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Increase Revenue Easily and Quickly @ Short Term Rentals ENG Copyrighted
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Notes from the author

This paper is written for owners and managers of small and medium sized, short term rental establishments. To implement suggestions contained within this paper you will require an internet connection.

It discusses how to increase revenue easily and quickly at Hotels, Resorts, Motels, Inns,

Chalets, Cottages, Villas, Hostels, Airbnb’s, Huts, Yurts, Boats, Treehouses, Dude Ranches,

Bed & Breakfasts, Guesthouses & Vacation Homes.

Special thanks to Mr. Richard Tudor-Price & Mrs. Natasha Wong for their much appreciated proofreading and editing of the original English version of this paper.

Best,

Patrick Grayson

Introduction

First of all, let me introduce myself as it gives me an opportunity to review my experience and hopefully, permits you, the reader, to know what qualifies me to write this paper. My name is Patrick and I grew up in the Canadian hospitality industry. My parents owned two motels, each with a small dining room, during my formative years; so I learned at an early age all of the  challenges facing lodging providers and restaurateurs. As a teenager, I worked in the restaurant industry learning all front and back of house positions. In my last year of high school I got my first taste of international business when I started a company with my father and brother, sourcing and importing high-end giftware from the United Kingdom, for distribution in Canada. After graduating high school, I spent approximately two years in sales before accepting a job in the automotive industry as a production supervisor with a large multinational company where I worked for five years. After receiving world class management training I applied these skills and my work experience to purchase and operate two restaurant franchises in Canada: a Tim Horton's coffee and donut shop and an O'Toole's Roadhouse. These restaurants had combined yearly sales of $2 million, employed 60 staff and were operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I was extremely fortunate to have received these opportunities prior to my twenty-sixth birthday.  

When I turned twenty-eight, I had a change of perspective and direction. I sold the Canadian franchises and departed Canada for Costa Rica. There I proceeded to open a couple of bars and restaurants in the early 1990s. I eventually returned to my lodging roots in 2003 when my wife and I purchased a small hotel in southern Costa Rica. While living in Costa Rica, I founded and managed a USA-based labor-management company that operated from 1994 to 2017 as well as its sister company in Panama. Today our family owns and operates a property management and consulting firm, a boutique hotel/nature retreat, a hostel and campground catering to the constantly evolving backpacker crowd, a few vacation homes, and a couple of other adventure properties all of which cater to individuals, couples, families and groups looking for tropical experiences, wonderful service and great prices.

So as you can see, I have gained first-hand business experience in Canada, United States, Great Britain, Costa Rica, and Panama during a full and diversified career. I’ve visited 40 countries (I count Sicily as a separate country) and I’m not finished yet. I’m what they sometimes refer to as a ‘serial entrepreneur’ with a dash of ‘wanderlust’, a person that enjoys both traveling and developing business ideas, sometimes sharing them with others. I assume you’re reading this paper because you want to generate or increase property revenue. Let me reassure you that this can be achieved easily and quickly by using the ideas described in this paper. All you will need is the help of a few tools readily accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Specifically, this paper analyzes how high-volume, ‘Online Travel Agencies’ otherwise known as ‘OTA’s’’ function and how you can optimize your relationship with them to generate and/or increase your property’s revenue. It’s that simple, so let’s get started.

Myth-Busting

You might have heard a few myths over the years concerning the lodging industry, so let me bring some of them them to light and then shut them down before we go any further.

Myth # 1

You need a highly trained, full-time employee to effectively manage and grow online revenue for your property(s). This is absurd!. What you do need to manage effectively and grow is a willingness to learn and understand the basics of how large Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) operate and how they can help increase your property’s revenue, nothing more.

Myth # 2

You don’t have sufficient computer skills, so you won’t be able to do what is required to increase your property’s revenue. Also absurd! If you can read, then everything we discuss is achievable with just a bit of practice and time.

Myth # 3

You need special equipment to compete with big hotels, chains and other more experienced operators. This is a falsehood perpetuated by the big operators to intimidate you from starting the process to compete with them. You can start the process by using the tools you already have, such as a computer, tablet, smartphone, and possibly a digital camera.

Myth # 4

There is so much competition that you’ll never be able to progress. This is a Crazy idea because the more competition the better. Remember golden rule number one, “You learn from competitors”.

Myth # 5 

Competing effectively is expensive. No, it isn’t; it’s done step by step with no need to spend a fortune to increase your revenue. Remember one step at a time is how to increase revenue.

Myth # 6

This industry is so complicated that we’ll never be able to get our heads around the entire concept. Once again, No, it isn’t; it just appears to be confusing because of the use of so many acronyms and the amount of data available online. One step at a time is all that is required.

Myth # 7

It takes too long to get results. False; it only takes as long as you are capable of breaking away from the old stereotypes of how the reservation and guest process should be managed and operated. I have seen revenue increase within just a few hours of taking action..

Myth # 8

There are so many OTA’s we wouldn’t know where to start. Don’t worry, I’ve already done the work and will be happy to share the results further along in this paper.

Myth # 9

Online Travel Agencies are expensive and hurt my bottom line. No, they aren’t and don’t! Before OTA’s, property operators used to pay traditional travel agencies between 15% and 20% of the reservations. They also used to spend approximately 5% to 10% of gross revenue on advertising. Now both can be achieved in one fell swoop for between 15% and 20%, so it’s actually cheaper to operate today than just a decade ago.

