering a "vacation" hyperlink on the hotel web site through which the site visitor can move to the vendor's packaging web site, all while offering the hotel's accommodation options exclusively.

What's Next?

It is readily apparent that all web sites are not created equal. Some sites answer questions, accept bookings and build positive expectations much more adeptly than others. As web sites assume a premier position among sales collateral and rise in prominence as booking channels, interest grows in new generation design features that effectively portray the property.