How can you increase your prices on Booking.com and still be competitive? This is the question we are often asked by hoteliers.
A simple and effective tip
To answer this question, we just need to ask ourselves “How does the Booking search work”?
Apart from the “Genius Booker” program in which the hotelier will increase his commission to appear at the top of the list, there are still a few levers to get noticed in the ranking.
There are 4 “Natural” possibilities to stand out.
-> In the same way as Google, TripAdvisor, but also as its fellow OTAs, Booking offers a site that responds quickly to the needs of the user.
Let’s rely on the search filters that respond to these users:
- Stand out by Location – Are you the only establishment in town? That’s rare, but great!
- Stand out by the rating – You take care of your customers and deal with any inconvenience during their stay!
- Stand out by Services – There may be many hotels in your city, but you are the only one to have a SPA, or a Tesla charging station (recommended for prestigious establishments!), family rooms…
- Stand out with a Price (First Price or Top of the Basket) – on Booking, the user can sort/display the results by Price.
It is on this last point, that we will exploit a fairly recent feature, deployed by Booking, which allows us to recover additional costs, without being penalized in the ranking… (Or the reverse… Lower your posted prices to be more competitive on the list of establishments in your city!)
Here is the result of the process.
2€ 5€ 10€ … What amount should I display?
Keep in mind that :
- The price is not calculated in the listing of the initial price of the room!
- Customers will be more likely to visit your website, to check if they can save these fees.
- Customers looking for low cost prices are used to seeing extra fees (Pay by credit card? Need a suitcase? File fees…) why not with you too, after all?
- Fees are non-commissioned!
- Several hotels have already tried this and have not seen a drop in traffic.
- It is therefore … “A win-win situation for the hotel owner!
We advise you to remain reasonable on the fees to be applied, according to the initial price of your room.
Make a round price around 5% of the rate, avoiding exceeding 15€. Increase it to 10% on the opening of the hot periods of the activity.
Procedure for the implementation.
In three screenshots you will understand how easy it is to set up.
- Log in to your space and go to Establishment >> Conditions.
- Find at the bottom of the list the “Additional Charges” then add “Service Charges” making sure to specify that it is not included in the room rate!
- Register
Attention: You will also have to create a product, a tariff line, with a 20% tax in your PMS.
And that’s it! 🙂
PLEASE NOTE:
Not all hotels have this feature. We invite you to contact your account manager, by email at first, to activate it or so that they set up this line!
