If guests are the fruit you harvest, you can put all your focus on them to squeeze out every possible drop of juice. Or you can plant more trees, accepting an initial expense for long-term gain. You can get scientific too, identifying exactly what time and resources you require for your desired outcomes. At your property, will you go all-in on direct bookings, shore up your expenses and daily operations, analyse and adjust booking channels, or all of the above?
We spoke to Business Partners Little Hotelier for some ideas and tips…
Use data to get ahead
When it comes to the booking channels you use to drive reservations, such as Airbnb and Booking.com, it’s natural to think your best performer is the one which produces the highest number of bookings and attracts the most demand. However you need to look at all the information you have available and properly assess the net return you are collecting.
Some channels will have higher instances of cancellations or you might find the length of stay differs, or guests booking on a particular channel spend more than others. Tracking this data regularly and using it to inform your strategies will help you maintain a healthy profit.
Don’t let your pricing stagnate
Just as an athlete will adapt to changing conditions, you must recognise and react to market fluctuations when it comes to pricing your rooms. There’s a whole range of different pricing methods you can apply to your rooms to ensure your pricing is never static. The more often you can sell a room for greater than its base rate, the better.
Learn from your guests
When you detect trends in who your guests are, what their preferences are, length of stay, or their purpose of travel you can start to make more meaningful decisions on how you market.
Every traveller has a maximum value they can offer to your property so if it appears that people in their 20s are more likely to book direct, or older couples are happy to pay more for luxurious packages, these are considerations worth exploring. Start compiling information about your guests wherever possible and don’t be afraid to ask them for feedback.
Use smart technology to make it easy
Today it’s commonly accepted that working manually is much slower and more error-ridden. It’s why farmers embraced tractors and cars replaced the horse and cart. Using management software to run your property admin, booking channels and reservations will save time, increase automation, reduce errors, and allow for better performance reporting.
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