Your Expedia login can access the Expedia Extranet, which is separate from the main booking platform and serves as the partner portal, allowing hoteliers to create and amend listings, make alterations to room rates, manage reservations, and keep inventory information up-to-date. This article will teach you how to optimize your hotel listing through the Expedia Extranet Login to maximize bookings.

Table of Contents:

What is an Online Travel Agent (OTA)?

An online travel agent is a name given to an online platform that sells travel-related products and services to customers on behalf of businesses in the travel industry. This can include selling hotel rooms, flights, car rentals, travel packages, and tickets or passes for specific activities. Examples of OTAs include Expedia and Booking.com.

Essentially, the OTA will serve as a link between customers and vendors, and they will typically receive a commission fee on all bookings or purchases made through their platform. Businesses in the hotel industry often use these platforms to generate more bookings. For example, a hotel can use an Expedia login to list their property, set their room rate, provide information about their services, add photographs, and allow bookings.

What is Expedia?

Expedia is an example of an OTA and functions as a website and mobile app. It forms part of the wider Expedia Group and sells travel products for third parties, including hotel rooms, airline tickets, cruises, car rentals, and holiday packages. The business is based in Seattle, Washington, and was founded in 1996.

Today, Expedia is one of the largest online travel platforms in the world, and it is one of the single most popular distribution channels. As a result, many hotel marketing strategies rely heavily on Expedia listings.

In particular, hotels will use their Expedia login credentials to manage their listings on the platform. While most hotels will prefer to attract direct bookings, platforms like Expedia will often have far greater mainstream recognition, which means it can help you generate hotel bookings that are unlikely to manifest.

Expedia Login to Access Expedia Partner Central

Expedia is an online travel agency, but the platform is divided into two distinct platforms: one which travelers use to purchase travel products and services, and one which vendors use to manage their listings and sell their travel products and services. Expedia Partner Central is the name given to the latter.

Hoteliers can use this extranet to manage their listing, including property descriptions and hotel images. You will also be able to control room rates and availability, contact guests, and participate in promotions or special offers, which can be especially useful for selling rooms during periods of low demand.

How to Use Expedia Login Portal for Partners

Understanding what the Expedia Extranet or Partner Central platform does is one thing, but how do hoteliers gain access? The process for this is straightforward. First, you must list your hotel on the Expedia platform, complete all relevant forms, and provide all the requested information.

Expedia will review the listing, and assuming it is accepted, you will then receive your Expedia login credentials. You can use these to sign in to the Expedia Extranet login and manage your listing.

Video: How To Access Your Central Partner Account

Use Your Expedia Login to Optimize Your Property Listing

In the sections below, you can learn about the steps you will need to take to use your Expedia login effectively and optimize your property listing, to generate the best possible results:

Up-to-Date Property Description

The first step to success is ensuring your property description is up-to-date and accurate. On a basic level, your property description should provide Expedia users with a clear idea of what your hotel offers, the available facilities, and the hotel technology they can expect to encounter.

Your description should also stand out from other hotels and outline your unique selling proposition. It should also be accompanied by high-quality photographs, providing visual evidence of what has been described. Moreover, the hotel description should capitalize on search engine optimization techniques, such as using keywords.

Availability Calendar & Channel Manager

One of the most critical aspects of the Expedia Partner Central platform involves managing your room availability. After all, Expedia Extranet login users need to be able to check availability when they want and book a hotel room without encountering issues like overbooking. The best way to achieve this is through a channel manager.

A hotel channel manager is a software solution connected to your Expedia login to automate inventory management. The channel manager will automatically update availability information across all channels when bookings occur. This availability information can then be automatically updated on the Expedia platform.

High-Quality Videos

Photographs and video content are essential for generating bookings on the Expedia platform because they offer visual insights into what your hotel looks like, what it has to offer, and what it will feel like to stay there. While photographs are essential, there is also an ever-growing need to capture quality video content.

