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Traditionally, online travel agencies (OTAs) dominated the booking strategies of the hotel and vacation rental industries. As the popularity of outdoor vacations has increased, OTAs now regularly feature a variety of travel services, including accommodations for outdoor properties and RV parks.
Let’s look at the benefits of OTAs and five ways to leverage them.
OTAs are internet-hosted marketplaces enabling online travel research and accommodation booking. Because they help travelers navigate through their options, a high proportion of leisure travelers rely on them.
According to a recent survey, 75% of active leisure travelers consult at least one OTA when researching their travel, primarily to compare prices and availability. Listing your park on OTAs enables you to expand your reach, increase visibility, and drive bookings for new campers.
Let’s dig into RV park management best practices for leveraging OTAs.
Not all OTAs are created equal. The OTAs that will work best for your property may not be the same as what works best for other RV parks.
While there are general travel OTAs, such as Booking.com, Airbnb, or Expedia, there are also some built specifically for campgrounds and RV parks. For example, Spot2Nite is a popular booking channel for outdoor properties that helps campers and RVers compare camping destinations and easily book a spot. Some other key booking channels to consider are:
To determine the best OTAs, you will want to compare their fees, target market, and functionality.
Once you’ve selected the right OTAs for your RV park, you must ensure your listing stands out from the crowd.
Part of RV park management is refining the description of your property to make it attractive to RVers.
You’ll want to include words that invoke sensory experiences and emotions when crafting your listing. For example, the sound of the river running over the rocks or the warm feeling of home as you pull your RV into a spot nestled under the towering trees. In addition, include descriptions of your activities and amenities.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so it is critical to use only high-quality images.
If you can, hire a professional photographer who gets the picture of outdoor photography. Post multiple images that display your range of RV site types, highlight the best features of your RV park, and show your variety of amenities. Update your images as needed.
While OTAs are key to attracting new RVers, managing your inventory across multiple channels is a time-intensive process that can lead to entry errors. Additionally, if you fail to update availability regularly, you may need to manage the pains of overbooking.
Instead of making manual availability and rate changes for each individual OTA, you can streamline your OTA management with the right tools. Selecting a reservation solution with a channel manager automates real-time OTA availability, rates, and promotions updates.
The best platform will include a dynamic pricing tool that automatically adjusts your pricing based on the rules you set around your RV park occupancy rates, season of the year, holidays, and other parameters.
In addition to driving new bookings, listing your property on OTAs can also increase the overall visibility of your RV park. To take this one step further, you can consider incorporating paid ad placements, such as banner ads or sponsored listings, as part of your OTA strategy. For example, sponsored listings enable your property to appear in the top results when people search for RV parks that match your criteria. This can help expand your reach to new audiences and RVers.
Reviews are trusted as much as personal recommendations by nearly half the population and are a key consideration when potential guests compare RV parks on booking channels.
To truly leverage OTAs and establish a positive reputation, you should encourage guests to leave a review on your selected channels after their stay. With the right reservation management system, an integrated channel manager will identify which RVers booked through one of your OTA listings. Then, you can leverage a guest portal and other guest communication tools to request a review.
Leveraging OTAs can boost your occupancy, but you must choose the best RV park management software to streamline the process and drive revenue.
Our Ultimate Guide to All-in-One Reservation Management Systems provides key insights on choosing the best, most up-to-date software for your RV Park. In the guide, we cover:
Download your free copy today!
