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Hotel Marketing Coach ™ Neil L. Salerno, CHME, CHA Marketing & Management Articles |
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Building Traffic (SEO)
Revenue Management
Featured Article "What the Heck is Hotel Revenue Management, Anyway?"
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If You Always Do What You Have Always Done.... You’ll Always Get What You Always Got! by Neil L. Salerno, CHME, CHA Many markets, today, are showing little or no
growth, gasoline is selling at near record levels, yet some hotels continue
to grow their business. What are the successful hotels doing?
It seems the hotelier’s mantra today is “think
outside the box”. But, how do you break away from years of successful sales
and marketing tactics into new and innovative ones? Successful operators
are once again reaching out and borrowing tactics used by other industries
for some of the answers.
In the late ‘80’s, while the industry faced similar
setbacks, hotels borrowed and adopted Yield Management tactics from the
Airline Industry. Why not base rates on the flow of supply and demand to
drive average rates and, therefore, drive revenue through careful daily
adjustment of rates and inventory?
This was pretty innovative and fairly radical
thinking for many hoteliers, but it worked and became our way of life.
After September 11, 2001, everyone jumped on the reduced rate bandwagon,
only to find that lower rates do not create demand, but did create a revenue
nightmare, as the market began to recover.
It’s time to, once again, think outside our hotelier’s
box. It’s time to reshape the way we do business. It’s time to give the
Internet the attention it deserves. Many hotels have ignored the fact that
the Internet has been growing exponentially for several years and that
it is swallowing up many of our old methods for getting new business. Many
travel sites are more sales oriented, better marketed, and more successful
than most hotel Web Sites.
Most hotel brands are diligently working to make
their Web Sites work as sales tools to boost brand reservation sales. With
the rapid decline of GDS sales, this has become a necessity for them. Fact
is, however, only 20% to 30% of Internet reservations come from hotel brand
sites. Experts agree that the majority of Internet users utilize Internet
Search Engines to find a place to stay.
Can your hotel be found on the Internet? It’s
a scary thought, but many hotels haven’t given much consideration to this.
Worse yet, many Web Sites were created and designed by well-intentioned
Web Masters, without hotel sales and marketing knowledge. Web Sites need
to be designed to drive reservations and people need the ability to find
that site.
The Internet is a new and exciting hotel market
segment. Like any other market segment, it needs focus and attention to
be developed into a valuable segment of business. Due to its relatively
low cost, owners will be thrilled with its high return-on-investment.
Many hotel companies have already recognized the
opportunities available using the Internet. One day soon, the Internet
segment will demand a full time Internet sales person on staff. In the
meantime, “think outside the box”. There are many Internet enthusiasts,
with hotel sales and marketing experience, who can help to develop this
market for your hotel.
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