The data is very clear, and we can show with confidence that there is an increase in conversion when the guest has transparent price information. Getting 15 % more conversion on your direct booking channel is amazing.
The data is very clear, and we can show with confidence that there is an increase in conversion when the guest has transparent price information. Since the beginning of 2021, we have been running an experiment with our Partner 123compare.me. The first results we have already shared a couple of weeks ago. If you have not read the details yet, you should check them out.
Read why price parity is so important for your direct bookings
A/B Testing experiment
We wanted to have even stronger proof and from 8th of April till the 12th of May we ran an A/B Test. In the A/B Test there are 2 versions of a webpage. Unaware half of the visitors see the A version and the rest of the visitors see the B version. The behavior of the both visitors groups specifies which version is better in achieving your goal or converting the visitor.
In our experiment, we randomly either showed the 123 Compare.me widget on our booking engine Spider-Booking or we didn’t display it.
In the period where we ran the test, the price comparison widget from 123compare.me was displayed 6615 times and was not shown to 6365 Visitors. This represents all the visitors that were searching on the booking engine for one of the 42 different properties that participated in the test. The Properties are all located in Europe.
The Reservation process in Spider-Booking is designed in multiple steps. For this experiment, we looked at the first step in the funnel, the selection of a specific product, and consider this a first conversion. For this first step we registered a conversion rate of 12.43 % for guests that had the Price comparison displayed and 11.12 % for visitors that did not get to see the prices on the OTAs. The conversion rate in the first step increased by 12 % whenever the widget was displayed, increasing the confidence that the booker is getting the best deal.
Total conversion on Spider-Booking
The next step, and the most relevant part is the Reservation.
What is the impact of the price comparison tool on the total conversion?
414 of the 6365 guest that did not get the tool shown made a reservation. This gives us a conversion rate of 6.50 %. If we compare this with the 6615 guests under the condition A that had the widget displayed, where 493 bookings were made, we can see a 15 % higher Conversion rate of 7.45 %.
Getting 15 % more conversion on your direct booking channel is amazing. With a simple calculation you can find out what this would mean for you in additional revenue each month. Depending on the season and booking patterns you can have a return on investment on the price comparison tool within a couple of days.
How many direct bookings do you get each month?
How much more revenue would a 15 % increase mean for your Hotel?
Conclusion
After running this experiment, the numbers show us that there is a great benefit in adding the price comparison tool to your hotel’s tech stack. Having price parity and showing your guests that they are getting the best deal if they book direct, can increase your revenue. By how much, depends strongly on your property but based on our data around 15 % and more.
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