My plan is to keep this one short… We’ve explored in recent months the impact a solid integrated booking engine and booking system can have on your direct booking revenue, but now it’s time to talk a bit about how the specific features can be used from day one to give you that increase. 

We’re now ramping up to the festive season beginning and now is the time to ensure your booking system, and the features it has supporting you, is as efficient and as performant as the brand you have created. November can be a quiet month for occupancy but with Inn Style you have the tools to smash open the cookie jar of direct bookings.

It’s also time to start taking that brand you’ve lovingly created and driving your own direct market efforts forward in order that you benefit from the opportunity as much as you can. 

Increase the opportunity to sell on your website and integrated booking engine…

Let’s start with a little recap as to how the Inn Style’s integrated booking engine features can help generate additional revenue, signpost special deals and increase booking numbers. 

Firstly, Inn Style’s integrated booking engine journeys are entirely focused on turning those website lookers into accommodation bookers. With multiple journeys, which can be used in conjunction with one another, we really are the number one engine for conversions in the UK. 

Right, so now people can book in multiple customisable journeys, let’s talk about how Inn Style’s integrated booking engine helps generate increased direct booking numbers, upsell your extra and draw bookers into the funnel…

Let’s focus first on getting bookers into the funnel. It goes without saying that everyone loves a special offer. Setting up a Promo for quieter months or days of the week will entice your guests to book. These can be run in line with your social media & email campaigns to ensure maximum coverage. Why not utilise eyecatchers too to get those new website visits interested in booking from the moment they land on your website. Use eye-catchers for anything you want to promote to your guests, such as new promotions, selling gift vouchers or advertising upcoming events.

If you are intending to provide a special rate, for example to guests who have stayed previously via an email campaign, secret closures allow you to create a specific rate with a unique secret code that only allows the guests with the code to book. We love creating simple yet effective ways for our owners to generate extra revenue for quieter periods or when occupancy isn’t where they want it to be, secret codes is the ideal solution for users wanting to remedy that

Want to help guests make someone else’s day? With Inn Style’s integrated booking engine, owners can allow guests to purchase gift vouchers or refund a guest’s stay to secure the booking. Gift vouchers are great in generating additional cash flow for your accommodation by securing guaranteed revenue, future bookings and increasing the appetite for repeat customers. Why not make the most of this feature by showcasing gift vouchers on your website, utilising the customisable design feature…

One thing that helps properties stand out from the crowd is their ability to offer bespoke extras to the guest’s stay. With Inn Style’s integrated booking engine optional extras feature, you can upsell these extras easily as part of the booking journey and generate additional revenue from each booking. We’ve seen these utilised in so many different ways, bottles of champagne for special occasions or hampers of locally sourced produce, there’s no end to what owners can use this feature for. 

I’ve saved my favourite for last… Guests sometimes cancel their reservations or fail to show up for their stay. The Waiting List feature gives you the ability to quickly fill these open rooms by offering them to other guests who have shown booking intent through the integrated booking engine on your website. This epic feature provides a better occupancy rate and reduces revenue losses for you.

It’s time to push folks into the funnel…

Ok so how do you go about it? Well fortunately we’ve recently watched a UK customer, who will remain unnamed, enact EXACTLY how to benefit from Inn Style’s integrated booking engine features. They followed some simple steps and utilised the features at their disposal and benefited greatly from doing so. Rather than waiting until the end of this story for that outcome, I’ll give you the figures now… On the first day of them enacting the below, the accommodation received 18 bookings. 

Step 1 – download the reservation report from Inn Style under “insights”.

Step 2 – setup a promo on Inn Style with a third night being free when booking for two.

Step 3 – add an eyecatcher to the booking journey, helping guide new guests into the same promotion.

Step 4 – setup social media channels to post about the offer.

Step 5 – send a simple email shot to the previous customer list.

Step 6 – Wait for the magic to happen!

The above steps are simple, and every owner using Inn Style’s integrated booking engine can very easily follow this recipe for success. We love sharing the times our customers do an amazing job, what’s more is that in this case anyone with Inn Style at their fingertips can do exactly the same thing. The data is yours, the brand is yours, the system is at your disposal – all you have to do is get the ball rolling.

With Autumn being a great time to benefit from long weekend stays, it’s time to make the switch to Inn Style’s integrated booking engine and then utilise all the tools we provide you with to maximise your direct bookings. If you like what you see and want to demo the Inn Style system give us a shout here or email john@innstyle.co.uk. If you are already a customer and would like help with implementing any of the above, all you have to do is ask…

If you have any further questions, please do reach out to us via the chat facility within Inn Style or email team@innstyle.co.uk.