As an hotelier, you need to rank high on online travel agent’s (OTA) sites to constantly get customers. The higher you rank, the more customers or guests you will get in your accommodation facility. So, this article gives a few important tips on how to rank high among OTAs.
However, before talking about how to improve your ranking, you need to know the factors that ranking is based on. Commission payout is a very important factor. OTAs want hoteliers to pay their commissions as and when due. The longer they delay, the more their ranking is likely to drop.
OTAs also consider rate parity. They want hoteliers to harmonize their charges and fees across board. Reviews from guests are also used to rank hotels so it is important for every hotel to keep their guests happy and satisfied all the time.
Room availability is another factor considered when ranking hotels. The more you decline orders the more you drop ranking points. So, hotels with the highest number of rooms are rated higher in this category. Having talked about the most important factors for ranking, here is how to always improve your OTA ranking and keep getting guests.
How to improve your ranking on OTA websites
There are many ways to increase your ranking and they are in line with what OTAs want for their customers. Here are some of them.
Ask for reviews
It is important for you to ask for reviews of your guests. It is a good way to assess your services and also find out where you have fallen short so that you can quickly make necessary amendment. Remember, OTAs ask for reviews too.
Apart from ranking higher, asking for reviews makes your guests feel that you are really interested in their satisfaction and experience. The catch here is to continually convert every negative review to positive ones until there are no positive reviews anymore. That way, you will make existing customers come back, attract new ones, and also rank higher.
Competitive prices
You need to set competitive prices. OTAs want their customers to get the best services at the lowest possible cost so they rank hotels with the lowest prices higher than others. You may need to find out what your competitors are charging to be able to fix competitive prices.
Regularly update the content on your website
It is quite disturbing for customers to find out that the prices of your services on OTAs’ sites are actually obsolete. OTAs frown at such because it reduces their credibility. Since they harvest current prices and promotional offers from your website, they expect you to update the website regularly.
Besides, you are likely to get more booking when you have all the necessary information on your website. For instance, list all the amenities and facilities in the hotel and in every room. Potential customers will assume that what is not on your website as a room amenity is definitely not available in your rooms. It is also important to include clear photos of your rooms and other parts of your hotel.
In conclusion, there may be other ways to boost your ranking on OTAs’ sites but the few ones discussed above will improve your ranking tremendously.
