Summary:
The travel marketplace is a global arena where millions of buyers, search for travel
services and sellers (hotels, airlines, car rental companies, etc.) work together to
exchange travel services on the world's global distribution systems and the Internet
distribution systems. Step-up your training efforts for all customer-contact hotel
associates, especially sales. Climbing out of this economy will require good skills,
practice, and knowledge.
The hotel business is one of the most cut throat and
competitive businesses in the world. Nowadays, more travel is sold over the Internet than
any other consumer product. In entire world Internet-booked rooms is the fastest-growing
segment of hotel reservations in part because the Internet is a perfect medium for selling
travel as it brings a vast network of suppliers and a widely dispersed customer pool
together into a centralized market place.
Revenues are down, or flat at best, and you're now looking
for ways to cut expenses, this is where the minds of hoteliers turn from driving profit to
basic survival. Now understand how difficult it is to operate a hotel in times like this.
While this may seem like a sensible course of action, it has the potential to harm your
business in the long term. Making those decisions, what to cut, what to keep, is one of
the hardest parts of your job. The best way to convince yourself to continue spending in a
recession is by understanding that hotel marketing requires a sustained effort and results
are cumulative and tend to compound. When the economy turns around (and it will), your
hotel will be in a much better position.
The performance of the hotel industry can be either
enhanced or limited by the way in which hotel business is conceptualized.
Two concepts could offer opportunities for the industry if
hotels are willing to take a few steps away from the traditional business models.
The Catwalk Concept:
A model to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the proliferation of international
brands
The Sanctuary Concept:
A model to capitalize on the opportunities presented by a particular aspect of
globalization
A lot has been said about the global meltdown and ways for
companies to hold out during these trying times. Given the current business environment,
marketing specialists are trying their best to come up with the most feasible marketing
mix as well as strategies that could help their companies reap the most benefit while
keeping a lead on spending.
The current economic environment can prove both exciting
and challenging for online marketers. Being almost totally measurable, Online Marketing
allows for quick evaluation and continual adjustments to improve results. This is a good
time to hone your skills in revenue management. Even in a recession, there will be
business spikes, which will give sharp operators the opportunity to boost average rate and
maximize occupancy.
Top 5 online marketing tips for surviving the recession.
- Start focusing on campaigns. Offering late deals for
meetings / private dining and office parties.
- Recognizing some days of the week of the year will be
slower, it is advantageous to warm up your rates on your online booking engine and with
Online Travel Agents (OTA’s) to suit these periods.
- Occupancy Marketing advise that you should offer the lowest
or rates online via your own online booking system or at worst have rate parity, meaning
you sell at the same rates via OTA’s.
- Your website is your shop window to leisure customers and
some corporate customer segments. It should be an accurate reflection of your product.
- Your website should be optimized for brand and location
searches at a minimum. This means when someone Google’s your hotel name, it appears
first in Google.
Recessions always result in compressing the marketplace;
that big-box, full service hotel down the street will now be after your business. Be
smarter about what actually motivates people to choose a hotel; it's value. Packaging and
value-added programs are excellent vehicles to appeal to travelers in tough times. |
|