Myth # 10

Online Travel Agencies remove your control of the reservation process. Not necessarily; properties have the option to control how reservations are accepted, either automatically or manually, depending on which OTA is used.

Myth # 11

It’s a huge workload because you will require a website, channel manager, and property management system to process reservations for your property. Not necessarily, because many owners and managers can handle the work from a few OTA’s with a couple of apps. However, it is true that the bigger an operation, and the more OTA’s used, the more likely you will need to incorporate some of the above-mentioned systems into your operations.

Myth # 12

You need to be multilingual to communicate effectively with prospective guests from around the world. No, you don’t because there are many digital tools available that make this process easy for today’s operators.

Now that I’ve blown the myths to smithereens, let’s see which companies control  the pipelines.

The Main Players

There are hundreds of Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) and Travel Aggregators (TA’s) operating today but the majority of reservations come through a handful that are 100% owned by American companies. Do you know which ones? I do, because I’ve tried so many over the last seven years it would make your head spin, but I won’t name them all here for the sake of expediency. Suffice it to say that half a dozen companies and their associate brands are responsible for the majority of property reservations in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. I don’t discuss China in this report which is dominated by one Chinese operator, Ctrip now known as Trip, because it is outside of my experience and expertise to date. But FYI, Booking.com has invested heavily during the last couple of rounds of financing for Trip.

Primary Online Travel Agents and Aggregators

  1. Booking  -  https://www.booking.com
  2. Airbnb  -  https://www.airbnb.com
  3. Expedia  -  https://www.expedia.com
  4. Tripadvisor  -  https://www.tripadvisor.com 
  5. Google Business  -  https://www.google.com/intl/en/business/
  6. Hostelworld  -  https://www.hostelworld.com
  7. Proprietary Websites eg.  -  https://www.escapetothetropics.com

Each one of these OTA’s and/or Aggregators has different strengths and weaknesses, so it makes sense to have a presence on all or at least the majority of them to diversify revenue streams. However, which ones you ultimately use will depend on your type of property, operations, and business objectives.

Let’s review the public information available for these platforms to understand better how they are connected.

Booking Holdings  Bookingholdings.com

Booking Holdings Inc. is an American company organized in Delaware and based in Norwalk, Connecticut. It owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel fare metasearch engines including namesake and flagship Booking.com; Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Kayak.com, Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com, Momondo, and OpenTable. Source: Wikipedia

Formerly called: Priceline.com Incorporated (1998–2014), The Priceline Group Inc. (2014–2021)

Type: Public

Traded as: NASDAQ: bkng BKNG, NASDAQ-100 component, S&P 100 component, S&P 500 component

Industry: Travel technology

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://join.booking.com/

Airbnb  Airbnb.com

Airbnb, Inc. is an American vacation rental online marketplace company based in San Francisco, California. Airbnb maintains and hosts a marketplace, accessible to consumers on its website or via an app. Through the service, users can arrange lodging, primarily homestays, and tourism experiences or list their properties for rental. Source: Wikipedia

Type: Public

Traded as: NASDAQ: abnb ABNB

Industry: Lodging

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://www.airbnb.com/d/setup

Expedia Group  Expediagroup.com

Expedia Group, Inc. is an American online travel shopping company for consumer and small business travel. Its websites, which are primarily travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch engines, include Expedia.com, Vrbo, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, and CarRentals.com. According to Rich Barton, the company's first CEO, the word "Expedia" is derived from a combination of "exploration" and "speed".  Source: Wikipedia

Type: Public

Traded as: NASDAQ: expe EXPE, S&P 500 component

Industry: Travel technology

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/en_US/list

Tripadvisor  Tripadvisor.com

Tripadvisor, Inc. is an American online travel company that operates a website and mobile app with user-generated content and a comparison-shopping website. It also offers online hotel reservations and bookings for transportation, lodging, travel experiences, and restaurants. Its headquarters are in Needham, Massachusetts. Source: Wikipedia

Type of business: Public

Traded as: NASDAQ: trip TRIP, S&P 400 component

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://rentals.tripadvisor.com/register

Google Business Directory  https://www.google.com/intl/en/business/

Alphabet Inc.

Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and several former Google subsidiaries. Source: Wikipedia

Type: Public

Traded as: Nasdaq Class A: googl GOOGL, Nasdaq Class C: goog GOOG, NASDAQ-100 components (A & C), S&P 100 components (A & C), S&P 500 components (A & C)

Industry: Conglomerate

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

HostelWorld Group PLC  https://www.hostelworldgroup.com/

Hostelworld.com offers a webpage that links to hostels in more than 165 countries globally with more than 12,055 hostels on five continents. Around 250,000 persons per month reserve a stay

using their webpages. It was listed on the London and Euronext Dublin stock exchanges in 2015.

Type: Public

Traded as: London Stock Exchange: HSW

Industry: Travel technology

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://signup.hostelworld.com/en/property/intro

Proprietary Websites  E.g. https://www.escapetothetropics.com 

You can also use a proprietary website and/or app to drive reservations. Websites can be constructed by yourself or a person specializing in this type of work. Alternatively, they can be designed using software programs and applications that have you fill in the blanks to create a working page. I favor an approach that combines multilingual web design and creation with a built-in property management system ready to launch. This alternative reduces complexity and compatibility problems to a minimum and will save you time and money.

