Decoding Booker Intent:
Why Mismatched Positioning Quietly Costs You Guests
When travelling, guests are rarely simply looking for a room. They are searching for a solution to a problem that best meets their expectations: convenience vs value. As a hotelier, it is important to understand the booking behaviour of the modern traveller. We need to look into their decision-making processes: why and how they choose a property, and how they confirm a booking.
Today we are looking into two baseline profiles: what factors do they consider before booking. And how you, as the property, can personalise your communication and outreach to best attract the persona that suits your unique selling proposition.
By understanding this, you:
- Highlight misaligned offers and communications
- Direct your communications and offers to the correct audience
- Revise your promotions and marketing strategies to better capture attention during the booking process.
Budget Traveller/ Value Optimiser
This type of booker enjoys the journey and uses the hotel as their base rather than the destination. They are not afraid of ‘inconvenient’ extra stops during their trip. It is important to understand that they are selective of where they splurge and keep everything else on the bare minimum.
Booker behaviour:
They shop around and compare offers across platforms and properties often using website aggregators.
The booker will study transportation routes, before booking, as they are comfortable booking less central stays.
They protects their fluid capital by not looking for the cheapest deal, but the best perceived value.
Values pricing transparency, clearly indicating surcharges and fees from the start.
Heavily influenced by reviews and guest satisfaction ratings.
Discovery:
The budget shopper needs to clearly understand what they are paying for, in order to evaluate whether this is worth the splurge. All communications need to address value for money and highlight local experiences and attractions.
Offering:
Guests may prefer a kitchenette and basic in-room amenities to self-manage their stay as a way to cut down on ‘unnecessary’ costs.
All-inclusive traveller/ Done-For-Me booker
This traveller is looking for the path with least resistance. They book properties with trusted reputations and curated packages. They are willing to trade money for less thinking and planning, to enjoy a frictionless stay.
Booking behaviour:
Searches for properties on OTA’s and checks the property website for offers and discounts, taking advantage of available perks.
Primary focus is comfort and ease and therefore prefer properties with inclusive curated packages or centrally located properties where commute is easy and hassle free.
Value easy booking add-ons and one step booking processes.
Discovery:
The convenience traveller wants ‘done for me service’. All communications point to ease, inclusions and frictionless interactions at every touchpoint. This guest is searching for an experience and should be able to envision their stay even before booking.
Offers:
When curating offers, consider a full service approach with meal inclusive rates, transfers and concierge assistance to ensure that the guests needs are seen to as they arise.
The power in understanding
The biggest difference is understanding what drives the guest and how they came to choose your property. By understanding this, you understand who is booking your property, your current brand message, and how it aligns with your desired online profile and the guests you attract.
These profiles are not a fixed guest persona, meaning a guest can change up what they are looking for based on the reason for travel. That being said, it is important that you understand and define who you are catering to and to what extent your offers and packages ‘caters’ to your guests. All this is reflected in your branding, listings, descriptions and communications.
One of the major reasons for low guest sentiment is misalignment, the guest did not get what they were paying for or needed. That does not mean that the offer is wrong, but rather that it did not talk to the heart of the booker. The perceived value could be well worth the spend, yet the experience and offers on arrival do not align with the guest's needs or interests.
For example, if you are an old property with a rich history, do not market yourself the same as a modern oasis. Instead, communicate the heritage and history in every brick and blade of grass. That way, regardless of the offer, the "modern oasis seeker" is making an informed decision when they do book.
Once you understand who you are trying to attract, you can work on what to say, where to say it, and how to say it. Remember that every guest has the potential for either persona based on what they need. Picture a man who chooses to bring his wife to your property for his anniversary because your offer speaks to private luxury and a quiet, curated experience. That same guest, however, will book a different property when he is travelling for work because he simply needs a bed and a desk with a warm breakfast the next morning. Less fuss, just basic needs met. The guest has not changed just his needs when travelling.
This is why it is important to establish yourself as a property that caters to convenience versus value for money.
Establishing your brand identity sets guest expectations early through clear communication. That does not mean you cannot cater to the alternative, but your primary focus remains your ideal guest, meeting their needs with every interaction.
Action Plan: Aligning Your Touchpoints
Bookers rarely review your whole profile and instead skim for signals that match their needs. You have a few precious seconds before a booker moves on to the next property. With that time, you should:
Redefine discovery:
- Update your visual story: Refresh your website and listing images. Outdated or overly edited images create a false impression or put guests off before they even review your offers.
- Match your messaging: Use value- versus convenience-driven language to attract your ideal client across every touchpoint, especially pre-arrival and post-departure communications.
- Listen to guest sentiment: Pay close attention to satisfaction scores across platforms, taking real action to resolve recurring issues. Peer reviews carry immense weight for the modern booker.
- Ditch the hype: Align your website copy with real search behaviour. Strip out empty buzzwords like “luxury experience” and vague claims of “quality service.” This is the expected baseline, not what sets you apart in your region.
Simplify the guest journey:
- Tell your authentic story: Share the true story of your property rather than a generic version filled with clichés. Lean into your uniqueness and heart, bookers are longing for authentic communication.
- Personalise pre-arrival: Tailor your pre-arrival communication strategy based on the type of traveller you are catering to, especially if you offer tiered options.
- Maintain pricing transparency: Be as clear as possible by stating all costs and charges as the booking builds.
- Remove checkout friction: The longer the booking process, the higher the cart abandonment. Implement simple one-page checkouts and one-click enhancements without unnecessary redirections.
The power of guest intelligence is understanding how guests think before they book. Once you know who is booking and why they choose you, it is easier to pivot once the basic understanding and framework is in place. If you need help understanding your guest and refining your journey, book a free discovery call. We are here to create elegance and ease your guest experience.
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