Are you in the hotel industry and want to generate new income alternatives? Let us tell you that with very little investment, selling on eBay is a viable option. Nowadays, more and more accommodations are being offered on eBay.
As discussed in our previous post, CultBay is an innovative technical service provider, enabling hotels and accommodation providers to integrate 14 eBay marketplaces as fully functional sales channels into their own sales mix. The secret lies in having the formula to offer special offers and prices to potential hotel customers.
How big is eBay?
With 180 million active buyers, eBay enables its hotel deals to have enormous potential and comprehensive visibility. Listing your hotels on eBay, using CultBay, is a way to grow your number of reservations quickly. The use of this platform reinforces the construction of the hotels brand and transmitting authority to potential buyers. Thus, accommodation offers are sold differently in various markets around the world. Users who frequent eBay may even be more likely to book at your hotels.
Founded in 1995, eBay was one of the first online marketplaces. Since then, it has been a central player in the online market, being the second-largest provider in the United States, behind Amazon. In the last decade, eBay has leaned more toward fixed “buy it now” price lists, which comprise most of its sales. You can find anything, including the hotels that we promote from CultBay.
To get a better idea of eBay’s size, it is interesting to know that in 2019 it had revenues of more than 10 billion dollars, with its operating income of around 2.3 billion of the same currency.
eBay’s business model connects buyers and sellers. In this context, eBay makes money through listing and transaction fees and marketing services. To get an idea of the market’s size, more than 2 billion transactions occur per day. It is worth bearing in mind that the products are sold in different markets.
In summary: eBay’s value proposition is ease and speed and the technical support given to customers to feel more comfortable and secure when selling products to their products through this platform.
What are hotel deals and specials?
When we talk about offers and specials, we refer to accommodation packages that offer additional benefits. These can be a romantic dinner at the hotel restaurant for two, a weekend at the spa, and a complimentary drink at the hotel bar, among several alternatives.
Thanks to CultBay, those who promote their hotels and accommodations can reach millions of new customers. This occurs due to the information distribution channels and special promotions, among the various offered alternatives. With CultBay, the offers and upgrades are much more attractive for those interested. There are several ways to complete the description of your hotels. With the system we propose, HTML offers can be stored, changed, and added automatically.
With CultBay it is so much easier
Through CultBay you can sell your offers in one of the largest markets in the world. Sales commissions on eBay are only 6% in Britain, 9% in Germany, and 10% in the United States, to give a few examples. Among other advantages, it is perfect for blocking rooms out of season and allows you to be connected to the channel manager and control eBay traffic to your website. It is good to know that sold offers are paid instantly, and payments are transferred directly to your bank account.
How does it work? The mechanism is effortless: by creating coupons, you can generate an offer and a coupon in minutes. This voucher is valid for a maximum of 3 years and is subject to availability. When you want, the request is prepared and sold to you. All data is synchronized in real-time between eBay and the hotel, through the connection to the PMS and the Channel Manager. And so, the availability calendar is automatically updated. When the daily price reaches a certain threshold, the quote closes automatically. This prevents nights being booked on eBay that may sell better on other channels. This is how eBay automatically coordinates your occupancy. The purchase of the voucher and the payment is made through eBay.
Complete booking system
How does the reservation system work? The buyer receives an email with the coupon and a link that leads to a booking page where the coupon can be redeemed. The buyer selects an arrival date and books the stay. Thus, the availability calendar is continuously synchronized with the hotel so that it is a real-time reservation. All reservation data is automatically transferred to the hotel, and the coupon is marked as redeemed in coupon management.
It is worth noting that this reservation page can be personalized and can also be used to increase sales and personalized offers, according to the guest’s preferences. Additionally, newsletter subscriptions and loyalty program memberships, among other services, can be offered.
At the end of the process, the hotel receives payment immediately after purchasing the offer on eBay, regardless of whether the coupon has already been redeemed and the guest’s arrival date. It is important to note that the purchase can be cancelled within 30 days if the voucher has not yet been redeemed. Once the reservation is made, cancellation is no longer possible.
All CultBay offers to allow you to display availability online. As we have said, during the coupon redemption process, eBay users can choose the available dates to reserve. It is good to know that CultBay is the only company that offers this type of service, which makes the service an exceptional opportunity to reach more customers around the world and with the best prices.
CultBay and its innovative service are here to stay. And there are already hundreds of clients who trust the platform and join this new reservation system with their hotels through coupons and special offers. The alliance with eBay enables CultBay to work with the fixed price bidding and auction formats. Auctions have a starting price and are sold to the highest bidder, while fixed-price offers allow buyers to purchase a fixed price package and auction offers instantly. This allows the benefits to be both for those who offer the service and for the client interested in obtaining accommodation at unbeatable prices. It’s just a matter of trying it out, and you can do it for free on the all-inclusive plan for limited time. If you do, all the features are available without CultBay fees. Once the trial period is over, you will be invited to use one of the platform’s existing plans.
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