In short, we don't recommend it. Numerous online travel agents and booking portals use badges to drive traffic away from your website, costing you direct bookings.
These are usually associated with the property's performance or rating. Springnest allows you to add these badges to your website, and you have the freedom to decide whether it is a constructive and positive addition to your website.
Springnest's vision is to help you generate direct, commission-free bookings and business, through beautiful content and marketing tools, owned and managed by you. For a while now, we have encouraged adding TripAdvisor widgets and badges, purely based on TripAdvisor's superior influence on travellers' booking decisions.
Are there any alternative suggestions?
Of course. Rather than adding a permanent badge to your website, consider using Springnest Articles to write a short press release or announcement about your achievement. Many OTA's will supply a press release template for you to use. This way, you will benefit from the publicity, without having to actively steer your website visitors away.
Why do I receive badges or awards from a third party booking portals and OTA's?
The reasons for this vary. Some booking portals follow a selection process, meaning you will be one of a selected group of properties who receive an award, while others offer awards and badges to all properties listed with them. The award is usually associated with a marketing campaign, or an effort by the OTA to gain exposure through properties' websites.
What are the benefits of adding an award or badge to my website?
Some OTA's will offer you an incentive to add a badge to your website, with a link back to theirs. A typical incentive would involve a higher or optimised ranking on their website.
What are the risks?
The badges essentially encourage your hard-earned website visitors to leave your website, to visit a link where you will have to pay commission on their bookings, or where they will be exposed to your competitors, potentially costing you business.
In short, the badges are designed to send your website visitors away, rather than encouraging them to book directly through your website and booking engine.
Will the badge convince my website visitors to book directly with me?
It might, but likely at a cost. Filling your website with badges and awards could distract your visitors from the information you want them to see most (your photographs, room information, and booking links).
Still feel that the benefits of adding an affiliate badge outweigh the risks?
- See how you can add an HTML element to your website using the Canvas Widget here.