The “By Hoteliers, For Hoteliers” Philosophy
Connectivity refers to the integration between a destination booking engine and their hotels’ distribution channels, and how they ensure accurate and real-time communication of hotel rates and availability. In simpler terms, it’s how a hotel “talks to” destination websites to provide travelers with the most up-to-date information to allow them to book their stay. Ripe’s connectivity strategy is fundamentally different from traditional Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). At its core, Ripe operates on the principle of “by hoteliers, for hoteliers.” This means that our platform is designed and built with the specific needs and challenges of hoteliers in mind, lowering the cost of distribution, providing a localized booking experience, and tying destination marketing efforts to direct results.
Prioritizing Hoteliers: Key Differentiators
- Hotel as Merchant of Record: Ripe ensures that the hotel remains the merchant of record or “Hotel Direct” for all bookings. This means that the hotel is directly responsible for handling payments, cancellations, and guest inquiries, empowering hotels to build stronger relationships with their guests and maintain control over their booking process.
- Guest-Centric Focus: Ripe promotes and uses the hotel’s policies to avoid confusion and ensure a consistent experience for guests. Although Ripe has a dedicated team to help travelers navigate reservation issues, there is no need for intermediaries and the potential for misunderstandings is reduced.
- Facilitating Direct Booking: Ripe provides a variety of connectivity options that make direct bookings seamless for travelers as well as hotel suppliers
- Lower Cost of Distribution: Booking direct helps avoid costly margins!
Keep it Direct: Simplify a Complex and Booking Inefficient Process
Bookings with many online travel agencies often introduce complexities and inefficiencies into the travel experience. Imagine this: You’re on a cross-country road trip and need to book a last-minute hotel with your family. You finally reached what was supposed to be your pit stop that evening and it turned out they had no record of your booking. You’re forced to contact the site you used to book, who happen to be located in an entirely different country and they’re not open to calls because it’s outside of their working hours. This, unfortunately, was not a hypothetical scenario for me, but a personal anecdote and though I realized this was not the hotel’s fault, they also could not help me. Here are some things I learned about OTA booking the hard way:
- Inherent Lack of Control: This website was acting as the merchant of record and had collected my money, but because it had yet to pass it along to the hotel, they had no proof I had purchased the room. The hotel was powerless to make any changes because they did not have access and there was no reservation to change on their end.
- Enormous Information Gaps: Many travel sites do not share critical guest information like phone numbers and email addresses. Direct booking gives hotels guest information at the time of booking, allowing them to connect with travelers as early and frequently as needed to help them make the most of their trip.
- Frustrating Customer Experience: A convoluted booking process can be frustrating for travelers, especially when they don’t know who to blame for a bad check-in experience. In an effort to get their family to sleep, they may even resort to booking another room at the front desk and spend the next week trying to get it resolved by chasing down the original booking or issuing a chargeback with their credit card company.
Empowering Hotels to Succeed
Ripe’s connectivity strategy is different. By prioritizing hoteliers and facilitating direct booking, Ripe helps hotels with:
- Lowered Cost of Distribution: Ripe offers low or no-cost connectivity options, far below the typical margins and commissions charges by traditional online travel agencies.
- Strengthening Guest Relationships: Direct booking allows hotels to build stronger connections with their guests—they are in charge and can solve issues as they see fit. This ultimately fosters loyalty, repeat business, and a stronger perception of the destination they are visiting.
- Increasing Direct Bookings: Ripe’s tools and resources help increase hotels’ visibility to essential audiences thereby driving more direct bookings and profitability.
- Valuable Data and Insights: Ripe goes beyond simply facilitating direct bookings, they also ensure that hotels receive the relevant first-party data and analytics to help hotels optimize their operations, marketing efforts, and guest experiences.
Conclusion
Ripe’s innovative connectivity strategy offers hoteliers a game-changing solution. By prioritizing direct bookings and placing hotels at the heart of the reservation process, Ripe empowers hoteliers to gain more control over their business and deliver personalized guest experiences. This hotelier-centric approach distinguishes Ripe from other online booking channels, positioning us as a true partner in the success of local hotels.
