At Simplotel we have built websites for over 2,000 hotels, and every single time we have been asked about how we drive traffic to a website. We have been asked by those who are usually suspicious of SEO because they paid for such services in past and may or may not have seen results. And we have been asked by our customers who see a 3x plus growth in their website traffic after coming to our platform – as to how we do it. While SEO can be a deep subject, today we will attempt to outline how one must think about SEO in this post.

At a high level SEO depends on three things –

  1. Technology and layout of the website 

  2. The content on the website

  3. Things happening outside your website
     

Technology and layout of the website

In order to determine the relevance of a website for a search term (also known as a keyword) search engines have a piece of software called a Bot (derived from the word Robot) that crawls (think of it as reads) content on your website. The Bot then stores the keywords that a website is most relevant for. This is known as indexing of a website.

Unlike users, bots see the code of the website and not what users see on a website (you can view the code of most websites by right clicking on a webpage and selecting view page source). The easier this code is for the search engines to understand, the better chance you have of conveying your content to the search engines and making sure that your content gets indexed correctly. Here again there are hundreds of things that matter. These include the load time of a website, the structure of website code, mobile friendliness, proper tags and sitemaps. Detailing these is a topic for a future blog.

The layout of your website also plays an important role in search engine optimization. Clean and simple navigation, easily readable content – they all add up towards SEO friendliness. 
To get these things right a website must be built for SEO from the ground up – retrofitting these things can often mean redoing the website. The good news is that Simplotel, out of the box, takes care of all this for your hotel website.
 

The content on your website

Now that we have gotten the technical aspects covered, the next most obvious thing about SEO is the content of the website. If your website’s content is about ice cream cones then your site will be indexed for ice cream cone searches and not for hotels. If your content is about a luxury hotel, then you won’t be indexed for budget hotels and consequently it is unlikely that you will show up for searches related to budget hotels.

Content also comes in many shapes. It includes the text on the website, the images that you put, the links you provide and the various tags (page titles page descriptions etc.). Each one of these have a significance and how and where you place them also matters. Content that is higher up on a page matters more than the content that is below. On things like page titles, the content that is to the left matters more than the content that is to the right. How you structure your content with various Headers (much like a word document) matters. How you name your images, how you name the links – they all matter.

All content on your website should be original content – copying of content from another website hurts your traffic – as the search engines and users skip past you believing you have nothing new to say. Adding fresh and relevant content has also shown to impact the SEO of a website.

There is also data about your hotel (meta data) that you can provide on your website, it is not visible to your customers but tells the bots the location, name, etc. of your hotel. Once again, Simplotel does this out of the box for your site.  Our experts write the content for your hotel website so that it is all set up well. This is another reason why our customers see a 3x plus growth in traffic.
 

Things happening outside your website

After the technology and the content on the website, there are things that happen outside your website that impact search engine optimization. These include your guest reviews, your listing on Google Maps and local listing sites, your mention in travel blogs, etc. – they all matter. Here are some suggestions,

  • Verify and own your Google My Business (GMB) page and make sure that the map marker is accurate.

  • Ensure that your hotel’s name, address and contact info is exactly the same on all online channels – your social media pages, local listings and classified listings. 

  • Get good reviews by taking care of customers and encouraging customers to write a glowing review. Also, respond to your reviews on various review channels time to time.

There are few silver bullets in SEO – so you must skin it with a thousand paper cuts. Please let us know your comments, questions and feedback at hello@simplotel.com.

Hotel Booking Windows: How Lead Time Data Unlocks Revenue and Informs Smarter Pricing

In the fast-evolving world of hotel revenue management, success hinges not just on price but on timing. There’s one critical metric that underpins when and how you set your rates, launch your campaigns, and lock in guests:the booking window. Understanding your hotel’s booking window, the lead time between reservation and arrival, is the master key to smarter pricing, higher occupancy, and greater profitability.

What Is a Booking Window

Role in Pricing Strategy

Segmentation

Key Factors

Inventory Management

Using Data

Conclusion

What Is a Booking Window and Why Does It Matter?

The booking window is the span of days between when a guest books a room and when they arrive at your hotel. This simple metric is a treasure trove of insights, it shows you how far in advance your guests are planning, which in turn tells you when to raise or lower prices, time promotions, and maximize your occupancy. A lag in recognizing and responding to seasonal, segment, or event shifts in your booking windows could mean leaving revenue on the table or being stuck with unsold rooms during crunch time.

