How do guests decide which property to book?

The increasingly competitive environment makes it difficult for properties to outperform their rivals. Not only the property managers but also guests are faced by its challenges that have difficulty in choosing which property is the best for them among many alternatives.

Luckily, there is a variety of tools available for potential guests to make their assessments on properties. What are those that affect their booking decision the most? In this article, we share with you the first five factors that influence them the most while deciding on which hotel to book.  

1- The website

58 per cent of those travelling for holiday and 55 per cent of those travelling for business purposes first check the website of properties. They access detailed information with the help of these websites. If you do not have one or if yours is not designed well, it means that you are losing half of your potential customers from the very beginning.

2- Online reviews

Online reviews have become more important each day. According to research, 50 per cent of travelers give a heed to online reviews before they decide where to stay at. This rate is 39 per cent among those travelling for business purposes.

3- Photos

We all know that one photo expresses more than one thousand words do, which, unsurprisingly and significantly, influences guests, as well. 42 per cent of vacationers and 32 per cent of business travelers make use of photos while making decisions about the property they plan to stay at. Photos displaying different features and impressive aspects of your property have an important role in increasing the booking rates of your property.

4- Videos

Videos might express more than photos do. However, 21 per cent of vacationers and 10 per cent of business travelers make use of videos when deciding where to book.

Why videos currently have a lower impact on their decision compared to photos has to do with two reasons. The first one is that many properties have not prepared such videos yet. The second is that the habit of watching online videos has become common just recently. You had better consider that circumstances will be changing soon and videos will have a greater impact on booking decisions. So, you had better invest immediately in preparing videos.

5- Social media

HotelRunner blog where we share a host of information and articles related to the accommodation industry pays a special attention to social media. One fifth of hotel guests pondering on where to stay definitely searches reviews on social media, which you need to take into account. Then, why not create and start to manage social media accounts of your website immediately?

All your needs can be met by HotelRunner, which supports you for anything from your website, which has the biggest role in your guests’ booking decisions, to your sales channels and even digital marketing. Take a few minutes and create your HotelRunner account to increase your sales immediately.