We’ve created this guide to help you maximise your property success within the next months, by better catering to the key traveler behaviours based on the Booking.com search analysis.
Here are two key-features to boost your reservations on Booking.com.
1. Make sure your property is ready to welcome travelers over the coming months.
Update your rates and availability for the next months.
More than a third of searches on Booking.com are now for the upcoming three months.
You can increase your visibility in search results and attract early bookers by loading rates and availability well in advance. The more rooms or units you make available, the more travellers you can potentially appeal to.
How to open up the bookings for future dates?
All you need to do is to launch the two Bulk Actions from Vik Channel Manager. This will transmit to Booking.com the information about the availability and rates for the dates you want to open.
In case you don't remember how to launch the two Bulk Actions from your Channel Manager, please follow the steps explained on this tutorial. This is because future dates with no rates or availability defined will not be bookable.
2. Capture demand for upcoming months.
Travelers can’t book what they can’t see.
A significant proportion of the Booking.com searches are for stays of one or two nights.
Short-stay and short-booking-window reservations have increased during Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Yet almost half of connected Vacation Rental on Booking.com don’t show up in travelers’ searches for one-night stays due to length of stay restrictions.
Make your accommodation available for one-night and two-night stays to boost your visibility.
What impact could have a missing short-stay window availability?
- Properties never appear in search results no matter what travelers are searching for.
We call this scenario ‘unbookable due to restrictions’, and it results in zero bookings for accommodation and reduced choice for travelers.
- Properties have reduced visibility in search results.
For example, because a property has set up a restriction that only allows reservations at least one day in advance, while travellers are searching for accommodation they can check into that same day.
- Properties don’t appear in certain search results.
For example, because a property has set up a three-night minimum length of stay restriction, while travellers are searching for one-night and two-night stays.
- Benefits for other properties.
Other comparable properties with fewer restrictions may enjoy more exposure in search results than your property, increasing their brand awareness, market share and performance.
What about issues such as clean costs and last-minute cancellations?
Here's a short list of FAQ that might help you.
“I can’t sell shorter stays because cleaning costs are too high.”
“I can’t sell shorter stays because I get a lot of cancellations, especially at the last minute.”
“I can’t sell shorter stays because I'm afraid of fraudulent bookings or invalid credit cards.”
“I don’t want to be stuck with only one-night bookings, because these create more work for our customer service and payments teams.”
“Offering shorter stays leads to more gaps in my calendar.”
