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A recent study by D-Edge into European hotel distribution trends found that the average length of stay in hotels fell by 12% between 2014 and 2018.
So how can hotel managers adapt their channel distribution strategies to counter the negative impact on occupancy rate?

One effective tactic is to focus on attracting international clients&nbsp;

On average, non-domestic guests stay for longer, reserve further in advance, cancel less, and spend more in their destination – helping hoteliers increase profitability.

Bedbanks act as wholesalers by offering hotel capacity to tour operators, airlines, travel agencies and other companies looking to provide accommodation to their customers. They can help you sell hard-to-place beds and bring in higher-value customers.

Fortunately for hoteliers, this distribution channel is on the up. According to the same study, bedbanks and wholesalers have grown their volumes by over 100% in the last five years.

1. International guests offer high value

Long-haul guests tend to have bigger budgets than domestic travellers, but the benefits don’t stop there.

As Carlos Muñoz, Hotelbeds Managing Director, points out, “Guests travelling from non-domestic source markets complement the hotel’s current distribution mix with customers whom they aren’t currently able to access easily. What’s more, our channel provides them with guests that typically pay a higher rate, cancel less, stay for longer, spend more at the hotel and come back more often &nbsp;– because bookings from B2B travel intermediaries such as tour operators, retail travel agents, airline websites and loyalty and point redemption partners all provide higher-value reservations.”&nbsp;

Tip
Join trusted global networks that expose your rooms to international clients
Not only is it time-consuming to research new markets, but traversing the cultural nuances in each new locale is complicated. Exploiting existing global platforms and networks reduces this complexity, leaving you more time to focus on customer experience.

Bedbanks like Hotelbeds can connect you to organizations that would be complex or too expensive to reach on your own due to their global reach, better connectivity and simpler processes.



2. Non-domestic guests stay longer and can increase your occupancy rate

Longer stays reduce front desk costs and other operational expenses like laundry, and housekeeping. They also increase the possibility of cross-selling ancillary services like room upgrades and transport. Choosing the channels that typically drive longer stays can help both maximize profit and optimize room allocation.

Hotelbeds was named the channel that provides the longest staying guests at an average of 2.77 nights. Hotelbeds offers hoteliers in Europe the longest average guest stay when compared to any other booking source, including a hotel’s own website.

Tip
Test different length-of-stay (LoS) restrictions for international guests to gauge how customers react to different minimum stay durations.

Consider running these tests in low season to minimize impact in more popular periods.&nbsp;

3. Long-haul clients cancel less

Cancellations, “no shows” and curtailment (when a trip is cut short) have a significant impact on the books. But beyond the financial repercussions, each of these scenarios represents a missed opportunity to leave a positive impression on the customer. Business travellers require comfort and proximity and offer valuable repeat opportunities for hotels situated near global headquarters that provide this.

Tip
Be aware of the cancellation policy expectations in overseas destinations.&nbsp;
Today, many leisure and business travellers have come to expect free cancellations. So, partnering with businesses or intermediaries that link you to clients with low cancellation expectancy is vital to make sure your occupancy rate doesn’t suffer.



4. Longer lead times let you research clients’ needs

Longer lead-times provide hotel owners with many benefits. Beyond the cash-flow advantage or the ability to anticipate staffing schedules more cost-effectively, longer lead times allow you to spend more time understanding the profiles of your customers. This gives you a better opportunity to provide them with a memorable experience upon arrival and foster loyalty in the long term.

Tip
Use longer lead times to better understand the profiles of your customers.
While it’s difficult to predict the needs of guests from diverse cultures, you have more time to survey their travel requirements before their stay. By understanding what each guest needs, the hotel is much more likely to succeed in cross-selling them a service, and by extension, gain their loyalty.

5. Increased stays drive higher spend in destination

Ancillary services are supplemental products or services that a hospitality brand can upsell in addition to its “core” hotel experience.