Type: Private

Industry: Travel technology

Area served: Worldwide

Registration Link: https://www.escapetothetropics.com/en/816151/contact-us

So, in a nutshell, these are the main OTA’s that can help increase property revenue. Is one better than another? That depends on the property, market and objectives, but if the main goal is to generate visibility and increase revenue as quickly as possible, then without a doubt, the place to start is Booking.com. It is by far the biggest metasearch agent and reservation processor on the planet. None of the others come close. By investing in technology that helps take the friction out of travel, Booking.com seamlessly connects millions of travelers with memorable experiences, a range of transport options, and incredible places to stay - from homes to hotels and much more. As the world’s largest travel marketplace for both established brands and entrepreneurs of all sizes, Booking.com enables properties all over the world to reach a global audience and grow their businesses. It is available in over 50 languages and offers more than 28 million accommodation listings at more than 2.5 million properties across

207 countries, including over 6.2 million listings of homes, apartments, and other unique places to stay.

More Quick facts:

Therefore this paper will concentrate on how to maximize revenue utilizing Booking.com as the primary motor for online reservations, mainly because it is the market leader. This paper is intended for both neophytes (newbies) and experienced users and operators alike. It will explain how to set up and tweak property listings to maximize revenue. Other OTA’s will be discussed in forthcoming papers.

The primary objective for property managers

The primary objective of property managers after listing with Booking.com should be to secure placement within the first ten properties listed in Booking.com’s Top Picks’, which is the default property list shown to consumers when searching accommodations. This can be found on the upper left hand of the reservation screen just below the name of the city on the metasearch page and will be color coded green. Placement here offers the same benefits as being listed on Google Search's first ten results. It offers instant viewability and easy clickability with very little work on the consumer’s part. Why argue with the world's largest travel agent when they can quickly recommend a number of viable options.

They basically take the work out of finding the ideal property by narrowing the field considerably. Therefore, most items discussed in this paper are to help guide you into this placement.

How to get placed in these coveted positions

Many factors impact placement. Where your property appears on the list depends on your performance, your competitor’s performance and changing demand in the local market. To increase views and improve conversion (lookabilty to bookabilty) the property needs to be competitive in the local market and attractive to guests, but since all guests and markets are fluid, placement changes over time. Therefore, it is essential to check your price quality score, flexibility of policies, promotions, guest reviews, property page score and inventory occasionally to maintain an ideal placement in the local market.

Below are some of the most important factors considered by Booking.com’s algorithm. We will discuss each one in depth as we proceed.

  1. Property Page Score
  2. Guest Ratings & Comments
  3. Property Responses to Guest Comments & Questions.
  4. Rates, Availability & Inventory
  5. Promotions
  6. Price Parity
  7. Policies
  8. Genius Program
  9. Preferred Partner Program
  10. Timely payment of commissions.

Booking.com Property Dashboard

Each property has a dashboard, whether it is an individual listing or part of a group listing. Your property listing and dashboard can be found at https://account.booking.com/sign-in where you will be required to sign in with a username and password which you would have initially set up when the property was registered. If you have not yet set up an account, you can do so at the link above by clicking on the ‘Create Your Partner Account’ button mid-way down the sign-in

page. If you have more than one property you may create a group account after creating a second property listing. After signing in, you will be directed to your dashboard for single user accounts or to your group page, where you have access to all of the properties within your group. Click on the desired property to access its dashboard.

The dashboard controls your Booking.com offering to potential guests. It is mission control for everything regarding a property on Booking.com. It is presently divided into eleven main Tabs or categories across the top of the page, each with various sub-categories. They are: (in order of appearance left to right).

I recommend taking the time to review all Tabs and their subcategories. Not all of them have a direct impact on revenue, but they do play a part in your overall competitiveness. Knowledge is power, so become familiar with the dashboard.

The Property Tab

This is where it all starts. It includes many sub categories, so take your time and be as accurate and thorough as possible. It will have a huge impact on your Property Page Score; this has a big effect on your competitiveness and therefore placement within the search engine. Take your time and don’t get frustrated. Your goal is a property page score between 90% and 100% upon completion. It is possible; I‘ve done it often for different properties, so don’t settle for 70% or

80% as many others do. Go the extra mile, because many operators don’t, so you’ll be able to climb the rankings much quicker due to your attention to detail. Don’t worry if you don’t get there immediately, because you can return to this exercise whenever you want, but do strive to reach between 90% and 100%. This will directly impact your competitiveness, conversion rate, quantity of reservations and ultimately revenue.

Photos

Photos are the biggest contributing factor to your Property Page Score. Completing 100%  on a first attempt is a long shot; this is because you probably won’t have all the photos necessary nor of the correct size and quality, but it’s not a major obstacle. Just make sure to update and upload new photos when in your possession. Booking.com will constantly update a list of what is required to achieve 100% property score, even going as far as stating which photos are missing for which rooms, so just work from the list, step by step and you will eventually get where you want and need to be.

