In this engaging short episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, addresses a critical challenge facing hotels today: cart abandonment. How do you keep guests from “ghosting” your booking engine? With only 10% of website visitors entering booking engines and just 2% converting, lost bookings represent a massive revenue opportunity.

Tune in as Brenna explores: 
● The reality of booking abandonment rates and their impact on hotel revenue 
● How automation can transform cart abandonment recovery into a profitable strategy 
● Columbia Hospitality's success story using Revinate Marketing to achieve 75% open rates, 12% click-through rates, and over 170 recovered room nights 
● The importance of turning potential OTA bookings into direct bookings 
● An introduction to the Direct Booking Mastery Certification, a six-month program covering cart abandonment recovery, loyalty optimization, guest segmentation, upselling tactics, lead nurturing, and OTA winback strategies

Learn how personalized messaging, strategic timing, and collaboration between marketing and reservations teams can stop the ghosting and turn abandoned carts into confirmed bookings.

Sign up for the Direct Booking Mastery Certification here.

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[00:15] The reality of booking abandonment - Brenna explains that most guests don't book on their first website visit, with only 10% entering the booking engine and just 2% actually converting. This represents a significant revenue opportunity for hotels that implement effective cart abandonment recovery strategies.

[01:30] Columbia Hospitality success story - Brenna highlights how Columbia Hospitality used Revinate Marketing to create automated cart abandonment campaigns triggered when guests failed to complete bookings. Their drip campaigns achieved impressive results: 75% open rates, 12% click-through rates, and more than 170 recovered room nights.

[02:45] Direct Booking Mastery Certification introduction - Brenna introduces a comprehensive six-month certification program created in partnership with Hospitality Net. The program covers six key strategies including cart abandonment recovery, loyalty program optimization, guest segmentation, upselling tactics, lead nurturing, and OTA winback strategies, with monthly modules, practical guides, and certification tests.

00:00 - Intro 
00:15 - The ghosting problem in hotel bookings 
01:00 - Automation as the solution 
01:30 - Columbia Hospitality case study 
02:15 - Direct vs OTA booking importance 
02:45 - Direct Booking Mastery Certification overview 
03:30 - Course structure and benefits 
04:00 - Call to action and outro