Connectivity Partner Handbook: Promotions API. Last update: September 2018

Transcription

1 Connectivity Partner Handbook: Promotions API Last update: September 2018

2 Topics covered 1. Introduction to promotions 2. Why offer promotions? 3. How does the Promotions API work? 4. What s in it for properties? What s in it for Connectivity partners? Setting up a promotion Types of promotions When and how to choose a promotion Getting started

3 Promotions: tools to increase occupancy and secure revenue Promotions are self-managed discounted offers and deals which properties can either offer to everybody, or make available to a specific target audience only. Currently, properties can only add promotions via the Booking.com extranet. We want to improve this: with the Promotions API, Connectivity partners can help their properties create and adopt promotions through their own interface.

4 Portfolio OurPromotions promotions portfolio

5 Contribution of promotions to total bookings Early Booker Deal of the day Free Nights Deal Last Minute Deal Basic Deal 10.96% No deal used

6 Promotions behavior Promotions are used most in APAC South and Italy, the Mediterranean area, the Middle East and Africa Source: Internal data from Booking.com (Q1 and Q2 2017)

7 How can promotions drive a property s business growth?

8 How can offering discounted rates help me increase my revenue? Customers initially attracted by the offer may end up booking non-discounted rates on other room/rate types Offering promotions gives properties more visibility in Booking.com s search results, which can help attract visitors to their page and increase bookings.

9 I want to increase my occupancy throughout the year, also during low season." Offering promotions on low-occupancy dates can help properties increase their bookings. For example, Early Booker and Last Minute deals allow properties to manage their occupancy based on their business needs.

10 I would like to attract guests that intend to stay longer. Adding a minimum Length of Stay requirement and offering discounts on longer stays helps properties attract customers who intend to stay longer. It also helps properties increase their occupancy and handle operations more efficiently.

11 I would like to attract more customers from new markets. Properties can choose specific channels to target customers from new markets. can winthey more bookings by attracting more visitorstime on their thanks to Dealspromotion in the search results. ForPartners example, could limit the running ofpage a Basic Deal to the timezones of the target market.

12 I want to distinguish myself by outperforming the competition. Properties can reinforce the Basic Deal by making it a Secret Deal, which is promoted by Booking.com With a Basic Deal, the property will appear higher in the search results Partners can win more bookings by attracting more visitors on their page thanks toby Deals in the search results. when customers choose to filter their results price.

13 I want to reduce the number of cancellations. Over 30% of all bookings on our platform are made with a mobile device, and 40% of those mobile bookings last-minute Partners can winare more bookings bybookings: attracting more visitors on their page thanks to Deals in the search results. Our data shows that guests booking last minute are less likely to change their minds or cancel Therefore, offering a Last Minute Deal helps properties attract customers that are less likely to cancel

14 Benefits for properties Increase reservations Get more bookings during low season and on less busy days Fill gaps between two bookings Get more early bookings More visibility on Booking.com Better ranking in search results, since some promotions are tagged on the front-end More relevant search results for early and last-minute bookers, which increases conversion Control over discounts Attract specific customers Time-bound promotions Secret Deals Set a minimum Length of Stay (LOS) Reduce cancellations with non-refundable deals Choose the occupancy level at which discount is offered Achieve price parity

15 The Connectivity Partner ecosystem is already set up for promotions Connectivity Partners have interfaces that allow properties to configure discounts and promotions. A key driver for this is to offer a discount on direct bookings.

16 And so is the competition... Expedia is live since July, It allows for any content to be sent as a text through their equivalent of the Reservations API.

17 Adoption of promotions by property type PMCs and vacation rentals can now create promotions for multiple properties faster and easier If you compare the adoption rate of XML and non-xml properties against each other, you can see that among non-hotel accommodation, it s the non-xml properties that adopt more promotions.

18 Connectivity partners with rate and revenue managers see added value in creating real-time offers Products offered by Connectivity Partners Rate Shopper 12.1% Rate Management 42.3% Yield Management 19.8% Connectivity partners can now integrate the Promotions API with their existing solutions to create real-time promotions in line with properties occupancy and revenue needs. Website Builder 32.4% Source: Based on responses from 200+ Booking.com Connectivity Partners

19 Benefits for Connectivity partners Expand product offerings Create and modify promotions Retrieve active promotions Help properties achieve price parity Make your rate or revenue managers smarter Integrate with rate and revenue managers to create real-time deals in response to market demand, season and occupancy Standard APIs Easy to integrate with your current promotions page Easy to replicate for other OTAs B.Com support for product adoption Along with technical support, we also offer help with communication to increase the adoption of promotions amongst properties

20 How does the Promotions API work?

21 Promotions API With the Promotions API, you have a full overview of your properties and their promotions: Active promotions Discount % Type of promotion Start and end dates as well as their impact: Average room nights Number of bookings Number of cancellations Revenue

22 How does the Promotions API work? You can define promotions at a property level on the parent rate 2 4 Who will see the promotion? (Is it a Secret Deal, local, international, or open to all?) 1 What type of promotion is it? Basic, Early or Late? 6 Which room and parent rate is it applied to? 3 How much discount do you want to give? Choose customisations like LOS (length of stay), non-refundable etc. 5 When does the promotion apply? (Start/end dates and times) 7 All set up! Retrieve active promotions when you need them

