Booking.com best practice guide for hoteliers

The major OTAs play an important role in the distribution of hotel offers. In order to benefit from them optimally, as a hotelier, you should consider some important aspects. In this article, we focus on the peculiarities, best practices, and other aspects of booking.com and give you a brief guide to help you set up in the best possible way.

What special programs does booking.com offer?

Sponsored Benefits

Through this program, customers receive a price incentive when booking through booking.com. Booking.com offers customers a competitive price for their accommodation, i.e. the customer may be offered a cheaper price than you have set. Booking.com covers the difference between the price provided by the accommodation and the price paid by the customer.

Virtual Credit Cards

This is a payment option that booking.com offers to simplify the booking process for guests. Guests can pay online with their preferred payment method. Booking.com loads the amount to be paid onto a virtual credit card and sends the credit card details to the booked accommodation partner. The accommodation can then debit the amount of the stay from this card.

Genius Partner Program

Members of the program are displayed with the Genius logo on the search page. Up to 30 BO days per year can be entered in the extranet. The program has three levels that the bookers can receive based on the frequency of their bookings. Depending on the status, guests receive a corresponding discount for accommodations that have activated this program. IMPORTANT: If deactivated, you must wait 6 months before reactivating the program.

Preferred Partner Program

Only 30% of the accommodation establishments listed on booking.com have the opportunity to be included in the program. It increases visibility. Admission is only possible if you have a score of at least 8.9. Membership increases the original commission by 3% per booking to booking.com.

Promotions

Promotions can be used to promote low-demand periods. This increases visibility and listing. Booking.com provides various options. There are seasonal or standard promotions that can be customized. In addition, there are some other options such as Last Minute Deals, Country-specific Rates, and Mobile Rates.

Smart Flex Reservations Program

Booking.com offers flexible cancellation conditions on behalf of the accommodation. If a guest books and cancels this rate, booking.com will look for a replacement guest and at the same time release the room in the system so that it can be resold online. Admission to the program is automatic if you do not belong to a global chain. Participation can be deactivated at any time.

Best practices – what should hoteliers check regularly?

Live page & content

The live page is the first impression for guests and should be carefully designed. Accurate and detailed information is important, especially star ratings, hotel addresses, descriptions, and house rules. The first five pictures should be meaningful, and the main photo should be carefully selected. Certificates such as “Travel Sustainable Level” and “Health & Safety Measurements” can be helpful. Rate products and room categories should be checked regularly, and prices should be monitored. Placement on the page can be improved using tools such as Visibility Booster, Promotions, and Preferred Status.

Setup

To ensure the correct display on the live page, the setup in the extranet must be correct. Here, the offered rate plans and room categories should definitely be checked. The pricing per occupancy is important for the rates. There are different options available on booking.com. Once, you can set surcharges or discounts depending on what is set as base occupancy and price. In some cases, the prices are already transmitted correctly by the channel manager according to the occupancy.

Restrictions

In this regard, you should check the cancellation policies, especially if there are periods with different settings. In addition, this aspect also includes controlling the transmission of minimum stays and other restrictions, such as the booking window for some rate products.

What analysis options does booking.com provide to hoteliers?

Analytics Dashboard

This tool allows you to analyze past and future trends, bookings, and data. You can compare your performance with that of your competitors. You can find information about customer booking behavior, market data, and a forecast of future developments.

Competitor Setup

To make the analysis as meaningful as possible, the most relevant competitors should be selected. Regular checking of competitor settings is recommended as the hotel market is constantly changing.

Performance Analysis

Here you can find information on the activated programs such as Genius, Preferred Program, and Sponsored Benefit. You can also see where booking.com has found cheaper prices as part of the Sponsored Benefit program.

Further detailed information can be found on the booking.com extranet.
Do you need assistance in developing and implementing a targeted distribution strategy? Then feel free to contact us at contact@bernerbecker.com!