Different types of hospitality property get different income from selling additional services. For example, city hotels manage to increase average bill by 10-11%, while country hotels do by 9-11%. This is what our analysts report in terms of sales through TravelLine booking engine.
In this article we are going to tell about extras you can sell on the website and how our partner hotels implement this.
- Kinds of extras to be sold on hotel website
- Selling extras along with the stay
- Selling extras without the hotel stay
Kinds of extras to be sold on hotel website
List all the additional services and entertainment options that you offer. Think which ones of them your guests would need.
Here are some ideas you might use depending on your type of accommodation.
City hotels | Country hotels | SPA resort |
---|---|---|
Transfer | Transfer | Transfer |
Meal option | Barbecue/ gazebo for rent | Meal option |
Access to pool | Sauna | Access to pool |
Access to gym | Bike, ATV, powerboat rentals | SPA treatment |
Option for pet-friendly accommodation | Workshops, horse riding | Bike, boat, ski rentals |
Rent of conference halls/meeting rooms | Access to pool, SPA circuit or massage | Health care services, massages, salt therapy room |
Theme decorations | Option for pet-friendly accommodation | |
Hunting and fishing | ||
Guided tours |
Launching sales of extras
It is best to sell additional services through a booking engine before the stay. This way guests can see a complete list of additional services that you offer, book them along with the stay and pay right there.
Our partner-hotels reports that about 50% of guests plan their trip in advance. That is why they are eager to book extras even before arrival.
There are 2 ways to offer extras in TravelLine Booking Engine: with and without a stay. We will describe both of them in details.
1. Selling extras along with the stay
When booking a room, TravelLine Booking Engine provides a separate step for booking additional services. It may be a transfer, meal services or a SPA-treatment.
Set extra sales for booking a room to increase your average bill and revenue in general.
Describe services in details
When booking an extra, guests want to know precisely when they can get it and what exactly you offer. For example, when it comes to meals, let them know what time you serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and what dishes you serve. The more details you provide, the more are the chances that guests will book them.
Provide extras your guests might need
Imagine that you are staying at your property as a guest. Then list things you would need/bring with you. These are what you can sell as additional services.
For example, country hotels may offer access to sauna, SPA treatment, barbecue and gazebos for rent.
Offer accommodation to guests with pets
More and more guests want to take their pets on a trip, this is why this option is becoming popular among hotel guests. Add “a pet-friendly accommodation” as an additional service in TravelLine Booking Engine.
In description section, write what dog breeds are allowed and what kinds of certificates guests should bring with them. For example, “We allow to bring dogs of breeds under 15 kg having a complete pet passport”.
Case-study: selling extras in welcome-emails
TravelLine’s partner-resort “Forest Rhapsody” includes an offer of SPA-treatment into welcome-emails, that guests receive 3 days before an arrival day.
Most of our guests do not buy additional services when booking a room. We assume that guests do not instantly understand what they expect from the stay. They need some time to decide whether or not they want to book extras.
Valentin Ivanov, head of marketing at “Forest Rhapsody”
What has been done
They set welcome-emails
After setting banners, then they added their HTML-codes into the welcome-email template. This way, when guests receive an email, click on a banner and book a service at a lower price.
Banners are effective: guests click on them and go to the booking engine to book extras. The percentage of hotel extras sales online now is up to 40-45%. These are only clicks from the welcome-emails.
Valentin Ivanov, head of marketing at “Forest Rhapsody”
2. Selling extras without a stay
If you offer extras that are not attached to the stay, sell them in a separate booking engine. There guests can select a date, choose something from the list of available services and pay on the website.
We run a culture & heritage complex. TravelLine Booking Engine for additional services became a great means to sell tickets to events that the complex holds. Before we integrated the module, customers called to book tickets. We could not make sure that they would come and pay for the ticket.
Some of them made payments by money transfer to the corporate bank account. This was not convenient as well, as we had to send bank details to customers and keep track of payments.
At the moment, clients book and pay for tickets on the website. If they change their mind, they cancel the reservation beforehand and we have time to sell tickets again.
We sell tickets:
- over the counter
- local aggregator web-site
- through TravelLine Booking Engine
60-70% of tickets sales are sold through the booking engine on the website.
Veronika Vlasova, sales manager at culture & heritage complex “Vyatskoye”