11 ways a hospitality booking system can drive revenue

Over 60% of customers research and book online – significantly higher for those booking larger groups or special occasions. Your booking platforms are a gateway to increasing revenue and, if utilised to their full extent, can be a powerful tool in boosting your bottom line.

Here are 11 ways you can utilise your booking platforms to drive revenue from hospitality sales & marketing experts Bums on Seats:

1. Paint a picture

Take another good look at your current online booking journey, or better still, ask someone else to do it for you. Your own ‘secret shopper’. Is there plenty of imagery (people only read 10% of information they see – rocketing to over 60% if accompanied by attractive images of your venue). Ensure that all your spaces are shown separately so that customers can envisage themselves enjoying them, know when they are available and how to book.

2. Review setup

Look at your timeslot capacity and ensure this is maximised. Table joins can be utilised to maximise pre-booked capacity.

Take the time to review your whole booking journey, ensure any Covid 19 messaging has been removed along with any booking restrictions.

3. Bookable spaces

Tables are often moved from area to area based on demand – your booking system can work on a first come first served basis to guide required layouts.

You can also assign tables based on occasion or booking type.

4. Upsell

Itemised upsells at the point of booking are a great way to increase spend per head (SPH). Allowing guests to pre-order a bucket of beers, or bottle of Prosecco for example. Spreading the guest spend in this way is a proven method to increase the overall SPH.

Ensure this is particularly being utilised for occasion bookings such as birthdays.

5. Auto-confirm is your best friend

Ensure you have auto-confirm set up for smaller bookings (we suggest 12pax), allowing guests to make a booking immediately. This not only increases conversation but frees up your sales team to focus on larger enquires and building relationships.

6. Reduce no-shows

Deposits or card pre-authorisations are a sure-fire way to reduce no-shows. Consider basing these on booking size or occasion type.

7. Pre-arrival

Set up your SMS and email reminders for bookings. Use your brand tone of voice for this to not only build excitement for the visit, but also reduce no shows.

8. Automated reminders

Ensure these are set up for any outstanding deposits or pre-orders. Again, this will free up your team to focus less on admin, more on converting those larger enquires!

9. Occasions are key

Ensure your online booking journey is clear for special occasions and key calendar dates.

Have you given them an easy way to get more information before they book? If it’s all there they will be confident about booking with you, but if not, may well go elsewhere. And remember not to leave marketing of key dates too late, people start thinking about booking for special occasions months in advance.

10. Feedback

Utilise your systems to send follow up emails prompting feedback and online reviews from guests. Go even further and incentivise repeat visits with your automated follow-ups, to build brand loyalty.

11. Build a guest data map

Utilise all your data touch points (Booking System, WIFI, Order & Pay, Feedback Management Tool, EPoS) to integrate and feed into a central CRM system.

This will allow you to build a clear view of who your most loyal guests are, who your lapsed guests are, what occasions they visit for, their most purchased items etc – to enable effective marketing campaigns.

Increase yield and generate more revenue with Zonal Bookings

If you’d like to find out more about Zonal Bookings you can browse through some of the great functionality available here, or get in touch today and our team of hospitality technology experts will be happy to talk you through what’s possible.