Le Palace Art Hotel | Loyalty Club
The greater the size of a hotel, the greater the dependency on OTAs, travel agents and wholesalers in order to have high occupancy rates. The bottom line is not to have a full hotel, rather to have profitability. Commissions for travel agents usually start at 15% and can be as high as 30% for wholesalers. The benefit of getting a direct booking is immense.
The case of Le Palace Art Hotel in Thessaloniki city centre
Back in 2014, Le Palace Art Hotel wanted to increase direct bookings and thus founded the Loyalty Club in order to do so. Benefits for booking direct are the following:
15% discount on the official internet prices for all your bookings
Discount menu just for 8€ with dishes made exclusively by the hotel’s chef and his team
50% discount on the hotel’s restaurant’s price-list
Free Coffee Break in the hotel’s «La Salle» restaurant all day long
Cooking class provided by the hotel’s chef Antonis Theodorakis in the new, renovated restaurant-bar at a special price 20€ per person
Parking service for 9€/24 hours
Free room upgrade upon availability
Discounts and special offers on daily excursions
40% discount on ThessBike shared bikes
Special offers in various restaurants
So the hotelier is giving incentives to the guest to book direct. It should be noted that all these benefits offered cost less than a commission paid to an OTA. For example, by offering a free coffee break or special rate for car park, the hotelier benefits from the direct booking, the guest is saving money, so it is a win-win situation.
The result
After 5 years, the hotel has increased the direct bookings six-fold, cancellation rate is only 7% and direct online revenue almost matched that of the dominant OTA.
Contact us if you want to start you own Loyalty Club and start seeing your direct bookings sky rocketing.