Ways to increase your occupancy
Know your market, watch the competition, use the promotion tools the OTAs already give you and win more bookings directly. Practical ways for hotels, hostels and B&Bs to fill more beds.
Raising occupancy is a daily job for every hotel, hostel and B&B owner. Each property has its own approach, and sometimes the revenue still falls short. A strategy that pays takes some work to build, but the starting points are the same everywhere.
Know your market and your competition
Begin with the guests you want to attract: who they are, why they travel and how they book. Then look around you. See what nearby properties charge, what they promote and when. Small changes made at the right moment can make a real difference.
Never assume you have no competition. Every property has some, and ignoring it costs you in the long run. Calling yourself the best in town is not a strategy. Knowing why guests choose the place next door is.
Give guests a reason to book now
Promotions and packages give travellers a reason to pick you for a particular date. Build them around holidays and occasions such as Valentine's Day, Christmas, New Year, national holidays and local festivals. A package that pairs the room with breakfast, a dinner or a tour is easier to promote than a plain discount.
Use the tools the OTAs already have
The easiest place to start is the OTAs where you are already listed, such as Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and Hostelworld. They come with promotion tools built in, so a deal can be live within minutes.
Some of these tools trade a higher commission for a better position. Booking.com's Visibility Booster lets you offer extra commission on check-in dates you choose, in return for a higher place in search results, and you only pay the extra on bookings that actually come in. It is most useful on dates you are struggling to fill, such as the low season, when competition for the guests who are travelling is strongest.
Hostelworld has something similar for hostels. Its Elevate programme lets you raise your commission for a time to move up among similar properties, and you can adjust the level depending on where your competitors rank.
Treat these as tools for specific dates, not a permanent setting. Check the result each time: the extra commission should buy bookings you would not have had otherwise.
Win more bookings directly
Every booking that comes through your own channels, such as your website or your social media profiles, saves you the OTA commission. Be active on the social platforms your guests use, and make booking direct both easy and worth it.
A simple way to do that is a perk for booking direct, such as a small discount on your own site, mentioned on your profiles. The guest pays less and you still keep more than you would after commission. Before you set it up, check the rate parity terms in your OTA contracts, which differ from country to country.
Keep in mind that the OTAs are still likely to bring most of your reservations. The aim is a healthy balance between them and your own channels, not a choice of one over the other.
Where thelobbyboy helps
thelobbyboy's booking engine takes commission-free bookings on your website and social profiles, with promo codes and discount rules for campaigns, repeat guests or the low season, and a booking link you can send on WhatsApp, Viber or Messenger. The channel manager keeps rates and availability in sync across the OTAs, including per-bed pricing for hostels and dorms, and the reports show what each channel brings in and what it costs you in commission.