MARKETING OF GUEST HOUSES USING BOOKING.COM SERVICE IN UBUD TOURISM AREA

Bali which is famous for its natural beauty and cultural uniqueness has become one of the world's favourite tourism destinations. The growth of tourist visits that occur from year to year is a stimulus for the rapid development of the hospitality industry that provides a variety of tourism products. The development of the tourism industry in Bali cannot be separated from stretching information technology that can be used as a means of marketing that is low cost but has a high impact in order to reach potential markets.

The phenomenon of the development of Bali-based digital tourism makes it easy for travellers to plan their trips including ordering all tourism products needed only by accessing the website or applications contained on smartphone devices. This is especially possible especially since the existence of Online Travel Agents, which can simply be interpreted as a travel agent that carries out almost all of its marketing activities online.

Ubud Tourism Area is one of the most developed tourist destinations in Bali. The beauty of nature and the uniqueness of the arts and culture make tourists and world-class artists to visit and even settle there. The development of Ubud as a tourist area was followed by the construction of various types of accommodation ranging from international standard hotels to guest houses managed by local communities.

Related to marketing activities, guest houses that are managed with limited resources still have a chance to reach the market. The development of information technology allows guest house owners to collaborate with Online Travel Agents, one of which is booking.com. According to a statement from one of the guest house owners in the tourist area of ​​Ubud stating that "To be able to work with booking.com, business owners contact booking.com. Then the booking.com will send the terms & conditions to be agreed between business partners. It is usually considered important to agree on, namely the provision of commissions by property owners to booking.com. After an agreement was reached between the two parties, the owner asked to send data regarding their guest house. Includes the number of rooms, guest house addresses, photos etc. These data are needed as a reference in making a promotion page that will be displayed on the booking.com website” (Risyamuka, 2018). From these statements, it can be seen that there is a mutually beneficial collaboration between the Online Travel Agent in this case booking.com and the guest house owner. Booking.com get a commission from room booking, on the other hand the guest house owner gets the benefit of marketing services through the booking.com website.

The marketing service is in the form of access to accommodation owners to be able to use/manage features in the booking.com website, including:

1.     Property Info

Contains information about the property being promoted. Facilities provided such as: number of rooms, swimming pools, bathtubs etc.

2.     Rates & Availability

Contains information about prices and room availability. In this feature, property owners can set room prices according to the booking period. They can also do room blocking, releasing rooms and managing other rooms. In addition, facilities are also provided to see the level of guest satisfaction with the property. The indicator used to measure satisfaction is the value obtained by tourists when compared to the price offered, staff, service, cleanliness, comfort, and location. The level of guest satisfaction will then affect the popularity of the guest house which can be compared to other properties.

3.     Website Content

Contains ratings regarding website content. There are several indicators determined by booking.com that affect property ranking compared to the properties of competitors. The better the ranking, the greater chance of getting room booking. The indicators include:
-Completeness of photos

-Quality of photos

-Photo tags (labels) for easy searching

-Completeness of description related to the advantages and uniqueness of the marketed property.

4.     Promotions

With this feature, property owners can create promotional programs to increase occupancy rates, for example:

-Basic Deal: Deduction with a certain percentage

-Minimum Stay: Special price for minimum stay (ex. 3 nights)

-Early Booker: Booking in advance

-Last Minute: Booking suddenly

-24hr promotion: Special price promo for 24 hours

Promos or offers that are given can take various forms. example: Discounted price, free stay 1 night for a minimum stay of 3 nights, free lunch, discounted spa etc.

5.     Bookings

This feature explains in more detail about the data related to the booking. It is possible to open booking information (guest name, number of guests, the price charged for the period & country of origin)

6.     Finance

This feature contains information about the amount of payment received in a certain period, as well as the amount of commission paid to booking.com.

7.     Statistics

Contains business activity data from properties offered through the booking.com website for a certain period (year, month, week, day). This feature has 2 functions to see visitors who visit the website and visitors who book. This feature allows the manager to convert to display the percentage of visit data compared to the number of bookings generated. The high level of visits to a web indicates the high search for information related to the classification of the hotel (ex. Location, facilities, price). Ranking on booking.com certainly also affects, because what will be raised more often is definitely the property with the best ranking. But the level of visits is no guarantee that the customer makes a booking/purchase. Other factors also influence for example the appearance of the property, price, promotion, value-added in the form of the uniqueness of a property that makes it more special than other competitors. It is stated in the description of the selling or so-called sales letter.

8.     Inbox

This feature is used to receive information and product updates from booking.com.

So far the pattern of cooperation established with the Online Travel Agents is still an option for owners of guest houses or other non-star accommodations. This is also a challenge for other industry players, especially travel agents who still rely on conventional marketing to take advantage of the information technology to be able to survive in the tourism competition industry that getting tougher.