The longer a guest stays at a hotel, the more likely they are to consider these types of services. Hotels can enrich local experiences for travellers by employing the expertise of assistants offering services like:


	Concierge meet and greet on arrival
	Information on local infrastructure, services and transport
	Interpretation / translation services
	Booking of tours, tickets, attractions, events, transfers and car rentals
	Local guides with insider knowledge of culture, lifestyle, sports and traditions


These advantages can turn out to be critical to help your hotel recover from a critical situation. Unfortunate and unforeseeable circumstances can undermine the stability of every hotel, as the travel industry is often the first to be impacted. As we have learned from every crisis though, downtimes are always followed by an upturn and targeting guests that can offer you a better opportunity to recover faster can be crucial.

Tip
Consider promoting ancillary services through a loyalty programme as one of the options when clients redeem points. The psychological barrier to “cashing in points” is lower than that of &nbsp;“spending my budget”.

Want to learn more about how different channel distribution strategies can improve your hotel’s occupation rate?

Check out the Hotelbeds guide to hotel distribution in 2020 for a comprehensive look at the year ahead.


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5 reasons international guests offer value and boost occupancy rate

Getting your distribution mix right is vital. Large OTAs can help you to increase your occupancy rates but in the process, they may erode your margins. So, how can you increase your direct hotel bookings and maintain your revenue per available room (RevPAR)?

Full occupancy is the holy grail of the hotel industry. But achieving it is never easy. There is a constant struggle between direct booking channels (your website) and online travel agents (OTAs). OTAs can offer you greater visibility and reach than you could ever achieve on your own. But beware of cannibalization. Your website is a strong branding channel and the only online distribution channel that generates direct sales with no third-party commission. However, when considering your website as your primary channel for bookings, it is important that you bear in mind the marketing costs linked to generating relevant traffic to your website.

There is a valuable third option, Bedbanks or wholesalers, who can help you to extend your reach and target international market segments that are hard to access via the other channels.

Turning your OTA bookings into direct bookings

OTAs charge considerable commissions, often between 14% and 20%. This can dent your profit margin, which is why it is important not to rely too heavily on OTAs if you can avoid it.

Direct bookings will save you the high cost of commissions and will also mean that you have full access to all your guest data. The higher the proportion of direct bookings for a property, the higher the profit margin. But, getting direct bookings via your website may not be as cost-effective as it first seems. To secure bookings through your direct channel requires major investment in traffic generating techniques to compete with the large OTAs advertising power.

However, B2B distribution channels such as Hotelbeds are compatible with your direct strategy, since they are targeting a different set of guests, who will have no effect on your direct channel.

Here are some ideas to boost your occupancy by reducing the dependency on OTAs.

1. Integrate booking engines to increase direct hotel bookings

It goes without saying that the best place for guests to book is your own shop window, otherwise known as your website. Some cloud property management systems allow website booking engine integration from within. This means that web visitors have real-time information on availability, room rates and so on. It’s an easy way to increase direct bookings. However, with third-party booking engines, the hotel often needs to integrate a booking widget, which carries a fee. Beware of these hidden costs, which occur not just in the form of commissions but in added staff costs and contract requirements. These can include agreeing to room availability and rate integrity clauses, a loss of direct relationships with your clients and building their own brand at your expense.

2. Work with bedbanks to access hard to reach customers

Bedbanks are often a great way to reach international travellers, who are often hard to find through other channels. &nbsp;In fact, 60% of bookings coming from the Hotelbeds network are non-domestic, with the booking originating from another source market. Bedbanks drive incremental high-value bookings from B2B travel trade sources such as tour operators, travel agencies, airlines and point redemption programmes.

&nbsp;3. Be seasonal

Remember your peaks and troughs and don’t use the same approach with OTAs all year round. You might want to try a more seasonal approach to OTAs. Getting a healthy base of early bookings can be a great way for your hotel to optimize its pricing strategy for its regular booking window. You might want to consider giving specific inventory to those distribution channels with longer lead times. Hotelbeds guests generally book earlier than guests coming from large OTAs and generally offer longer lead times than other channels. So, one approach could be to go seasonal. If you have peaks and troughs in your bookings calendar, consider changing your approach. If you know your higher value units will be sold out during peak months, don’t promote them on the OTAs. Instead, use them to get visibility with your lowest price inventory and then draw potential customers into your own website, where they can see other room types.


