Post-pandemic period is the right time to express your appreciation for guests no matter if they book rooms or cancel reservations. We already told about measures to take in order to persuade clients to book. In this article we will focus on flexibility that you can provide at the times of uncertainty.
Along with TravelLine Support Department, we came up with 5 pieces of advice on decreasing cancellation rates while retaining customer loyalty.
1.Offer to reschedule bookings
Instead of cancelling a booking, propose rescheduling it. This can be done unlimited number of times and at any time before an arrival date.
There is an instruction how to change dates of stay in “Support” section of our website.
After you edit a booking, the guest will automatically receive a confirmation email.
If a booking was made on the hotel website, the guest can change dates in their own. The confirmation email includes the link redirecting to a booking editing page.
Depending on a payment method, different modifications can be made.
| Payment on arrival | Guaranteed payment |
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2.Reconsider booking cancellation fees
At this time hotel guests have less control over circumstances. They cannot always reschedule a stay instead of cancelling it. To retain customer loyalty, give a full refund, even if this does not meet your cancellation policy.
In certain countries, cancellation because of the pandemic is qualified as force majeure circumstance. Hotels in these countries do not charge cancellation fees.
3.Set flexible cancellation policy
Your potential guests are planning trips but they fear to book at non-refundable rates because of the ongoing pandemic. Reconsider the cancellation policy: go to “Rates” page in TravelLine account and set less strict policies for rates. For example, stop charging fees for cancellation made a day before an arrival date. This will increase a number of bookings and improve customer loyalty.
4.Add deferred bank card payment method
We have analyzed customer behavior in Booking Engine and noticed that they look for accommodation 3-4 months beforehand, but do not book. What you can do is to provide guests with one more payment method — deferred payment.
When booking, guests will not have to make a prepayment at once. They will get a payment link in confirmation email. You define when the link becomes active and when it expires. If a client does not pay with a bank card within this period, the booking is cancelled automatically. You will not have to check transactions — the system will do this for you.
In order to add it, contact your TravelLine personal manager.
5.Let guests know about your offer
In order to make website visitors notice how flexible your conditions are, set SmartWidgets. In caption, briefly describe your best deal: discounts, deferred payment and cancellation policy.
Describe the mentioned above in “Unfinished booking” emails.
