RezStream Webinar: Low season strategies
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•183 views
Your property's low season doesn't have to equate to low revenue. Learn how to encourage low season reservations through a variety of marketing tactics and beneficial partnerships.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to RezStream Webinar: Low season strategies
Similar to RezStream Webinar: Low season strategies (20)
More from RezStream
More from RezStream (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
RezStream Webinar: Low season strategies
- 1. Low Season Strategies Liz Day
- 2. • Liz Day • Digital Marketing Manager • California born, Illinois raised, and Colorado transplant
- 4. Dos Negotiate commissions Promote inventory during low season Promote inventory during various need periods Utilize minimum night stay requirements Promote higher priced rooms
- 9. Work in an incentive to book another stay within X number of days!
- 16. Meetings Incentives Conferences Exhibitions
- 17. Free WiFi Free upgrades Free dining credits Free breakfast Free parking
- 18. Breweries and wineries Restaurants Chamber of Commerce Colleges or universities Events, festivals and fairs Outdoor activities, i.e. biking
- 19. Need: Weekday and Weekend Bookings • $XX credit for dining/activities • Late checkout Need: Advanced Bookings Valid XX Through XXX • Book 2 nights and receive XX% off 3rd night • Book 3 nights and receive XX% off 4th night • Book 4 nights and receive XX% off 5th night
- 20. Definitive Guide to Off Season Revenue: www.RezStream.com/Low-Season
- 21. Conclusion Email: Liz.Day@RezStream.com Direct Line: 303-872-0214 Get Connected: • www.Facebook.com/RezStream • www.Twitter.com/RezStream • www.Plus.Google.com/+Rezstream • www.RezStream.com/Blog
Editor's Notes
- Online travel agents (OTAs) (e.g. Expedia or Booking.com): These platforms allow customers to search for hotels, compare prices and then make a booking through their sites with the hotel providing the room. These sites set up contracts with hotels and B&Bs to secure inventory to do this. OTA revenues come from the commissions hotels are charged for the bookings they intermediate. Consumers may believe there are a large number of OTAs in existence but in fact many belong to two powerful players, Expedia and The Priceline Group. Benefits include: Growing customer base Increase revenue and occupancy Drive mid-week and slow period bookings Assistance to increase average length of stay Investing all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea, i.e. never solely rely on the OTAs. However, not taking advantage of OTAs is hurting your ability to increase new clientele.
- The Billboard Effect- Which is the when guests discover your property on an online travel agency (OTA) and then visit your website. “Properties who list inventory on OTAs increase their direct reservations by up to 26%. It’s smart to list at least a small segment of your inventory on OTAs to enjoy this dynamic, even if you don’t want to use OTAs as the primary source of your reservations.” – tnooz (2015)
- Google’s local 3-pack, a small map view which lists the three most relevant local businesses, now displays at the top of 93% of all location-based searches. This change is indeed a big one, as the 3-pack used to be a 7-pack Ensure you have a clean, accurate UNAP (URL, name, address, phone number) profile across the internet Make sure your hours of operation and photos of your business are always up-to-date and accurate Claim your business listing on prominent local directories (Google My Business, Bing Places, Foursquare, Yelp, etc.) List your business on niche directories that are specific to your industry
- Since Google AdWords removed its right-hand side ads and brought in an occasional fourth paid ad position for ‘highly commercial’ search terms, this fourth ad appears for nearly one-quarter of all search topics. In addition, Google announced at their annual summit that the real estate will increase for these ads by expanding the text by 50%. Instead of 25 characters for your header, there’ll now be two 30-character headers and an expanded 80-character description line!
- Metasearch platforms (e.g. TripAdvisor’s TripConnect): These platforms compare prices offered across different OTAs and properties. Metasearch firms make money through selling advertising on their searches like search engines. But rather than commissions, they charge a cost per click as well as for standard advertising. Recently, TripAdvisor signed a deal with Booking.com to allow customers to book rooms directly on the TripAdvisor’s site.
