New whitepaper explores
the latest trends shaping how hoteliers drive direct bookings
SINGAPORE - - 19 October, 2017 -,
travel's direct demand engine, and , leading-edge e-commerce solutions specialist for
independent hotels and regional chains, today announces the release of its
whitepaper, . This whitepaper aims to help hoteliers effectively engage
with travellers across channels and devices to drive direct bookings and
increase RevPAR.
"The modern traveller's path to
purchase has grown in complexity as consumers jump across websites and devices,
conducting an abundance of research. For marketers, understanding a traveller's
planning and booking behaviours is essential to successfully engage them
throughout their path to purchase to ensure they book direct," comments Chris Blane, VP of Sojern's Global Direct Sales and
Account Management. "The best
marketing starts with great data, and that culminates in a
multi-channel strategy that speaks to the right travellers, at the right time,
with the right message."
APAC Travellers Lead The Way With
Mobile Searches
Asia-Pacific travellers planning
inter-regional trips perform 47% of their searches on mobile devices over the
weekend, compared with only 15% for American travellers. We see this drop to
36% for APAC travellers on a Tuesday, still over three times higher than
American travellers on the same day. Brands who aim to reach and convert these
mobile-savvy travellers need to develop media plans that are truly
cross-device.
Expect the Unexpected
Given that flights to APAC are
considered long-haul for US travellers, it would be easy for marketers to
assume the average traveller would have a long lead time when booking a flight.
But, research shows this is not always the case. Marketers who shape their
strategies around this assumption would miss the 18% of US travellers who
booked their trip to APAC between 0 and 7 days ahead of their departure date.
Travellers Are Savvier Than Ever and
Brands Need to Keep Up
Travellers have more information at
their fingertips than ever before. In fact, when we looked closer at one
anonymous path to purchase we see that over the course of 213 days of planning,
this traveller had 735 touchpoints. Another anonymous path to purchase showed
that out of a total of 162 travel touchpoints, 127 of these alone are for a
hotel booking. Keeping your hotel brand top of mind for this traveller is key
to getting that booking.
Stay Top of Mind with the Right Channel
The hospitality industry is continually
being challenged with the evolvement of consumers digital habits. To stay in
the game, a holistic digital marketing strategy which encompasses several
channels to complement different stages of the path to purchase is paramount.
Display advertising is one effective channel, but SEM and Metasearch websites
are also vital in ensuring your brand remains top of mind when it comes time
for travellers to book.
"It may seem complicated, however,
establishing and executing a suitable digital marketing strategy is something
FASTBOOKING undertakes on a daily basis. Coupled with the easy to understand
metasearch and SEM guides shared in the report, we are reachable to partner
with hotels to execute the digital marketing strategy to increase their profitability
through direct bookings," Pierre-Charles Grob, Managing Director, Asia
expressed.
To learn more about our how best to
engage with travellers and drive direct bookings, please download the .
Notes to Editors:
Members
of the press are welcome to request interviews with FASTBOOKING or Sojern to
gather more information.
Sojern is
travel's direct demand engine, delivering $10B in direct bookings for thousands
of brands -- from global enterprises to boutique operators -- across industries
including hotel, airline, cruise, transportation, tourism and more.
Specializing in traveler path-to-purchase data for over a decade, Sojern
activates multi-channel branding and performance solutions by combining
billions of search and booking intent signals with proprietary data science
methods to analyze the world's travelers in real-time. Recognized on the Top
Company Cultures list by Entrepreneur Magazine, Sojern is headquartered in San
Francisco, with teams based in Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City,
New York, Omaha, Paris, Singapore, and Sydney. For more information, visit .
FASTBOOKING offers leading edge e-commerce solutions for hotels to boost their
direct sales strategy. Its solutions based on a cutting-edge cloud platform
together with its proven expertise in digital marketing, enable hotels to raise
brand visibility and promote online sales through online and mobile channels.
Our local experts offer daily support to 4,000 hotel properties in more than 90
countries, to help them leverage its solutions and retain their independence.
Founded in 2000, FASTBOOKING is now part of AccorHotels group, as the
specialist for digital solutions dedicated to independent hotels. For more
information, please visit fastbooking.com or email: for a
better solution to your challenges.