Spa Direct, Journey’s new digital marketing programme, to generate more direct bookings, greater revenue and lessen spa reliance on third parties
Cheltenham, UK - 30 January 2024 - A new initiative from leading hospitality technology company Journey is set to help spa brands thrive online. The Spa Direct programme provides spas with more direct business opportunities, driven by digital marketing strategies that deliver tangible results both for brand awareness and bookings.
Journey already provides commercial benefits for some of the country’s leading health and wellness destinations - including The Landmark, Harrods and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts - through its ecommerce platform, experience management system and direct marketing programmes.
Says Laura Meeson, Director of Spa: “Spa Direct builds on our digital marketing expertise, as well as our proven track record of helping hotels reduce their reliance on OTAs via direct bookings. High commissions have dominated the market for too long. Spas and their customers deserve better, and the Spa Direct programme delivers both quality and quantity of digital traffic, improving the financial performance of spas and creating the opportunity for a deeper customer relationship.”
Spa Direct combines the pillars of digital marketing - such as keyword research, digital advertising for Google, Meta and Instagram, and display and retargeting campaigns - with the strategic human touch Journey is renowned for. Strategic planning and optimisation sessions are included, alongside a bespoke digital dashboard, to ensure performance levels are high and aligned with each spa’s business objectives.
Simon Bullingham, CEO of Journey, said: “Combining our direct booking technology with our digital marketing expertise, Spa Direct builds on the great returns our hotel partners have already seen in their spa and wellness offerings: from £21:£1 for Fairlawns Hotel & Spa to £37:£1 for Sopwell House, we know how to get results and claw back market from costly OTAs.”
The Spa Direct programme is open for pre-registration and is delivered on a first-come first-serve basis - limited to the first twenty spas. Partners pay a flat monthly management fee, requiring a minimum monthly media spend. Confident in their ability to deliver results, Journey also provides a money back guarantee making it completely risk free.
Discover more about Journey at journey.travel
About Journey
Journey is a hotel technology company, helping luxury and independent properties to maximise online experiences to drive commercial success.
Established in 2010, the Cheltenham-based business has a team of around 150 industry experts at the forefront of hotel ecommerce innovation. A Certified Google Partner, Journey works with over 750 luxury global hotel partners including Claridge’s, Beaverbrook, Calcot Collection, The Londoner, Grantley Hall, and Soneva (Maldives).
Its portfolio includes the world’s first all-in-one hotel ecommerce platform (formerly onejourney) enabling guests to customise their stay by booking rooms, spa, dining and retail products in a single shopping basket; experience management system (formerly Premier Software) - unifying activities and facilities such as spa treatments, golf, bicycle hire, EV charging and more into one central system; and Journey vouchers (formerly Gifted) - the UK’s market leading hotel gift voucher platform. Journey provides websites and digital marketing services, to improve hotels digital marketing performance and web presence.
The company won the Best Hotel Technology Product (over 100 employees) at the Boutique Hotelier Awards 2023, ‘Innovation in Tech’ award at the Business Awards - Travel 2023, and GloucestershireLive’s Innovation Award 2023. Journey was also shortlisted for the Best Hotel Booking Solutions Provider at the 2023 World Travel Tech Awards.
Discover more at journey.travel