Eric Oppegaard
The first in our “Why use GDS placement to increase hotel bookings?” series looks into how placement of a property in an availability list or booking window impacts revenue and overall room nights.
Before we dive in, be sure to visit our ultimate guide to hotel marketing to access an all-encompassing rundown of hotel marketing trends, data points, and insights.
Why Use GDS Placement To Increase Hotel Bookings?
First Seen, First Responded?
A quick search online reveals several statistics about the value of placement in search rankings:
- The first ranked result receives over 35% of the traffic.
- The top three ranked results receive nearly 60% of all traffic.
- 94% of searchers clicked a result on the first page, with less than 6% clicking to the second page of results and selecting a link there.
We know these facts to be true when we think about how a hotel manages and responds to online RFPs via Amadeus’ Sales & Event software. Considering this from another perspective, we wondered if this same applies for when a property is being viewed on a multi-property hotel display.
The Investigation Begins
With the assistance of an external consultant, a sampling of data was evaluated to determine if there are general increases in key areas after properties enroll in Amadeus Instant Preference (AIP) which preferentially places hotel listings among booking and availability lists. Overall we examined results in the areas of Hotel Bookings, Room Nights and Revenues. In this first part of our series we will discuss Hotel Bookings.
Impact on Bookings
When considering the impact of enrolling in the AIP program, results show that on average, properties that are enrolled realize a year-over-year general growth of 11.25% while Amadeus bookings as a whole grew by 5.74% over the same time.
What does this mean for hotels?
Based on the evaluation completed, we can confirm that the statistics seen online search results prove true for properties enrolled in AIP. Quite simply, the increased visibility experienced by properties enrolled in AIP and preferentially placed in availability lists and booking windows showed a growth of 11.25% for bookings in comparison to those properties that that were not preferentially placed during the same time period.
Given the value of this preferential placement, what growth strategies has your organization identified to increase bookings? With the continuing rise in global travel, how are you expanding your efforts to increase visiblity and reach new customers in new markets? Enrolling in AIP is a great starting point. Let us show you how.
Learn more about preferential placement with AIP