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4. Remember your reputation is on the line

An excellent guest experience is always a top priority for a good hotel. The better your online reputation, the better chance you have of getting direct bookings. One of the best ways of communicating your reputation is by partnering with trusted review sites such as TripAdvisor.

Every time a guest leaves a positive review on your website, it will also appear on your TripAdvisor page (and the same in reverse)
That’s why you should always respond to reviews, whether they are positive or negative. This sense of responsibility encourages trust in your business
Accept responsibility if you get it wrong. And give customers an incentive to come back so that you can get them back on side. Guests love it--and so do people who read those reviews

Key fact: 98% of travellers read hotel reviews and for 80% of travellers reviews are extremely important in making a reservation.&nbsp;

All that glitters is not gold

While at first glance it may appear that direct channels are the obvious choice, beware that everything is not always what it seems. In many cases, the hotel will need to integrate a third-party booking widget and these have fees attached, which can be a disadvantage. Additionally, it is important that you bear in mind the marketing costs linked to generating relevant traffic to your website.

It requires specific expertise and experience to get the direct channel right. If done properly, it can be a very efficient route to revenue. But it is difficult to scale and, if done wrong, it can be a very inefficient way of spending your marketing budget.

Find out more

To find out more about how different channel distribution strategies can improve your hotel’s performance, check out the Hotelbeds guide to hotel distribution in 2020.


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Getting the balance right: are online travel agents eating your lunch?

Travel agents: your key to improved RevPAR

Travel agents – along with tour operators, airlines and loyalty programmes – are an often-overlooked channel for generating incremental bookings from high-value international guests. Non-domestic travellers typically book further in advance, cancel less, stay longer, spend more at destinations and return more frequently.&nbsp;

And another important characteristic to bear in mind: they value personalised service.

Acting as specialised travel consultants for both business and leisure travellers, retail travel agents attract these customer profiles by offering tailored packages that are difficult to find online. This distribution channel plays an important role when optimising any hotel’s revenue strategy, especially the occupancy rate and RevPAR.

Working with Hotelbeds you will get access to an extensive network of more than 100,000 unique retail travel agents around the world.you’ll never have to close individual deals with travel agencies again.

What is RevPAR?

Revenue Per Available Room is a metric used to measure the business performance of a hotel during a specified period.

While RevPAR doesn’t give you the full picture of a hotel’s financial performance, it helps you evaluate how well the hotel is filling up on chosen dates and how much revenue the average room generates before you deduct costs like staff and services.

How to calculate RevPAR

There are two RevPAR formulas:

1. Hotel Occupancy multiplied by Average Daily Rate


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2. Room Revenue divided by Number of Rooms Available during a specified period

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RevPAR helps you compare month-over-month performance

Use it to look back to see how you did during a specific holiday or to compare one year to the next. But remember, this metric only offers an overview of the number of rooms sold at a hotel in a certain period and the revenue generated from those bookings.

RevPAR doesn’t capture the full picture

While it gives you a useful overview, RevPAR doesn’t factor in additional revenue made on food and drink or extras like spa services and laundry. Nor does it consider cleaning, maintenance or front desk costs to the business. This is important to bear in mind when measuring overall hotel performance.

How retail travel agents help drive positive RevPAR


Local reach

For travellers booking multi-stop tours to new destinations, retail travel agents offer beneficial local knowledge and expertise through their network of trusted partners and native contacts in each destination.

For business travellers booking trips for multiple colleagues or whole company departments, having someone to help organise activities, book meeting room space, and arrange transport saves them time. While intrepid leisure travellers seeking out unique experiences can adjust itineraries to include activities specific to their interests while also booking flights and accommodation through niche travel agents.


