How to promote your hotel effectively using an OTA

Maximising the demand for rooms in your organisation is a vital part of increasing revenue and, therefore, the long-term success of your hotel.

Online travel agents (OTAs) are a brilliant way to do this, as they often have large platforms with many users through which you can promote your services.

While these are valuable tools, there is a distinct strategy for successfully promoting your business via these channels. Often, hotel managers think that slapping their services online will lead to throngs of paying customers through their doors.

In reality, OTA promotion requires some effort, but the work is worth it, considering the rewards. Here are some ways to effectively promote your hotel using an OTA.

Use the right OTAs to reach your target audience

A vital part of finding an effective OTA marketing strategy is determining the correct mix of OTAs that will help you advertise to your target market. To do this, you will need to research the different OTAs on offer.

This research should look at the kind of traffic that the OTA generates and the demographics that use the website. Once you have researched the most appropriate platforms for advertising, you should then partner with the ones that suit your needs best.

Manage promotions with a distribution channel manager

Hotel distribution channel managers like Siteminder allow you to manage the various OTA channels you might be using from one central hub.

Without using something like this, you will need to manually manage bookings through different OTAs, which risks double bookings or missing cancellations unless you are willing to dedicate a lot of time.

Siteminder allows you to update room prices and availabilities on all of the OTA platforms you are partnered with at the same time. This will massively streamline your OTA promotions and free up time for you to spend elsewhere.

It also allows for a dynamic pricing strategy, where you can update prices across all platforms at the push of a button. You can, therefore, react to changes in prices among competitors or update seasonal rates.

Sell your services with photos

When attempting to sell your hotel to prospective guests using OTAs, one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal is the photos you provide.

The old saying of “a picture is worth a thousand words” could not be more relevant when it comes to marketing hotels.

High quality pictures will help your services stand out from the competition and give a brilliant first impression to your potential guests. Using these, you can highlight some of the best features of your hotel, like pools, room sizes, saunas, dining halls, etc.

When taking photographs, you should use the best equipment available to you to get the job done. See if you can get photos of current guests enjoying your hotel instead of showcasing empty and lifeless rooms.

If you are taking the images outside, make sure you pick a day with outstanding weather to help sell the holiday to guests.

If possible, it is best to enlist the services of a professional photographer. This will provide the best possible results for attracting customers, so it is well worth the investment.

Make your description stand out

While the photos will undoubtedly be the first thing a prospective guest will notice, the hotel’s description is your chance to really sell your services.

Customers using OTAs are likely to look at multiple hotels and compare and contrast what they offer for the price.

As a result, you should take great care to promote what is on offer at your hotel and why this is more attractive than what your competitors can deliver. You need to clearly describe what kind of hotel you are running and who this would appeal to.

For example, if your target audience includes families on holiday, you should emphasise that your hotel is family-friendly and will cater to their needs.

Manage reviews from guests

Most people booking accommodation online will read the reviews that are available before making a decision. As a result, if you want to successfully bring in new guests via an OTA, you must manage the online reviews of your business.

There are a few ways that you can do this. Firstly, you can make it a primary goal to deliver exceptional customer service in your hotel. Additionally, you can encourage happy guests to leave positive reviews online and finally, you should respond to the feedback you receive.

If you receive negative comments, you should try to pick up any common themes in them, allowing you to rectify the issues.

Conclusion

Overall, using an OTA to promote your hotel is a fantastic strategy for bringing more customers to your business. However, it is not a thing that you can just sign up to and forget.

Managing promotions, pricing strategies, and reviews on OTAs are essential to keep your hotel competitive and bring in as many guests as possible.

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