Day one and the grandest party in Direct Booking Summit history are behind us, and we are eager to share the exciting agenda we prepared for the participants on the second day.
Our Clinics didn't provide aspirin (sorry!), but they offered hoteliers the chance to take part in practical workshops to discuss and design solutions to drive direct bookings. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Having the participants’ interests in mind, we split the Clinics into various options which the hoteliers could easily mix and match during the second day of the summit.
During the morning, Clinic A, led by Alejandro Gomez Losada, Sr. Vice President of Sales Europe & Latin America in RateGain, was concerned with hotel revenue leakage. Alejandro suggested mastering the customer journey today, starting with considering basic (but frequently overlooked) digital tactics, such as online booking help or urgent messaging options. Afterwards, Danica Davis, Product Specialist at ReviewPro, led another workshop exploring the topic of turning guest insights into operations improving actions. Danica highlighted the importance of guest experience: 85% of traffic revealed that hotel guests choose one hotel over another solely based on the General Manager's response to reviews.
Clinic B, led by Darryl Walker, Head of eCommerce and Distribution in SACO The Serviced Apartment Company, worked out the problem of driving direct booking in destination marketing. It was followed by an insightful workshop on Google Analytics managed by Barbara Pezzi, Freelance Digital Consultant & Former Director Analytics and Search in Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.
Clinic A’s final workshop focussed on dissecting the customer journey with Google tools, led by Satyan Joshi, Hotel Ads Business Leader UK at Google.
Clinic B was concluded with a workshop on improving the digital guest experience with Triptease, led by Alasdair Snow, our Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer. Alasdair and Principal Product Marketing Manager, Thomas Griffiths, walked attendees through the customer booking journey from rational research to the emotional connection guests make with a hotel before they book, explaining how hoteliers can ensure they stay in the running to become the chosen hotel.
The Clinic is now closed! Charlie Osmond, Founder and Chief Tease, wrapped it up with insights on improving the customer journey in hospitality, encouraging hoteliers to shout out the best direct booking tip they learned during the past two days. The winner? The Curtain Hotel, who give away a free Porsche for the duration of the stay! We know where we'll be booking our next holiday...
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