We were recently approached by one of our Director of Sales about an opportunity with an online review website’s sales pitch.  It sounded like a great deal to him, but he wasn’t quite sure and wanted a second opinion.

The offer:

$500 monthly cost

500 Ad Impressions

Average click through rate of between 2-4% to your hotel’s review page

The rest was left in the dark…

 

 

 

They have a lot going for them.  After all, you are targeting folks who are already looking for a hotel room in your area. If they convert, they will most likely do so on your website (better take home rate than through online travel agencies).  There was one trick though, what was the return on investment?

500 Impressions * 3% CTR = 15 visits to our review page

The rest of the math gets difficult.  Of these viewers, how many are going to make it to our website?  Of these how many will convert?  Our reviews are great but they don’t know what our pricing and availability are yet so they aren’t even qualified buyers at this point.  Typically our conversion rate is roughly 3% but let’s say these visits are extra qualified and I max it out to 10% and by magic all of these visitors make it to our website from the review page. We have still only converted 1.5 times and I am making some very generous math to get them there.  The final piece of the puzzle, what is your revenue per conversion.  If this 1.5 conversion gets you to $2,500 well then you might consider this option.  But, if you are looking at $1000 or less you are turning your back on this deal in an instant.

How can you increase your online bookings? Give us a call, online booking engine business is our favorite type of business!