Scarcity effect to increase hotel conversion is based on FOMO – fear of missing out. Limited offers, No rooms left, Sold Out, Only One Room Left – all the triggers use FOMO and influence the visitors’ behavior. Likewise, Booking.com plays very well on a guests’ negative emotions.
Don’t miss the deal!
Shortage convinces us to book!
Limited room availability
As a hotelier, you might know that the phase was “Only 2 rooms left” which was not true. Therefore, after a court order, booking.com has to use the trustworthy phrase: “Only 2 rooms left on our site”
Limited supply message
Urgency alerts
The red color is used for alert messages.
Additionally, the same color used for “old”, price crossing, to create a perception of an expiring deal.
High demand message
For instance, messages that show how many times your dates were booked or how many people checked the property. For sure, it does not imply scarcity directly, but create a feeling of high demand.
“Unavailable for your dates” claim
“85% of places are unavailable for your dates on our site” claim based on the same idea. It creates a perception of high demand and plays the visitor into rushing to reserve.
Just missed it!
To enhance this effect of high demand, booking.com shows properties with no availability (“You just missed it!”). Guests need to do additional filtering to avoid unavailable hotels.
Book it now
Advice to lock the price today to avoid higher prices in the future (for savings bookng.com always uses green colors)
Leave intent disclaimer
This is a post from the Why booking.com converts so high and what hotels can learn from it? series. We looked at how to use the scarcity effect to increase hotel conversion. Read all the posts to find out how to Boost direct sales with different techniques:
- Cognitive ease to increase conversion
- Extreme Personalization
- Adding Value with direct bookings
- Directing Visitors throughout the reservation process
- Social Proof
- Scarcity Effect
- Emotional Marketing
- Booking.com Conversion Optimization Techniques. What hotels can learn from it?
