Online Travel Agencies or OTA’s are as important for hotels as Zomato, and Swiggy are for restaurants and cafes. These platforms enhance the visibility of a brand and make them more accessible to users/guests.
Booking.com is one such prominent OTA and thus, this blog gives a step-by-step guide to ‘How to List Your Property on Booking.com’.
Let’s look at the benefits a hotel gets with a presence on Booking.com followed by how to list a property there and lastly, some useful tips to make the process easy and fruitful.
Being one of the largest global online travel sites available in over 43 languages and dialects, with more than 6.2 million properties listed in 200+ countries, a hotel simply shouldn't miss out on it.
Listing your property on this Online Travel Agency helps you gain access to its extensive network of users. This further means that you would enjoy more visibility, engagement, and hence, more hotel occupancy.
For this reason and many more that we will be providing below, allow Booking.com to list your property and ensure it never fades away from the marketplace.
Some benefits of listing your property on Booking.com:
While these were some of the benefits of getting listed on Booking.com, the next part of this blog would guide the hotel about how to list your property on Booking.com.
So, keep reading for the gold!
A subsidiary of Booking Holdings, which accounts for an estimated 3.3% of total industry revenue. Booking.com is an OTA that is visited by thousands around the world seeking hospitality.
The process to list a hotel property starts with the creation/registration of an account, followed by entering the basic details. The entire process requires attention since it involves hotel details, reputation, and financial transactions.
It additionally requires the hotel to enter the right and true details and follow the rules laid down by the OTA. This would help the latter to continue being a trustworthy and authentic OTA to its users.
Let’s look at the step-by-step guide:
The first and foremost step in this guide is the creation of the hotel account. For this, you need to do the following:
Note: The type of properties would include:
Choose the option that is most suitable for your property.
The next step involves entering the hotel’s basic information for the listing. The details that a hotel needs to add are as follows:
Additionally, a hotel can also import the basic information directly to Booking.com, other platforms such as VRBO, Airbnb, etc., if the property is listed there.
Note: The house rules are customizable and more can be added after registration.
The next step is to set the layout and pricing for your property. This step can be a bit tricky thus, a hotel should meticulously add these details.
You need to set the prices keeping in mind your property, and services as well as the prices charged by your competitor in the area.
The next step is to add the facilities and services that are offered by your property. These services include:
This part of the process requires hotels to add the amenities offered at the property. These are the extra features that help the hotel to be known for its indulgencies and attract guests.
These amenities include entertainment provisions like a high definition or smart TV, games, books, etc., wellness centers, kitchen appliances and bathroom amenities offered in the room, in-room facilities and utilities, etc.
This is an important step. It is the first impression that the hotel would make on its potential guests. Hence, this should be added carefully and generously.
The photos uploaded should be in high-resolution (at least 2048 x 1080 pixels and most preferred at 4000 x 3000 pixels). These pictures should capture the space and physical features of the property clearly.
A minimum of 24 photos needs to be added to complete the listing process.
This is again an important step in the guide to Booking.com registration and listing. The policies need to be added clearly to avoid future guest conflicts or disappointments.
These policies include:
The are multiple options available for cancellation.
For example, cancellation 3 days before arrival or 14 days before arrival, both free of charge. Charges are applicable after the said days.
A hotel can set the policy in alignment with its hotel policies.
This includes acceptable types and modes of payment.
This policy allows hotels to lower the prices/rates or offers discounts to 100% confirmed occupancies, however, only in case the guest is still eligible for cancellation.
This helps a guest to know, and hotels to decide whether the prices given include VAT or state/city taxes, etc.
This policy deals with cleaning charges and property damage fees, if any.
The last step is verification.
Once you’ve completed your part of the task, Booking.com will review your registration; check that you have entered all the required information or hotel details. to ensure they have all the information they need.
Once, the registration gets approved, a confirmation mail granting you access to the Extranet would be sent to your registered email id. This would be your property’s administrative dashboard.
This dashboard allows property and availability management. Additionally, a hotel could track its previous bookings, manage its future ones and analyze its performance.
Just listing your property on an OTA is not enough. You must cut through the competition and give a reason to the guest for choosing you.
These are some tips that a hotel could use to shine on Booking.com:
This was a step-by-step ‘Booking.com- list your property’ guide for hotels that seek greater visibility, increased occupancy, and revenue.
We hope our readers are now able to seamlessly list their properties on the OTA that is viewed by zillions every day, across the globe!