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From airlines, restaurants, and hospitality industry, various businesses are upselling as an effective strategy to boost customer experience and maximize revenue on existing sales. It provides businesses, particularly hotels, in this case, an opportunity to use additional services as a means to enhance the quality of the guest’s stay.
A national consumer survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs research states that 61% of consumers are willing to spend more if additional services complement their main purchase. On that note, increasing the guest satisfaction is the key to expanding hotel profitability, be it through a complimentary bottle of wine, pre-ordered transfer, breakfast buffet, or even hotel booking reservations to promote rooms that need to be filled.
Why a Hotel Reservation System is Effective in Upselling Rooms
A Hotel Reservation System, which is a subset of a Property Management System, isn’t necessarily dynamic nor does it promote other features. However, it is a highly effective method of prompting interested guests to book hotel rooms, especially for small to mid-sized hotels who are still developing a notable brand name.
This means that offering booking reservations that come with packages is a sure-fire way of attracting potential guests, which allows hotel industries to curb a small percentage off of each booking. It can be done in two ways:
1. Upselling Minimum Bookable Nights
Guests who are planning to stay for more than one night offers a unique opportunity for hotels as it already establishes interested properties. On that note, embellishing the stay with promotional campaigns such as a room upgrade on the last two nights of a guests’ stay is a fool-proof way of cementing that booking.
After all, everybody loves a taste of luxury, and upgrading is an excellent way to promote quality experience without having any strings attached.
2. Upselling Minimum Bookable Rooms
Similar to the strategy above, it makes use of including premium packages for guests who have the intention of booking more than one room. This is a powerful upselling opportunity as guests love to take advantage of freebies, so promoting group bookings in exchange for better rooms at a nickel-and-dime price is one way to check off available rooms along with a high chance of reveling in a dozen of positive reviews.
Adding Restrictions
The strategies above are two ways to establish restrictions on guest bookings. On that note, restrictions don’t necessarily connote to limitation but focus more on establishing a certain required number of bookable nights or rooms to create a stronger prompt for a response to call-to-actions. These restrictions are based on the hotel’s needs and target audience, while the packages included can vary depending on what the hotel is willing to offer.
The Bottom Line
Your hotel may not know the exact preferences of your guests – be it their favorite breakfast meals or which type of morning coffee, but sprucing up booking reservations is an excellent way of creating an illusion of a luxurious experience. To that end, it allows guests to feel like they are in for a once-in-a-lifetime deal without any hidden fees, all while providing your hotel exactly what it needs – more bookings!
If you’re looking for a digital agency to help implement a great online reservation system, Web Connection Asia is your best option. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.
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