The minimum recommended size of photos is 1280 x 900 (1.15 Mexapixels) in .jpg or .png format. If photos are less than this size, the property will be penalized and will not receive a 100% Property Page Score. Photos less than 300 x 300 will not be displayed. Most modern smartphones can take photos with the required size and resolution. Booking.com offers a great smartphone application called Pulse for Booking.com Partners which allows you to do many things, including to upload photos directly from your smartphone to the extranet, instead of moving them onto a computer first, and then uploading. This will save you time and energy as well as reduce frustration; so I  recommend you download and install the application on your phone. It can be found on both Google Play and Apple Store. It’s free. Use the app to upload photos. Once uploaded, use your computer to name, tag and move the photos to your desired position, as it is so much easier on the computer versus using the Pulse app for these mundane, repetitive tasks.

Photos should offer accurate portrayals of the property and surroundings. Take the time to tag ALL your photos; this will help with search engine rankings and therefore competitiveness thus increasing your conversion rate and revenue. Photos should be clear, precise, well-lit and colorful, showing off the specific room or environment to its best advantage. Each property can select its main photo; as well as the main photo for each room, to show to potential guests.

All photos can be arranged as desired with drag and drop technology. Main photos are automatically shown to the prospective guest when browsing listings. DO NOT choose bathroom photos for these first impressions. Choose clear, concise and colorful photos that show off your property and rooms to their best advantage. DO NOT use photos which include mops, buckets and/or other cleaning products, nor of employees or associates unless the photo is specifically introducing employees or associates to your guests. Linens and towels should be crisp and well presented. A little additional color with flowers or plants is always a nice touch.

Only use photos taken on the property. DO NOT try to fool the guest with photos taken elsewhere. That can easily come back to haunt you by generating negative comments; eventually reducing your property score, competitiveness and ultimately revenue.

It’s not only photos of your rooms that are important. Many other areas of your property should be highlighted, such as pools, gardens, ponds, bars, restaurants and especially wild animals that either live on, or visit the property regularly, to name just a few possibilities. If your property has special characteristics, photos are the best way to show them off to your potential guests. So be imaginative and creative. Don’t hold back. Photos will help make or break your property on Booking.com, just as they will on all other OTA’s.

Finally, remember that you are painting a picture of your property which hopes to grab the attention of potential guests. Some people might only view five or ten photos, but there are others who will peruse your entire collection. You can have up to 300 photos in total of each property, so don't be stingy. Share your best photos, so that when guests visit, they feel like they already know the property. It’s like they are returning to a place they have visited before, which is always a warm, comfortable feeling.  

VAT/Tax/Charges

When setting up your property, make sure to add all VAT, Tax or other Charges in this sub- category. Guests don’t like surprises. If you don’t let them know that they need to pay additional charges over and above the quoted price of the room, you are asking for problems at check in. You have the option to include these charges in the price of your room or include them as additional charges in smaller print.

Unless you are a full scale resort offering many aggregate services, I recommend you DO NOT charge a property usage fee. Guests DO NOT like this fee and will complain bitterly about it when leaving comments, decreasing your Property Page Score, competitiveness and  revenue.

Policies

Policies have a direct impact on revenue, so be thoughtful when setting them up. They can be changed at any time though, so if you need to change something at a later date, you can. There are a few policies that dramatically affect the quantity of reservations you receive, so think seriously about what to offer potential guests. Some of the most important ones are discussed below.

Cancellation Policy

Generally speaking, the shorter the cancellation period the more reservations you will receive, but you may also have more cancellations. So, select a cancellation policy that the property can live with. They range from the day of arrival to 60 days in advance. Next you can choose what penalty will be charged for breaking the cancellation policy. This can range from the cost of the first night, 50% of the entire stay or 100% of the entire stay. Finally, you can choose what to charge NO SHOW guests, either the same as the cancellation fee or 100 % of the stay. During COVID 19 we have been running with a 7 day cancellation policy instead of a more traditional 14 day policy; this is to try and entice potential guests who are worried about the constantly changing rules and regulations in this pandemic market.

Credit Card Policy

Let guests know if you accept credit cards; and if so, which ones you accept and when will you initially process them. Properties that accept credit cards receive more reservations than properties that do not accept credit cards; so in order to increase revenue, I recommend that you offer credit card  payments. There are different options to choose from when constructing this policy. What you decide will most likely be dictated by your credit card processor, but it is

always best to advise potential guests that you will preauthorize the agreed upon fee for their reservation once the free cancellation period ends.  Whether you do or do not is entirely up to you and past experience.

Child Policies, Occupancies and Rates.

Many guests travel with children, so if you want more reservations and more revenue you should offer a comprehensive child policy. This policy applies to children sleeping in the same bed as the parent. Different cultures have different ideas on how old children should be before sleeping in their own bed, so don’t judge. Be flexible as it doesn’t cost any more to have two parents stay in a bed than two parents and a child. Let the parents decide. You can also dictate whether cribs and extra beds are available or not. Once again, this is your choice. Finally you may decide the age at which a child is charged as an adult.

Internet, Parking and Pets. 

Each of these items can impact revenue. Depending on the property, you may want to offer FREE internet and FREE parking to guests.These are both tangible benefits with a notable dollar value that guests appreciate. Pet and mascot visitors are another story completely. All pet owners will tell you that their pets are well trained, quiet and loving, but we all know that this is not always true.  Accepting pets may increase the quantity of reservations, but definitely has side effects, so be careful when making this decision. Guests don’t want to hear a yappy dog or step in animal feces when walking in the gardens. If they do, negative comments are a given and will ultimately affect what guests write about their stay. Pet acceptance is a double edged sword, so you’ll have to decide what is best for your property.

