Online Travel Agent Rankings:

How to get in pole position

Seven essential Cs you should know

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Like many hoteliers, you are probably

getting frustrated at the battle to win those
all-important online bookings, achieve
optimum rates and balance the on-going
challenge to achieve 100% occupancy with
Zero over booking?
And the dominance of the Online Travel Agents (OTA) and the importance
of getting to the top of the rankings is set to grow - with 40% of online
leisure and unmanaged business travel market expected to be made via
OTAs in 2012*.
In the wake of the global recession, OTAs outperformed the travel market
and despite the overall travel market falling by 11%, OTA sales increased by
8%. Even supplier website bookings declined in the same period.*

The Race Is On.

Its Time To Think Smarter...

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If you want your hotel to get to Number 1 on

the OTA rankings, its time to think smarter and
beat the competition in the ranking battle.
To outperform the competition in the highly competitive online market place,
you need to ensure your ranking on the OTAs is as high as possible and
continually monitored.
Did you know Expedia achieves most of their hotel room sales from the initial
results screen with the top 5 hotels accounting for 47% of the bookings?*
So its vital that you achieve and maintain the highest possible ranking.
Whilst each OTA utilises a slightly different algorithm to position the hotels in
the results screen, there are some key criteria which can be covered to ensure
your property gets the highest possible ranking on the OTA.

Heres 7 critical must dos

to boost your OTA ranking...

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1. Constant Availability
Make sure you offer the OTAs as much availability as possible.
Low availability = lower ranking.
You need to ensure that you have availability and rates for a full year and
avoid closing out.

2. Competitive Rates
Monitor your competitor pricing; OTA algorithms compare your rates against
your competitors. Competitive doesnt necessarily mean cheap of course.
Just be sure you are not overpricing or underselling your hotel, the key is
to constantly benchmark your property against your competitors and adjust
rates accordingly.

3. Customer Reviews
According to a study conducted in 2010*, Online Travel Agencies are
more popular than travel review sites as the preferred method of posting
comments, primarily because the guest is required to stay at the property to
be able to post the review. According to the report, OTAs achieved 74% of all
reviews in the second half of 2010. So its vital you get those reviews posted
and importantly know whats being said.

4. Content is King
Quality content is critical for differentiation, it really turns lookers into
bookers, the better the content the better the results, its worth engaging a
professional to get the best quality photography and copy.

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5. Cancellations
The number of cancellations your hotel receives has a negative impact on
rankings.
One reason guests cancel their reservations is because they find a cheaper
deal on other OTA sites.
So make sure you reduce the number of cancellations by ensuring you have
rate parity across all OTAs.

6. Correct Payment
Pay your commission invoice on time. Your search result ranking will be
lowered if you dont pay or youre late paying your commission.

7. Commission
Of course commission has a big impact on rankings, OTAs are a business like
any other and offering to pay them a higher commission rate will give your
ranking an automatic boost.
Use the commission override feature available on most OTAs extranets.

For help and advice please call 0800 413557

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Delivering Revenue Through Technology

Guestline offers a genuinely unique suite of integrated softwareproducts
through one collaborative, easy to use platform. Solutions include:
Distribution Channel Manager
Worlds first web-based Property Management System (PMS)
An integrated two-way booking interface between Online Travel Agents
(OTA) and the hotel management system to maximise occupancy and
eliminate overbooking.
Web based Central Reservation System
UKs first Facebook booking engine to enable exclusive deals outside of the
Online Travel Agents (OTA).
Social Media Reputation Manager
PCI-DSS Compliance

For help and advice please Call 0800 413557 | Email sales@guestline.com
For further information on Guestlines hotel management and distribution
solutions please visit www.guestline.com

* Research sources:
PhoCusWright 2012
Travolution 2012

Delivering Revenue Through Technology

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