What is the best way to redirect users to two different booking sites

Question

I'm creating an user flow for a makeup site in which users get a free service (makeup) if they stay for 3 nights at a given number of parter hotels.

We start on a promo landing page, then ask them if they already have a room booked, in which case its simple because they get redirected to the makeup booking site.

But if they don't have a room already, it gets complicated because:

A) If we want them to book the hotel room first (which is the logic way to go) we can't really force them to go back afterwards to book the makeup service, so I that case I was thinking about having a CTA opening the 2 different booking systems at once (in the same page and in a new tab) but I don't think this is the best way to approach it.

B) If we want them to book the makeup service first, we could guide them more easily because we can make the service booking first on our site and finally tell them to go and book the room. This approach seems counter intuitive to me because I would say everybody wants to have the room booked first and then the free service. But on the other hand, based on what I asked, these are high end hotels and they would never run out of rooms.

Would you prefer approach A or B?

Answer 1

One more thing you need to emember is that while they might be interested in the additional benefit you offer, it could be not the right moment for them to make the reservation. Thus, by creating a strong dependence on the hotel booking service, you may decrease the conversion on your site. To avoid it, I would suggest to separate registering on your site, room booking, and service booking.

You could achieve it by letting User register on your site first. Then you could check if the reservation has been made already. If the reservation has been already done - you could continue with the steps you already have implemented. However, if a User has not yet booked a room before, you would end up with at least this User's email and a registered interest so a foot would be put in the door.

From now on, you could support the further process with a background communication via email. Every now and then, you could check if a User has booked a room already, and if they did, you could send a message:

Hi,

We have noticed you have made your reservation already. Now you can claim your free makeup. [Click here]

There is a possibility, though, that it will not be possible to perform a background check of the booking status (namely: it could be impossible to make a connection between your User and the booking). In this case, as well as if the User has not yet made the reservation, you could still send a message containing the benefit and the next steps to get it:

Hi,

The free makeup is waiting for you.

Have you done your reservation already? [Check it now] and claim your free makeup.

Once the User would click [Check it now] they would go to a landing page where they could perform the check a similar way they would if they had it done prior registering. They would just continue the process. Once the check is positive, they could sign up for the free make-up service.

You could perform this emailing several times, in various intervals, e.g.:

• 1 hour after registering,
• then 1 day after registering,
• 3 days after registering,
• a week after registering,
• two weeks after registering.