BOOKABILITY - WHAT ACTUALLY IS IT?

These are all statements which have appeared in website tenders and briefs which have recently landed in the DestinationCore inbox.

Bookability has become a buzzword in the industry over the last year or two, but what does it actually mean? And how do you go about achieving it?

One definition of bookability might be that your destination website has a checkout facility. Where ‘bookable’ things can be placed into a basket and purchased. The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations mean that having such a facility on a destination website is more often than not an unworkable solution. The reasons why could fill a blog post in itself, so we’ll leave that for another time.

A different, and more realistic, definition might be that a visitor to a destination website can make a date and availability search for things that are bookable online. The search will return a set of results showing what is available on any given date, alongside pricing. Thereby, allowing the online visitor to easily see what can be booked, and for what price, for their selected date(s). In this definition a website visitor would be able to select their preference from the returned results and then go ahead and make a booking. Due to Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations, any transaction would need to take place away from the destination website. A solution such as this can be expensive as it requires reading and collating data from a wide variety of systems in order to provide a consistent set of availability and pricing results. The benefit that this approach does have is that a website visitor can perform a single search to find out what can be booked on the dates they are interested in.

By their very nature accommodation and experience providers are bookable, so if they are listed on your destination website, and you link off to a page on the providers website where a booking can be made then you can probably argue the case that your destination website is already ‘bookable’ - you have after all provided a route from your website which makes booking possible. But that doesn’t feel in the spirit of ‘bookability’, as a website user can’t make a booking from your website.

The good news is as web technologies have evolved, and as software providers have become more in tune with what their clients need many providers of back office booking systems now provide ‘embeddable widgets’. This provides a best of both worlds solution where ‘bookability’ for destination websites is concerned. It is relatively inexpensive to implement, and provides the functionality for a website visitor to perform a date search for availability and related pricing. The difference here, when compared to the ‘single search’ definition outlined earlier in the article is that a user has to perform date searches on a case by case basis - finding the providers they are interested in first, and then checking for date availability and pricing. The benefit with this approach over single search that it is quick and easy to add embeds across a wide variety of back office booking systems, meaning destinations provide more ‘bookable’ choices for their online visitors.

Lisa Kelly, Senior Digital Marketing at The NewcastleGateshead Initiative defines bookability as “the ability to seamlessly guide potential visitors from the ‘inspiration’ phase to the ‘booking’ phase of their customer journey.”

“This involves providing transparent and comprehensive, information about the experiences, activities, accommodation, and transport options that can enrich their visit. Bookability ensures that visitors can complete their booking through trusted providers that inspire confidence during the transaction process.”

Lisa fees that bookability is a key ingredient in converting website users into visitors because “Today’s visitors are increasingly seeking memorable experiences over material possessions, and a bookable destination website offers exactly that – the ability to help users not only discover what makes the destination special but enables them to create memorable moments through bookable experiences and activities.”

“Research from VisitBritain's sentiment tracker reveals that a third of overseas travellers, and up to 40% for long-haul trips, are turning to official destination websites as a reliable booking source. Destination websites are also the second most popular booking route after travel agents or tour operators, which highlights the important role they play in delivering more than just inspiration.”

Lisa sums it up. “By offering a bookable website, we make the destination more appealing, encouraging longer stays and exploration of lesser-known attractions. This not only increases visitor spend but also reduces the impact of seasonality and promotes more balanced tourism across the destination, benefiting the local economy and supporting sustainability.”