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 –

Technology and layout of the website
The content on the website
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.

Home > Blogs > Why Hotel Cancellation Policies Are Essential for Channel Price Parity and Direct Revenue Growth

What Is a Hotel Cancellation Policy and Why Does It Matter?

A hotel cancellation policy lays out the terms and conditions for guests to cancel their bookings, from deadlines to penalties and potential refunds. This isn’t just about protecting revenue from no-shows; it’s a foundational document for managing expectations and transparency. Guests who understand their rights and obligations feel more comfortable booking, and hoteliers minimize risk from last-minute cancellations or operational chaos.

Cancellation policies typically specify:

The window for cancelling without penalties
Fees or refunds for different cancellation timings
Rules for no-shows and special events
Variations for group, corporate, or special bookings

Hotels must tailor these policies to seasonality, booking channel, and reservation type, but above all, keep the terms clear and consistent.

Strategic Roles of Cancellation Policies

Revenue Protection: A strict cancellation policy reduces "billboard booking" behavior (guests canceling if they find a better deal), secures earned income, and discourages last-minute disruptions.
Resource Management:By forecasting potential cancellations, hotels better allocate staff and rooms, reducing labor waste and optimizing inventory.
Fairness and Trust:Transparent policies assure guests that their bookings are respected, while also ensuring hotels are compensated for late cancellations.
Operational and Risk Management:Strict or dynamic policies (that flex based on demand) help hotels mitigate financial impact during peak demand or sudden market changes.

A good policy fosters loyalty and repeat business through transparency and predictability.

Types of Hotel Cancellation Policies

Hotels use diverse policies depending on their guest mix and business goals:

Free Cancellation:No penalty if cancelled by a deadline; helps attract price-sensitive guests and fill rooms in low demand.
Non-Refundable: Lower rates for guests with fixed plans, ensuring guaranteed revenue.
Partial Refunds:Guests get a portion back based on when they cancel.
Deposit-Based:Guest pays upfront; refund depends on cancellation date.
No-Show Policy: Penalty for not arriving without notice, usually one night’s charge.
Last-Minute/Special Event Policy: Stricter terms for high-traffic or group bookings.
Dynamic Policy: Terms change based on real-time demand, more lenient when occupancy is low, stricter at peak.

The Link Between Cancellation Policies and Traveler Behavior

Cancellation flexibility is now a leading factor in traveler decisions. Many will book early, then keep searching for better deals. If they find one, a lenient cancellation policy lets them switch easily; a stricter policy locks in their existing booking.

Academic research shows the deadline for cancelling matters much more to deal-seekers than the fee itself. Policies that are too lax lead to constant cancellations and lost revenue. But too strict, and travelers shy away and OTAs lose faith in listing those properties.

Managing Channel Price Parity Beyond Rates

Maintaining parity is more than offering the same rate, it’s about total value. If one OTA allows more flexible cancellations than the hotel’s direct site, guests see the OTA as offering better value, even if the price matches. OTAs know this, often requiring hotels to match cancellation terms across all channels. Failure to do so leads to:

Guest confusion about terms and penalties
Lost direct bookings
Brand credibility issues

Hotels can incentivize direct bookings with added flexibility (like easier refunds, credits, or rebooking options), as long as they don’t violate OTA parity clauses. Conversely, inconsistency invites parity problems, revenue leakage, and guest dissatisfaction.

Best Practices: Managing Cancellations for Better Revenue

Consistency Across Channels: Ensure cancellation terms match across OTAs, the hotel website, and metasearch. Display the same policies everywhere for clarity and parity.
Offer Strategic Flexibility: During low demand, go lenient to attract bookings. In peak times, tighten policies to secure revenue.
Use Overbooking Strategically:Leverage historical data to predict no-shows and fill rooms with controlled overbookings, but monitor closely to avoid displacement.
Embrace Technology: Smart hotel tech predicts cancellation risk, offers guests retention options (credits, upgrades), and returns cancelled rooms instantly to the inventory.
Communicate Proactively:Email follow-ups after a cancellation turn lost bookings into future guests. Clear, early reminders about terms and deadlines boost compliance and satisfaction.

Conclusion: Cancellation Policies Are Core to Price Parity

Rate parity means little if guests face a confusing tangle of cancellation terms across channels. By building and communicating clear policies, aligned and visible everywhere guests book, hotels reinforce parity, build trust, and encourage more direct bookings. In the age of the deal-seeker, cancellation flexibility is not just a policy, it’s a strategic lever in revenue optimization.

For more insights,explore the latest trendsin hotel distribution, pricing, and cancellation strategies in our resources section.