If you own a business in outdoor hospitality, like an RV resort, you may already be aware that around 70% of reservations are completed via phone versus online bookings. What you may not know is that around 85% of traditional hospitality reservations are booked online. In this blog, we’re going to examine a few reasons why these stats are so heavily skewed and present a possible solution for your outdoor hospitality business with online reservation forms.

1. Online booking software is a common solution that allows reservations for an RV resort, but many people still prefer to pick up a phone and call. There are a few reasons for this behavior, the first of which is the redirect, or bounce, to a third-party website when trying to make a reservation. The internet can be a scary place filled with spam and endless ways to try to steal your information. Because of this, people have built strong defense mechanisms that make alarm bells scream when they are redirected to a website they don’t know or trust.
2. Another reason a potential customer might pick up the phone instead of booking online is the complexity of the form itself. The world is moving faster and faster every day and if an RV resort requires a seemingly endless amount of information from the customer, they might get impatient or frustrated and decide to call instead. Outdoor hospitality serves a multi-generational client base, so it’s important to consider that not everyone is as comfortable filling out lengthy online reservation forms.
3. A third reason that a person might call an RV resort instead of booking online is that the booking software isn’t mobile friendly. From our data at Big Rig Xpress, we’ve noticed that over 75% of website visitors are using a smart phone or other mobile device with a smaller screen than a desktop computer. If the booking software doesn’t play well with mobile users, expect them to either call to make a reservation or find another RV resort entirely.

The Solution is Online Reservation Forms

What many outdoor hospitality businesses do in lieu of full online reservation processing is to use online reservation forms. These mimic an online reservation but are much simpler for the guest and is even preferred for long-term reservations. So, no redirect to a third-party website, no lengthy forms, and no worries about not being mobile-friendly.

Here are a few examples of online reservation forms for outdoor hospitality businesses:

1. madriverrv.com
2. freeportfriendlyrv.com
3. canyontrailrv.com

To get started using online reservation forms, contact Big Rig Xpress today and we will answer all your questions and build a website that delivers the marketing mojo you need to grow your business.

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