New suite of technologies enhances personalized communications to help hotel brands drive more direct bookings
Voyat, the company that helps hospitality brands use custom communications to drive direct bookings, today launched Voyat Black, the latest platform release that builds on the Voyat eCommerce Optimization Platform to target high-value traffic with data-driven and highly-relevant messages. The new features go further than ever before in helping hotel brands enhance customer interaction and boost direct revenue.
“Our services keep advancing while our mission remains the same—to bring hotels and their guests closer together and use technology to level the playing field between direct and third-party channels,” said Benjamin Habbel, co-founder of Voyat and VP of Global Business Development at parent company Intent Media. “The new Voyat Black platform features smart algorithms that instantly recognize the hotel’s most relevant audiences, enable websites and booking engines to more efficiently work together to convert guests, and mimic particular strategies deployed by OTAs. With the release of Voyat Black, our ability to blend eCommerce best practices with luxurious design, brand and tone is unmatched in the industry.”
The Voyat Optimization Platform ‘sits’ on top of the hotel website and booking engine and encourages travelers to book directly. Essentially, it allows hotels to identify smart audiences and effectively merchandize their rooms and product offering on the website and booking engine for each visitor. It features three main components: Voyat Direct Experience, which delivers beautifully designed dynamic messages that increase direct bookings; Voyat Direct Insight, which creates data-driven insights based on constant A/B testing; and Voyat Direct Membership, which modernizes closed user group pricing for loyal customers.
Voyat Black, which supports Voyat Direct Experience, builds on these capabilities with greater targeting and functionality. The suite includes:
- Intent-Based Targeting: This advance enables hoteliers to further customize messages and offers based on a sophisticated analysis of each site visitor’s specific travel preferences, and where they happen to be in the planning process. Targeting parameters span business travelers, leisure travelers, big spenders, etc. This level of segmented outreach is vital in a field where relevant content offers significant benefits: A survey commissioned by IT services provider Infosys survey shows that 62% of consumers favor personalized offers, and 86% say it influences their purchases.
- Resume Your Search: This simple but powerful feature instantly connects return visitors to their earlier searches by recognizing parameters that were previously set. The link back forges a deeper connection with the prospective customer and identifiably improves the overall user experience.
- Urgency Messaging: This service alerts site visitors to the number of people researching or booking the hotel at the same time, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will book right away, rather than delay the purchase and perhaps opt to book on a third-party site.
"At Highgate, one of our core values is to remain innovative in an ever-changing market," said Andre De Araujo, Vice President of e-Commerce at Highgate Hotels. "We understand that there is no simple formula to closing the direct booking with a potential hotel guest – it takes a full portfolio of services that help us meet individual needs in particular situations. Hospitality is all about creating a custom experience for guests, and the new product suite from Voyat goes even further than before in personalizing communications to meet specific needs online."
