With autumn and winter traditionally seen as the low season, hospitality businesses need to do what they can to maximise revenues – especially during the pandemic.
Given the challenges of the past few months, now, more than ever, hoteliers need to be creative and imaginative to attract custom if they’re to weather the ongoing storm.
So, let’s look at how they can do this…
Focus on marketing
People will only hear about your offering if you shout about it. So focus on marketing to stay head of your competition.
Make it tailor made
Guests are placing more value on a personalised experience. Tailoring packages to the individual makes them more inclined to book, so use your onsite amenities to help guests envisage the experience through ‘storytelling’.
Pictures, videos and compelling copy can subtly sell your strong points – highlighting cosy snugs, warm fires and Christmas decorations can make it appeal for the time of year.
A good CRM
A CRM is more than just a database, it’s a powerful revenue management tool that enables the creation of a uniform and consistent pricing strategy you can target specifically.
Hotels that engage with their existing customer base enjoy better return business, and an extensive database with the relevant marketing consents and GDPR compliance offers a wealth of opportunity to encourage people to revisit.
Segmentation
Segment your marketing to make sure it only reaches the audience you want it to (be that couples, over 50s, families, those on business or more) without the risk of spamming those who don’t want it and diluting your messaging.
Your hotel target audience may evolve and develop over the year though due to seasonality, so be sure to regularly review it.
And don’t forget your domestic market. Appealing to a home-grown, or even local, audience is especially beneficial now, given ongoing travel restrictions.
Upgrade the early birds
Revisit existing offers and packages, revamping them to appeal for the season, while offering ‘book early’ promotions, such as free upgrades, to tempt early bookers.
Give your website a polish
Your website needs to match your marketing material (and include online booking). Your website is effectively the face of your business online, so when someone expresses interest it needs to do it justice!
Make your website mobile first – not just mobile optimised
Your website should work best on mobile devices, not merely be functional. Statistics suggest 70% of all last-minute hotel bookings are made via mobile – so don’t miss out on this.
Create a landing page
An easily accessible landing page, highlighting your seasonal offering, allows browsers to appreciate the finer details having been led there by marketing.
Make it compelling and actionable, with tailored copy to relate and appeal to the guests you want to target.
Retarget abandoned bookings
The abandonment rate for hotel bookings was an astonishing 84.63% in 2019, meaning only around 15% actually go through to confirm a booking.
If someone is intrigued enough to get into the booking engine before leaving, then there’s plenty of opportunity to tempt them back in with a retargeting campaign.
Don’t neglect metasearch
Metasearch engines such as Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor and Trivago aggregate price and availability, putting you in front of a large audience of prospective guests – without the hefty commission fees of OTAs.
Blog about it
Blogging helps boost Google rankings, while also, because it’s self-published, allowing you to wax lyrical about your offering as much as you like.
Don’t just talk about your hotel though – create destination based blogs about the wonderful things to do in the local area to help sell your location.
COVID safe
Promote your COVID safety measures to improve consumer confidence and show you take your guests’ safety seriously.
We specialise in maximising revenues using all of the above tactics, so if you’d like further advice and guidance, then get in touch and we’ll show you how.