Guest Information

The information provided in this policy can definitely affect revenue, so think carefully before deciding what to offer. Here you create check in and check out times. Earlier check in can help generate revenue, but it also has a down side. For example, if the property cannot guarantee 

availability prior to 2 pm, then they should not offer check in prior to 2 pm as it will inevitably create guest displeasure. However, if the property can guarantee earlier check-in, they can

allow guests more time to enjoy their stay and probably create a better guest experience. This usually generates better reviews, creating a higher guest rating, impacting your competitiveness and eventually driving revenue.

As more and more reservations are made on mobile applications within a few days of check in, the easier the property can make the mobile reservation process, the better chance they will have of converting looks to books. By eliminating the need for addresses and telephone numbers, you can streamline the reservation process and reduce guest frustration. You’ll have to decide if this information is important to operations or not.

Guests want flexibility so when you create a curfew for your property, you are impacting guests experiences. Properties without a curfew receive more reservations than properties with a curfew. To curfew or not to curfew, that is the question.

Finally, properties must decide if a damage deposit is charged or not. Obviously the greater a damage deposit, the less reservations the property will receive. So, this has an extraordinary impact on revenue.

Facilities and Services

Booking.com offers a myriad of facilities and services for each property. This is great news because all information is shared with potential guests allowing them to better understand your property beforehand and make educated decisions based on their traveling needs. This is a large section so, once again take your time and answer honestly. Guests want to know about your facilities and services, but they don't want to be misled. Be as accurate as possible. This will convert more looks to books, increasing revenue.

Room Details and Amenities

In this section, properties set up their room types, quantity and occupancy as well as quantity and type of beds, location of the room, smoking policy and number of sitting rooms and

bathrooms offered for each room type. This, of course, is extremely important information to potential guests, which, if you get wrong, will have a negative effect on guest comments and ultimately revenue. However, if you get it right, the property will offer a better overall guest experience, thus increasing positive reviews and revenue. Remember, it’s all in the details. 

Your Profile

This is an excellent opportunity to speak to guests directly in your own words, which helps your property stand out from the crowd. It can be written in different languages to reach many of your potential guests. Guests really appreciate this extra step taken by accommodation providers to describe the property in their native language. So go for it! You have a few thousand characters to explain your property, the host and its location, so don’t scrimp. Offer as much useful information as possible, because it will help convert ‘looks to books’ which creates  revenue. Make sure to add additional languages as it expands your reader base exponentially.

How to Get to the Property

This is an excellent section to impact the guest experience positively. Here you can set up directions to the property from a number of different starting points, such as the international airport, the regional airport, the bus station or the local pier. This is a big help to many travelers who are usually very thankful for this information, especially if arriving at night and/or during inclement weather conditions. This information can positively impact customer reviews, so it’s worth taking the time to offer concise and complete information.

What’s Nearby

This is another great way to offer very useful information to potential guests before they arrive onsite, therefore helping to convert more ‘looks to books’ and increase revenue.  Here you can name restaurants, bars, grocery stores, offices and other landmarks and let guests know how far they are from the property. This really is going the extra mile for potential guests, but rest assured, it will have an impact on your property listing.

Your Descriptions and Fine Print

Property and room descriptions are generated automatically from information provided during the setup process. I recommend that you check each and every description to make sure it is accurate. It’s especially important after reconfiguring a room or changing property amenities. Sometimes changes made to this section are not recognized automatically, so by reviewing the descriptions you can make sure that potential guests receive updated and accurate information leading to a better guest experience, more accurate reviews and increased revenue. In this section you can also select important information to be shown to the guest in the fine print section of the reservation, thus minimizing guest confusion. If you find things that require changes, just update the description and click the button at the bottom of the page to send the requests directly to a Booking.com customer representative.

Sustainability Practices

Today's  guests are greener and more savvy than they have ever been. They want to contribute to the wellbeing of the planet and as such often choose properties which have the greenest footprint in the local marketplace. Booking.com dedicates an entire section to green and sustainable practices which can be shared with potential guests. Take advantage of this offer and utilize it to the benefit of all and the planet.

Health and Safety

Covid 19 has brought health and safety to the forefront worldwide and that isn’t going to change anytime in the near future. Guests want to know what properties are doing to safeguard them against unhealthy situations and practices. Booking.com offers a section that allows you to communicate with your guests concerning health and safety issues. This is especially important during a pandemic; so I recommend that you finish up the Property Tab by completing this easy and straightforward section. It will definitely impact your revenue.

Opportunities Tab

1. Opportunity Centre

Here you will find 2 main boxes at the top of the page offering links to improve property performance and supportive advice. Each topic is broken into subcategories to help you understand better where you might improve your standing and ranking within Booking.com. The information contained here is based on the last 30 days performance.

Improving Property Performance has nine subcategories, each of them offering recommendations for your property to increase your performance on Bookng.com: In many cases, it offers comparative results between your property and similar properties.

Conversion

This is how often your property page converts from a view to a booking. The higher the number, the better your conversion rate. I recommend shooting for 1% or more. Booking will list a number of different options for you to consider which may help in improving your conversion rate. Many of them are different types of promotions, so clicking on them will allow you to set up promotions to help increase conversion rates and therefore revenue.

Ranking

This is the percentage of searches in which you are viewed when potential guests search for dates when you offer availability. I recommend a goal of 33% or more. Booking.com will list a number of different options for you to consider which may help improve your ranking. Many of them are different types of promotions, so clicking on them will allow you to set up promotions to help increase ranking and therefore revenue.

