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Web analytics show a dramatic increase in people using their mobile phone to search for, select, and ultimately book a hotel room. We're here to explain what this means for hoteliers…

The trends we're seeing

Mobile traffic now amounts for up to half of the overall traffic on the sites we manage. For the past few years it's been increasing steadily, but now that the tablet market is more accessible and more households have got one there's been a dramatic spike. This has huge ramifications for anyone with a website - but what does it mean for hoteliers specifically?

Hotel site mobile traffic

People aren't just looking at your hotel on their mobile device, they want to book a room! Chances are, you've put a lot of work into your website. Making it not only look good, but making it easy and obvious for people to book with you. Not to mention persuasive!

But have you considered how it looks on a mobile device? Screens being smaller and operated by touch makes a big difference. Some drop-down menus that work fine via a mouse will be completely inaccessible. And try pressing a sleek and shiny 'book now' button with sausage fingers!

And the basic build of your website isn't the main thing to think about - there's your booking system, as well. Some of them can be quite complex, with room selectors, date changers, and fiddly little forms. None of which is ideal for mobiles. Third-party systems are taking a commission cut from you, and if they aren't optimised for mobile traffic you're paying for a grossly substandard service.

Catering to mobiles

How to address it? The first thing to do is try your site out yourself on your phone or tablet. Remember that web surfers soon lose patience. If it's a challenge to book with you, you run the risk of sending them off to book with someone else. It should be quick and easy for users to get what they want.

Our solutions

If your website or booking system aren't up to scratch on mobile devices don't despair. Open your doors to a mobile traffic revenue stream by taking a look at our services to solve your mobile device dilemna:

Responsive web design - 'responsive' means that your site will change and respond to different screen sizes.

Online booking system - also responsive, and optimised for use on mobile. But not only that, it's a piece of software owned by you and so it's 100% commission free.

What are your experiences of the increase in mobile traffic? Has it presented you with problems, and how did you work around them? Let us know in the comments below!

We’ve all heard the horror stories. Bad reviews (sometimes, alarmingly, fictitious) ruining hotel reputations. But can it work in your favour? There is the potential to use Trip Advisor to boost your bookings.

Word of mouth

It used to be that ‘word of mouth’ was heralded as your marketing champion. Then social media came along, and for some reason the game changed. But why? Isn’t social media just another form of word of mouth, and isn’t Trip Advisor built on it?

Trip Advisor, then, is key to your strategy. Not only is it plugged into Facebook, it’s the first port of call for many savvy guests.

Encourage golden reviews

People leave reviews online when they’re either extremely pleased or very hacked off. Content people are those most in need of incentivising. Prompt happy guests to review you when they get home, and many of them will oblige. This will dilute any negative reviews, and in the company of 4 or 5 star ratings the odd 1 star rant will show up as what it is – an anomaly.

(Please note, however, the difference between ‘prompt’ and ‘coerce’ – it’s frowned upon to offer any kind of reward for good reviews, so a simple “don’t forget to review us” should suffice!)

Respond to negatives

It’s all part of customer service. If someone complained at your front desk you’d go out of your way to help them out. On Trip Advisor, if you register and claim your business, you can respond to reviewers as the manager. This can help further diffuse erroneous poor reviews. Handled correctly, you might even be able to resolve it, and get back into a guest’s good graces.

Give thanks to positives

As above, if someone came into reception singing your praises you’d thank them, humbly. Once registered on Trip Advisor you can do just that, and it’s also an opportunity to welcome the guest back. Chances are they’ve got fond memories of staying with you, and are now back at work wishing they were somewhere else. A friendly response from you later and, who knows, they might book again for next year already.

The talking cure

Everyone receives feedback. What sets businesses apart is the way they respond to it. Reviews can highlight things you haven’t noticed before – tiny details that matter in a big way to your guests. Leaky taps, thin curtains, creaking floorboards, rattling windows – things you want to know about and will fix in a heartbeat. Bigger issues come out, too. But you might not realise how important they are to your guests until they let you know!

It’s happening anyway

Whether you like it or not, there’s no way to stop people talking about you. Users are allowed to add any hotel they’ve been to onto Trip Advisor if it’s not already listed. And unless your business closes permanently, Trip Advisor will not remove it. Unless every review is glowing you really can’t afford to ignore it. Luckily, the things discussed here are all the ways in which you can improve your rating, with a little bit of work.

Linking to Trip Advisor

Is it a good idea to link to Trip Advisor, then, from your main website? After all, you’ve worked hard to get great reviews on there. We are inclined to say don’t. We say that because, no matter how good your overall score, once on Trip Advisor users are presented with an abundance of other options and similar hotels nearby. You want to take their booking, and you don’t want them to book elsewhere! As we said, it’s unavoidable if people choose to go looking for your reviews themselves, and you should be prepared for that to happen. But it’s not a good idea, in our opinion, to encourage them to.

Plus, sending guests away from your website is a no-no. Ideally, you’ll have a great site with it’s own online booking system, and you want guests to book through that, if at all possible. The third-party booking sites on Trip Advisor take a commission. So even if they do book with you after you’ve sent them away, you might be giving up a chunk of your revenue. That’s assuming your own onsite booking system doesn’t take commission already.

