More Direct Bookings with Guestline’s Direct Booking Manager

Hotel guests of all ages and nationalities have become tech-savvy and accustomed to booking their accommodations online. This means that, as a hotelier, you need to ensure that your online booking engine is up to the task of attracting and converting these guests into on-site bookings.

In this article, we‘ll explore the benefits of using Guestline DBM (Direct Booking Manager), a powerful hotel booking engine that can help you maximise direct bookings and establish strong relationships with your guests.

It’s no news that, with the rise of third-party comparison platforms and online travel agencies (OTAs), guests have become spoiled for choice and less loyal to specific hotels. 

If you wish to stand out from the crowd and attract these tech-savvy guests, a robust online presence is the key determinant of success or failure. Guestline DBM ensures that your hotel's website and digital marketing efforts are optimised to generate cost-efficient bookings 24/7.

Guestline DBM can be easily installed into any website, embedded into social media, and linked via e-marketing, making it seamless to integrate into your existing online presence. The booking process is quick, smart, and intuitive, allowing guests to make reservations from any device or browser.

As a result, this accessibility enhances the user experience and increases the likelihood of conversion.

As an experienced hotelier, you know that these days, guests seek unique and personalised experiences when choosing accommodations.

With Guestline DBM, you can offer contextualised extras based on rate plans, allowing guests to customise their stay. This personal touch adds value and increases guest satisfaction, leading to increased margins through package and upsell sales, more repeat business, and more positive reviews.

Guestline DBM provides a built-in payment gateway that ensures secure and compliant transactions.

Guests can book with confidence, knowing that their payment information is protected. In turn, this will not only enhance guest trust but also streamline your financial processes.

From search to reservation, Guestline DBM offers automation at its best.

It seamlessly integrates with your property management system (PMS), enabling a two-way flow of information. This integration saves time for your front desk and reservation teams, allowing them to focus on providing exceptional service to guests.

Navigating the booking process with Guestline DBM is a streamlined and efficient experience.

From searching for availability to making a secure payment, each step is designed to provide guests with the information they need and ensure a seamless booking journey.

That said, let's take a closer look at what the booking process entails:

1. Acquisition
Guestline DBM can directly publish its rates and availability directly to Google's metasearch, promoting your business commission-free via Google Free Hotel Links. Drive more direct business and raise brand awareness completely autonomously.

2. Search
Guests can view live PMS availability and rates based on a smart calendar and relevant parameters. This ensures that they have the most up-to-date information when making their booking decisions.

3. Comparison
Guestline DBM provides the most relevant information to compare and book the desired stay. Clear and concise details help guests make informed choices quickly and efficiently.

4. Personalisation
You know just how important the WOW factor is for an unforgettable guest experience.

5. Payment
Guestline DBM allows for secure and compliant payments through its built-in payment gateway. This eliminates any friction in the booking process and ensures a seamless transaction for guests.

6. Confirmation
Once a reservation is made, it is automatically updated in the PMS, and a confirmation email is sent to the booker. This real-time synchronisation ensures accurate booking records and provides guests with immediate confirmation of their reservations.
Guestline's success stories feature hotels and resorts that have effectively implemented DBM and reaped the benefits of increased direct bookings and revenue.

The Hotel Folk, a group of luxury hotels and restaurants located across Suffolk, faced several challenges in their quest to boost direct bookings and establish a seamless guest experience.

 
Challenge
The hotel group needed a scalable system that could accommodate future properties, ensure real-time availability and rates across all properties, and align with their rebranded websites

Solution
To address these challenges, The Hotel Folk implemented Guestline's comprehensive suite of solutions, including Rezlynx PMS, Channel Manager, EPoS, and Direct Booking Manager (DBM).

Results
The implementation of Guestline's solutions brought about significant benefits for The Hotel Folk:
Online revenue increase: Within the first six months of installing DBM on all six hotel websites, sales revenue from rooms and packages experienced a remarkable 30% increase. The simplified and user-friendly guest interface, along with strategic advertising, contributed to higher conversion rates and improved control over closing channels.

Reduced OTA commissions: The surge in direct bookings resulted in a 25% decrease in commissions from Booking.com, saving the group 15% per transaction.

Seamless guest journey: The integration between the online brochure and DBM facilitated real-time pricing updates and comprehensive accommodation details.
Greater staff transferability: Guestline's user-friendly systems allowed for easy training of new staff members and offered the flexibility to seamlessly transfer staff between hotels within the group when needed.

Integrated restaurant bookings: Guests can now make dinner reservations online while booking their rooms, leading to a significant increase in online restaurant bookings. Approximately one-third of restaurant reservations now originate from the hotel group's website.
Reduced administrative burden: The efficiency and automation provided by Guestline's systems significantly reduced manual administrative tasks for the staff. This allowed them to allocate more time to engage with guests.

Improved guest feedback: The integration with GuestRevu, a guest feedback technology, automatically sends follow-up emails to guests two days after check-out, encouraging them to provide feedback on their experience. This consolidated feedback platform enables the hotels to effectively respond, identify areas for improvement, and recognise outstanding staff performance.

Enhanced centralisation: The Hotel Folk's management team gains complete visibility of the group's performance and can assess individual hotel performance based on various variables such as budget, food, and rooms. Automated end-of-day information is seamlessly transferred to a Business Intelligence (BI) tool, empowering the group to make informed decisions and react swiftly if necessary.

David Scott, CEO of The Hotel Folk Group, said, "There’s no doubt we have achieved a return on our investment and are so happy to have made the change. Anything that helps us free up resources to allow our staff to spend time with guests is a winner in my opinion (…) and Guestline enables us to do that by being more efficient and automated."