For example, if June 1 marks the start of your peak week, and data shows most reservations are locked in exactly three months earlier, your“booking window” for that period is 90 days.

With this knowledge, you can confidently increase rates during that spike, knowing demand is at its highest and avoid scaring away early price-sensitive planners by hiking rates too soon.

The Core Role of the Booking Window in Pricing Strategy

Winning revenue management is all about answering: When is “the right time” to charge“the right price”? Your booking window reveals that sweet spot. Armed with historical booking lead time data, you can monitor demand triggers, fine-tune nightly rates, and nimbly adapt to shifts in guest behavior.

Key benefits of leveraging booking window data:

  • Predict demand surges or drops with confidence
  • Roll out promotions or price changes at the most profitable moment
  • Phase inventory release, reserving prime rooms for premium or last-minute guests
  • Prevent costly pricing errors that alienate guests or sacrifice revenue

Booking Window Segmentation

Not all guests book alike. Understanding your booking window segments lets you target deals, campaigns, and rate adjustments for maximum effect:

Short Booking Window (0-7 Days)
Last-minute bookers are usually locals or spontaneous travelers and they book with urgency or out of necessity.

  • Pricing:Command premium rates due to limited availability or run flash discounts on remaining rooms to drive last-second occupancy.
  • ​​​​​​​Tactics:Reduce minimum stay requirements, launch last-minute targeted deals, and appeal to flexibility and convenience.
  • Marketing:Use instant-book platforms, push notifications, or flash sales.

Medium Booking Window (7-30 Days)
These are your planners, typically domestic or regional guests who like security but don’t book far out.

  • Pricing:These are your planners, typically domestic or regional guests who like security but don’t book far out.
  • ​​​​​​​Tactics:Adjust rates based on current pick-up, fine-tune inventory, and send targeted upsell offers to past guests.
  • Marketing:Focus on value-added offers and experiential packages in email campaigns.

Medium Booking Window (7-30 Days)
International travelers or luxury guests often book months ahead, planning around major life or business events.

  • Pricing:Entice with hefty early-bird discounts for advance revenue, or even apply “far-out” pricing premiums during high-demand periods or major events.
  • ​​​​​​​Tactics:Set minimum stays for peak dates, stagger inventory release, or lock in groups long before demand peaks.
  • Marketing: Push grand packages and perks to early birds by highlighting exclusivity and security

Factors That Shape the Booking Window

No two properties or periods have the same booking window. Several key factors influence how far out your guests book:

  • Seasonality:Peak seasons stretch the window as guests plan ahead; shoulder and off-peak compress it

  • Events & Festivals:Major local happenings spur bookings months in advance; minor events have a smaller effect

  • Guest Origin (ADD):Locals book at the last minute; international guests book further out due to travel logistics.

  • Distribution Channels:OTAs often drive longer windows (with flexible cancellation), while direct/loyalty guests tend to book later. Corporate/group bookings can go either way depending on event type

Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Management

Dynamic pricing and open pricing are a booking window’s best friends. These systems analyze lead-time patterns and adjust nightly rates on the fly, so you can attract both early planners and last-minute bookers without getting stuck in static-price traps.

Inventory management tip: Don’t release all rooms at once, phase high-demand or premium inventory and retain flexibility to adapt to real-time changes. This phased release reduces risk of selling out too early at lower rates.

Using Data for Forecasting & Calculation

Unlocking value from the booking window requires quality data:

  • Analyze your reservation system and channel manager for historical window patterns
  • Compare OTAs, direct, and group booking windows side by side
  • Refine pricing models and promotions to each segment
  • Use management tech to constantly track and react to booking window shifts
LOS and Minimum Stay Integration:Booking window analysis pairs perfectly with length of stay (LOS) strategies. Longer windows often bring longer stays; incentivize early bookers to commit to longer visits, and relax minimum stays for spontaneous, last-minute guests to maximize occupancy in tough periods.
 

Conclusion: Mastering the Booking Window for Revenue Success

Your booking window isn’t just a metric, it’s the blueprint for your hotel’s revenue strategy. By interpreting, segmenting, and responding to lead time patterns, you’ll hit the bullseye with your pricing, sell out at peak rates, and outmaneuver the competition all year long. From peak season to the off months, knowing your booking window lets you plan smarter, promote better, and profit more, one perfectly timed booking at a time.