30 May Five marketing tips to increase your hotel’s off-season bookings
If you manage a hotel, whether as owner or working as revenue manager, then you certainly know that seasonality is a major factor in your business.
Mid-August holiday, Easter, Christmas etc. attract customers like honey with bees, but apart from those holidays, the low occupancy period could cause a lot of trouble for the hotel’s revenue and lowering prices doesn’t always ensure a greater run.
What to do then? You could try creating a specific marketing plan for these lean times, aiming at gathering more customers, while improving the value of their stay at the hotel. Here are five marketing tips for you to increase your bookings during low-occupancy periods.
1) Adopt a discount policy. People love discounts and the perception of a “good deal” will definitely help your hotel to be taken more into account. It is possible to target a specific consumer type as well as to opt for specific categories (student discount, senior discounts, group discounts, etc.). Or you can also put the discount promotion, for example, into one of the restaurants in the city you know the owner. Another possibility is to link the discount promotion to social media: for example, 5%-10% discount for those who share a promotional post on Facebook or tag the brand name in a photo on Instagram.
2) Use local activities and events. During the low occupancy period, it is important for your hotel to generate more requests. You can use local activities and events as a marketing opportunity to attract more guests. So take note of concerts, parties, fairs, marathons and parades in the area. You could also create a special promotion implying a discount for anyone who will be present at the event, or make a partnership with the sponsors.
3) Create special packages. Increase your customer base by creating special packages to attract guests! It can be the “Valentine package”, “family package”, “couple package” or whatever you like … Make room for your fantasy! You may want to include in the package a gift basket, a room decorated with rose petals and free drinks, such as wine or champagne, etc. These actions will surely be of great value to the hotel. Not only will it bring joy and satisfaction to the customers, but it will also be a great way of promoting you! With this marketing strategy, your hotel can also set a higher price in exchange for the customer experience.
4) Retain customers. The customer loyalty program will help you increase your hotel’s occupation, creating an even stronger relationship with your regular customers. For example, you could send personal e-mails with a special discount.
It is wrongly believed, in fact, that people don’t check e-mail promotions. Be sure they do it! Just think that current email service providers differentiate primary mail from the one containing promotional e-mails …
And many read the marketing-promotional section only to check the discount offered by the website or newsletter to which they are subscribed!
In a few words: never forget to get the mail address of your guests when they are checking in.
5) Promote your hotel to a local business. Did you know that you can increase the flow of your hotel guests by promoting it to a local company for their events, such as business seminars and meetings? As you know, such events are conducted with so many guests and consequently they are very profitable because probably the company will book many rooms at a time. Also, keep in mind that some business events are repeated every year, so it can become source of a safer income!
These simple marketing strategies can prove to be very effective in helping your hotel reach a broader market and increase employment.
And when you’ll find yourself overloaded with bookings and being afraid of not having all the work done even with the help of your staff, Parity Rate will support you in managing your booking portals and coordinating your hotel’s activities!
Incredible, right?
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