Returning customers&nbsp;

The online sector continues to find innovative ways to service customers, but for now, being able to connect with a dedicated agent in-person or on the phone remains a favourable competitive advantage for retail travel agents. This tailored experience is a significant factor in the increased customer's loyalty generated by travel agents.

But it’s not only travel agent customers who benefit from sector-wide efforts to improve loyalty, bedbank partners can also take advantage of attractive incentives too.

Hotelbeds’ sister bedbank, Bedsonline invites retail travel agents to sign-up to its&nbsp;Star Rewards loyalty programme&nbsp;individually and earn points based on the value of their bookings.&nbsp;

Members can redeem points by choosing e-gifts from vendors, including Amazon, Nike, and Apple. By incentivising retail agents, Hotelbeds found those who sign up to the loyalty scheme tend to book more frequently and for higher amounts. These high-value bookings then transfer the benefit to our hotel partners in the form of increased occupancy.&nbsp;

High-value guests

Online travel agents attract high volumes of travellers because they sell rooms at highly discounted prices. While this helps fill your rooms, it can harm your hotel’s revenue. Instead of attracting guests by charging less, retail travel agents can increase the perceived value of your room by pairing it with additional activities or packages.

Customers who book via retail travel agencies, whether for business or leisure, typically display some common characteristics:


	Longer average stays
	Higher spend at destinations
	Lower cancellation rates
	Above-average booking lead times


Increased customer acquisition&nbsp;

As part of its ongoing commitment to offer hoteliers access to high-value guests, Hotelbeds is regularly adding travel agent customers. In doing so, this relieves hoteliers of the time-consuming and costly task of reaching new customers.

Carlos Muñoz, Managing Director Bedbank at Hotelbeds Group, explains:
“It makes strategic and practical sense for us to continue to develop our travel agent proposition under one integrated global platform and brand. The benefits from this move will help all our partners boost revenues and profits through improved functionality and increased opportunities to upsell high-yielding complementary travel services in addition to our accommodation offering.”

With a &nbsp;global network that’s attracted over 60,000 B2B travel buyers including retail travel agents, tour operators, airlines and points redemption schemes, Hotelbeds is constantly adding to its portfolio. And this low-effort, high-reward access to valuable international customers presents a key benefit for hoteliers

There are currently a total of 70,000 unique hotels available on the Hotelbeds system in Europe alone. Globally, there are over 180,000 unique hotels available on the platform.

More robust than other channels during crisis periods

Last but not least, travel advisors can be the most reliable channel to endure crisis situations. In times like these, travellers are searching for flexible and non-binding solutions that OTAs and travel websites are not always able to guarantee. On the other hand, the human value of travel advisors plays a crucial role that will facilitate the recovery from critical situations. It can guarantee a more stable experience to travellers that is calm and measured, &nbsp;and therefore easier guests to your hotel.

Find out more

To deep dive into how different channel distribution strategies can improve your hotel’s performance, check out the Hotelbeds guide to hotel distribution in 2020.&nbsp;

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How travel agents help boost hotel RevPAR

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In the fast-paced travel industry, which has undergone unprecendented changes in demand over the last few years, it's important that new and persistent changes to traveller booking behaviours and their impact are kept top of mind. This is especially the case when determining your strategy as a hotel owner to remain visible and competitve.



How Traveller Behaviours Are Changing And Their Impact On Hotel Owners

New Ways To Book Hotels&nbsp;

The integration of all-new technology within the hotel industry, and travel industry as a whole, has changed many of the ways that end travellers can find, interact with, and ultimately book hotels. Here are just a few examples of rising technology trends in the hospitality industry which hotel owners should consider accommodating to remain competitive and visible alongside and above your competitors.


	An increase in voice search and voice control - impacting the visibility of hotels in search engines if they are not 'optimised'
	Rising reliance on AI tech like chatbots to solve traveller queries
	Virtual reality increasingly used as a marketing technique during the booking process
	New apps for travel-bank companies like Monkee, flipping the idea of ‘buy now save later’ and instead encouraging customers to purchase from their associated partners and accruing ‘savings’ in a specifically set up bank account for later use.


