Have you ever put any serious thought into something as simple as the "Book" or "Search" button on your website? You might think its color or the way it looks doesn't make that much of a difference to a shopper or potential guest, right? Well, think again...

The website reservations console of a hotel or resort is where a visitor selects their desired dates of travel and then proceeds to the booking engine to continue with the checkout process. This is the area of the website where the largest amount of traffic navigates into the checkout funnel and may be the first interaction a user has with selecting information for their stay. Needless to say, optimizing the reservations console on your website is essential for improving conversion for your property.

Did you know something as simple as the color of the call-to-action button on the website reservations console or the verbiage used within the reservations console can affect the number of visitors that start a search and even book a room with your property? It's amazing to think that a little colored button has that kind of impact!

Recently our Sabre Hospitality Solutions Conversion Optimization Testing team performed an A/B test for Tarrytown House Estate & Conference Center testing the color of their reservations console call-to-action button. Three colors were chosen for the test. Their current control button was gray and we chose two new colors to test as well: blue and gold. Both new variations performed better than the original, but the blue button received the highest click-through to the booking engine by 14% and the Revenue per Website Visitor by 16%! That's a lot of impact from just a little button.

The Conversion Testing team ran a Multivariate Conversion Optimization Test for The Jefferson, Washington D.C. It sounds like a science project but it's actually pretty simple. In a multivariate test, at least two variables are being tested to determine which combination performs the best out of all combinations. The two variables that were tested included the reservations console call-to-action button color and the verbiage within the button. Three colors and four phrases within the call-to-action button were tested for a total of twelve combinations. (See screenshot of variations tested.) Just by changing the color and call-to-action button verbiage, The Jefferson, Washington D.C. experienced an 8% increase in the reservations console click-through to the booking engine and a 27% increase in Revenue per Visitor! Power to the little button!

We would love to see if this would work for you. We highly recommend utilizing Conversion Optimization Testing to optimize the revenue generated from your property's website reservations console. Low cost tests like these examples can lead to high impact revenue gains for your property. Ask your Sabre Hospitality Account Manager how you can utilize the Conversion Optimization Testing service to enhance your revenue gained and increase conversion from your website reservations console or contact us here.