Prior research informs us that Golf Resorts and Destinations could be missing out on a valuable opportunity to increase direct customer sales, with approximately 87% of global golf holiday packages now sold by Online Tour Operators (OTOs) (IAGTO, 2019).
However, with 29% of global tourists preferring direct travel reservations (Hospitality Net, 2022), this highlights a significant opportunity for global Resorts and Destinations.
So, what measures can you take to increase your Resorts direct customer bookings in 2023?
1. Website Localization for Key Target Markets:
The majority of consumers do their leisure searching in their native language, making a tailored approach essential. Combining channels such as geo-targeted Paid Search in the language your consumers speak, translated content, and increased marketing activity over key holiday periods should translate into higher customer visibility, increased website traffic and more targeted accessibility from key markets to your resorts.
2. Ensure Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Key Markets:
Search Engine Optimization is crucial to making your website more visible, driving more traffic and providing more opportunities to convert prospects into new and loyal customers. A site that ranks highly on search engine results pages is typically considered high-quality and trustworthy by search engines, and this, in turn, boosts the credibility of your Resort.
3. Provide a Secure, Easy-to-Use Online Booking System:
The days of online enquiry forms are fading out with customers seeking a seamless booking experience. An online booking engine with a payment gateway is essential to drive direct bookings. With online dominating the travel booking space, its essential prospective customers are presented with a simple, single-step process to make a booking, rather than the traditional website contact form we still see in many Resorts today.
4. Showcase Resort via High-Quality, Engaging Photo & Video Content:
High-quality on-site content and SEO work hand-in-hand. By creating original content in the form of text, images and videos, your site will rank higher in search results. Use this opportunity to showcase your Resort’s amenities. Make sure your content is high quality and optimized for keywords, and since search engines favour regular site updates, review your content frequently.
5. Communicate Benefits of Booking Direct to Prospective Customers:
You need to focus on, and communicate, the benefits of booking direct versus booking with Online Tour Operators. Direct bookings provide a much greater scope for incentivization, which OTOs may not be able to offer. Whether it’s Discounts (€ or %), Special Offers (Upgrades), Packaged Stays (3 Nights & Unlimited Golf) or Loyalty Points (Drive Repeat Bookings), you need to highlight the value of booking direct across your brand channels, whether it’s your website, social footprint or direct customer communications.
By increasing direct bookings, Golf Resorts and Destinations can drive additional revenue, upsell services, merchandise and experiences, reduce OTO commission payments (driving profitability), and establish long-standing relationships with new and loyal customers.
Let’s discuss your tactics to increase your direct customer bookings today: contact@influx.golf