Own the direct booking channel

If possible, you want to own the direct booking channel. Online travel agencies like Expedia and Booking.com increase your visibility, but they wipe out your commissions and margins. Therefore, provide your customers with incentives to book with you directly that conventional online travel agencies can't offer. For example, you could offer them things like:

- guaranteed late checkout

- a free breakfast

Bundle your room with local experiences like wine tasting or spa credits. This creates more value in addition to the base rates of the room and also automatically gives your guests something they can do while they're with you. This is something that is more difficult for online travel agencies and competitors to offer natively through their platforms.

Use dynamic pricing

While it might be unpopular, it's also a good idea to use dynamic pricing to make your hotel stays more competitive. This is mainly so that you can compete with the prices being offered elsewhere in real time, depending on conditions.

For example, you might increase your prices during local events like sports tournaments or concerts. You could also change your pricing when competitor occupancy dips, when you notice that they are selling fewer rooms. You could also implement dynamic pricing based on minimum length of stay restrictions. This can reduce the risk of gap nights forming, for example on Fridays or Mondays.

Lean into the quality of your rooms

Another thing you'll want to do is lean into the quality of your rooms and highlight why you offer a better experience than your competitors charging the same price or perhaps slightly more. For example, you could invest in hotel quality bedding to target customers who care about comfort. You could also include luxuries in the room like free soap, toothbrushes, a mini fridge, or even perhaps a spa bath for two people.

Once you highlight the quality of your rooms, you're much more likely to attract the type of person who's willing to pay a premium. These individuals are interested in conventional stays and want to experience something new and different.

Focus on hyper-personalization

Lastly, you'll want to focus as much as you can on hyper-personalising the hotel experience for your guests. The best way to do this is to have a facilitator on hand at all times so they can respond to text messages and provide personalised services that hotel guests can enjoy.

The easiest way to do this is to send pre-arrival emails to guests, allowing them to customise various aspects of their stay. For example, you might ask them about things like room service and pillow preferences. You could also inquire as to whether they want to rent e-bikes from you, especially if you're in a seaside tourist location.