Length of Stay

This is the average room nights customers booked at your property. This varies by type of property, but I recommend 2 nights or more. Booking.com will list a number of different options for you to consider which may help in improving your average length of stay. Many of them are different types of promotions, so clicking on them will allow you to set up promotions to help increase average length of stay and increase revenue.

Average Daily Rate

This is the average rate you receive, per room night. It is always a work in progress for all accommodation providers and differs drastically between properties. Only you know what this number should be, so you’ll have to judge accordingly. However, since it does offer comparatives, you will get an idea of what other properties are achieving in the local market.

Cancellations

This is the proportion between the monetary value of cancellations received in the last 30 days and the value of bookings received in the same time period. The lower the number, the better. There is a comparative number shown, so definitely shoot for a percentage below your competitor’s number. It can be impacted by many factors. For example COVID 19 crushed all properties scores starting early 2020 and a large part of 2021. 2022 is an unknown for now, but it will undoubtedly create many more cancellations than normal. Try to keep this number at 10% or lower,  knowing full well that events such as COVID are completely outside of your

control.  Booking.com offers some opportunities to reduce cancellations in this section. Take advantage of them if possible.

Availability

This is how often your rooms are available on the dates potential guests search. The higher this number, the better. However, remember that always having availability means that all of your rooms are not always rented; so it’s a tightrope to create a healthy balance between availability and your desire to rent all your rooms. As in other subcategories, Booking.com offers opportunities to create promotions and rate structures which can help increase your availability. Note that if you never have availability, you will rate very low on searches and therefore decrease revenue from Booking.com.

Page Views

This is how often potential guests click your property from the search results page. The higher this number is, the better chance of creating revenue. 15 % is a great starting point, but shoot for 50% over the long haul. Booking.com will list a number of different options for you to consider, which may help in improving your number of page views. Many of them are different types of promotions, so clicking on them will allow you to set up promotions to help increase page views and therefore revenue.

Reduce Workload

This is where Booking.com shows you how to increase operational efficiency. This is a great tool which will save you a lot of time over the long haul. It is definitely worth visiting these links. Setting up messaging templates for guests is a great way to start the process.  

All Topics

All of the above found in one tidy subcategory

The Supportive Advice Box at the top of the Opportunity Page offers property owners links to different aspects of Booking.com support, including at this time, information concerning COVID 19. It is constantly evolving so there are no set subcategories. Check it out to familiarize yourself with the latest topics of conversation within the industry.

2. Genius Partner Program

The Genius Partner Program is a loyalty program for best guests and best partners. Properties must be invited to participate by Booking.com. Not all properties are given the opportunity. You must have a good number of reviews, a high review score and a good price quality score in order to be invited to join. Genius guests are customers who book more frequently than non genius customers. They generally spend more, cancel less and book further in advance

Properties must offer a 10% discount on their cheapest and/or best selling room to participate. There are other levels of participation that can be accessed after becoming a genius provider. After subtracting the cost of the Genius Discount, partners who join the program see an average increase of 18% more bookings and a 17% increase in revenue. Partners receive a visibility boost on the search page with a Genius logo shown beside the name of their property. The program can be paused for up to 30 days, which is great for busy periods. Properties can discontinue their involvement with one click. Genius reports are offered to participants so they can easily review revenue from the program.

3. Preferred Partner Programme

Preferred Partners receive up to 40% more bookings for a small increase in commissions, usually 3%. It’s an exclusive program that gives greater visibility to the top 30% of performing properties within a given market. It increases revenue without a doubt. Partners must meet a set of criteria to join. Preferred Partners get greater visibility in search results and a special thumbs up icon acting as a seal of approval for the property. Partners become eligible to participate when they reach a threshold of 70% in ALL of the following three categories.

  1. Performance Score - A combination of expected annual sales and customer demand.

  1. Review Score - How guests rate your property after check out on a scale of 1 to 10.

  1. Pricing Score - How competitive your prices are on Booking.com versus other OTA’s.

To check your eligibility for the Preferred Partner Programme, log onto the extranet. Click the Opportunities Tab and then Preferred Partner Programme. In order to stay a member the property must meet the 70% threshold every 90 days. Opting out is as easy as one click, but take into consideration that once you leave the program, you cannot rejoin for at least 180 days and you must meet the criteria threshold again.

4. Visibility Booster

This is a great way to boost visibility on the search engine, reservations and hence revenue for certain days or periods that you identify as weak in your calendar. You choose the dates, from which country you wish to attract guests and finally what commission you are willing to pay for those dates. This has the effect of boosting visibility during the chosen dates and very likely increasing revenue for those dates.

Promotions Tab

This is where revenue boosting gets interesting, mainly because the varied types of promotions offered by Booking.com can significantly increase visibility, bookability, reservations and revenue almost immediately. I have seen it happen within five minutes of publishing a new promotion.

Within the Promotions tab  it’s possible to review, manage and choose new property promotions. When you click on the Promotions tab you will see all Active promotions. Active or Ended Promotions can be chosen by selecting the box above the promotion list and include  the following information: Discount %, Bookable Period, Stay Dates, Gross Bookings, Room Nights, Average Daily Rate and Gross Revenue. You can choose to view information for the last 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or All time.

