When using the Hotel Link Channel Manager, you can create special offers for your OTAs directly from the Hotel Link extranet.
When you use the Hotel Link Channel Manager to connect with OTAs like Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, and others, you gain a seamless and efficient way to manage specials deals for these platforms. This means that you can directly create and control the promotions and discounts you wish to offer to potential guests who book through these OTAs, all from the convenience of the Hotel Link extranet.
What is a special offer?
A special offer refers to a marketing strategy or promotion designed to attract and encourage guests to make bookings. These specials typically offer some form of value or incentive, such as discounts, additional services, or unique packages, to make the booking more appealing.
Why offer discounts and promotions?
Offering specials is a strategic approach that can help hotels attract, retain, and satisfy guests while maximizing revenue and maintaining a competitive edge. From mobile-only prices to last-minute discounts, there are several exclusive rates and specials that you can offer to your guests on OTAs.
For example, considering that eight out of every ten individuals now own a smartphone, it's logical to focus your efforts on targeting this audience. Booking.com is one of the OTAs that allows your hotel to promote mobile-exclusive rates.
Data from Booking.com shows that 59% of all bookings are now made on mobile devices, highlighting the importance of this feature. Additionally, properties that offer a special rate for mobile users on Booking.com experience a 3% increase in people clicking on their listings, a 24% increase in people trying to book, and a 22% increase in actual bookings made by customers using mobile devices.
How to create Special Offers for OTAs?
In order to create promotions, it's essential to ensure that you have successfully connected to at least one OTA through the Channel Manager. If you need guidance on how to perform OTA mapping, you can refer to the article at https://help.hotellinksolutions.com/ota-mapping-with-channel-manager.
Once you've established connections with OTA(s), kindly proceed with the following steps to create promotions:
- Navigate to 'Special Offers' in the Booking Engine.
- Select the OTA for which you wish to create a promotion.
- In the left-hand menu, click 'add a new special offer.'
- Select the 'Type of the promotion'. Different OTAs have different types of special offers.
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Add the name of your Special Offer.
- Add the discount value per night. It can be a percentage or flat amount depending on the OTAs.
- Add the minimum length of stay (optional). Set the minimum number of nights the guest need to book to get the discount. It's the same logic for the maximum length of stay.
- Select the room types and/or rate plans on OTA that the special offer applies to.
- Purchase Dates Restricted to (optional): Add the dates when this special offer can be booked.
- Stay Dates Restricted to (optional): Add the dates so that the offer only applies to bookings made for that timeframe.
- Excluded Stay Dates (optional): Add the date(s) when the special is not applicable.
Types of Special Offers per OTA
To access more details about each special offer type, you can simply hover your mouse over the tooltip in the extranet. This will allow you to review the specifics of the various promotion types you can create on that OTA.
Booking.com
Basic Deal, Early Booker Deal, Last Minute Deal, Business bookers, Geo rates and Mobile rates.
Expedia
Single Discount, Multi Night Discount, Day of Week Discount.
Agoda
Customized, Early Bird, Express Tonight, Last Minute, Long Stay, Seventy Two Hours.
Airbnb
Per Night Discount.