Forum Moderators: skibum
I have one "only hotels" web site targeting one fairly limited geographic market - Singapore. The links are HotelClub. They/I/we have converted less than 0.5% of unique click throughs.
I have recently added Lodging.com links to another (new) site that is segment targeted. The traffic is low, but no ceegars at all. And on this site I have done some okay paragraph, photo, descriptions of my own. The links go to individual property pages, but when I test I get lots of "nothing available at that property on that date" windows.
This site is targeted at a specific subset of resorts worldwide .. generally about 4 - 8 properties per page. Plus there is some fairly decent targeted content on the site.
Any advice from the folks who have experience with Lodging.com or the above issues?
The links go to individual property pages, but when I test I get lots of "nothing available at that property on that date" windows.
I think that is the single biggest problem with most accommodation sites and their associated affiliate programs.
It's all well and good to get the user to click through, but it becomes pointless if there is no availability. OK if the hotel is full at the time, there is nothing you can do about it, but often it is just a case of the hotel/hostel/guesthouse not being switched on enough to enter availability into the system.
Once a user has this experience with one or two properties, are they going to even bother clicking on a third one? or even remain on your site for that matter?
We work with three hotel programmes (not lodging or hotelclub) and one in particular has a lot of problems like this, we badger them about it, and they badger the guesthouse/hotel, but at the end of the day, if the property doesn't enter some availability, the link becomes a means to lose money and turn away customers rather than gain it in our opinion.
In the end we contacted one of the places directly and asked what was going on - they replied saying they weren't interested in getting bookings that way - they prefer to use faxes. We removed their booking link immediately, but how many others are there like that in the system?!
The consolidator in question doesn't have an easy interface to see availability across all properties (short of checking each one individually) - using the above example, I can see why that is the case.
That is the key question for me. I believe it's better to have fewer associations/links and have links that at least give the chance to convert.
I have different affiliates for different regions. I have good experience with my Asia provider and I won't let another provider run my users away ... if I can help it.
I have no idea how may times a user will try before giving up. If I were guessing I would say 2-3.
"or even remain on your site for that matter?"
That is the problem the booking engines don't seem to care about. They seem to be playing a quantity over quality game.
Does anyone have recommended providers that don't force their own page designs, menues, etc? I also don't like working with a 3rd party such as CJ or Linkshare.
"In the end we contacted one of the places directly and asked what was going on - they replied saying they weren't interested in getting bookings that way - they prefer to use faxes."
Sort of makes you wonder why they signed up in the first place. :)
"We removed their booking link immediately, but how many others are there like that in the system?!"
Difficult to contact each and every one of them. But that's what the BE is supposed to do.
Any recommendations? Sticky mail, please.
They/I/we have converted less than 0.5% of unique click throughs.
I've been a hotel affiliate for about 6 years or so and that conversion rate seems about right to me.
Much of it has to do with the nature of Internet hotel shoppers. They don't realize that most of the rate and resrvation info is pulled from the same couple of databases and will be comparable all across the board. They're simply obsessed with the question "Are we getting the best rate?" and will shop 'til they drop.
There are some things you can do to help your conversion rates:
Many res systems give a rate range that are a low to high over the year. Depending on the number of properties you handle, you might want to go into the system on a monthly or seasonal basis (seasonal seems to work) and nail down the rates for say, the next three months. So, instead of showing a rate range of "$59 to $499" you might show the more reasonable Miami in January rate of "$249 to $499." Folks trying to find that $79 room won't click through to the availability page and be disappointed and high tail it off to another site (Where they'll most likely find the same thing and the unconverted clicks continue).
Similarly, may properties use Internet-based services on a seasonal basis to drive traffic only during their slack times. It helps to take these links down in order not to waste your visitors' time.
Similarly (again), if you're dealing in a specific locality, try to stay abreast of what's happening. Republican convention coming to town? Two thousand webmasters at the Vegas Hilton? Anything that might have a big impact on availability.
Well, I lost my train of thought after taking a couple of phone calls. Think I'll take my own advice and make a quick run through my hotel section.
"Depending on the number of properties you handle, you might want to go into the system on a monthly or seasonal basis (seasonal seems to work) and nail down the rates"
I' don't know what that means, especially "nail down the rates"
"for say, the next three months."
"So, instead of showing a rate range of "$59 to $499" you might show the more reasonable Miami in January rate of "$249 to $499." "
The problem I'm concerned about is non availability. I actually don't show rates on my blurbs. I may be wrong, but I figure if the user is interested, and a realistic customer, they will already have some idea of the rates for a property.
"Folks trying to find that $79 room won't click through to the availability page and be disappointed and high tail it off to another site"
That may be true, but if someone is pinching pennies, the types of sites that I publish probably won't interest them.
As for conversions, several of my sites (not with lodging.com or hotelclub.com links) convert a much higher % of queries, especially when considering so many of them are not available. Problem is, those providers cover a limited geography.
I'm needing a good provider for mid to high end (but competitive) properties in the US, Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, Europe, Caribbean, parts of Asia. And we don't mind using numerous providers since we do individual hotel links and develop many of our own hotel pages.
We are thinking seriously about building our own booking engine. The problem with other regions, I don't know how to connect with the various providers / wholesalers.
What I suggest is you experiment with different markets (countries, states, cities) until you find a niche that works for you. I started out by working on Florida (a big tourism state in the USA) and half of my reservations are for destinations in this state.
You will find that information is hard to come by, on a delicate subject like your original question.
Also the subject is complicated by what really counts is what you get paid, which depends not just on conversion rate, but also lots of other factors like percentage paid out, recovery rate, time to pay you, data base of hotels, etc.
All you can do is try several different affiliate systems and see how they work for you. In the end it comes down to traffic, the more traffic you have, the more you earn :-(
And I see you are still in Chaing Mai ;)
BTW, no longer Chiang Mai, now down on a beach. :)
Please notice that little window on your landing page. It goes with those graphics offering "member bonuses"
I am the affiliate marketing manager for HotelClub. HotelClub offers a lifetime commission deal for members, so if the user becomes a member after coming through your affiliate link, we pay you for all his/her bookings forever.
If you are our affiliate and have low conversions, please contact me so we can work at it
For any further information, please contact me on yuryg@hotelclub.com
Yury Glikin
I guess the important phrase in Yury's comment is:
"so if the user becomes a member after coming through your affiliate link"
which seems to infer that if the user became a member through affiliate site A and books a room through affiliate site B, then site B gets nothing despite the fact they bagged the sale while site A gets the commission.
I fail to see how this is a particularly hot idea for affiliates in general...
I guess what we'll see is a mad rush of affiliates trying to get users to join HotelClub's "member bonus" program, as longer term that becomes far more worthwhile than flogging rooms, because whoever bags the membership gets all future sales regardless of which site they were purchased through.
Please correct me if I've missed something here...
I think you just found the sticky date in the preverbial pudding...
> Wilksie