Most promotions allow you to choose a bookable period, stay dates, discount percentage, black out dates and for which rooms the discount can be applied. You can also name each promotion as you like. You will have a chance to review all promotions before publishing; also you can cancel them at any time with just the click of a mouse. It doesn’t get much easier to talk to motivated potential guests.

Understand that due to legal reasons, it’s important that promotions offer a genuine discount to guests.

To add a promotion, click on the Choose New Promotion Button in the upper right hand side of the page. There are four different categories of promotions to choose from, each offering various opportunities to increase revenue.  

Campaigns

Campaign promotions receive visibility in Booking.com emails, push notifications, promotions on affiliate websites, and pay per click adverts when offering a 20% discount or greater. There are two main types of promotions available under campaigns: Getaway Deals and Early Year Deals. Each type of promotion has specific Bookable Periods and Stay Dates. These promotions receive a special badge shown to guests on the search engine and increased marketing.

Boosters

Booster promotions push your property up the search results when offering a larger discount of 40% or more for a short time. This promotion does not stack or combine with other discounts you set on Booking.com. This promotion will boost your property in search results for 48 hours. You can only run this promotion once every two weeks.

Targeting

Aim this promotion at specific groups to become a favorite property for valuable guest segments. For example, you might want to offer a Mobile Rate or a specific Country Rate to promote and reward different guest segments. As smartphone use continues to grow and reservation windows become shorter, offering a Mobile Rate can be advantageous. With Covid 19 in full swing, offering a Country Rate to people who live in the same country as the property will help drive revenue within this guest segment. You may offer different country rates to different guest segments, so if you wish to increase revenue from the USA, you can offer a discount to all USA guests and then offer a different rate for another country or region as you wish. Once again, the choice is all yours.

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Deals

Deals can improve occupancy with a range of customisable deal types to suit specific needs. There are many to choose from. I’ve listed the most common ones below.

Try running different types of promotions to see how each works for your property. Remember that promotions are also offered to Genius members. They can be stacked or combined therefore offering a greater discount to these guests. For example if you offer a 10% Genius Rate and also offer an Early Bird Discount of 10% then the combined, total discount offered to the Genius member will be 20%.

If you find that one type of promotion isn’t working for the property for whatever reason, don’t worry, just visit the Promotions Tab and cancel or edit the promotion. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Rates & Availability Tab

When you select the Rate Plan category, you will be shown your existing Rate Plans. Each Rate Plan exhibits the following information: Name, Cancellation Policy, Price, Cancellation Rate and Net Revenue. The default viewing period is set to 30 days, but you can choose to view either 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months by selecting the appropriate time period in the top right hand of the page. You may decide which rooms are offered with each rate plan. To add a new rate plan, click on the box in the upper left of the screen. Many properties only publish a Standard Rate, so here is where you can make a big difference to increase revenue opportunities by offering different rate plans to different market segments. There are a number of options to choose from. See the list below. Each is customisable and can be edited or deleted as desired.

Standard

This rate is dictated by either what you initially input when setting up your rates on Booking.com or it’s imported from your channel manager which is responsible to export rates to all of your OTA’s. It is the basic rate that you wish to publish to the general public. Other rate plans can be derived from this rate. Standard rates can be set up as a room price or per person price. I found that during COVID 19, it was extremely helpful to add single pricing to our double rooms, since so many guests were travelling solo. Yes, we got less revenue per room sometimes, but we rented a lot more rooms, which we wouldn’t have done without the single pricing option.

Fully Flexible

This allows guests to cancel with a shorter cancellation period of either 1 or 2 days notice. Since guests are willing to pay more for this option, you can increase revenue potential by offering this option with a 10% to 20 % increase off the standard rate. This should increase bookings, but remember that guests can now cancel close to check in without a penalty.

Non-Refundable

This rate plan can help reduce cancellations by attracting guests who are sure of their dates. Since it is a non refundable rate without a cancellation policy, the property can charge the guest immediately. This rate is usually offered with a 10% to 20% discount from the standard rate.  

Early Booker

It’s always nice to see your calendar fill up early with guests who think ahead, so this rate is great for both you and them. It offers them a discount usually between 10% and 20%, which takes some of the heat off the property to fill their rooms at the last minute.

Weekly

Daily operations are positively affected by guests who stay a week or longer. There is less changeover, cleaning and washing required, thus reducing operating costs and increasing revenue. There is less time spent at reception and less payment processing, so getting stays of a week or longer is great news. Use this rate to boost longer term stays between 7 and 27 days. Offering a discount between 15% and 20% should be enough to attract week long stays

Monthly

Daily operations are positively affected by guests who stay a month or longer. There is less changeover, cleaning and washing required, thus reducing operating costs and increasing revenue. There is less time spent at reception and less payment processing, so getting stays of

a month or longer is great news. Use this rate to boost longer term stays greater than 27 days. Offering a discount between 30% and 35% should be enough to attract month long stays.

Custom

This baby is entirely up to you. Let your imagination run wild and see what you can design that is beneficial to your property and its revenue. Good luck!

Genius Country Rates

Offers the ability to target genius discounts to specific markets and/or countries or regions, so if you want to increase bookings from Switzerland for example, just offer a genius specific rate to this country’s users. 

Country Rates and Mobile Rates

These Rate Plans were recently moved to the Promotions Tab as discussed earlier. 

