Travel credit: a world of benefits for hoteliers during these complex times

The situation brought about by Covid-19 and the travel restrictions have caused a fall in reservations and increase in cancelations.

There have been many initiatives, tools and strategies that have been implemented to help the travel industry cope during this crisis.

Amongst them, Gift Cards or Travel Credit. Although they have been around for some time now, they have become increasingly important thanks to their flexibility and as a method to protect reservations.

During the month of May, ahead of many other travel technology companies, at Roiback we launched our very own Travel Credit tool.

Our objective was to provide a simple yet efficient tool to help our hotel partners turn possible cancelations into future credit, and alleviate to a certain extent the heavy strain on their finances.

Since launch, our Travel Credit tool has proven to be a great success. The numbers are great and the feedback from our hotel partners is proving to be extremely encouraging.

To date, over 120 chains and hoteliers are already using our Travel Credit tool, helping protect over 3 million euro in total transaction value.
 

72% of the Travel Credit vouchers have been issued to convert cancelations into future credit. This shows the effectiveness of Travel Credit vouchers to protect reservations that would have otherwise been lost, and their importance to generate a certain level of loyalty from hotel guests, providing them an incentive to return to the same property.

28% of Travel Credit vouchers are used as a tool to generate new reservations, showing their effectiveness not only to convert cancellations into future reservations but also to generate new business.

As the situation with the pandemic eases and cancellations decrease, we expect that the use of Travel Credit vouchers to become increasingly focused to generate new reservations.

83% of Travel Credit vouchers issued between May and September have yet to be cashed in. This explains the current situation with the pandemic and the high degree of uncertainty related to travel. But it also allows hoteliers to stockpile of future reservations albeit many with no defined date yet.

So, let’s recap: How should we use Travel Credit vouchers?

1. To avoid cancellations, giving your customers much welcome flexibility to change their stays for future dates.

2. As part of promotional campaigns offering Travel Credit vouchers with fixed values.

3. To drive conversion rates and enhance customer Loyalty, offering Travel Credit vouchers for future stays.

And what are its benefits?

• Avoid reservation cancellations, offering a flexible alternative for the client.
• Protects the hotel's liquidity, keeping reservations in the system for future arrivals.
• Guarantees the return of the client in the near future, postponing the reservation instead of canceling it.
• Improves your customers' experience and enhances your brand. In these times, the more flexibility and alternatives you offer your clients, the more secure they will feel when making a reservation at your hotel. In case of change of plans, you will be offering alternatives to postpone your stay.
• Acts as a promotional tool to generate new bookings through campaigns and enhance loyalty.