Ensuring that, as a brand, your hotel(s) can accommodate the increasing demand for new ways for travellers to virtually interact and make reservations, is vital to ensure you're maximising your occupancy and attracting the right guests.



Shifting Seasonal Trends

Today’s traveller is booking trips during off-peak seasons more than ever, as changing working circumstances and an increase in blended travel alter when and how often individuals, and families, can get away. This includes periods before or after the traditional high seasons, and low-demand midweek days. In fact, a recent Vrbo report in 2022 suggested that across rental platforms, there had been a 33% increase in undated searches - highlighting the increasing flexibility of travellers nowadays.

Here, the impact to hotel owners can be significant, because there are more opportunities to increase occupancy during what has been historically considered to be the low season. But it also means that your competitors will be vying for your ideal customers’ attention just as much, which will not only make marketing more expensive due to a more competitive landscape, but means that understanding what is driving your ideal guest to travel, and how your hotel(s) meet these demands, in order to get the attention of your end customer.

It’s also more important than ever to ensure you’re managing your visibility across channels and pricing strategy effectively, to gain even more visibility to a more flexible traveller who is ready to book more of the time. Working with a distribution partner like Hotelbeds is the perfect way to increase your visibility to your ideal audience without impacting your direct channel!&nbsp;&nbsp;

Remote Working and Extended Stays

Related to the aforementioned shifting 'peak' seasons, is the undeniable trend of remote working and the blending of 'business' and 'leisure' trips seen most notably in the last few years. And with 44% of families suggesting they would work remote in the future - in a recent Vrbo survey - and a significant increase in demand for trips with a 21-30 day travel window, remote working is drastically change the capacity of many travellers’ for extended stays and blending travel. Google&nbsp;also recently suggested however that one of the biggest pain points for end customers is faulty internet, which is a major concern for hoteliers and one that should be analysed in full before you begin to advertise yourselves to this fast-growing audience.

The decrease in distinction between ‘business’ and ‘leisure’ trips means that hotels must accommodate an increasingly flexible traveller, with more complex needs as the delineation between historically clear travel motives and availability patterns is becoming smaller. This also means that hotel owners must be able to adjust your pricing and marketing strategies to accommodate a traveller who is ready to book more often.

We also discuss in more depth the impact that remote working is having on the hotel industry in particular in our article on some of the best remote working destinations for 2023, and how hotel owners can appeal to this fast-growing audience even if your hotel isn’t based in these in-demand destinations.



Shrinking Booking Windows&nbsp;

Over the last two years, the lead time for booking trips in many markets has significantly lowered, as many travellers have become hesitant to book far in advance in case their plans are disrupted by travel restrictions or unexpected changes to a country’s status as open to international travellers. This shorter booking window has remained, with bookings dropping off across global markets more than three months from the travel date and an average eight to twelve week booking window remaining prevalent.

However, shorter booking windows do not necessarily come with a negative impact. It gives hotels a chance to connect with an astute type of traveller, utilising profiles built up with historical customer loyalty and customer data to provide a personalised experience for guests who are becoming more accustomed to making more direct decisions, based on interactions either with a bespoke booking agent, or the hotel themselves.

This means that hotels must adopt a dynamic, adaptable pricing structure in order to maintain revenue streams and attract this flexible traveller - especially those hotels in high-volume city destinations.&nbsp;

Catering for variable demand and a traveller who enjoys creating personal connections with their travel provider also means that hotels who partner with a distribution company like Hotelbeds can increase their exposure to final guests through retail agents and providers like wholesalers and tour operators, as well as access a powerful extranet system that allows you to quickly and easily change your hotels’ availability and prices across multiple rate and room types.

Register your property today&nbsp;to partner with us and access time-saving solutions to boost your success!

