Your direct channel and guest engagement: how they go hand in hand

North Star Hotel has been partnering with THN since 2018; not only to refine their direct booking experience, but to ensure they deliver the right message to the right people at the right time. The hotel has been proactively working to build a strong direct channel in order to regain the direct relationship with guests.

Partnering with the team at GuestJoy, we have explored the relationship between direct channel bookings and online guest engagement. Performed with the cooperation of The North Star Hotel, we examined a years’ data to analyze the activity of direct bookers online.

Findings

It is clear that those visitors who convert directly on the North Star Hotel website were significantly more active and engaged with special offers, services, and the hotel brand itself. After understanding the correlation between direct bookings and guest engagement, it reinforces the importance of planning a mindful direct channel strategy. Equipping themselves with digital tools to convert lookers to bookers as well as perfecting the post-booking experience, not only is the North Star Hotel able to boost direct bookings and increase ancillary revenue, but also gain quality reviews from guests.

Tools

Personalizing the user experience

Personalization is all about showing hyper-relevant content at critical moments to create an engaging user experience. With this in mind, North Star Hotel launched a series of Smart Notes for different types of visitors at various touch-points along the booking journey.

Displaying relevant offers

Drawing attention to the offer right from the moment the visitor landed on the website with a Welcome Layer, the property was able to offer guests what they were looking for. By adding a countdown clock to the message, they successfully created a sense of urgency to help nudge users towards making a booking.

Download the full PDF to discover the full story.