# Free coffee and Wi-Fi as reasons to book: no significant effect

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Other (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Social proof, authority & press
- Date shared: 2009
- Test run by: [Online Dialogue](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/online-dialogue/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.onlinedialogue.nl/klanten-en-resultaten/van-der-valk-case/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/od-van-der-valk-free-coffee-wifi/

Highlighting free coffee and free Wi-Fi on Van der Valk's reservations overview page had no significant effect on conversion. Online Dialogue ran this multi-variant test for the Dutch hotel group around 2009. The result is treated as flat.

## Result

**no significant effect**

- Conversion rate: no significant effect, per the source. The result is inconclusive.
- No figures, sample size or confidence level are shared.
- In the same test, a clear booking button lifted conversions by at least 13%, and extra deal promotion lowered them.

## Control

The reservations overview page with no mention of free extras.

## Variant

Free coffee and free Wi-Fi were highlighted on the page as reasons to book directly with Van der Valk.

## Why it likely came out this way (our reading)

- Free coffee and Wi-Fi may be too small to change a hotel decision by the time someone is on the reservations page.
- Many hotels offered the same perks, so they may not have stood out as a reason to book.
- The test may not have had enough traffic in this arm to detect a small effect.

## Caveats

Multi-variant test that tested each change alone and all together; the source reports no significant effect and no figures. Hotel booking site (travel, treated here as lead-gen). The test dates from around 2009, when the program began. Sample size, duration and confidence are not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we highlight free perks like coffee and Wi-Fi, then more visitors will book directly because they see extra value.
- Primary metric: Bookings per visitor
- Guardrail: Booking flow completion rate
- Guardrail: Average booking value
- Who should test it: Booking businesses with perks that are rare or valuable to their guests. Test perks that actually set you apart. Common extras like Wi-Fi are unlikely to move bookings on their own.

---

Credit: Online Dialogue ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/od-van-der-valk-free-coffee-wifi/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.