The document discusses key factors influencing guest choices for hotels, including guest tracking, competitive intelligence, and understanding market drivers. It emphasizes the importance of tracking how guests heard about the hotel, their booking methods, and demographic information to inform marketing strategies. Additionally, it highlights long-term trends in the hotel industry driven by economic, demographic, technological, and social factors affecting competition and traveler expectations.

1. What drives guests to your hotel?
What drives them to your competitors?

2. 1. Guest Tracking
 By Season, Source, Market or Company?
 Utilizing your Action Plans: Daily-Weekly-Monthly to stay on track!
2. How guests heard about your hotel property & where?
 Referral, Advertising, Online
 Online Market Tools that can help!
 Where exactly is the business coming from? (How to track it down)
3. Competitive Intelligence: How to find specific information
 How it helps your hotel stay up to date on trends & demand
 Staying current against your competitors: Amenities, Service, Rates & Specials
4. Understanding ‘Market Drivers’
 How people actually decided on your hotel may surprise you.

3. ◦ Are you using your Action Plans?

4. STR Reports:
◦ Market Forecasting
◦ Trend Reports
◦ Pipeline Reports

5. • Target Markets: Corporate, Group, Leisure, Gov’t
• Demographic: Age, Gender, Reason for traveling
• Length of Stay History
• Purpose: Business or Personal

6. ◦ Guest Tracking: What brought them to your hotel & why?
◦ Was it something you did? A special package or event going on in the area? All
Key Factors when you forecast for the future.
◦ For hotel companies, social media has essentially become a sanctioned
form of eavesdropping. “Hotels have trained their staff to be intense
listeners and dig up information about their guests. This gives them a
whole new realm in which to listen.”
 Season: Understanding demand & pricing appropriately is CRUCIAL
 Source: How was the reservation made? Online, Mobile, Call-in?
 Market: Group, Leisure, Tour, Government, Corporate
 Very Important that every guest is tracked accordingly to their length of stay, reason
for staying & their rate.
 Company: If a guest works for a company it’s very important to get that
company information because there’s opportunities for more biz!

7. ◦ Why/How guests heard about your hotel property?
◦ Tracking: Make sure you’re tracking how a guest booked with you
 Was it a special you were running? (GC’s-Vouchers)
 Referrals: Special Notes in reservation, pay close attention to rate
 Advertising: Require a ‘code’ to receive special rate (helps tracking)
 Online: Specials, Packages or Deals you may be running
 QR Codes: http://www.qrstuff.com/

8. ◦ Hotel Tools at your fingertips: Are you utilizing them 100%?
 Examples of what to look for & how to break it down & understand it!
 E-Commerce Reports
 3rd Party – Referring Websites: Are your rates & discounts correct & up to date?
 E-brochures: Hotel information & pictures current & correct?
 GDS Travel Agents – Voice Call Centers: Are you utilizing all brand tools?
 Guest Demographics & Market Segments: What’s your strength? What’s your weakness?

9.  Reservation System
 Learn & Build off of it!
 Take advantage of a good thing
 See the big picture
 Understand market trends

10. 3rd Party Websites: Hotels.com, Expedia, TravelWeb, Travelocity, Orbitz, Booking.com (Retail)
* Create 3rd Party Contact Lists
 * Get recommendations from them
Referring Websites: Google, RoomKey, Bing, Kayak

11.  Competition: Can be your best ally
 Other hotels can help your hotel stay up to date on marketing trends
 Inside track on demand & forecasting
 Shows You How To Differentiate
 Through competitive intelligence reporting, you can track and analyze the marketing and
communication strategy of your competitors.
 By staying current with their messaging, press releases, and social strategy, you can capitalize
on areas that your competitors are executing poorly, and make your company stand out.
 Alerts You To New Trends
 Your competition can alert you to larger market trends that you may have missed previously.
 It can also alert you to lack of demand signaling that it is time to make changes or stop certain
campaigns or specials completely
 Helps with Timing
 If you enter at the right time you can pummel the competition
 S.W.O.T Analysis
 Revisit your competitive & marketplace S.W.O.T Analysis

16. COMPETITIVE SET S.W.O.T
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

17. Long-term drivers and global trends
 In the long term, growth in the hotel industry is driven by a number of trends:
Economic
 Over the long term, global economic growth and more sophisticated financial markets in emerging
countries has led to a 1.8% increase in global total hotel rooms supply over the last eight years.
Demographic
 During the last 10 years the typical traveler demographic has changed.
 The younger workforce is driving more diverse and informal working patterns, with an expectation
that hotels will cater for flexible working arrangements. A growing ageing population with the desire,
and means to travel, is expected to significantly increase travel flows and lead to an overall increase
in demand for travel services.
Technology
 2014 Trends Report found that the rapid rise of technology-enabled personalization is helping to
shape the experience guests want when they travel.
 It also found that personalized brand experiences which resonate with the local culture are
particularly important for the fast-growing number of international travelers from emerging markets.
Social
 Increased competition and capacity amongst airlines, lower air fares and more relaxed travel and
immigration restrictions in many regions have made international travel a viable option for an
increasing number of people.
Competitors
 These long-term drivers and global trends are changing the competitive landscape within the travel
industry.
 Competitors are no longer simply branded or independent hotels, but now include travel
intermediaries and companies offering alternative lodging solutions and search options, providing
inspiration for travel ideas and a range of travel solutions.

19. ◦ Understanding ‘Market Drivers’
 How people actually decided on your hotel may surprise you.
 Could be as simple as a positive (or negative) online review
 Might come down to how well your FD Attendant ‘sells’ them.
 Do some ‘Secret Shopper’ calls at night

20.  Visual Content Marketing: Some guests prefer ‘pictures’ over material
 Make your hotel as ‘attractive’ as possible!
 Run great specials, deals, promotions or ‘fun facts’ to keep interest high!
 Are all of your ‘Market Drivers’ covered?
 Use https://moz.com/local/overview (formerly www.getlisted.org)
 Next SLIDE (Example of your hotel’s listing score)

22. So, ask yourself AGAIN…………
• What drives guests to your hotel?
• What drives them to your competitors?
• What is your hotel’s online reputation?
• How can you improve your hotel?
• What is your ‘Unique Factor’?