Big-Ticket Trips &amp; Micro Travel

Long-haul travel opportunities are very much back on the market for travellers, especially in countries like the UK which has seen 80% of respondents to a recent Accor survey suggest their travel budgets are 39% higher than in 2019. While in the USA, around 68% of travellers want to take a ‘major trip’ to European and Asian destinations in the next year.

Contrastingly, booking trends over the last two years have also shown a rise in micro travel, or short-distance travel, within a three-to-four hour drive of a travellers’ primary place of residence. One of the more significant rises in popularity has included eco-lodges, boutique properties in rural areas and smaller towns compared to city-based hotels. This feeds into the long-standing booking trend within the past two years where travellers are increasingly seeking to escape crowded areas.&nbsp;



Sustainability As A Core Decision Maker

Traveller behaviours are changing with regards to the 78% of travellers who will stay in sustainable hotels at least once during 2023, which brings its own list of considerations such as decreased occupancy, lower revenue and decreasing reputation in an increasingly eco-conscious industry.&nbsp;

But the necessity of sustainability for hotel owners also means that being able to attract this long-term audience is critical to keeping your revenue stream steady while simultaneously reducing your outgoings as a result of enhanced operations. Rising energy costs are seeing 80% of European hoteliers citing this as a major concern, and 80% of UK hospitality businesses seeing a significant and detrimental impact on their profits as a result. The impact is two-fold on hotels: how much business is brought in from conscious-minded travellers and the profits of hotels as a whole due to increasing costs, so the need for sustainable and technology-driven solutions is more important than ever.

We explore the importance of sustainability and more changing travel considerations in our guide to top travel trends for hotel owners.



How To Meet These Changing Needs As Hotel Owners

Improve Your Distribution &amp; Leverage Data

One of the best ways of ensuring that your hotel is put into the hands of your ideal guests as much as possible, is by having an effective, optimised distribution strategy. While this is achievable using a dedicated in-house channel manager, much of the time this position can be neglected for the more practical aspects of running a hotel - especially for channel managers who also perform other necessary roles within independent hotels.

In this way, working with a dedicated distribution partner like Hotelbeds means your hotel is receiving the expert support and hotel marketing solutions that it deserves. What's more, our clients are given access to an expert account manager, who is responsible for keeping you and your team abreast of the latest industry trends, revenue opportunities tailored to your particular market and ideal guest, as well as identifying areas for improvement within your current rates or availabilities that could boost occupancy. This is all without competing with your direct channel strategy.&nbsp;

With access to thousands of global travel distributors including retail travel agents and tour operators in hard-to-reach&nbsp;source markets, and an extensive portfolio of ancillary products such as transfers, experiences and car rentals, Hotelbeds have a far-reaching network which facilitates more connections than ever between hotel owners such as yourselves, travel bookers, distributors and the final traveller.&nbsp;

Register your property today to start scaling your success with us.

Log into your account to begin monitoring the opportunities we’ve identified for you.

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Leverage Travel Technology &amp; Business Data

Considering that 2022 and 2023 saw wide-scale labour shortages within the travel and tourism industry, one of the best ways to ensure you’re remaining highly-effective as a hotel while catering to changing traveller booking behaviours, is by providing efficiencies for staff wherever possible.&nbsp;

Implementing travel tech could look like working with a distribution partner like Hotelbeds to optimise your channel management, or onboarding a new revenue management system to streamline operations and maximise income. Utilising business data could be connecting the many silos of data that exist in the hospitality industry, rather than just focusing on ‘big data’, to understand what’s driving your travellers, and what will make them come back.

The wise hotel brands are beginning to leverage forward-looking data into their strategy, as it’s no longer enough to build a hotel revenue strategy from purely historic data, considering that for the past several years the consumer landscape has been an unprecedented space.

Of course, there's no one-size-fits-all solution to changing traveller behaviours but improving your distribution strategy is one of the most effective methods of ensuring that your hotel or hotel chains are seen by in-market travel distributors, and therefore more end travellers!

Register your property today to access our global network of travel distributors and boost your occupancy.

Log in to your account today and begin taking your success even further.

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