Mark Simpson shares how to get guests to book directly instead of through OTAs. Show them your commission rates are higher, offer direct-booking discounts, and send a pre-arrival message 24 hours before check-in with perks like early check-in, parking details, and a welcome pack. Accept the first booking might come through an OTA, but push repeats and referrals direct.
What's really important is that next time you come back and stay with us, please book with us directly. We put a higher rate on the OTAs because we have to pay them a high commission cost to be on their platform. So if you book with us next time you'll get a better rate and we've also got some better incentives. So just tell them if you've got earlier check in, later checkout, if you've got free parking or whatever when you book direct, then let them know at that point because it's starts to plant in the brain. And then what you'll do is just before they arrive, maybe 24 hours before they arrive again, this is all manual. This is an automated send a quick message just to say hey, just to make sure you, you know, you can get into the property okay, whatever you do for that extra guest experience, then you can tell them, you know, whether it is that you've got, you've got all the the gear in your apartment and you're able to turn on the heating before they arrive, you've got music going or whatever. Say just to let you know we've got some for the arrival. If you have a welcome pack, let you know that we've got a welcome pack. If you stock up teas and coffees and you know that nobody else in your area does, to say hey, just let you know we've pre filled your tea and coffee for you, we've got a couple of bottles of water for you, X, Y and Z. Just let them know, give them already that sort of five star guest experience. Bear this in mind that with the lead time from point of booking to arrival getting shorter and shorter and shorter, you have to maybe concede to the fact that if you haven't got all these systems in place and you're spending a lot of money on PPC pay per click ads, then you will have to concede the fact that that first booking may have to go via an ota, but nobody should have any excuses of once they've booked from you once via an ota, but the second and third and fourth time that they come back to you or any referral should never be through an ota.
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