You may have noticed that, although prospective clients get in touch through telephone or email to enquire about room availability and prices, very often they don’t come back to make a reservation. What is more, although your website seems to have decent traffic, it doesn’t get you as many bookings as you’d expect.
Losing so many prospects doesn’t make much sense, especially since they have somehow expressed their interest in your lodge in the first place. You should definitely be able to attract more bookings.
Before deciding on how to deal with this problem, one must start by identifying its source: It is caused to a great extent by customers’ expectations, who are used to being part of the speedy, no fuss culture of the Web. So, let’s take a quick look at how a booking engine can help solve this kind of problem.
There are 3 main obstacles that can prevent a user from booking a room. The good news is that they are not that hard to overcome.
1. The process of getting to the information is either slow or not very convenient
The very first obstacle that a prospective customer comes across is when they are seeking information. More than 60% of travellers state that they’d rather book online whenever they have a choice: They want to have easy access to information, and to make a decision as quickly as possible.
This means that, if they have to make a phone call, or if a website is not easy to use so they can quickly find what they are looking for, they are very likely to abandon the website and move on to the next one. They are put off by a potentially slow decision-making process, or by not being able to easily find the information they need.
As a result, this does not feel like a reliable process to them so very often they just decide to leave halfway through, without booking. These people, unfortunately, are lost customers.
2. Your website is not easy to use on mobile devices
Assuming that you have already built a website with all the information organised properly, visitors are quite likely to view it on their smartphone or tablet.
As of 2014, the people who use smartphones or tablets globally outnumber those who use computers. In the USA and the UK, more than 50% of the country’s total population use the internet on their mobile devices.
This makes it absolutely necessary for your website to be “mobile optimised” so it can be viewed on such devices. If your visitors cannot navigate easily and read your content on the screen of their mobile phone, then you are not helping them. Again, the probability of them abandoning your website is quite high, which means more lost customers for you.
3. A non-automated booking process
Internet users are used to carrying out everyday tasks through automated procedures on the web. Therefore, they expect the process of making a booking be short and they want it to be done in just a few steps, as they usually do with their online transactions.
If your own booking process involves things such as filling in a contact form, sending an email, or making phone calls, then any notion of speed or automation for your customer goes out of the window. Internet users do not have the patience to go through such a complicated process, so again they will easily move on to the next website.
Why a booking engine can help
A booking engine can help you deal with all of the above. It may not sound like it, but it’s a really simple tool to use.
A booking engine is usually a widget (an add-on) that you can very easily connect to your existing website. It allows your visitor to find all the information they need at a glance, and then to make their booking. It’s all done very quickly, with no unnecessary delays or time-consuming procedures. That’s exactly how our own booking engine works, Web Bookings.
In case that you don’t already have a website, Web Bookings also works with our Website Builder, another tool that we’ll have available very soon, which allows you to build your own website in no time, with no need for any specialist knowledge or skills.
This way you have a full, functioning website, containing all your information, your rates, your company’s name and logo, photos of your rooms and anything else that a customer might require to help them make a reservation.
What is more, your website is 100% mobile optimised, making it as easy for the user to make a booking on their phone or tablet, as it is on their desktop computer.
Lodge owners often tell us that the most useful thing about Web Bookings is the fact that it’s been made with B&Bs and hostels in mind, as opposed to large hotels. They say it is very straightforward and easy to use for the owner, as well as for the customer who makes the booking. They also like the fact that it’s great value for money – there’s no charge per booking, but instead you pay a very small, fixed monthly fee.
How to get back your lost bookings
Your own booking engine helps you increase the number of bookings made through your website, improve your customer experience, and even get rid of booking fees to online travel agents.
You allow your customer to make a booking directly through your own website, without any delays or other obstacles that would discourage them from completing the process and might eventually let them slip away.
We have put extra effort in making Web Bookings particularly easy to get started with. If you haven’t started your trial already, you can do it straight away. You can enter your company’s information, your rooms and rates, and you’re ready to start receiving online bookings in about 20 minutes.
If your trial has expired, please get in touch so we can guide you on how to proceed.
It’s that easy.
Either way, feel free to get in touch if you need tools for managing your rooms and your reservations. We’ll be more than happy to help.
* Note: Discoveroom’s applications help you manage the rooms and reservations of your lodge more effectively. They definitely contribute to increasing reservations and sales, but they are not a medium of promotion or an advertising platform.
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