23 1. What type of promotion is it? Select a promotion that matches the property s business goals Basic Deal Last Minute Early Booker Gives the guests a discount Sells unbooked rooms Attracts early-bird bookers

24 Basic Deals Early Booker A Basic Deal is not tagged on the Booking.com website and app Early Booker deals are not tagged on the Booking.com website and app Adding a Basic Deal is an easy way to quickly lower the price of a room The recommended minimum booking window is more than 30 days before the stay date It s a simple discount offered to the customer on one rate type This discount targets customers who like to book in advance, and helps properties secure occupancy

25 Late Deals Late Deals are tagged on the Booking.com website and app The recommended booking window for Late Deals is less than 7 days before the stay date This discount helps properties sell empty rooms and reduce last-minute cancellations

26 2. Who will see the promotion? Select a channel that matches the type of customer you want to attract Everyone Secret Deal Gives all guests a discount Attracts guests that are loyal to Booking.com

27 3. How much discount will be given? There is no minimum discount needed for Basic, Early or Last Minute Deals. Secret deals require a minimum discount of 10%. Maximise your ROI by promoting a Basic Deal as a Secret Deal Secret Deals are promoted across our website and mobile apps with special tagging, which has shown to increase revenue Secret Deals are ROI positive 1 Reach 75M customers Secret Deals are offered to loyal Booking.com customers. Anyone who has subscribed to our newsletters, installed our app, or is logged in on our website can see them. 2 3 Members are notified of deals via our Deal Finder function. This added promotion will draw attention to properties offering the best deals. Click here to view the page. To receive all the additional benefits of Secret Deal, properties need to configure a minimum discount of 10%. Maximise visibility via the Deal Finder page Secret Deals: minimum discount of 10%

28 4. Which room and rate is the discount applied to? The discount will be deducted from the rate(s) and the room(s) selected here. Properties can choose to apply the discount on multiple rates, but they should always select at least one. Price Restrictions Policies Meal plan Closed/open dates Example: If a parent rate has a minimum LOS restriction of 3 days, and the promotion has a min. LOS of 5 days, then the LOS restriction of 5 days will be applied. If the parent rate has a release time of 1 day, the promotion will copy that release time unless it has been specified with a different release time. The promotion will always follow closed dates - if the parent rate is closed, promotions are closed as well. If the promotion is active and the parent rate is open, the promotion is open for that date too. Derived prices Channel Promotion will always follow the parent rate for the above It s recommended that the parent rate and the promotion follow the same channel configurations. Promotions will always follow the parent rate unless specified otherwise, and the most restrictive condition will be applied to the reservation.

29 5. Timeline of a Basic Deal Basic Deal Book start date Defines the start date from when promotion is available on B.com Stay start date Include active Include/exclude days of the week specific dates Defines the start date from when promotion is applied on Allow the promotion to be visible only for certain hours This is very useful to target customers from specific segments. E.g. to attract US customers, limit the promotion to evening hours in US time zones. Book end date Stay end date Defines the end date until when promotion is applied Defines the end date from when the promotion is not available on B.com

30 5. Timeline of a Last Minute deal Last Minute Include active Include/exclude days of the week specific dates Stay start date Stay end date Defines the start date from when promotion is applied on Define the days/hours before a stay date during which the promotion can be booked Defines the end date until when promotion is applied

31 5. Timeline of an Early Booker deal Early Booker Include active Include/exclude days of the week specific dates Stay start date Defines the start date from when promotion is applied on Define the number of days before a stay date during which the promotion can be booked Stay end date Defines the end date until when promotion is applied

32 6. Add customisations Promotions can also be set up without these settings Non-refundable promotions Adding a non-refundable policy to a promotion helps decrease cancellations. Length of stay requirements The minimum number of nights that guests need to stay for in order to benefit from the promotion. No credit card required A credit card will not be required for this promotion. This helps increase conversion by making the booking process easier and faster. Availability fat which the discount applies The minimum number of rooms that need to be unoccupied/available for the discount to be applicable and visible.

33 7. Update, delete or retrieve deals on the go The Promotions API helps you create the following deals: Basic Deal Early Booker deal Last Minute deal With the GET Promotions API, you can: Update, delete or retrieve the latest version of a deal Retrieve all active/inactive promotions using the promotion name (or) hotel ID from the extranet Track the performance of a promotion via the API Please note: you will not be able to retrieve the historical details of a single promotion, you will only be able to update or retrieve the latest updated version of the deal.

34 Some common errors to watch out for Invalid room and rate The entered room/rate combinations are incorrect Date validations Stay date and book date cannot be in the past Stay date needs to be within the range of the book date Promotion name validations Names cannot be longer than 20 characters For now, names also cannot have special characters Warnings

35 Getting started with the API 1 Find the SPECs on the Connectivity Partner Portal 2 3 More questions? Please refer to the FAQ page on the Connectivity Partner Portal We d love to hear from you. For feedback and help during the integration, please use this Google Form To help you design your User Interface, you can download the Promotions API UI handbook here Test the integration using test properties Ready to roll-out to properties Once the testing is successful, you are ready to roll-out to properties. To support your roll-out, we will send out s to all your properties announcing the launch.

36 Thank you!