Winter is here and for some accommodation providers this means low season, for others it means you’re busy with snow season and for others, it's a time for a personal holiday. Whatever winter means for you and your business, we have put together some valuable information we think you’ll like!
How to grab a greater share of bookings off OTAs!
Keen to boost business in the winter months? Tap into the 30,000 people coming for FIFA Women’s World Cup!
Google Analytics retires 01 July – does your site have Google Analytics 4 yet?
May Booking Review – how does your business stack up?
May ResBook Tips – Vouchers, GA4 & Stripe
Customer Spotlight – Muri Retreat, Rarotonga
Tips to Boost Winter Business!
Save on OTA Commissions with the help of Google! 👏
Are you sick of Googling your accommodation only to find the OTA listings are above you?
Google SearchAds offers greater visibility of your website in search results for location and accommodation name keywords.
So you can stand out from the crowd for this winter opportunity, we've put together some important information and 5 tips on how to target bookings from football supporters who will be visiting in July and August.
Are you ready for Google Analytics 4?
On 1 July the old Google Universal Analytics used to track your website statistics is ending. This will be replaced by Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
This is the big change that we have been talking about for the last 2 years!
If your website hasn't already been changed to the new GA4 tracking then you will need to get it set up to avoid any gaps in gathering traffic data, and to continue ecommerce tracking for ResBook if you use it.
Not sure what to do?
Get in touch with your website provider or ask our team how we can help.
NOTE: We are currently receiving a lot of enquiries regarding GA4 so there may be a delay before we can implement these services for new enquiries.
John has been busy with data analysis and has shared some interesting data from our May ResBook Business Intelligence:
Bookings in May remained relatively strong and while the total volume of ResBook bookings was consistent with April, the value of these bookings was up 20%. This suggests that travellers are preferring good quality accommodation, and/or they are making more forward bookings for when new season rates apply.
Most interesting is the discrepancy in the value of direct bookings.Overall 27% of all ResBook bookings made in May were direct from your websites, however they only account for 14% of total booking value. This would suggest operators are not taking advantage of up-sell options and packages in the booking process.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can drive your revenues up, please check out our new Booking Engine here or let us know if you’d like a call to discuss.
Sharing ResBook Knowledge Online 🎓
Our Knowledge Base provides detailed instructions and guidance on all aspects of ResBook and the content is continually being updated.
Below are some topical articles you may find useful from the Knowledge Base.
And a tourism themed website to bring all of this together and attract more direct bookings
Our team loves working with Simon & Denise!
What do you see as the biggest challenge for this season?
Simon & Denise: Getting full control of the existing bookings that were subcontracted to a property manager when we took over the business and getting the OTA’s to hand over control of the existing business profiles. It was so difficult with booking.com that we had to start a formal compliant process to get any action. They can be large faceless organisations to deal with and are such dominate organisations.
What is one piece of advice you would give someone who is looking to start an accommodation business?
Simon & Denise: Establish the purpose of why you are doing this by creating a clear vision statement, logo, and set of guiding values that you will operate under. Don’t take yourself too seriously and enjoy the ride!
ResBook: How has ResBook helped your business?
Simon & Denise: It has streamlined many features under one operating system. The support in fine tuning details is excellent and expert advice has given us a strong starting point to build upon.
ResBook: What is one of your favourite guest stories?
Simon & Denise: We were able to take a guest out for an Adventure Snorkel Experience over the reef and into the Pacific Ocean to swim with Eagle Rays. It was an amazing experience for them and we loved showing them a special place in Rarotonga! Watch video here 😎 🌴
Get Your Business in the Spotlight! 🔦
Any ResBook customer is invited to participate in our spotlight series! Your spotlight will be featured in our newsletter, published in the spotlight & blog sections of our website, and shared on our LinkedIn & Facebook pages!
All you need to do is answer 4 questions and we will do the rest!
This email inbox is monitored 7 days a week so rest assured urgent emails will be identified quickly.
PLEASE NOTE: It is important to reserve the use of URGENT only for critical issues that immediately impact on your business taking revenue, so that our support team can react to priority issues promptly 😊
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