In this guest opinion piece, Joel Norton, CEO of customer experience consulting firm, Kalido, says hotels aren’t doing enough to convert online bookings, and are leaving users seriously peeved.

It’s no secret that the competition in the hotel booking space has intensified over the past five years.

Online bookings have soared, and so too has the popularity of comparison and aggregator sites which have risen to dominate the space, leaving hotels to rethink how they can remain competitive in the online space.

According to IBIS World, the Australian online accommodation and travel industry is set to grow by an annualised 17.7 per cent over the next five years to become a $1 billion-dollar industry. To get a slice of this projected growth and stay relevant, hotel brands need to have a strong digital presence and online booking platform.

The online customer searching for hotel accommodation is savvy and knows how to search in multiple ways to secure the best price, location, and value. Using price comparison sites, customers often bypass hotel websites so they can see a selection of what’s on offer and look for good deals.

But the customer doesn’t just go to these sites to save money. They often use these sites because they’re easy to use and book their accommodation.

There are numerous reasons why hotel brands should be looking at improving their online customer experience. These include:

Improve online user experience with data

Offering a great online user experience is a balance between presenting the right amount of information in the least amount of clicks. Too much content spread over too many pages, or not providing the right information at all and you start to compromise your conversion rate. Analyse user data to understand how prospects navigate your site and where the drop-off points are.

Also consider how you can personalise the content, offers or experience based on what you know. Tailor the destination or package based on the customer profile, or user clicks.

Plan a multi-channel experience

Many brands make the mistake of viewing online sales conversion in isolation to the overall customer journey, and what drove them online. We know from other industries that online sales conversion is directly impacted by relevant and timely communications in other channels. For instance, a well-timed offer via email or in social will increase online sales.

Your customer should feel like the overall brand experience is seamless, regardless of the channel they engage with. This can be achieved by leveraging customer data to deliver a series of personalised customer journeys. For example, have coordinated communications in social, email and online to drive initial website traffic, combined with retargeting messages via social and email with relevant content based on their online visit.

It doesn’t end with the sale

Consider how you can incorporate targeted post-sales communications to improve the overall customer experience and brand advocacy, as well as increase revenue. For example, once a booking has been made, send an email with a link to download the hotel app. You can then deliver timely push notifications before, during and after the stay.

When done correctly, these communications enhance a customer’s overall brand experience, and also provide more opportunities to increase revenue without being seen as too pushy. It’s all about enhancing their experience by being relevant.

Improving the customer experience means your customer is more likely to book directly next time, as well as refer the hotel to friends.