Sales and Marketing
Sales and Marketing Maximizing Sales Effectiveness Online Booking Tools
There continues to be a growing trend of companies deploying online corporate booking tools to help manage business travel and entertainment expenses. It is important for sales leaders to stay current on this evolving trend.
Doing so will enhance our ability to properly deploy sales resources and continue to position Your Hotel for gaining preference, loyalty, and share from our best customers. This document was developed to answer the most frequently asked questions that might surface on this topic.
OVERVIEW:
Sales and Marketing Prior to the Internet, travelers would make their travel arrangements by calling their company’s dedicated travel agency. These travel agencies would make reservations using a Global Distribution System (GDS), which connected directly with the hoteliers’ computer reservation system (CRS). Since the advent of the Internet, nearly all corporations have implemented a corporate online booking tool enabling travelers to make their own reservation with similar capabilities as travel agencies.
Pushing the booking function down to the individual traveler has many implications for Marriott and your hotel.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: What is the difference between an online booking tool and a company’s online hotel directory?
Online booking tools are third-party software platforms customized to meet the particular needs of a corporation.
These booking engines are geared to interface with Global Distribution Systems (GDS) as an ‘overlay’ solution enabling travelers to make their own reservations based on a corporation’s travel policies. Some of the more popular online booking tools are GetThere, Cliqbook, and Corporate Travel Online.
In contrast, an online hotel directory lists an account’s preferred hotels and is housed separately on a corporation’s intranet. Typically, online hotel directories offer high-quality content but they do not have booking capabilities.
Online hotel directories might have links to other travel-related areas of the intranet such as groups, meetings, leisure or relocation.
Q Are Internet-based travel providers becoming more influential in corporate travel management?
Yes. Companies such as Travelocity Business, Expedia Corporate Travel and Orbitz for Business are now viable options for some corporations either as the “agency of record” or as an online alternative to the existing travel management company.
Q: How do companies typically display preferred vs. non-preferred hotels?
It depends. Online booking tools are scaleable and every company tailors them to suit their individual needs and complement their travel policies.
For some accounts, you might find that only preferred hotels are displayed in their booking tools.
Other accounts might opt to tailor their booking tool to show all properties but provide a symbol, such as a star or handshake, to differentiate approved properties from others.
Finally, some accounts might allow their booking tool to show all properties regardless of approved status. Most travel managers choose to only list preferred hotels and global discount programs in their booking tools in order to drive compliance to their preferred suppliers.
Q: Can travelers change the way hotels are displayed in an online booking tool?
Travel managers predefine the order in which hotels are presented to travelers in their search results. In most cases, these displays are in descending order from the least expensive option to the highest in a given market.
After the initial search, most online booking tools can further refine and sort properties using a wide variety of filters.
At this point in the booking process, hotels are displayed based on what is important to the self-booker at the time of the search. Travelers might have a preference based on location to their office or client site, price, brand, distance from the airport, etc.
Booking tools allow the traveler to narrow the display to only those hotels that meet the demands of that particular search.
Q: How do I know if my hotel is listed in an account’s booking tool?
If you’ve been designated as a preferred hotel, you can be assured you are listed. Since booking tools are housed behind the account’s password-protected intranet, one way to verify your listing is to ask local contacts or travelers if they were able to see and book your hotel through the account’s online booking tool.
Q: How can I advertise and market my property to stand out from the competition in online booking tools?
Online booking tools rarely offer advertising opportunities. This leaves hotel suppliers with only one option for gaining a competitive edge – having a compelling room description.
Hotels must present information to a new audience – the individual traveler – who does not understand cryptic rate descriptions once used to communicate with travel agency experts.
For the most part, Your Hotel’s room descriptions have grown stale over the years.
By using 2 ways interface (Channel Manager) screen to update the room description field, you can incorporate value-adds.
This will make your hotel stand out in the online booking tool and GDS systems.
For example, if your property offers free HSIA and breakfast, you should consider building your room description with “includes free HSIA and breakfast. Tools such as Headlines and PromoSpots will have no effect in these corporate booking tools.
Q: For those accounts with online hotel directories, how can I market my property to stand out from the competition?
Unlike online booking tools, online hotel directories are often rich in content.
The systems of your Hotel (PMS) uses to feed online directories with content .
Since each account builds their online hotel directories using the data we provide them during the pricing process, it is critical to be certain that each field is populated with extreme care. Because each account is different, you might check with the account leader and inquire about possible advertising opportunities.
Q: With online booking tool adoption rates on the rise, how should I approach agency visits in the future?
The role of the dedicated agency is evolving with the majority of their time focused on the fulfillment of online ‘touch-less’ reservations. Looking forward, you should be selective about which agency visits you participate in.
Perhaps your decision on upcoming agency visits should depend on how much influence the agency has over the travelers of the account in question. You’ll find that depending upon the account, agencies will have varying levels of influence.
Q: With online booking tool adoption rates on the rise, what else could I be doing to build business?
Now more than ever, it’s important to have a strong in-house guest recognition program.
Make attempts to go beyond traditional service levels; build relationships with both the travelers and the local account contacts to recognize them and determine what is driving the volume.
Use your in-house guests as your coach and develop your approach to gain a ‘lock’ on the account on your home turf. Never under estimate the role that the general manager might play in this process.
Q: Are online booking tools the same thing as StarCite and PlanSoft?
No. On-line booking tools are for individual business travel. There are many on-line group and meeting technology companies; to learn more about the online space for groups & meetings,