Why pay high commissions if you can build a direct relationship with your customer? EyeforTravel’s latest research unveils evolving trends in customer behaviour and how travel brands can step up their direct game

From hotels to airlines and restaurants, a big focus today is driving direct bookings and why not? After all, why should you pay commission to a firm for the privilege of selling your inventory if you can own the customer relationship?

To quote from the introduction of EyeforTravel’s latest report - Making Brand.com a Success – Jeremie Catez, a former revenue director for Accor tells it as it is.

“OTAs know that hotels are an excellent source of revenue – [achieving] between 16 and 25% [in profit] margin. It’s better than anything else they are selling on their website; that’s why they’re trying to grab this customer.”

But on the other hand, he says, “moving an OTA customer to brand.com is at least 15% growth in revenue. You do not see the industry achieving this sort of growth anywhere else.”

Of course, Catez is talking about the hotel industry but the push to drive direct bookings in all corners of the travel industry is gathering momentum. Lufthansa’s recent move to slap a 16% charge on all tickets booked via the GDS is the first airline to move more strongly in this direction.

But if you want to drive direct bookings, you need to own the customer relationship and that isn’t easy. Drawing oninsights from senior executives at brands that include Virgin Atlantic
, Novotel/Accor
, Generator Hostels
, Triptease and Hostelworld.com, as well EyeforTravel’s comprehensive digital library, this latest report shares insights into customer behavior trends and what brand.com can do now build direct business.

Here are some of the key findings:

• 57% of customers use an OTA to research travel and 52% then go on to visit brand.com
• 92% of executives reported an increase in conversions when personalisation was used in search engine marketing and 95% saw increases in sales offline
• 22% of consumers are still influenced by search engine optimisation because this first click is where the travel purchase starts
• 55% of customers are willing to have hotels interact with them during their trip, primarily via email
• 30 % are happy to receive mobile notifications
• 82% of travellers are swayed by discounts (offers 76%; upgrades 73%)
• 80.54% of consumers would find offers relevant 
to their current location useful77.92% of consumers would like an email reminder for a previously looked at holiday if it falls in price

And a handful of recommendations are to:

• Test, test, test:That’s the most effective tool for increasing conversions

See what Mark Holt, CTO of trainline.com has to say here on the subject of testing in this fully keyword searchable presentation   

• Keep it simple: Reduce the number of pages in the path to purchase, ensure call centres answer promptly and that mobile sites are optimised
• Personalise with a capital P: If you do you will see an increase in conversions
• Wield influence with social media: It’s second only to friends and family when it comes to influencing people so make it beautiful and shareable

Take a look at this fully keyword searchable presentation from Dorianne Richelle, Facebook’s Travel Lead on the making the most of social media

• Support the multichannel: Advertising is necessary as sharing images on social media will not convert alone. Use native advertising in each channel, followed by retargeted advertising
• Gather data and show evidence: If your customers are taking up offers and ancillaries, know what those are so that future offers can be optimised and coordinated with social media. You need to be clear from the start that the brand site always offers the best deal and back this up with evidence.

Why not download the report and others from EyeforTravel to find out more