Coaching Scenarios Ver 2 (1)

8/11/2019 Coaching Scenarios Ver 2 (1)

1/5

1

1. Hotel has booking engine or a booking engine provider is approaching the hotel partner

Prospect hotel working with an existing booking engine provider

Ask how that booking engine is doing in terms of contribution to online sales. Is it their top

online sales channel? If the answer is no, then use that opportunity to educate the hotel on how

DirectWithHotels can partner with them in turning their hotel website into their top producing

online sales channel.

The real competition is not the booking engine providers, its the OTAsand most especially the

number 1 OTA of the hotel. The OTAs provide bookings at a very expensive cost of sale through

a combination of providing the best user experience regardless of what device the guest is using

+ advertising using the name and location of the hotel. We do the same but we secure the

booking through the hotel website with a significantly lower cost of sale. The end result is more

direct bookings + higher gross profits from online sales. This in turn provides the hotel with

more cash they can reinvest back in the property and its people.

Hotel partner being approached by a booking engine provider

Best to compare apples to apples. Request for the proposal and clearly explain what the hotel

gets from us versus the competing booking engine. Instances of having a hotel unsubscribe

because a booking engine provider is offering them a lower % in commission should not happen

for as long as we are constantly in coordination with the hotels decision maker and they are

crystal clear on the objective of the partnership.

We coach the decision maker that DWH combines Google expertise + high converting IBE +

more direct bookings-centric CMS + gross profit coaching to deliver more gross profit. In

addition, it will be very helpful to explain that partnering with a booking engine provider does

not provide them more traffic and does not make any conversion because it will be the hotel

taking care of its google advertisements thereby incurring additional cost at the expense of the

hotels gross profit. Even if the hotel is willing to pay the google costs, the relevant question is

do they have the expertise and experience to provide more traffic and conversion? DWH has

google certified employees and pays the google expense without additional cost on the part of

the hotel.

2.

Hotel parner says we are investing on our own booking engine!

Explain the risk involved in choosing to develop their own booking engine. Use the Legend Hotel

scenario where the group decided to put up their own only to find themselves investing $40,000

and realizing a 60% decline in bookings from their website. They have since decided to subscribe


2/5

2

back to the partnership, and the group is doing minimum 50% on online sales through the DWH

powered websites.

If still they want to put up their own booking engine, keep the relationship warm and do a check

point 30 days after they go live with their booking engine to see how they are doing.

We coach the decision maker that DWH combines Google expertise + high converting IBE +

more direct bookings-centric CMS + gross profit coaching to deliver more gross profit. In

addition, it will be very helpful to explain that partnering with a booking engine provider does

not provide them more traffic and does not make any conversion because it will be the hotel

taking care of its google advertisements thereby incurring additional cost at the expense of the

hotels gross profit. Even if the hotel is willing to pay the google cost, the relevant question is

sdo they have the expertise and experience to provide more traffic and conversion? DWH has

google certified employees and pays the google expense without additional cost on the part of

the hotel.

3. Prospect hotel says you are an OTA

Explain to the hotel that we are not an OTA. We represent the hotel, therefore is part of the

hotels team in ensuring the hotel website becomes their number 1 online sales channel.

This is a coaching opportunity to showcase the mission and business model of DWH. We coach

the decision maker that DWH combines Google expertise + high converting IBE + more direct

bookings-centric CMS + gross profit coaching to deliver more gross profit. We have google

certified professionals in our team and that we pay google cost without additional charge to the

hotel.

4. Hotel says they are earning a lot from OTAs

Use the numbers and compute for the cost of sale through the OTAs vs through the hotel

website. 10% cost of sale is 100% more profitable than 20% cost of sale. If you do the math

assuming the hotelier understands basic revenue cost of sale = gross profit, then we shall

never lose this argument.

5. Hotel partner says we are fully booked

If the hotel is fully booked and we are their top producing sales channel online, then the next

step is to coach them on yieldingincreasing the price as demand increases so you always have

1 room left to sell. If this is achieved, the hotel has reached its maximum selling price at any

given time. If they are getting fully booked, it means the demand is high enough that guests are

willing to pay higher for the room and the hotel has under-priced them.


3/5

3

If the hotel is fully booked and we are not their top producing online sales channel, then a rate

plan development coaching session with the decision maker is needed since they are losing

gross profits through selling to more expensive online sales channels.

In any case, you should follow the RAS intervention prevention as discussed in the other

module.

6. Hotel partner is not meeting the shared target

If the hotel is not meeting the shared target, consider checking the following:

a. Does the hotel website have the best deal across all rate plans? If not the best deal, coach

the hotel hotelier that the best deal should be on their website focusing on the price,

inclusions and policies.

b.

Do we have high instance of No Availability? If yes, proceed to intervene as discussed inthe answer to the fully book scenario.

c. Are there irregularities in the hotel website (such as but not limited to rack rates,

inconsistent packages and promotions, hard to distinguish call to action buttons, etc). If yes,

intervene addressing the pertinent irregularity.

d. Is the hotel using the latest ad website template? If not, intervene to use the latest ad

website.

After checking all the aforementioned items and yet the root cause for not meeting the shared

target is not yet determined, consider checking the number of online visitors. If the number of

visitors is less than one thousand, consider parking the hotel and escalate to GPQM.

7. Hotel is not collaborative

If the hotel is not collaborative, the following questions should be addressed:

a. Are we speaking with the decision maker?

b.

Did we spend the time explaining the mission and the shared target?c. Have we escalated to the local coach?

If you have done all three, and still the hotel is not collaborative, escalate to GPQM for parking

or unsubscription.

8. Hotel asked what do I need to do to earn more profit?


4/5

4

a. If the hotel is not yet a partner

This is a coaching opportunity to showcase the mission and business model of DWH. We coach

the decision maker that DWH combines Google expertise + high converting IBE + more direct

bookings-centric CMS + gross profit coaching to deliver more gross profit. We have googlecertified professionals in our team and that we pay google costs without additional charge to

the hotel.

Once agreeable, ensure the decision maker signs our partnership agreement/contract and

proceed having shared target, make the hotel website offer the best deal and create together a

rate plan strategy.

b. If the hotel is already a partner

Consult with the local coach to implement a rate plan strategy that will offer the best deal to the

guest via the hotels website. We will then implement our ATTRACT>CONVERT>MANAGE

methodology to execute the achievement of a healthier gross profit.

9. Hotel says we cant afford 10%. Others are offering less than 10%

a. If the hotel is not yet a partner

Use the numbers and compute for the cost of sale through the OTAs vs through the hotel

website. 10% cost of sale is 100% more profitable than 20% cost of sale. If you do the math,

assuming the hotelier understands basic revenue cost of sale = gross profit, then we shall

never lose this argument.

b. If the hotel is already a partner

If we are the top producing sales channel online, escalate to GPQM for right pricing.

If we are not the top producing sales channel online, run the numbers comparing GP from 10%

cost of sale vs 20%+ cost of sale from the OTAs.

(hls offers 3% etc?)

10.Prospect hotel says we have an existing contract

Check when the contract is due to expire. If less than 6 months wait for the contract to expire. If

more than 6 months escalate to GPQM for potential PPC only.

11.Hotel partner says we will unsubscribe


5/5

5

Ask the reason behind the unsubscription and escalate to the GPQM. Instances of having a

hotel unsubscribe because a booking engine provider is offering them a lower % in commission

should not happen for as long as we are constantly in coordination with the hotels decision

maker and they are crystal clear on the objective of the partnership.

Any other reason may or may not be valid. Always escalate unsubscription to your GPQM.

Documents

Coaching Scenarios Ver 2 (1)