Why your guests don't complete their booking online (and what to check in your booking engine)

Five points where a guest usually leaves a booking half done, and a 10-minute check you can run from your phone.

A guest lands on your website, picks dates, looks at the rooms and starts to book. At some point, they close the tab. That is an abandoned booking: a person who wanted to book and did not complete the process.

In a small property, every abandonment is a direct booking that does not happen, and a direct booking is a booking with no intermediary commission. If you want to see other ways to get more of them, here is a guide on how to increase bookings.

This article walks through five common frictions behind booking abandonment, how to spot them in your own engine and what to fix. Then comes a 10-minute check you can do with a test booking from your phone and, if you decide to change systems, five options with their own booking engine to compare.

Where the guest gets lost

An online booking has five moments. The guest can leave at any of them, and each one has different causes.

1. Search. They arrive from your website or from the free booking links on Google Hotels and check availability.
2. Room. They compare rooms and rates.
3. Details. They fill in their name, contact details and other information.
4. Payment. They choose how to pay or how to guarantee the booking.
5. Confirmation. They review the booking and wait for it to be confirmed.

Five frictions that make guests leave

There are no universal abandonment figures: they depend on your audience, your season and your engine. That is why it is better to review your own journey than to rely on averages.

1. The final price shows up late

The guest sees a price per night in the gallery, chooses, and later the total is higher because of taxes, fees or services that were not included. The problem is not that the price is high: it is that it changes when the guest had already decided.

How to spot it. Make a test booking, without confirming it, and compare the gallery price with the total on the last step. If they do not match, note each difference and the moment it appears.

How to fix it. Include taxes in the rate or state explicitly, in the rate description, what is included and what is not. The guest should know from the first screen.

2. Too many steps or fields

Every extra field is a chance for the guest to leave it for later, especially on a phone. Sometimes the form asks for data the hotel does not need to confirm the booking, or spreads across several screens what could go together.

How to spot it. Count the steps and fields from the search to the confirmation. Mark the ones you do not use at the front desk.

How to fix it. Keep only the data needed to confirm and ask for the rest at check-in. If you host families or groups, check that they can book two or more rooms in a single process and do not have to make one booking per room.

3. Payment does not adapt to the guest

Some guests are not ready to pay at the moment of booking: they want to confirm first, have doubts about the payment method or prefer not to advance money. If the process demands immediate payment or a separate transfer, some of them leave. These are three options, from least to most friction:

• Card guarantee, with no upfront payment. The guest leaves the details of a card that backs the booking and does not pay to book. It is the option that creates the least friction.
• Online payment, partial or full. It lowers the risk for the hotel, but it requires the guest's payment method to be available in your payment gateway.
• Deposit by bank transfer. For example, 50% to confirm. The guest leaves the process to pay and the booking stays pending until the money arrives. It is a valid decision for the hotel, but every step outside the engine is a chance for the guest not to continue, and that can cost you bookings.

How to spot it. Review which payment methods you offer and compare them with the ones your guests use: they change from one country to another and from one type of traveler to another. Make a test booking and note at what point they ask for money and in what form.

How to fix it. If your operation allows it, offer at least one option that does not require paying at the moment of booking.

4. The mobile experience and the guest's language

Many guests search and book from their phone. Small buttons, long forms, calendars that are hard to use or a page that is slow to load make the guest give up halfway.

Also, not all guests read the language of your website. If you receive travelers from other countries, an engine that is in a single language forces them to translate every step on their own, and a currency they do not recognize makes it harder to compare prices.

How to spot it. Open your engine on a real phone, using mobile data and not just a computer's reduced screen. Try to book with one hand: can you reach the final button without zooming? Then change the language and the currency and go through the process again: does everything get translated, from the search box to the form and the cancellation policy?

How to fix it. Simplify the form, and check button size and loading speed. Offer the engine in the languages of your main markets and make sure the texts you load yourself, such as room descriptions, rates and policies, are translated.

5. Unclear cancellation and confirmation

Before booking, the guest wants to know what happens if their plans change. If the policy cannot be found, is not understood or is not loaded, the doubt goes unanswered. And after booking, if a clear confirmation does not arrive, the guest is left unsure whether the booking went through.

How to spot it. Look at the policy as the guest sees it: can it be found without searching? Is it understood in one read? Make a test booking and check the confirmation email: dates, room type, cancellation policy and contact details.

How to fix it. Load the policy in each rate, with clear deadlines and simple words. Check that the confirmation includes what the guest needs to arrive.

A 10-minute check from your phone

Make a test booking, without confirming it, from a real phone. As you go, note at what point you would hesitate as a guest.

• The website loads fast and the button to book is visible without looking for it.
• You can choose dates and number of guests without zooming.
• The gallery price matches the total on the last step, or you know exactly what gets added.
• Each rate states what it includes.
• You can justify every step and every field in the form.
• There is at least one payment method your guest would use, and you know whether you require upfront payment.
• The cancellation policy can be found without searching and is easy to understand.
• The engine is in your audience's languages and, when you change language and currency, the whole journey changes with them.
• You receive the confirmation email and it contains what the guest needs.

If you repeated the booking as a guest, at what point would you leave it? Write down the answer: that is your first improvement.

Five systems with their own booking engine

If the check shows that your current engine limits your bookings, these are five systems that include their own booking engine. It is not a ranking: all of them are described with the same points.

Data may vary: confirm it with each provider before deciding.

Five questions to compare any system

They are the same five frictions in this article, turned into questions for the provider:

1. Does the gallery price include taxes, and is the final total visible before asking for details?
2. How many steps does the booking have, and can a group book two or more rooms in the same process, or does it have to make one booking per room?
3. Which payment options does it support: card guarantee, deposit or full online payment?
4. Does it work well on a phone, and is it available in your guests' languages and currencies?
5. Does it show the cancellation policy on each rate and send the confirmation by email?

Frequently asked questions