Before you read the next line of this article, go to every front desk and switchboard operator you have to ask them how many times they have taken a phone call over the last month that inquired about a rate. Then, ask them how many times they ended up booking a room on that phone call. In all likelihood, regardless of the answer to the first question, the answer to the second question is going to be a very low percentage and that is a HUGE problem.
Training Your Staff
One thing I have stressed time and time again is in training the staff of the property on basics to ensure guest satisfaction. However, for certain positions, such as the front desk and switchboard, there is also the need to train the staff to ensure more profitability in room sales. By simply training the staff to follow up a rate question with another question, you can drive down commissions by OTAs and increase direct bookings.
The question they need to ask is a simple one: “Would you like me to book that room for you now?”
Beating the OTAs
When OTAs first hit the internet, they were responsible for about five percent of the overall bookings for properties. In a 2018 study, however, Travel Daily News reported OTAs were “currently capturing 39% of the US online digital booking market.” With that 39 percent goes a significant amount of profit. OTA commissions range from about 15 to 30 percent, so that is money that should be going to your bottom line being paid out for acquisition, often in cases where you have that very guest on the phone with a member of your team.
A major emphasis right now is in attracting the millennial traveler to the property. Well, bad news… millennial travelers use OTAs far more often than the average traveler, booking at roughly 52 percent of the time through on OTA. If you recapture even 10 percent of that market, over the course of a year, how much more would your property be making? More importantly, how much better will you look to ownership when it comes time for your yearly evaluation and raise?
While you will never be able to capture that entire market, you should be able to capture the traveler that is looking for more information. This is the traveler that has the OTA up on their computer or phone and rather than doing another search on the hotel website, they simply call the hotel to check rates or look for specific features that may not be listed on the OTA website, such as a specific view or amenity. This is the individual that needs to be targeted and captured when they call into the hotel.
The front desk staff needs to be trained on recognizing the questions that will trigger them to attempt to get the direct booking for the guest during that phone call. For instance, when a guest asks, “Can you tell me if the rate on XXX is accurate,” or “What is the current rate for XXXX room,” or “What room types offer a view of the ocean,” they should follow up their answer by offering to book the room for the guest right then and there.
Have a Conversation
The art of conversation is a skill that is becoming rarer and rarer with each passing day. However, merely starting a conversation with a guest as they check out can result in another direct booking. For instance, do your front desk agents check future reservations of a guest while they are checking them out. If they don’t see a reservation, do they inquire if the guest needs them to book it for them while they are there? If not, they are missing opportunities to create a direct booking.
Offer Incentives
In today’s world, everyone wants to know what is in it for them, so give them something, and I mean both the front desk agent and the guest. Create some type of program that rewards your staff for capturing a direct booking. It can be a flat fee for the booking or maybe a monthly contest for free dinner at the hotel or a free room night with another property. For the guest, offer amenities or additional rewards for booking directly. Simply put, give everyone a reason to offer or accept the direct booking offer. When you factor in the commission that would be paid to the OTA, you are surely going to come out ahead in the trade-out. More importantly, you are actually training your guest to direct book with your property during every stay.
OTAs are not going away anytime soon and most studies have them actually increasing their market share considerably over the next few years. If you are not proactive in capturing more direct bookings now, you may soon find yourself paying OTA commission on more than half of your bookings. If that happens, profits go down and you very well may find yourself looking for a new job simply because your front desk staff did not ask one simple question.
Can your team do a better job of promoting direct bookings? If your managers are letting you down in this department, it is time to call Joseph David International. We are ranked the #1 hotel recruiter because we match the client with the candidate that is best suited to address their specific needs. For more information about our hospitality recruiting services, please click here.