Client

A five-star luxury hotel chain in India.

Background

The luxury hospitality sector was driven by the believe that selling luxury experiences had to be one-to-one and deeply personalised. As a result, room bookings were handled directly by the hotel staff.

The hotel website also facilitated online bookings. However, it contributed to only 1% of the total bookings.

Challenge

With Online Travel Agents (OTAs) selling hotel rooms at attractive prices, luxury hotels started to lose not just revenues, but also their connect with customers.

Bookings on the hotel website dwindled and room revenues started to fall.

Online bookings could not be ignored. The challenge was to sell more online without impacting direct customer relationships.

The most important challenge was to maintain price parity i.e., to increase direct bookings without discounting.

Solution

Route 16 designed a three-tiered solution:

• Understand the customer

  Route 16 studied the profiles of the target customers extensively.

  Based on data gathered, the single biggest revelation was that the countries of origin and age of the potential customer were very different to what was being targeted by the hotel.

  Based on this insight and backed by sound data, a highly accurate profile of the potential customer was drawn up.

• Increase web traffic to the hotel website

  With a clear idea of the potential customer, the next step was to design effective digital campaigns to increase traffic to the hotel website.

  For this, online booking patterns and search words for luxury destinations were extensively studied.

  Timing was crucial because luxury experiences with families and groups were planned well in advance.

  SEO and SEM campaigns were designed based on the rich insights gathered. Campaign schedules were drawn up to align with the holiday planning patterns of customers.

• Deliver a feature-rich experience on the website

  A set of unique value-added features were developed and made exclusive for those who booked directly on the hotel website.