Little Hotelier’s booking engine can help you capture more direct bookings, own guest relationships from the start, and boost your revenue with special offers, seasonal promotions, and loyalty discounts.
Here are some tips to help you maximise value from your booking engine and attract more direct bookings.
Connect your booking engine with your website
Create a seamless booking experience by integrating Little Hotelier’s booking engine with your website. This maintains consistent property branding and builds trust with potential guests, increasing the chances they will make a direct booking.
Most guests prefer booking online — if they can't easily find your booking engine, they may instead book through an online travel agency (OTA) or choose another property.
The Little Hotelier booking engine is optimised for mobile, making it convenient for travellers searching and booking on mobile devices, particularly for last-minute reservations.
Showcase your property with high-quality images
Great images are crucial for converting visitors into guests. Grab your visitors’ attention and give them a clear picture of what they can expect to help them feel confident to book your property.
Tips:
Upload professional, high-quality images that showcase your property's unique features (Setup > Media library)
Include photos that show both interior and exterior views
Assign at least three images to each room type, including bathroom photos
Add an eye-catching banner image to your booking engine (Direct Booking > Configuration > Branding)
Update your content
Maintain accurate and detailed information to provide a true representation of your property’s amenities, services and features.
Room type (Rooms and rates > Room types)
Add clear room type names
Include concise 2-3 sentence descriptions highlighting the room type’s key features
Add all room amenities and features
Focus on unique selling points like great views or special amenities
Property (Setup > Property settings)
Detail all property facilities and services
Include parking and transportation information
Add check-in and check-out times
List your terms, conditions, and privacy policy
Add your cancellation policies (Direct Booking > Configuration > Cancellation settings)
Implement strategic pricing and promotions
Use promo codes
Promotion codes can help attract both new and loyal customers while driving direct bookings.
Offer exclusive discounts for direct bookings (Direct Booking > Promotion codes)
Encourage guests to return and share promo codes in post-stay emails
Advertise and distribute direct booking promo codes through social media channels
Create loyalty program promotions for guests who book direct
Offer discounted rates and packages
Create dynamic discounts to encourage more direct bookings. (Rooms and rates > Rate plans).
Offer early-bird rates with flexible cancellation policies
Create last-minute rates with non-refundable deposits
Offer stay-pay deals with discounted nights
Build unique package deals for guests who book direct — for example, deals that include entry to nearby events and attractions, early check-in/late check-out options, or restaurant packages
Monitor and maintain competitive rates and availability
Regularly review and update your rates against market conditions
Optimise your rate plans and packages for maximum conversion
Monitor and review cancellation policies and restrictions
Monitor competitor rates to price competitively and convert more bookings
Boost your digital presence
Social media
Use your social media channels to gain visibility:
Link your booking engine to social media platforms
Share direct booking promotions
Create engaging content to showcase your property
Include clear calls-to-action for direct bookings
Emails and guest communication (Direct Booking > Configuration > Guest communications)
Creating pre-arrival and post-departure e-mails is a great way to build customer loyalty and own the relationship.
Thank your guests for choosing and staying at your property
Include upsell opportunities
Request guest preferences
Offer direct booking incentives for future stays
Request guest feedback
Share special offers for return visits
Guest Engagement can also help you directly communicate with your guests before, during and after their stay at your property.
Set up your Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is a free business listing that appears in Google’s search results when a potential guest searches for your property.
Why create a Google Business Profile?
Be visible on Google Maps
Stand out from your direct competitors in the area
Direct potential guests straight to your website to book directly
In your Google Business Profile, you can provide key details about your property, including location, operating hours, amenities and contact details. You can also upload photos to attract travellers to your website. To set up your Google Business Profile, follow these steps in Google’s guide for hoteliers.
Connect to high performing travel sites and metasearch engines
Connect to Demand Plus to appear on Google Hotel Ads, Trivago, and TripAdvisor — and reach millions of travellers actively searching for accommodation. Reduce your reliance on OTAs and increase your revenue by driving guests to book directly on your website.