By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com)
The seasonal ebbs and flows of occupancy are real,
especially in the face of such uncertainty as a result of COVID-19. While rural
resorts endure this and must make grand adjustments in staffing to accommodate
budgetary fluctuations – no matter the short-term benefits from the influx of
domestic travel of late – numerous other properties are still affected with
double-digit dips and last-minute nightly rate tweaks, all to stay relevant
with the various macro-forces at work in any given territory.
But while necessary measures must be enacted, wouldn’t it be
great to instill within your hotel a bit of marketplace immunity? That is, give
your guests a reason to stay with you during any sort of off-season
irrespective of price incentives.
What you need are one-of-a-kind programs, and this is a key
objective in our consulting practice, where we look at how to make a hotel such
a unique experience that guests will want to stay there despite it not being
the ‘ideal’ time of year for that locale. In the North American and Western
European setting, this means building programs outside of the traditional
summer and early shoulder peak travel seasons.
For this, you must appeal to customers’ demands for
something exceptional beyond what they already get when the kids are off school
during summer and the weather typically cooperates. Nor should the hindrances
on international travel be a reason to rest on your laurels. Travelers are
using the OTAs to research new drive-to destinations and you cannot depend on
return visits for the sake of returning; if you don’t have a unique experience,
guests will look elsewhere.
The beauty herein is that it is a very creative exercise in
figuring out what makes each hotel unique to thereby discern what this
typically one-off event will be to draw guests in. All of this planning is
conducted well before any marketing efforts and ideated in concert with the
promotions team, so that you have an early litmus test for what will actually
work.
What I caution here is that slow and steady wins the revenue
race. Even though you likely have many periods throughout the calendar year
where occupancy isn’t ideal, you have to pick your targets at the outset and
not overextend yourself. Less is definitely more and as such, you should only
target a week per quarter in any given year because customer mindsets are very hard
to reverse all at once.
Based upon my work in setting up these events to help grow
occupancy during the off-season and end any drastic seasonal downturns, below
are a handful of key considerations, for which I am open to discussing these in
more depth on a property-by-property basis.
- Plan
far ahead. For any new program, you should aim to have the
bones of that event in place at least six months ahead of the actual date
or dates when it runs. This is critical so that the marketing team has
time to devise an appropriate plan, get approval for the budget and hone
the messaging while you iron out the operational details. Right now, you
should already be putting ideas together for Spring 2021.
- Theme
is crucial. Any event or weekly course of events you plan must
seem like a natural fit for your hotel and your territory. This ‘theming’
makes the sales and marketing process along with any secondhand
word-of-mouth drastically easier.
- Exclusivity
matters. Whether you decide to go with a tasting dinners’
program, a wellness seminar, or form a limited partnership with a local
provider, you need a good selling hook to wrap around your pricing and
packaging. Strive for an experience guests cannot easily attain anywhere
else and you’ll be off to a good start.
- Target
past guests. It’s an age-old mantra that getting existing
customers to act on your promotions is far easier than new ones, and this
applies here, too. Email lists, CRMs, sales records and newsletters are
your best friend in making the necessary announcements, but only if people
are given sufficient notice to plan their travel ahead of time. That said,
with people being digitally marketed to death, you have to engage them
electronically on a one-to-one level with unique offers that demonstrate
you know who they are.
- Shoulder
season creep. Rather than start a program in the middle of
your off-peak season, consider experimenting first in a week that adjoins
your current shoulder season. Focus on a week that traditionally paces
below average but is a logical extension to your current high demand
periods. This will also make it easier from a staffing perspective.
- Live
and learn. While there are numerous tales of unbridled
success for these events in their first year of operation, the majority
take several to ramp up. Plan for a small-to-medium sized event in your
first outing so that you never sacrifice on service delivery. From there,
you can improve each subsequent program with a grander scale and heavier
promotional efforts to fill your loftier expectations. Finally, once the
event has developed some cachet, only then can you move it to a weaker
time slot that’s deeper into the slow season.
About Larry MogelsonskyLarry Mogelonsky
One of the world’s most published writers in hospitality, Larry Mogelonsky
is the principal of Hotel
Mogel Consulting Limited, a Toronto-based consulting practice. His
experience encompasses hotel properties around the world, both branded and
independent, and ranging from luxury and boutique to select-service. Larry is
also on several boards for companies focused on hotel technology. His work
includes five books “Are You an Ostrich or a Llama?” (2012), “Llamas Rule”
(2013), “Hotel Llama” (2015), “The Llama is Inn” (2017) and “The Hotel Mogel”
(2018). You can reach Larry at larry@hotelmogel.com to discuss hotel business
challenges or to book speaking engagements.
Media Contact:
Larry
Mogelonsky
Email: larry@hotelmogel.com
Website: http://hotelmogel.com/
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