JW Lees & Co is a prestigious, family-run hospitality business that has been serving customers since its establishment in 1828.

 
Challenge
JW Lees & Co faced the challenge of excessive reliance on OTA bookings. The hotel was concerned about growing monthly commission payments and the domination of OTA search results on Google.

Solution
JW Lees & Co implemented Guestline's DBM Google Connector to address their challenges and achieve their goals.

Results
The main benefits provided are as follows:

Increase in Direct Bookings: Leveraging the DBM Google Connector allowed JW Lees & Co to ensure that a link to their official website appeared when potential guests searched for their properties on Google. This enabled guests to compare prices with OTAs and book directly, reducing the chances of being distracted by competitors' properties seen on OTAs.

Reduction in Monthly Commission Payments: The group's reduced reliance on OTAs, thanks to the increase in direct bookings, is projected to result in estimated savings of £20k in commission payments over a year.

Increased Customer Confidence: With the brand.com website identified as the official website in search results, guests have greater confidence knowing that they are booking directly with JW Lees & Co.

Greater Customer Engagement: By capturing bookings through their own website that would have otherwise gone through an OTA, JW Lees & Co has the opportunity to own the guest relationship, fostering greater engagement and increasing the likelihood of repeat bookings.

Seamless Set-Up: The implementation of the DBM Google Connector was quick and hassle-free. Guestline handled all the work, allowing JW Lees & Co to go live with the solution without any additional effort on their part.

Easy Performance Tracking: JW Lees & Co can easily monitor the effectiveness of the DBM Google Connector in driving traffic and bookings to their website through the Guestline Insights dashboard.

David Cox, Business Support Manager, Hotels & Inns at JW Lees & Co quoted, "Setting up Guestline Google Connector was a swift, hassle-free implementation, the costs of set-up are offset each month with just a handful of direct bookings. Directly, we anticipate savings of £20k over the year in reduced OTA commissions. We get to build brand awareness, own the guest booking, and have the opportunity to build engagement and loyalty with our guests."

Lake District Hotel Group is a renowned collection of seven award-winning hotels and self-catering cottages located in the picturesque Lake District. With a total of 280 rooms, the group has been utilising Guestline's systems for nine years.

 
Challenge
Lake District Hotels faced several challenges that prompted the need for a multi-property operating and booking system:

Efficient Group-wide Management: The group required a centralised system that could streamline operations and provide an overview of the entire group's performance from any location.

Rate Management: They further aimed to manage rates more effectively to optimise bookings and revenue generation.

OTA Commission Reduction: Lake District Hotels sought to drive profitability by increasing direct online bookings through their own website and reducing reliance on OTAs.

Solution
To address these challenges, Lake District Hotels implemented the following solutions provided by Guestline:

Rezlynx PMS: The adoption of Guestline's Rezlynx Property Management System enabled the group to streamline operations and enhance efficiency.

Direct Booking Manager: Lake District Hotels utilised the Direct Booking Manager, which simplified the booking process.

Channel Manager: The integration of a Channel Manager allowed the group to manage rates and availability across multiple channels.

EPoS: The inclusion of an Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) system facilitated seamless transactions and enhanced the guest experience.

Results
The implementation of Guestline's multiproperty PMS solutions delivered several benefits to Lake District Hotel Group:

Increased Online Bookings: Lake District Hotels experienced a 22% year-on-year increase in online bookings through their own website.

Enhanced Rate Management: With the flexibility provided by the systems, the group achieved an approximate £10 increase in Average Room Rate (ARR). They effectively managed rates to maximise revenue during peak seasons and drive occupancy during quieter periods.

Remote Accessibility: Cloud hosting of the systems enabled staff to access the platform from any site, using any device, enhancing flexibility and efficiency.
Higher Occupancy: The group achieved a 9% increase in occupancy over three years simply by employing effective rate management strategies and implementing creative marketing campaigns using the system's email templates.

Daniella Hope, Marketing Director - Lake District Hotel Group, "As many of the processes are automated, we have reduced our admin and been able to concentrate on delivering exceptional customer service. The online booking module has really helped assist in boosting direct bookings, and we're delighted with the group-wide increase of 22% year on year."

Guestline has partnered with Google to provide direct connectivity between Guestline DBM and the search engine. This partnership ensures a real-time feed of your hotel's rates and availability, strengthening your direct distribution and reducing OTA commissions.

The Google free booking links service retrieves your live rates and availability directly from Guestline PMS. When a guest uses Google Search or Google Maps, they will see a link to your official hotel website booking engine (Guestline DBM).

As a result, this allows your potential guests to quickly compare prices against OTAs and proceed directly to your booking page. Google displays your hotel name with the room rate and a badge indicating it is the "official website."

More information: Guests can view more details about your hotel in the search results, including hotel descriptions, photos, reviews, amenities, and "things to know."

Clear call-to-action: A clear link to book is provided, making it easy for them to proceed with their reservation.

Enhanced visibility: The increased visibility provides potential bookers with more information and encourages them to book directly with you.

Increased direct bookings: By connecting Guestline DBM with Google, you can attract more direct bookings, reducing reliance on OTAs and saving on commissions.

Real-time rates and availability: The direct connectivity ensures that Google displays accurate and up-to-date information to potential guests.

Strengthened direct relationship: Engaging guests from their initial search and driving them to your official website enhances the direct relationship between you and your guests.

Having a powerful and efficient online booking engine is essential for driving direct bookings and establishing strong guest relationships.

Guestline DBM offers a comprehensive solution that enhances the guest experience, streamlines operations, and integrates seamlessly with Google's free booking links. And by leveraging this technology and personalisation, hoteliers can differentiate themselves from competitors and achieve long-term success.