Using your Expedia login credentials to add video content to your listing can help guests to make their minds up. Video content is easy to understand, is not reliant on the customer speaking the same language, and can even be used to provide 360 degrees virtual tours of the property so that users know exactly what they are booking.

Collect & Answer Reviews

Another way to make the most of your Expedia login and the Expedia Extranet login is to encourage customers to leave reviews and then manage these reviews on the platform. This requires you to ensure all hotel departments are committed to delivering a high customer service standard so those reviews are positive.

However, once reviews are on the platform, you must respond to them. This is relatively simple with the positive reviews, but what about the negative ones? The best approach is to be polite, take their feedback seriously, thank them for taking the time to draw your attention to any issues, and explain the corrective action you will take.

Diversify Your Rates and Cancellation Policies

Your hotel management teams can use an Expedia login to manage your room rates too, and it can pay to diversify your approach. The pricing strategies you use during times of high demand should differ from those used during low demand periods, and it can pay to offer special deals and heavy discounts at specific points.

Finally, a good way to stand out from rival hotels and attract more bookings is to be flexible on cancellation policies. Expedia and other OTAs will often have filters on their search engines, allowing users to search only for hotels that allow for free cancellations or some degree of flexibility on cancellations.

Tips for Expedia Login Extranet to Increase Booking

In the sections below, you will find some useful tips for using your Expedia login to increase bookings:

Expedia Marketing Campaigns

The Expedia Extranet login allows you to use your Expedia login to manage marketing campaigns. Several key promotions can be easily implemented through the platform, including last-minute deals, seasonal discounts, early bird discounts, and various other campaigns based on specific times of the year.

Some Expedia marketing campaigns are geared towards users in specific locations or speaking particular languages, and many are based on wider hotel marketing trends. You can opt-in and out of these promotions based on your needs, and there will also be options to add your promotional campaigns.

Expedia Hotel + Flight Combo Packages

For Expedia customers, the service is a platform for booking hotel rooms and buying other travel products and services. One of the best ways to appeal to users is to make life easier, and package deals can be highly effective. In particular, you should explore the option of hotel and flight combination packages.

Hoteliers can participate in these package deals and offer a slight discount, encouraging Expedia customers to book the package and opt for your hotel over rival properties. Participating in these package deals can boost your hotel’s visibility across the Expedia platform.

Touch Base with Expedia Representatives

While the self-service options available to hoteliers with an Expedia login are extensive, it is worth highlighting that the platform provides more personalized support through representatives. It can, therefore, be a good idea to speak to an Expedia Extranet login representative in your region and discuss ideas for maximizing the benefits associated with the service.

Reps can also talk with your marketing and reservations teams to discuss hotel trends and make strategic recommendations.

Your Expedia Login and Other OTAs to Explore

An Expedia login can be invaluable in the modern travel market, but other OTAs can also be used as part of your marketing and hotel operations. Some best-known examples of online travel agency platforms that may benefit your property include Booking.com, Priceline.com, TripAdvisor, and Agoda.

In the article “12 Online Travel Agents (OTAs) to Increase Your Hotel Bookings”, you can read much more about what OTAs are and how they work and access a list of the main platforms that can help you to generate bookings.

Tips to Get the Most From Your Expedia Login and Other OTAs

Your Expedia login will likely form just one part of your wider online travel agency strategy. Hotels usually turn to multiple platforms for the best results, as they all have different target demographics. Once your hotel is on these platforms, you must make the right strategic decisions.

In the “11 Tips To Increase Your Hotel Bookings Through OTAs” article, you can read about some of the best strategies to maximize the utility of online travel agencies and increase the number of bookings you attract.

Expedia is one of the world’s most popular online travel platforms, and listing your hotel on the service can help attract more bookings. You can access the Expedia Extranet login, using your Expedia login, where you can manage your listing, reservations, room rates, promotions, and more.

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This article is written by:

Martijn Barten

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, I specialize in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have successfully developed, implemented, and managed revenue management and marketing strategies for individual properties and multi-property portfolios.