Group sales and flash sales and private sales – Oh my!

It seems like every week another online sale site launches, prompting travel, property, restaurant, tour & attraction owners to wonder if it is a marketing strategy they should be utilizing and, if so, how to know which sites to work with.

Below are answers to the most common question asked by travel industry professionals answered by travel expert and Yuupon founder, Mary Song:

1. Why are travel sites worth it for my business?

• These sites are true performance-based marketing tools.  It's not just about filling occupancy (which it does!), but also reaching new customers that you otherwise might not. 
• Excellent brand building: Thousands of potential clients have now heard about your business because it was featured on a flash deal site!  After the deal is over you can easily target the traffic that came to your website.
• Very cost effective: Posting a deal on a flash travel deal website is a cost-effective way to attract hundreds or even thousands of new customers to your business instantly with no upfront expense or risk.

2. What do I need to look out for when considering working with a sale site?

• Exclusivity requirements – consider carefully if you are willing to commit yourself to only one partner for a period of time. Most deal sites do not require this, but some do.
• How much traffic/vouchers can my establishment manage? Do I have the staff to man the phones?
• Compare offerings to see which site will best fulfill your needs. If you need a very high volume of vouchers sold, consider which sites have done best selling vouchers in your area. If you are smaller, see if any of the sites are willing to limit vouchers sold to a number that you are comfortable with. Consider booking periods and blackout dates. Some sites may offer limited numbers of vouchers sold for holiday periods vs. Sunday – Thursday or shoulder travel.

3. What do I look for in a potential sale site?

• It's important to work with a site that upholds the integrity of your property's brand and image.  You may be offering a discount, but you want clients to feel lucky, not cheap.
• That the deal is actually a deal for you.  You need to determine if this sale achieves your profit and/or marketing goals.
• Flexibility – can I restrict total number of vouchers sold? How much support will the site provide to us

4. What are the complaints consumers have with sale sites?

• The deal is dependent on a set number of people buying in – it feels like a game they might not win
• Spur of the moment commitment to set dates that may or may not be convenient for fellow travelers or if they know their travel dates they may not be sure on many of these sites if they'll be able to redeem the voucher for those specific dates.
• Lack of property and resort variety

5. Practically, what do I do about rates and rate parity?

• Add-ons that OTAs don't offer skirt the parity issue completely
• Sites name the packages other than what they are called on the OTAs so pricing by a robot really can't be compared. Room names are similar and a human would be able to discern with careful reading how to compare the prices.
• This is an advertising platform not a booking platform and doesn't fall under parity rules. Think about this like ppc ad campaign. You support the ad campaign with rooms sold (hopefully). Only this model guarantees true performance based marketing.

Mary Song is the Founder of Yuupon, the flexible flash travel site featuring weekly discounted and varied accommodations without the requirement of group minimums, harried schedule matching or travel companion scheduling.