The Pre-Purchasing Journey: Best Practices to Drive Direct

Copyright © 2016 Leonardo Worldwide Corporation

The Pre-Purchasing Journey: Best Practices to Drive Direct”

Darlene Rondeau, VP, Best Practices, Online Merchandising

September 13, 2016

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Travel industry has one of the most complex digital landscapes

3 phases of the shopping journey:

The Travel Shopper’s Journey

Possible (new-ish) entry points: Organic, OTA, metasearch, review sites, social media

Traditional/legacy entry points: Hotel Direct, Corporate Booking Tools, GDS/Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Meeting & Events

Direct bookings = Lower cancellations

Information Overload & Advantages of Direct

Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 Average

WEB 20% 16% 20% 21% 19%

BOOKING 40% 39% 39% 36% 39%

EXPEDIA 23% 28% 27% 24% 25%

Cancellations (% on Room Nights)

Source: Mirai, 2016

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What Do Travel Shoppers Care About?They want to “see” what is unique about your hotel, they want to “see” your rooms, and they want a deal!

1. Guest Rooms2. Restaurant3. Recreation4. Lobby5. Map6. Business Center

7. Pool8. Amenity9. Exterior10. Bar/ Lounge

Viewed Images on Travel WebsitesTop 10

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Social Proof

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Best Practices for a High Performing Website1. Give travel shoppers what they want and

make it easy to understand why your hotel is right for them

2. Tell interesting stories of your property in pictures (lots of them), videos that are relevant to your target guests

3. What others think matters - pull in user-generated content and reviews to keep travel shoppers on your site

4. When they are ready to book, be sure they won’t be stopped by a confusing or frustrating booking process

5. And make sure they can do everything they would on a desktop, on a mobile device too

VP, Best Practices & Online Merchandising,

Leonardo

[email protected]

www.leonardo.com

Darlene Rondeau