This One Thing Will Fix Your Hotel Sales

Staples, the office supply store came out with a great gimmick device a few years ago, that was a button that said EASY on it, push the button to make things easy. Brilliant idea, if only it truly worked that with the push of one button or doing one thing would increase your hotel, lodge, or resort sales. Unfortunately, the answer is not quite as easy as pushing one button but there are easier ways to fill your property and increase your revenue.....read on for ideas on that one thing that does work.

Whether you are in a city, resort, or remote location, increasing property sales takes a layering of sales and marketing efforts to maximize revenue, keep your staff working on a full-time basis, increase your pricing and exceed your budget goals.

Using one of our client projects as an example, this property had been open as a seasonal lodge for over 10 years, struggling with sales and identity, and was at the stage where they were considering selling.

After understanding the owner's vision to develop his lodge into a luxury property and reviewing the competition in the area, we got to work with the following:

1. Review rates - in this case, the property had implemented "run of house" rates, meaning that each private cabin was priced the same, even though there were varying sizes of cabins. By introducing different levels of room rate categories, it immediately up-leveled their product by offering an upgraded cabin type like a One-bedroom Suite Cabin. This associated them with a more luxurious offering.

2. Source top sellers in the luxury market - 3rd party sellers including travel agents, wholesalers or tour operators, and OTA's (on-line operators like Expedia or Booking.com) can provide you with immediate sales. Wholesalers will include your property on their websites, and social media and have their sales teams suggesting your property which extends your advertising and sales force by +1000%. Travel agents, once they know you can offer a true luxury experience for their clients will suggest and market your property to their clients. Commissions for this segment vary and are well worth the investment.

3. Photography - using your camera phone or your son's drone for your property is not recommended. I am sure your family photos are great but using expert photos aligns your property as a professional establishment, worth the price of admission. Would you buy a luxury automobile from a dealership that had taken photos of their cars with a camera phone or the dealership that had professionally shot well-lighted photos? Clients viewing hotel photos are no different, a grainy, dark, blurry photo says you are not taking your property or guest experience seriously.

4. Online presence - this includes your website and social media. Your website tells your story, if it's too complicated, you could lose your guest quickly. If it's too basic, your guest may question spending money to stay at your property, making it easy for your customers to make a decision about you. There are also SEO and Google ads, which I won't overwhelm you within this article. Similarly, social media including Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter are additional keys to your success. Travel is about selling the experience. Helping guests get excited about what you offer, your level of service, and your special features. Posting your staff photos and taking selfies, of what cool jobs they have is not going to sell your property. Spend the money to have a professional create your website and we also recommend working with a professional to post and grow your feed on social media, they know what it takes to grow your audience and create your online branding.

5. Review your staffing - One thing we recommend when hiring staff is to hire personality first and second on their skills. If you hire a bartender because he has bartended previously but has a negative personality, that will lead to bad guest reviews and potentially a toxic environment. Review who is on your staff now, do you know their strengths, their weaknesses, what they like to do (job satisfaction leads to positive guest interaction), and how they want to feel rewarded. Not everyone is cut out for hospitality, especially at the luxury level. It's okay to make changes with your team to either elevate them or put them on a path toward a new career. Your staff is your front line and your want to put your best foot forward in all cases.

So based on the five steps noted above, ultimately, the One Thing You Can Do To Fix Hotel Sales, is to hire professionals with experience. For some of these steps, you can hire someone on a project basis, for others you could hire an experienced Director of Sales and Marketing. There are also consulting firms like Hospitality Growth Solutions which function as a Director of Sales and Marketing with extensive experience and network to help you turn your sales around quickly and elevate your brand. It's worth the investment to invest in professionals to set you on the path to success.

Written by Wendy Cole, Hospitality Growth Solutions LLC

A professional team makes all the difference on delivery successful sales and marketing