[Matt Landau]

IDEA

All owners and managers want more bookings. Most try to achieve this by generating new inquiries. But few focus on increasing their conversion rate (the percentage of existing inquiries that convert to actual bookings). In reality, the same unit of energy spent on increasing a conversion rate can yield many more bookings than that same unit spent on generating new inquiries.

ACTION

1. Calculate your "inquiry > booking conversion rate" month-upon-month (and year-to-year) by taking the number of bookings divided by the number of inquiries (for example, 2 bookings and 4 inquiries is a conversion rate of 50%)

2. Acknowledge: Tape that percentage above your computer or on the wall near where you respond to inquiries

3. Increase: Every time you receive an inquiry, remind yourself about the goal to increase your "inquiry > booking conversion rate" by even a few percentage points...the mere act of acknowledging and thinking about this statistic has a tendency to increase it.

Quick Tip: Since most failed conversions end at the first inquiry response (ie. the guest doesn't respond to your message) try embedding a question in order to elicit a response and stimulate conversation. Guests who respond to that first message are exponentially more likely to book.

Example: By the way, may I ask if you have been to our area before? There's a fantastic new restaurant I'd encourage you to try.

Feel free to share any conversion-juicing questions or tactics below...

Focus on increasing your conversion rate just as much if not more than generating new inquiries. Your calendar will thank you.

 

[JOest]

Have you heard about our new CondoCierge partner? I'd love to tell you all about it!

We have a great selection of dog services for your furry family members during your stay. I'd love to go over those with you to see which ones would make their stay and yours more enjoyable!

We have several great resources for mobility devices if you need them during your stay, including beach wheelchairs, and shopping scooters. We'd love to make those arrangements for you.

The first one I'm using regularly, but the other two depend upon knowing the specific guests needs from their inquiry.

 

[Matt Landau]

Have you heard about our new CondoCierge partner? I'd love to tell you all about it!
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Love the intrigue factor. "Have you heard of {insert anything interesting sounding}?" seems irresistible!

 

[HWeb]

So, I have a slightly different take on this. I know my conversion rate. Its 52%. So, that is WAY above any kind of industry standard. It's also been going up annually. Which tells me I have plenty of room to be more picky, more careful about what reservations I accept, more insistent on "tetris" (bookings that leave no empty nights between nearby existing bookings). My goal is to increase my rate per night and my overall occupancy percentage. I also want to try to get my two months with lower than 70% occupancy to go over that. (December/January). To do this, I (based on my experience) have to embrace a lower conversion rate. I get many qualified inquiries that want to arrive or depart in a manner that leaves an undesirable gap. These are even "prepaid" bookings. I do what I can to convert these-which means they have to change their dates, but conversion rate is not my primary goal.

If I was to accept 2-night bookings for every weekend in Dec/Jan, I could get a great conversion rate, and no inquiries for the mid week. Instead, I try to get the longer bookings, that bleed into the mid-week. Instead of filling mid week last, I list the midweek on all my platforms, but only offer the weekends on limited platforms (and for longer minimiums). If don't give in to the (tons) of requests I get asking me to rent for shorter than my minimum stay or lower than my listed price, I am going to have a lower conversion ratio. I get a reasonably high number of non-qualified inquiries like these. If I am sticking to my guns, to ultimately maximize my profit, by lengthening stays and minimizing gaps, there is going to be an inverse relationship with conversion rate.

 

[HWeb]

LOVE the PS technique. That is key to getting past that first inquiry and getting some engagement. So is video greeting. Currently "in between" on offering a video greeting, due to a change in provider options, and also due to not having direct emails for a huge percentage of guests. But that really helps bridge the gap and get a second engagement, during that time when maybe they are looking over on their own the (more than one) properties they have sent out that initial engagement to. I love looking for things in common, "PS I see you have a 360 area code. Are you located in Western Washington? I grew up in Bothell." or "PS- does your email address [email protected] mean you have golden retrievers? We are dog lovers too- we have Swissies!"

 

[Matt Landau]

HWeb brilliant as I have only come to expect from you. Now I need to think up a way to explain this very true adjustment.

 

[HWeb]

HWeb brilliant as I have only come to expect from you. Now I need to think up a way to explain this very true adjustment.

One thing I do that makes me feel better, is I track the denied conversions. So, if you inquire or submit a prepaid request, and I end up not converting it because I reply back with (short version), "we have those dates but you would need to adjust slightly to check in on x date, or check out on x date". Then, in the fullness of time, I make sure that I later booked those same nights with the more desireable dates. For 2018, I only had 2 "mistakes". Meaning I said no, but way down the road, those nights did not get completely filled, or I filled them but had to discount. Meaning if I had a crystal ball, I would have been better off saying yes. But, on the other hand, I got 90% of those people to shift their dates. Kind of shocking!! I don't really track that, once the denied dates get booked I take them off the list.

When denying to convert dates, even to prepaid bookings, I am careful and not pushy. I explain my situation, even offer a minor apology. I am also firm. At then end of my short as possible explanation, I reiterate that , "if you are not able to adjust this time and your dates are firm, we would decline the reservation, you card will not be charged, and you would be free to book another property". And, I don't offer this in advance, but when they do shift their dates, sometimes I give them a minor discount($25 - $50), after all, I likely saved $150 on a cleaning by getting them to shift dates, or got to book an extra night for $250-$450 in revenue. So, by tracking the denied dates, I assure myself that I did the right thing. So, for my own self, I think a conversion rate of 35% would be healthy. Following my instincts, I play hardball, and have been unable to get it below 40%. (actually it looks like I have been at 52% since 2017, in my mind it was 40-45, but I just checked and it was 45% in 2016 but not since then).

I do occasionally approve dates I am not thrilled about, such as if I my VRBO Book It Now acceptance rate is 80%, as I want to stay at 80% or above for those Book it Now bookings to make sure I am still a premium partner. That's kind of on a gut feeling case-by-case vs any formula.