There’s one thing that every hotel has in common—they all need bookings. And for independent hotels, this is often tied to the need for increased exposure. To solve both problems, many hotels have turned to Rate Connect, a product within trivago Business Studio that allows hoteliers to advertise their direct rates to millions of travelers on trivago.
Let’s look at how one independent hotel was able to boost its visibility and increase direct bookings by implementing a Rate Connect campaign into its hotel marketing strategy.
Cavallino Lovely Hotel
Cavallino Lovely Hotel is a 4-star, 33 room property located in the picturesque holiday town of Andalo, Italy. Its location is unbeatable, with its proximity to the Brenta Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the surrounding Paganella Plateau.
The hotel is known for its extensive wellness center, equipped with an indoor pool, two types of saunas, a Turkish bath, and a gym. The combination of its location and wellness facilities makes it an ideal location for a variety of travelers, such as adventure-seekers, spa lovers, and families looking for a range of activities.
Their challenge
Yet even with all the amenities, the hotel found it increasingly difficult to attract new customers. Not only that, but it was a struggle to determine which customers to target and where to target them. And it wasn’t the only hotel facing this issue, in recent years many independent hotels have been working to find a solution to this problem.
However, it’s become overwhelmingly clear where the answer doesn’t lie. According to EHL, one of the world’s leading hospitality management universities, “Distribution channels should never be limited to OTAs. Hotels need to diversify the way they reach out to potential hotel customers in order to succeed.”
That’s why Andrea Zanolli, the Rate Management Consultant at Cavallino Lovely Hotel, knew that he needed to find a product that would allow the hotel to be less reliant on OTAs and rather create direct relationships with its guests.
The solution: Rate Connect
The first step in Andrea’s quest for a solution was to conduct research and analysis on what resources he already had and what type of product he would need. After careful deliberation, he determined that Rate Connect was the best fit for the hotel’s needs.
When discussing the onboarding process with a trivago account manager, he learned that they would need to implement a channel manager and booking engine to connect to trivago. This led him to partner with Simple Booking as a connectivity provider and allowed the hotel to begin its journey with Rate Connect.
Promote your official direct rates to boost bookings
The results
After using Rate Connect for twelve months, the results showed definitive success. Andrea told us that, “Rate Connect now drives 30% of our annual direct booking revenue, which is 3% of our total annual revenue.”
An additional benefit was that their visibility increased by 500% on trivago’s platform, helping them to gain more exposure and increase their audience.
Three tips for Rate Connect success
Ready to learn from their success? We asked Andrea for his top three tips for achieving success with Rate Connect.
1. Take back control from OTAs
If you don’t want to let OTAs have all the power, you need a distribution channel, like trivago, that lets you stay in control. By increasing your visibility on trivago with a tool like Rate Connect, you can send qualified traffic directly to your booking page.
2. Strategize with your trivago account manager
Utilize the help of your trivago account manager with your Rate Connect strategy and pricing. For example, they can help you to determine the optimal bidding strategy for your desired results.
3. Update your trivago hotel profile details
Make sure that your hotel profile content is updated in your Property Details app within your Business Studio. This includes things like recent photos of your facilities, an attractive description of your hotel, and a detailed list of your amenities, which will help to grab the attention of travelers on trivago.
Rate Connect resources
Has this success story inspired you to learn more about how to boost your hotel’s visibility with Rate Connect? We’ve gathered some resources for you, where you can learn more about what Rate Connect is and how to run a successful Rate Connect campaign.
There are several articles on our blog that contain a lot of valuable Rate Connect information, including:
