OTA Management Services

The growth of the internet in India in the early 2000's saw the emergence of Online Travel Agencies (OTA) who not only made it easier for customers to book airline tickets online but hotels as well! For the hospitality industry, this was an opportunity to be more visible to a larger audience and, hence, grow their business. For customers, there was greater transparency in rates and greater choice in every city. The booking process also became easier for many. For homestays and smaller properties, the challenge lay in managing the inventory and rates on extranets.

Almost 2/3rds of all online bookings are controlled by the OTA's with Expedia controlling 28% market share and Booking.com with 19%.

With more and more customers booking accommodation online, it has become imperative for all accommodation providers to manage their listings on all OTA's as well as their own website.

Many Homestays have become dependent on OTA's like Airbnb for their marketing needs. With new OTA's emerging every year, it is becoming difficult for most properties to manage all the OTA's and they need to hire someone inhouse to manage it or tie up with agencies like ours to take care of it.

HOW MANY OTA'S SHOULD YOU LIST ON?

With the growth of OTA's over the last two decades, the question that is asked by many hotels and homestays is: How many OTA's should we be listed on?

Every OTA caters to a different market. Some target specific geographic locations while others focus more on luxury brands. Being listed on multiple OTA's allows a homestay or hotel to maximize revenue and reach more guests!

THE BENEFITS OF LISTING ON MANY OTA'S

1.. Increased Visibility: The more OTA's your property is listed on, the more visiblity it gets. Since guests generally visit a few OTA's to research before booking, finding the same property on different channels will attract their attention and lead to brand recall.

2. Drive Traffic: While most guests would book directly on the OTA, many will also want to visit the hotel/homestay website for more information and to book directly.

3. More Bookings: The greater the visibility, the more likely it is that bookings will increase.

4. Better Rankings and Reviews: Reviews and Rankings on OTA's play an important role in the guest's decision to book a particular property. Positive reviews help the property increase visibility through better rankings on OTA's.

CCS Hospitality Marketing has over 15 years of experience in the Online Marketing sphere. We have successfully helped a number of hotels and homestays and BnB's get listed and generate substantial revenues for them.

Our Homestay Marketing Solution offers a Foundational Program for homestay owners whereby we offer OTA Management Services, professional guest review responses and monthly analytic reports and review meetings.

Visit our case studies to see how we have helped hotels and homestays grow their business and how we can apply the same principles to help your property grow!

HOW YOU BENEFIT

OTA Coordination

We can help you select the right OTA's to list on for effective distribution. With our relationship with the Market Managers of the OTA's, we are in a position to assist with any guest issues related to complaints or cancellations/no shows as well as payment issues with the OTA.

Data Analytics

There is a lot of data that is generated from OTA's regarding the guest. We analyze the data and see how that data can be used by the hotel in terms of pricing, upsells, promotions and personalization.

Pricing Strategies

With our experience of having worked in the hospitality industry as well as the OTA industry, we have developed strategies for pricing rooms as well as managing the inventory. Dynamic pricing, running promotions and special offers as per the season and creating packages are also part of our strategy.

Guest Management

We ensure that all guests booked through an OTA are communicated with before arrival through emails and SMS/Whatsapp. This ensures that there is no confusion regarding the room confirmation and how the guest will reach the hotel. We also handle the Online Reputation Management Services by requesting guest feedback and responding to guest feedback on OTA's as well as on Google and TripAdvisor.