Maximising your booking revenue is another topic entirely, but with a well-built website and a booking system you own outright you can avoid giving away your profits in commission.

Take a look at our services:

Responsive web design - 'responsive' means that your site will change and respond to different screen sizes.

Online booking system - also designed to be responsive, and optimised for use on mobile, with our booking system you don’t pay any commission fees at all.

Have you had bad experiences of Trip Advisor, or have you got any more tips to make it work? Let us know in the comments section below…

Targeting mobile users

Our brief was to create a booking system to capture all areas of the market, and to make technology the last thing standing between a potential guest and their booking. This meant creating something that would not just work on mobile devices but convert prospects into paying guests.

We built a responsive system and put it through rigorous testing on multiple devices to ensure complete optimisation.

Reliable project management

With our client's hectic schedule and many miles between us it was important that we maintained an effective remote working relationship on this project. Through regular updates from us we took management of the project into our own hands, setting milestones and working towards completion within a timeframe to fit smoothly into Hilton Grand Vacations own schedule.

A job well done

We're really proud of the result, and most importantly so is our client, as we discovered when we asked Richard at Hilton for an update…

“I had considered for some time how to move our Lodge rental bookings online, and had reviewed a number of options. On our introduction to The Creative Branch I was impressed by their methodology of capturing our requirements, and the stages of development that allowed us to ensure those requirements became functional elements of the site. This was all carried out remotely without the need for onsite meetings at their or our offices. Having launched the booking engine in mid March 2013, we are very pleased with the outcome and to be receiving positive feedback on its ease of use from our guests.”

Get a responsive system

All of our new booking systems are optimised to work across all mobile devices. In this day and age you can't afford to neglect this huge portion of your target market. Get in touch to find out more about the benefits of responsive design, and let's start planning the look and feel of your system.

Award-winning features

The booking system we created for The Langdale Estate includes an award-winning interactive map of rentals and properties on the estate, which was developed in studio as a bespoke solution to suit their requirements. The attractive layout of the properties within the estate is a key selling point for the business, which is why we centred our system around this USP.

Pulling in the pounds

Dan at The Langdale Estate told us how well the system has performed: “the interactive map and online bookings for the self-catering and timeshare properties has been a great success, taking half a million pounds in revenue in the first year and increasing each year since then. The feedback from our guests who use the system has been excellent and it has also won a European best use of technology award from RCI.”

Achieving this level of success was made possible by our bespoke approach, putting the Estate's USPs at the forefront of our solution.

A great relationship

For us, we make sure to understand a client's needs inside and out. This means building a great working relationship, which is something Dan felt worked, saying “it has been a pleasure working with TCB who brought creativity and skill in helping us to get our initial idea to a live solution. We will hopefully work with them again on projects in the future.”

Let your USP shine

Business is all about finding your USP and putting it to the fore. But if you're using a rigid, 'off the peg' system what's making you stand out? Get in touch with us to find out about our bespoke booking systems, and let's discuss how we can increase your revenue by creating something really unique.

The requirements

Best Western Castle Green Hotel asked us to design them a new online booking system which would integrate with their Micros Fidelio Opera Property Management System (PMS). The new booking system would be very straightforward for potential guests to use, cost effective and ultimately increase online revenue by generating more direct bookings - so reducing commission paid to 3rd party booking sites.

Because they also wanted to offer a "book now, pay later" option to guests, bespoke room configurations, and plenty of offers and extras, off-the-shelf booking systems did not give the functionality or flexibility they required.

Our solution

We set out to design an online system which was user-friendly from both ends - easy for Castle Green to administrate and simple for a guest to use.

The online booking system we created communicates directly with the hotel's PMS, so it is constantly updated with room availability, guest information and payment confirmation details. Essentially, this means no management overhead for the hotel.

The system gives guests the option to save their details so that they can return and make repeat bookings quickly through their account, promoting customer loyalty. The "book now, pay later" is optional, and Castle Green can incentivise pre-payment through offering cheaper room rates for doing so. This gives the guest freedom alongside a chance for a better deal.

Client feedback

Since April 2012, Castle Green have been running their online bookings using our system. They told us that "the functionality of our new system is a lot better," explaining that guests enjoy having the option to book and pay in full using their credit card without having to mess around with a pre-pay agreement.

They went on to say, "it fits into our site, it looks more professional, and it's easier to use. Users can jump back and forth selecting different options without having to start over - you can see the changes appear in front of you without having to re-enter everything else. Our old system always kicked people back to the beginning!"

The bottom-line

"In the last 12 months since we installed the new system we have increased our overall web revenue by 78%"

Year-on-year, total bookings through www.bookings.com grew by 8% in 2012, while through the online booking system they grew by a whopping 75%, with an estimated 60% growth so far in 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. Revenue from bookings made through the online booking system has overtaken www.bookings.com.

"This new system and our strategy for promoting our online booking facility both on and offline is now starting to significantly reduce the commission charges levied to us by third parties."

Start reaping the benefits

If you want to know more about our online booking system get in touch. We can melt away whatever headaches your old system is giving you and increase your potential for online bookings at the same time.