Regardless of the size of their business, hoteliers are on the constant search for new ways to find new and retain old customers, at the same time boosting performance and revenues. While balancing between the cost-effectiveness of their activities and guest satisfaction is far from being an easy task, there are tried and true management tips to facilitate the smooth run of every hotel business. Here are some truly useful pieces of advice shared by successful hotel owners and their management teams.
Use The Latest Software To Boost Direct Bookings
Nowadays, marketing is a half of success, if not more given its ever-growing impact on the number of direct bookings that usually generate the most impressive revenues. Building and maintaining a lasting relationship with your guests is a challenging task, all the more so, modern customers are spoiled for choice by an incredibly competitive market. To stay ahead of the competition, the majority of successful entrepreneurs take advantage of the latest crm for hotels, a state-of-the-art software designed especially to let managers and owners stay on top of their interaction with the clientele. Such software takes care of everything that might be a part of your marketing strategy, from maintaining a database of guests and sending personalized emails and SMS to tracking their purchase behavior and boosting your brand awareness through social media.
In short, it’s a kind of one-size-fits-all solution that can serve well for all hotels regardless of the size and other specificities. Marketing can be incredibly time-consuming and it’s very easy to get lost in the ocean of data while this innovative tool keeps track of every single detail, analyzes data, and literally brings your business right in front of your past, current, and future customers.
Show That You Appreciate Loyalty
Who doesn’t want to know that their loyalty is truly appreciated? To show your quests that you value every minute they spent at your hotel, consider introducing a loyalty scheme with benefits for those who stay true to your business and your team. It is up to you whether to reward your frequent guests with special gifts, discounts, free services – the main point is to bring them more value for their hard-earned money. As already mentioned, the competition is really tough and by offering a little extra, especially in comparison to other hotels with similar prices and services, you will always win the race.
Do not forget to introduce your loyalty program on the site, so people who visit your web-based presentation know what they can expect and make plans accordingly. Many hotels even host special events for their loyal customers and offer truly exquisite perks but if you don’t feel that you can afford it or you are pretty sure such swanky stuff is not for you, safely go with a classic loyalty scheme. The latter usually include earning points for every night spent at your hotel with different options of redeeming them that can range from having a drink at the bar or a fancy dinner at the hotel’s restaurant to a complimentary ride from the airport or a free stay.
Team Up With Local Businesses
No doubt, you already cooperate with a heck of a lot of local businesses but perhaps, not in the way that can benefit quests directly. The point is to create a mini infrastructure that, again, will help your customers make the most of their stay at your hotel. Think of things that your hotel cannot offer but the great bulk of guests are likely to look for them. For instance, you can strike a deal with the hairdresser next door to create a kind of win-win situation for all three sides: you can offer your guests a quality hairdresser at a lower price, the hairdresser gets more clients without spending a dime on advertising, guests, in their turn, are happy to get a great haircut, dying, or styling and save the money.
Hire Right People
It’s common knowledge, every company is as good as its employees. Hire the right people and the place will run like clockwork, choose wrongly, well, you got the idea. Even if your hotel is big and needs plenty of staff, do your best to interview each candidate personally, do not just delegate this responsibility to your assistants. If you see yourself as a manager worth his/her salt, then being part of a hiring process will bring numerous benefits to your business and allow you to eliminate many problems at the very outset. No doubt, with professional and competent employees not only you but also your guests will be much happier.
Make Sure Your Website Is User-Friendly
In this day and age, people do their research on the internet, hence make sure your website is sleek, easy to navigate, and, of course, fully optimized for mobile devices. The latter is of utmost importance because mobile traffic is gaining momentum and more and more people make purchases on the go, using their smartphones and tablets.
Back to the sought-after direct bookings, they will remain just a sweet dream if customers find it complicated to browse your presentation on the lookout for precise information about your services. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about your rooms, amenities, food at the restaurant, wi-fi coverage, or sightseeing opportunities, give them as many details as possible because people love to go to places that look familiar. Plus, everyone has the right to know what is included in the package and how much it costs. Feel free to share the price list for all additional services you offer – despite what you may think, it’s not high prices that deter would-be guests but the lack of info on their future expenses.
It’s a lot of responsibility and pressure to know that pretty much everything depends on your ability to run the business smoothly, keeping your guests satisfied, and revenues on the rise. These useful tips have worked for a great many successful hotel owners and managers, therefore, have no doubt, they will also work for you.
