Opt in to the Property Performance deal in October

How travel looks today

In the past six months, we’ve seen demand for travel drastically decrease due to the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19). People all over the world have had to change the way they work and travel, as they try to manoeuvre the ever-changing global situation. However, in July and August we’ve seen a slight uplift in bookings. This increase has mostly been in domestic travel, with people looking for experiences outside of where they live – but not too far to travel in distance.

What your properties can offer to help attract demand

Due to travel restrictions and the severity of the pandemic differing from country to country, guests’ needs are constantly evolving. We’ve been closely monitoring their behaviour to make sure we can offer your properties the right tools to help attract any demand.

• Offer flexible cancellation policies. Countries are recovering at different rates, which means travel plans need to remain flexible. Our research has shown that the majority of guests right now find it very important to be able to change their bookings, and to have access to support in doing so.Now more than ever, guests want full transparency about what they can expect if their trip is cancelled. We strongly advise properties to offer flexible cancellation policies as this can help fill empty rooms. 
• Showcase their cleanliness. Understandably, guests want to be reassured that high cleanliness standards and social distancing measures are going to be in place at the properties they stay in. Properties can now add this type of information on their property page.
• Showcase their work-friendly amenities. We’ve noticed travellers who are able to work remotely have been booking home properties. This means home properties have been able to fill in their occupancy during weekdays when there’s usually less demand. Attracting business travellers isn’t just a great way to fill occupancy during quieter periods – they also tend to be extremely reliable guests and on average cancel 57% less often than leisure travellers. We’ve launched the Work-Friendly Programme that helps home properties showcase their work-friendly amenities. These properties can enroll in the programme today via the extranet under the ‘Opportunities’ tab to become more visible in business travellers’ search results.
• Offer Mobile Rates and Last Minute Deals. In the past six months, travellers spent less time searching before booking and we’re seeing large numbers of bookings being made just two days before the traveller is due to check in. On top of this, 50% of searches made on our platform are done using a mobile device. With this in mind, properties can use targeted rates or deals to attract more visitors looking to book last-minute trips on their mobile devices. Learn more about Mobile Rates and Last Minute Deals.

Products to support your properties in Q4

With these insights in mind, we’ve curated a new list of products and commercial advice for the Property Performance category. These can help support your properties in the last quarter of 2020. 

You’ll be able to opt in to the Property Performance deal via the Property Performance category of the programme and get a chance to earn up to 300 points in our programme. You can do this any time from the first week of October until December. 

The Connectivity Recovery Toolkit provides detailed information about each product and its benefits for your properties. You can also find the products in the ‘Opportunities’ tab in the Portal. We’ve labelled all recovery products as ‘COVID-19: Business Recovery’ under the ‘Opportunities’ tab to make it easier for you to find them.  

How should I market these recovery products?

We encourage you to use your own marketing channels and sales teams to advise your properties on the right recovery products to help attract demand. Research shows that the combination of an email campaign and a sales call is what works best to convert a property to adopt a product. We’ve also seen that social media posts, blog articles and webinars can be effective ways to reach your properties to share recovery advice. 

How can I share this list with my properties?

If you’ve implemented the Opportunities API, you’ll be able to share the list of recovery products with your properties directly in your system. The Promotions API also allows your properties to set up rates in your system. These are scalable ways to give properties commercial advice relevant to them and to enable them to offer competitive prices. 

We’ll be making marketing assets available to you to support you in promoting the recovery products to your properties. Contact your partner business manager or the Support team for more information. 

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