How to increase hotel direct bookings through video content

Learn how to increase OTA search conversion and direct bookings with your own video library 

Your guests can be your most powerful marketing tool or your biggest detractors. Their experience starts the moment they start looking for their ideal hotel online.

Consumers are increasingly looking for social proof in their travel inspiration and validation. Many travellers in all age groups look to user-generated content (UGC) for guidance and ideas. The importance of authenticity is at an all-time high as consumers have higher trust in UGC.  Guests feedback, reviews and relevant data can be also used as valuable input and guidance for future decisions and in marketing at your property. 

Video is a powerful new way of searching online. Did you know that YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month, making it second after Google! Most properties are listed on at least 100 booking sites which offer a great opportunity. However, hotels are currently absent from video searches and as a result missing out on potential business.

In the webinar produced by Vloggi, we cover how to increase bookability, online exposure and convert a higher percentage of potential guests to actual customers with video.

Watch the 2019 webinar or download our eBook on How to maximise hotel book ability through video content.

Vloggi works with independent hoteliers to make authentic videos from their guests’ own footage. For example, many hotels do neighbourhood profiles using tips from their guests. 

Key takeaways

• How to turn your guests into your most powerful marketing tool
• How to increase direct bookings and OTA conversion with video
• How to provide authentic ‘social proof’ content for potential guests by giving them inspiration, validation, guidance and ideas
• How to attract video content contributors

Speakers:

• Mike Sager, VP Global Customer Success, Siteminder
• Satu Raunola-Spencer, Director, Vloggi

The importance of visual content and especially the use of video in online marketing and social media has exploded in recent years. A Facebook executive has predicted that the social media platform will be all video by 2021*.

YouTube is now the world’s second-largest search engine and second most visited site after Google. It is also the 2nd most popular social media platform with 1.9bn users.

But many of the kinds of travel-related searches on either Google Video or YouTube go unanswered as travel videos tend to be generic, whereas searches are specific. Travel companies now need to incorporate video in their social marketing strategies to reach those searching YouTube.

• Images are the single biggest content type on social media for travel channels (Ofcom, 2017) 
• 100 million hours of video content are watched on Facebook daily (Facebook, 2016) 
• 20% of people will read the text on a page, but 80% of people will watch a video (MyMSN, 2017) 
• After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to book a tour or attraction online (Forbes, 2017) 
• Studies show that people have the ability to recall 65% of the visual content that they see almost three days later (Hubspot 2019)

5 tips for successful customer engagement through regular user-generated video