The document discusses strategies for generating more direct bookings for hotels, emphasizing the importance of a well-designed website and an integrated booking engine. It highlights Availpro's growth and features, noting that they have facilitated the sale of 10 million nights since their founding. Key recommendations include optimizing for mobile and social media, enhancing search engine visibility, and utilizing various distribution channels effectively.

1. Generate more Direct Bookings
Prague – Tuesday 21st November, 2012
Gregor Halek

2. Summary
Who is Availpro
What is our mission
How can you generate more direct bookings? Your website must …
be well built & designed
be well positioned in Google
have a high quality and integrated booking engine
have a booking engine mobile and Facebook compliant
Receive qualified traffic
Availpro references

3. Who is Availpro
Availpro in a few figures
Availpro in a few dates
• 11 years of existence now!
• 2001: Availpro was created by Philippe Lamarche and
Sebastien Boher • Since being founded, 10 million nights were sold and
managed through Availpro. Represents 1 billion € of
• 2003: The software is launched. First hotel user is the turnover for the hotels
Hôtel Maubeuge in Paris
• 2003: The Online money collection is proposed on the • En 2010 solely , 240 millions € were manageed through
booking engine Availpro
• 2004: Connexion to the Booking.com distributor site
• Availpro’s turnover is in constant growth.
• 2008: The 2 million of nights sold is reached +60% en 2010, +36% in 2011
• 2009: Successful launch of new version of the extranet • More than 7,500 clients worldwide.
60% of the independent hotels in Paris use us!
• 2010: Opening of international branches:
UK, Spain, Portugal…
• We collaborate with more than 300 partners (distributor
• 2011: Availpro celebrates its 10th anniversary and sites, web agencies, PMS providers)
launches its Facebook booking engine
• 2012: Availpro launches its Direct Click & RateScreener • A team of 50 people at your service
+ Availpro opens offices in Czech Republic and Poland

4. Our mission: simplify the life of hoteliers
Thanks to Availpro, the hotelier will benefit from:
Booking engines which optimise the sales on your website, Facebook page
An automatic access to the distribution sites and systems (no waste of time)
A centralised management of your offer which results in optimisation of your sales, prices
Inventory of
4 single……………..120 €
your hotel
7 double ……………..
147 €
3 suite …………….. 180 €

5. How can you generate more direct bookings
Your website must …
1. be well built & designed
2. be well positioned in Google
3. have a top quality booking engine
4. have a booking engine mobile and Facebook compliant
5. receive qualified traffic

6. 1. Your website must be well built and designed
Find the right balance between photos and text
Homepage
Make sure the right amount of space
is given to both photos and text
Room description page
The texts should be attractive
and written with guests’ needs in mind
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7. 1. Your website must be well built and designed
Integrate quality photos on your website
On the description pages…
> for rooms > for services
as well as on the homepage
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8. 1. Your website must be well built and designed
Comprehensive information
Description of the rooms and services
 Exhaustive information
 Descriptions, photos and list of
amenities for each type of room
and service
 Be attentive towards translation
 Specify room sizes
> Descriptif des services et équipements
 Mention facilities
+ How to get to the hotel  … logically organized
 … swiftly accessible
 … and not oversold ;)
An idea for anticipating questions:
FAQ
SOS Jargon :
FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions
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9. 1. Your website must be well built and designed
Show the hotel on Google Maps
Show the hotel’s location on Google Maps and include the hotel website address
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10. 2. Your website must be well listed in Google
Search Engine Optimization SOS Jargon :
SEO = Search Engine
Optimisation
Your website must be designed / written with natural indexing in mind:
• Define your brand and make it coherent throughout the websites and media
• Use your brand for keywords
• Check the coherence of the text content
• Respect the current technical rules for indexing (restricted Flash)
• Track traffic on your website (Google Analytics)
CAUTION: ”miracle” tips do not exist or are short-lived, and they can be risky.

11. 2. Your website must be well listed in Google
Good use of Google (SEO/SEM)
Example of a search using
the hotel name
Distributor’s site
Natural indexing of official
site
E-reputation
Distributor’s site

12. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Integrate the booking option which suits best your site and your wishes
Different booking personalisation options are available:
Block format Strip format

13. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Integrate a “Book” button on every page
Visitors to your site should be able to book at any moment!
The simpler the booking process is, the more people will be encouraged to proceed.
The hotel’s location page Room description page
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14. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Integrate a dynamic rates page
A dynamic rates page that can be completely tailored to suit your graphic design
Different page formats available depending on the hotel offer
You can highlight packages and special offers, or show availability by rate with a calendar view
perfect for hotels with several distinct rates
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15. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Automatically show today’s date
The current date should
always appear in the mini
booking engine and on the
main search page
This function is standard with our basic booking engine.
If you personalise yours, make sure you keep this option.
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16. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Unify the booking experience in order to increase conversion rates
A booking engine page where every detail can be tailored to suit your graphic design
A variety of different graphic themes
on offer
Different page sizes:
600 or 800 pixels wide

17. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Install Google Analytics and Adwords
In your Availpro booking engine, feel free to install:
analytics trackers so you can
follow your site’s performance
up to booking
adwords trackers to optimise
your campaigns
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18. 3. Your website must have a top quality booking engine
Availpro’s booking engine main features
Main features
14 language interfaces available
Possibility to create multiple rates and sales conditions
Tailor made creation and management of extras
Optimum positioning of the packages
Booking request option: Hotels can still receive booking request even if there is no more availabilities
Dedicated and B to B and Corporate access
Multi-property functionality in order to propose your entire offer on one website
Exclusive: Possibility to sell a cancellation insurance on your website. Quick back for you!

19. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
New distribution plateforms arise: mobile, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Trivago…
Your booking sites Your social medias
More to come soon…

20. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
New client usage are compelling you to adapt to it
So Lo Mo
+social +local +mobile
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21. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Develop direct bookings through Social Medias
Facebook DirectClick
Booking Engine Manager
(more to come…)

22. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Social media explosion
Social media growth
Internet users now spend
more time on Facebook than
on Google search…
Facebook reached
1,000,000,000 users
Google + reached
100,000,000 users

23. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Google Search becomes Social

24. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
The leading players integrate Social networks
+
TripAdvisor integrates Facebook:
• Friend recommendations
• Sharing opinions with friends
on Facebook…
• …opinions which are then
passed on to Tripadvisor.com
Booking.com:
Secret Deals to book
for Fans only!

25. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Social = recommendation one of the 3 keys of online booking
• TripAdvisor is the worldwide
leading travel site
• Opinions are integrated in all
booking websites (eg:
Description Reviews
Booking.com)
Price
Don’t leave the field to the big players!
Your hotel can compete with them on the social medias. Here is how…

26. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
The viral strength of Social Booking
1 fan  130 friends*
1,260 fans  163 800 friends
…informed for free.
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* Facebook statistics

27. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Start building a fan community of your own and transform them into ambassadors
Recruit ambassadors – your fans
– With Facebook, you can create a page for your hotel free
of charge: a Fan page
– By clicking on the Like button on your page, your fans:
• Let their friends know that they “Like” your hotel
• Register your hotel in their “interests”
• Receive all the information you post on Facebook
Encourage Social Booking by offering special treatment for your fans

28. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Turn your Facebook page into a social booking network
What is Social Booking?
 When booking is
Fan rate recommended by a friend via
for fans a social network.
only
To encourage Social Booking
recommendation:
 Allow your fans and their
friends to book directly via
your Fan page
 Give them a special,
privileged offer
The Availpro engine is directly integrated into your Facebook page

29. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Place your direct booking engine on TripAdvisor and trivago
Your booking engine appears
under the
“Official website” name
with a click on Show Prices
Your direct hotel booking
engine is highlighted in the
“View Deal” section.

30. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Place your direct booking engine on TripAdvisor and trivago
• Qualified visitors guaranteed!
• Visitors can directly book on
your booking engine
• No distributor commission fee
but based on a Pay Per Click model.
With a Comprehensive Report
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31. So Lo Mo
+social +local +mobile

32. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Mobile penetration
The first internet terminal will be mobile
More smartphone &
tablet internet users
than on computer in
2014
Morgan Stanley study
Forecasted before the
introduction of the
iPad…
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33. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Again, the big players are there…
iPad app
Distributors adapt…
Website
Mobile app
Mobile site

34. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Hoteliers also adapt!
The Hotel La Belle Juliette **** example
Website Mobile site
Mobile app

35. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
What is the impact on the Distribution?
Smaller screens
Tactile interface
Offers need to
Weaker connections be simplified
Less time for mobile
situations
The simplification of offers is becoming a trend
in all environments

36. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Enter the mobile universe with Availpro
The Availpro Mobile booking engine:
• An interface designed for tactile screens
• A simplified offer and process
• An iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry
compatibility
• And also:
– Personalized design
– Available in 14 languages
– Online payment
– Complete integration to Availpro

37. So Lo Mo
+social +local +mobile
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38. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Your hotel has a local page on many sites (even if you don’t know it)
Google Local in Google Maps,
Google Search and now Google+
Facebook Places
Yelp: now, on iPhone Maps
Etc.
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39. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Google local becomes more important with their integration in Google+
Local Pages are now
included in Google+
You can merge your
Google Local page
with your Google+
Page (postcard
verification).

40. 4. Position your booking engine on emerging channels
Improve the local pages of your hotel!
• An updated website address
• An unchanged telephone
number
• On Google+ Local
• An accurate localization
• On Facebook Places
• Any additional information
And if you have time… ;)
that can be added!
A Direct link to your website and your Web & Mobile
Booking Engines

41. Once your presence on each direct channels
ensured, you need to develop the traffic on it…

42. 5. Drag more qualified and direct visitors to your site
Billboard effect and marketing activities
Search engine Search engine Marketing
Billboard effect
optimization marketing activities
Done Done Te be done Te be done
Web
Facebook
Mobile
sites

43. 5. Drag more qualified and direct visitors to your site
Billboard effect: expose your offer everywhere
Your websites Your Internet distributors Your social medias
By presenting their offer on distribution sites, hoteliers can increase their direct
Web booking by 7.5% to 14.1% (Center for Hospitality Research, Cornell U. study)

44. 5. Drag more qualified and direct visitors to your site
Marketing activities
• Flyers
• Brochures
• Special offers
• Emailings
• QR Codes
… are still valid actions !
Integrate the Availpro booking button
in all your online activities when possible.

45. Availpro simplifies the life of hoteliers
Your hotel
website
4 single….119 €
2 double….149 €
1 suite….179 €
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46. A single interface to manage your ENTIRE distribution
Homepage Rate plans and sales conditions
Price and availability planning Statistics
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47. Thank you for your attention!
... Any questions or comments?
We are available for you after the conference
Jennifer Frederiksen
Directrice des ventes
jfrederiksen@availpro.com
01 58 62 58 15