The Client 

Since 1947, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts has created a legacy of hospitality with traditions of caring for their travellers as honoured guests and extended family. With beachfront properties across the Hawaii Islands, the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean, the brand has been pegged as an innovator of tourism development.

The Challenge

As competition with third-party sites gets tougher for hotels, many brands are looking for support in growing their most profitable source of business: the direct channel.

The brand noticed that, despite receiving a high amount of website traffic across their hotel websites, their conversion rate was not as good as desired. It looked like users needed an extra incentive to complete their booking.

Thus in April 2018, Outrigger decided to partner with The Hotels Network (THN) to take advantage of their set of Conversion and Personalisation tools to deliver a unique hotel website experience that boosts user engagement throughout the website, leads guests towards the booking engine, and ultimately in favor of a direct reservation. To further strengthen their direct channel while differentiating themselves from the competition, Outrigger turned to The Guestbook in October of 2019. 

By partnering with these two companies, Outrigger aimed to see an impact on their website visitors’ booking journey and consequently on their direct channel results.

The Solution

Both THN and The Guestbook have a common goal: helping hotels boost their direct bookings.

THN and The Guestbook have provided Outrigger with easy-to-use tools that encourage guests to book directly. The THN tools help the brand to showcase targeted direct booking offers, provide price comparisons and allow users to see review summaries directly on the hotel website. The Guestbook Rewards program gave Outrigger’s guests cash back for every stay that is booked directly. The cash back option allowed Outrigger to provide a better deal for booking directly without breaking rate parity. 

While sharing a common goal, the two partners have focused on different areas of the booking funnel that, when combined, create optimal results for the client. Furthermore, Outrigger was able to clearly communicate their unique value proposition while giving their guests extra financial incentives to book with them. This dynamic duo of products has given Outrigger the extra push they needed to focus on their direct channel strategy and see lasting results.

THN Tools in Action

The following set of THN tools were showcased across Outriggers’ properties websites this past year with the aim to enhance the user experience and boost direct reservations.

Exclusive offer targeted to local travelers

The Guestbook in action

The foundation of The Guestbook’s cash rewards program, the Cash Rewards Suite amplifiedOutrigger’s marketing efforts and helped increase their direct bookings while attracting, converting, and retaining more guests than ever before.

Rewards Integration

Recognizing that Outrigger’s consumers are highly motivated by cash rewards programs, The Guestbook leverages the power of a cash-back program with conversion technology that seamlessly integrates with all major booking engines and allows for rewards messaging beginning with search results, all the way through to a completed direct booking and beyond.

Enrollment Messaging

The Guestbook makes it easy for Outrigger’s guests to enroll and create their free account to redeem their cash rewards, all done within Outrigger’s booking engine on the checkout page.

The Results

The combination of both powerful tools helped Outrigger to capture guests at every step of the booking funnel.

The positive results achieved from working with both THN and The Guestbook have solidified the relationship between the companies and the brand, ensuring a continuation of the partnership in the future.