Inbox Tab

Inside the Property Mailbox you have access to 4 different types of messages. Messages can be filtered by Unread, Sent and All. Only two have an impact on revenue, the first and last.  

Guest Messages

Answering Guest Messages in a timely manner can impact the guest experience in a positive way, while not doing so can obviously have a negative impact. The property is given a Reply Score which impacts your Property Score, so it is essential to use Guest Messages to your

advantage. In other words read the messages and answer them. You can communicate directly with any Booking.com guest from here. This is a great way to personalize service and improve the guest experience. As a result, this will probably likely equate to better reviews, property score and ultimately more Booking.com revenue.

Questions for Your Property

The Q and A is a section displayed on your property and room pages. It is broken into three categories; New Questions, Answered and Archived. Potential guests can ask questions about your property or rooms. You should answer them quickly to try and influence the guest to book. Your results will be shared publicly; this will have an impact on future potential guests. Make sure your answers are accurate and detailed, so all potential guests can receive the benefit of your expertise. Reply times affect your Reply Score, so aim to answer all questions within 24 hours at the latest.

Guest Reviews Tab

This tab is broken into two distinct areas, Guest Reviews and Guest Experience which have a great impact on your revenue. If you take away one thing only from this paper, let it be that you understand that Guest Reviews stay on the books for 2 full years. Guest Reviews are generated from Basic Categories which are as follows:

There are three additional categories which do not impact Guest Reviews. They are as follows:

The guest score is an average of ALL guest reviews during the past 2 year period, so it is extremely difficult to change your overall guest review score immediately. As I mentioned earlier, you should be aiming for an 8.0 or higher, so don’t wait long to start working on creating positive reviews with a superior guest experience.

Respond to all guest reviews whether they be good or bad. Do not take criticism personally. Do not answer negative guest reviews in the first 24 hours. Take the time to read and think about the review before responding. Remember that anyone can read reviews and your responses to them. This is an opportunity to thank past guests and show potential guests that you are learning from guest reviews. Guests want to see that properties are reading and reacting to their reviews. It’s also a great way to learn about your property from guests. For example, it’s quite easy for an employee or associate to overlook a drippy faucet in a room, so sometimes owners and managers do not even realize there is a problem until they read a guest review. Make sure to thank the guest for bringing this to your attention and then resolve the issue letting the guest know that the problem has now been rectified thanks to their review. This shows all potential guests that you DO REACT; this turns a negative review into a positive action.  

Remember if you dig the property into a hole with negative reviews initially, it can take a long time to change the perception, so work on positive guest reviews from day one. Continue to check Guest Reviews and Guest Experiences daily, so things don’t get away from you. Ten minutes a day is all it takes to stay on top of this critical area, which has a massive effect on revenue.

Finance Tab

The easiest way to lose revenue with Booking.com is by not paying attention to this Tab. It can make or break your property with Booking.com. How, you might ask? Well, if you don’t pay your invoices in a timely manner Booking.com will stop showing your property on Search Results. No showings, means no revenue, it’s that simple. So even if you pay attention to

everything else in this paper, if you don’t pay your bill when required, it was all for nothing. So pay attention folks. Pay on time!

Invoices

Invoices are issued between the first and eighth of every month for the preceding month, but only include reservations that departed during the previous month. So, if a guest reserves on the 31st and departs on the 2nd, they will not be included in that month's invoice, but the next invoice due to their departure date. Properties should have reported NO Shows during the month, but if for some reason they have not been reported, the property can make adjustments in the first 5 days of the month before the invoice is generated by reviewing the reservation statements which are generated at the end of the period. Invoices are due on the 21st of the month in which they are received. They can be paid either by bank deposit or credit card.

Reservation Statements

Monthly reservation statements show every reservation which departed during the previous month. See Above. Reservations which were cancelled are shown in red and have zero commission. Completed reservations are in black and show commissions owing. Properties have 48 hours after the guest departure date on the reservation to mark them as a NO Show at the bottom, right hand side of the actual reservation. If you do not do this, you will be charged commissions, thereby decreasing revenue. Mark your NO SHOWS religiously, otherwise you will pay the price.

Financial Overview

This page offers three months of revenue reports which include gross amount and commissions generated by day and a total for the month. It’s an easy way to review financial information concerning Booking.com reservations. It also shows your current payment method and banking details for transfers. There is a blue Send Message Button at the bottom of the page if you wish to discuss any financial issues with Booking.com. For example, you may have forgotten to record a No Show within 48 hours of departure, but, after reviewing your statement, you realize that a mistake was made. Use the Send Message Button to request a

 review. More often than not Booking.com will make the necessary adjustments to the statement and invoice.

Preventative Maintenance

As you continually strive to increase revenue, it will be necessary to review your account on Booking.com a couple of times a month, but ideally once a week. It won’t take long once you get the hang of it. Below are a few areas that require preventive maintenance and/or review on a continual basis..

Troubleshooting

People who read this report often ask me where they can find good follow up material. To which  I respond that they can find a wealth of information directly on the Booking.com extranet for property managers. If you can’t find an answer to a specific query, be sure to direct your question via messaging as Booking.com is good at responding to questions on the extranet. They may even try to call you personally depending on the situation.

A little practice does go a long way, so don’t be timid. Tweak your account now to

easily and quickly increase revenue from Booking.com

Pura Vida,

Patrick Grayson

 

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