How an Online Business Platform Can Help Hotels Grow your hotel's business and attract new clients
Tired of losing revenue to online travel agent sites? Frustrated by the limitations of your franchise's current website? You're far from alone.
Within the online realm, today's hospitality industry is an increasingly competitive environment, particularly for hotels. That's because these properties must navigate through ever-shifting challenges, including the rise of OTAs in a digital world where most consumers are booking their hotel reservations online, themselves, rather than using a personal travel agent.
Also, a majority of hotel properties are part of larger franchises and tend to rely on that franchise's hotel web page for dispelling information and gathering reservations. These sites are typically rife with missed opportunities for engaging guests and marketing to local audiences. Couple the rise in OTAs with reliance on a franchise's website, and the result is that individual hotels are faced with a huge revenue gap.
Hotels require a robust online business platform to meet the demands of the current hospitality industry. OTAs present a serious challenge to most hotels, and it's one that isn't answered by simply relying on your franchise's website as a digital presence.
An online business platform is much more than a pretty hotel homepage listing basic features and a reservations tool (the solution provided by most franchise-based websites); it offers a wide set of tools that hotels can use to their benefit, growing their business and attracting new clients.
With an online business platform, there's no need to be thwarted by the limitations presented by franchise or other basic website solutions.
Such a platform will showcase your individual property through high-impact images and unique text that highlights your property's complete list of amenities. But more than just a pretty picture, the platform will be optimized for SEO, and across mobile devices and browsers, to increase traffic.
Because many franchise websites take a cookie cutter approach to promoting a property, they fail to attract local business opportunities, like promotion of the hotel as a meeting or conference destination.
In addition to promoting in-market sales, the platform would include information on nearby attractions and events, like theme parks or concerts, which would position your hotel as a destination for guests researching the region with those things in mind.
Plus, the online business platform allows your property to promote special packages or deals, like group rates, extended stay rates, or a honeymoon package.
Staying engaged with your customers is invaluable, and an online business platform allows hotel managers to access a CRM database that captures guest information. Armed with this data, it's possible to create loyalty programs and devise low-cost marketing plans. Powerful analytics and reporting tools are also part of the platform and give managers insight into their endeavors' successes or weaknesses.
Additional functionality, like blogs and newsletters, also bolster customer engagement and can drive SEO, while social media management tools strengthen relationships with current, past, and future guests.
Finally, an online business platform grants hotels a reservation-making ability that's available on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices, and which includes click-to-call functionality.
To build a successful online business platform for your hotel and in turn, see exceptional ROI, hotels can turn to platform tools, like Hospitality Solutions from Ocoos, which specialize in the hotel space and can help you launch a robust online business platform. The platform also includes a full-service concierge to work with you and build a site that meets your property's needs. Hotel managers will then have full access to update and maintain the site, and be given 24-hour, US-based support, if needed.