- Regardless of when people choose to travel, they are dreaming of their next holiday all year round. So leading up to the slow season, you need to be publishing blog posts that are centered around what people can do in your region during the off-peak time of year. Every season in your destination will offer something unique and interesting to experience, so start brainstorming ideas, particularly around the benefits of travelling in your particular off season, and then get out and about in your region, take some photos and videos, then publish those along with a compelling story on your blog and share with your social and email communities. Another opportunity for you to encourage stays is to find your brand ambassadors These are people who want to share their experiences Take that information and then find ways to promote on your social networks and blog
- Reach out to guests asking if they’d like to extend their stay based on availability Post-stay follow up email to include small incentive for future bookings using a promo code Promote deals to existing customer base before offering on more expensive channels
- Major hotel chains made a big push this year to increase the size of their loyalty programs through book-direct campaigns. As a result, they saw their members increase an estimated 13.1 percent in 2015 compared with 2014. According to a study from the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University “hotel chains reap an average of 50 percent more revenue from customers who belong to their loyalty programs than those who do not.” Convincing consumers to join a loyalty program is only half the battle. Getting them to stay active and redeem their points is a challenge some brands aren’t having much success with. Confusion and frustration are among the top reasons why consumers leave or loyalty programs or see their memberships lapse, i.e. they aren’t sure how and when they can redeem points. How do they do it? They grant points based on dollars spent rather than room nights booked. An example of this is Hilton. Their campaign promises Hilton Honors members will receive up to 30 percent discounts when booking direct.
- 30% of gift certificates are never redeemed 72% of gift certificate receivers will spend on average 20% more than the value they received Make available to purchase online, phone or in-person
- This is an example of a client who encouraged past guests of over 2+ years the ability to book with an exclusive 15% discount To make it beneficial for them, they required a three night minimum night stay AND asked guests to book by April 1st To further assist them in making this efficient, they utilized a promo code so guests could plug in the booking engine to reserve online The OTAs do not prevent you from sending private, compelling offers to your own customer base. If you do so with enough frequency, this can be a huge driver of direct bookings.
- 96% of website visitors leave a website without converting! – Forrester Research
- In Q1 2016, 40% of travel visits in the US were on mobile and 60% of travel destination information searches came from mobile (Google). Offering a great user experience on whatever device they’re searching or booking on is critical Make sure you have a responsive website and mobile friendly booking engine
- Make sure the website room names, descriptions and images match the booking engine Make sure that all the accommodations you’re promoting in the booking engine are featured on the website so the potential guests are aware of all options to suit their needs Furthermore, make sure the booking process makes it as a easy as possible for the potential guest to get what they’re looking for Utilize your booking engine’s features to assist them if you have a lot of options like an amenities filter, i.e. pet-friendly vs. ocean view rooms To recover abandoned bookings, think about developing a recovery strategy to bring those guests back to complete their online reservation with you CartStack provides a 30 day free trial
- Depending on your business type, you may like to touch base with your Regional Marketing Manager to discuss ways to enter into the MICE market – as meetings and events happen all year round, and are not restricted by seasons. Even if you are a small operator, there are always pre and post conference opportunities to get involved in, and often smaller conference groups are looking for more tailored, unique accommodation experiences, which opens up the door for many businesses to benefit from the external investment in the industry.
- “Book Direct Incentive” This can be in the form of free WiFi, free upgrades, free dining credits, free breakfast, free parking or other perks Empower your guest-facing employees to match any lower rate for the hotel found elsewhere and provide book direct incentives to lure direct bookers Educate staff on the direct booking initiatives and programs and why the more bookings the property receives via the hotel website, the more profitable the property is, affecting salaries, bonuses, and the overall health of the property
- “Book Direct Incentive” This can be in the form of free WiFi, free upgrades, free dining credits, free breakfast, free parking or other perks Empower your guest-facing employees to match any lower rate for the hotel found elsewhere and provide book direct incentives to lure direct bookers Educate staff on the direct booking initiatives and programs and why the more bookings the property receives via the hotel website, the more profitable the property is, affecting salaries, bonuses, and the overall health of the property