Status 04/01/2023
General
With a new way of managing the room inventory new possibilities for personalization arises for you direct website so your guests can actually get what they look for. This document provides different sales options for implementation on your website to feature specific room combinations for different target groups as well as personalized links based on specific client requests.
Features preselection – Sales based on request
Imagine a guest sends an email or calls asking for specific features. Now, you can send them a personalized link with the perfect match for them, so the only thing they need to do is book.
The steps to follow are very simple:
- Go to the ISE (Internet Sales Engine)
- Select the dates & features the guest wants.
- Copy the URL highlighted in the screenshot below and send this link to the guest and the guest will see exactly the same.
Feature preselection with no specific date
You may have unique rooms that you want to promote on your website directly to highlight to your guest. Or you like to provide feature combination samples that suite best a specific target group. For example: Which rooms are most suitable for
- Guests travelling with dogs
- Guests travelling as a family
- Which rooms suite bests for guests staying for a longer period?
- Which room feature combinations may be suitable for business travellers, single travellers or a romantic couple?
- ….
Encourage the guests on your website to explore directly the different options by presenting these within the diversity of your room experience on your website adding direct hyperlinks for the guest to book without the hassle of having to search for the right feature combination. It is almost like in a direct sales conversation with a potential guest – but scalable!
Here are the steps you need to take to create the required hyperlink
- Go to the ISE
- Select the features the room has so that it will appear in the matches as well as the default pax you like to apply (e.g. for single travelers select 1 person!)
- Copy the URL highlighted in the screenshot below:
4. In the URL remove the dates highlighted in the screenshot, in this case “&chkIn=05-01-2023&chkOut=08-01-2023”
5. Below the actual URL:
6. And how it will look:
Promo codes – for exclusive offers and target groups
If you like to provide a specific offering only to a target audience (exclusive) you may also decide to set up a confidential rate that is only available using a promo code.
Examples: Promo codes can be used
- for corporate travelers that receive a discounted rate based on a joined agreement.
- for your repeating customers (loyal guests) providing them with a discounted rate and benefits
- for packaged offerings with other partners where the guest may only stay at your property due to the packaging (e. g. a retreat offered by a third party or a festival that happens to take place in your destination and where the entrance tickets of the festival are included in the accommodation, etc.)
- for marketing campaigns where you provide a special offer and like to specifically measure the result if this offer was booked
- for mailings where you reach out to a specific group of people providing an exclusive offering that cannot be booked unless you have the link (e. g. mailings to your guest database, specific groups, etc.)
A Promo Code must be created on the Sales Plan level.
- To do so, it is necessary to change the “sales type” to “promotion”, “group” or “corporate” (screenshot example below):
2. Once the promo code is created, the steps are similar as the previous ones:
3. Go to the ISE: Insert one of the promo codes **ATTENTION: PROMO CODES ARE CASE SENSITIVE**.
4. Copy the URL highlighted in the screenshot below:
5. If you like to embed the code to a mailing or to a specific campaign ensure you take out the validity dates as explained in the previous section. Otherwise, you can send the link with the pre-selected dates to the guest and they will see the products with the promo code applied.
Of course, you can also provide guests ONLY the promo code and they must then actively enter the code in the booking mask to receive the offer. However, experience shows that guests also make mistakes here, in that they do not enter the code correctly and either call, email or book another offer and subsequently demand the special offer afterwards, creating additional work for the hotel.