5 stages of Booking Process

In this video we are going to talk about the five stages of the booking process. Number one, which is plan. So this is where a guest, a potential guest will start their search. So plan stage. Somebody who's right at the very start who has an idea of a town or a city that they want to go to, that is your. But they are trying to find a place. So as you can see, three out of the four properties that come up are online travel agents, metasearch websites and they're paying Google a lot more. So make sure that you have got at least a basic listing on these websites. Trivago, booking.com, tripadvisor. Make sure that you've got a Google business page just like these I've got here. Make sure that you are being seen everywhere and make sure you're doing everything that you can to be seen everywhere. People who may have more of a vague idea but they've got a specific need in mind. Somebody who's taken a pet with them and they want to have pet friendly accommodation. When somebody does this Google search, the properties that are coming up pet friendly hotel, strip advisor, lodging world etc, etc etc, but Oxpasture Hotel they've got, they've made sure that they've got mentions in the key places of pet dog friendly hotel. So it comes upon the first page of Google. Just make sure that whatever your unique selling point, you get it on your website and then you'll get seen. So step number two is research and it's what do you do now? How can you get them to go from a scroll to a click? It comes down to images. That first image has to draw people in. So for example the ox pasture, beautiful gardens, a countryside property, you know Travel Lodge, it's all about budget but it's a really nice clear image with nice bedding. A bad example would be this one here. It's dark, it's dingy. Make sure that you've got your price point sorted, make sure you've got all of your amenities sorted and also as well make sure that your reviews are in line. Make sure that your listing is set up correctly and it's attracting the type of people that you want in your property. Stage number three of the booking process is decide what you do now is you're getting them to go from. Ah, that looks like a nice place too. That's the place I want to go to. Today's value deal. It's got a big thumbs up. So say it's a preferred partner, superb in the reviews, only one room left on the site, free cancellation, no prepayment needed. What it's doing, it is making the person who's clicked onto this page book and it's giving them all the reasons why they should book. Everywhere you go down on here it is telling the person to book now or you'll lose this room. And this is one of the main reasons why booking.com and the OTAs just smash it. An independent properties website. It's confusing, it's hard to read. You got to click through pages. Everything here is in is in one area and it is easy to just to scroll down. Doesn't matter whether you're on a phone or on a desktop. I love using the Atlanta in Scarborough as a great example of the work that Ed's done here on the website. You'll see here that you don't see on most websites given information about Scarborough. Got the food hygiene rating, you know, pictures, photos, reviews, which is a really big thing as well. When you're on the website and you're scrolling down now, have a little look around. After a certain while the pop up draws you attention to it. Step four of the booking process is the actual booking itself. Booking.com and these guys win so many times when it comes to bits. They've done the section, they've chose a room, they click onto here given all the reasons why. So no account needed. It only takes two minutes to book. Again, really persuasive. Make sure you don't ask for a lot of information here. Simple first name, last name, phone number, email address. That's really all that is needed at this stage. The rest of the information you can get at a later date. And again look what's happened here on booking.com they've seen that you've been sat here waiting on the deciding page on the booking page and a little pop ups come up. It's almost yours, we just need a few more details. You can't save your reservation if you leave this page. Once it's gone, it is gone. So and the price match as well. So it's really, you know, they do hammer home and this is why they get so many bookings. We just quickly show you how. So your website might be letting you down. So the two main property management softwares or property management systems in the UK is free to book and then we have Avivo. You know my first, first bit of advice is that go and check your free to book account and make sure that it's set up for mobile bookings. If not it costs £50. I would £50 plus probably now just do it because it is turning away so many potential booking Avivo. They're the other guys on the market. Really popular. Is easy for a guest to make a booking. It gives again, just some final little reminders of why this is the property is the one for them. First name, last name, email address, phone number. That's it. Simple, clear, concise, works on mobiles. Avivo is really good. The final stage of the booking process is buyer's remorse. How do you stop that dreaded cancellation? First tip is email the guest within 24 hours of booking. It shows personalization. It also helps with giving any important information or collecting some more information from the guest. So a nice simple reach out to the customer who has made the booking will make a lot of difference. Number two, add in non refundable rates. Another option, send your guest a text message. Emails can go missing so many times an email can go missing for whatever reason or they just don't read it. Something that never goes missing is a text message. And finally you've got to give them something that the other guys won't. And this is where you can work with your local community. One thing you could do again is get like local vouchers. You could get money off, you could get like, you know, just, just think of what you can do at this stage after the bookings have been made. And again, you can send it a week before arrival, 24 hours before arrival, or you can send it at the point of booking. Just to say, just to let you know, here's a little present. Thank you for booking with us. Thank you for booking with an independently owned property. We've got you now. If you want to go back on any of these points, you can go to to boostly.co.uk blog and there's his own section for the booking process which you can find right here. You can also go and see really other cool features and blogs that we've had in the past, including interviews with other hospitality owners. The new Boost hospitality podcast, how to blogs. There's everything in here, so we'd love for you to go and check that out and leave some feedback. If you want to follow us on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, it's Oostler uk. But most importantly, thank you so much for watching this.