Ten ways for hotels to drive incremental revenue
CEO’s and CFO’s in particular can be very cautious of marketing promises. Any business function that is seen as ordinarily creating cash outflows, is one to be wary of. Normally every new marketing initiative has a cost attached. Granted, the upside will hopefully be net positive for the business but it’s not always guaranteed.
So here are ten ways any hotel can start driving incremental revenue, without heavy financial investment.
- Show your guests how to use the air con and the technology
- Make sure your employees are happy
- Make sure you take the chance to interact with guests personally
- Don’t give things away
- Host your local business chamber
- Encourage guests (and staff) to refer friends and family
- 24 Hour Stays
- Reward good employee suggestions
- Switch to LED light bulbs
- Audit online sales
They say there is nowhere as cold as a meeting room in Dubai. Heating and air conditioning can make up to 50% of the operational budget of many hotels. Often an overnight guest will find it more hassle to tackle the instructions than set the room air con properly.
During a recent visit to a large contemporary hotel in Amsterdam the bedside reading light switch was so very ‘hip’ and well hidden that I had to leave it on all night. Yes I could have phoned down to reception, but then there is an element of embarrassment involved, whereas if someone had run through the basic room operation which in may hotels gets more high tech by the second, I would have slept better and the hotel would have saved some electricity.
So train your own staff and get them to explain how everything works for guests. That’s especially important for those conference clients who will be with you all week.
Happy staff make for delighted guests. Make sure your staff are valued and rewarded in their work and they are more likely to go out of their way to help the customer. That goes for behind the scenes staff as well as front of house teams. One bad staff action can colour how a guest views their whole stay experience.
In todays always on mobile enabled world it’s easy to forget that personal interaction really does mean something. And even more so today when many people get stuck behind their screens. But simply taking 10 minutes walking the breakfast room each morning, and saying hello to guests, perhaps even greeting them by name will have a massive impact on their satisfaction and potential for positive word of mouth. Lead from the front. If managers talk to guests and deal with any festering problems their hotel may not end up with a poor review on TripAdviser. And just one conversation between manager and guest can engender massive brand loyalty.
Next time a guest rejects their room and asks for one with a better space or a better view, try charging a modest upgrade fee. If the customer is prepared to reject the first room they’re offered, they’re probably prepared to pay a modest upgrade amount. A recent LAW Creative ‘Upgrades’ promotion generated over £47,000.00 per week. So what might not amount to much during an individual stay, will probably offer a significant revenue stream over the year. Better still use upgrade fees on check-in as a revenue generator instead of as an unstructured and random loyalty tool. Tell me that I will get a club floor room with a view for a reasonable extra sum … and I’ll give you the money every time.
Many local business groups or committees or influencers often need space for their monthly meetings. These are usually mid-week and require little effort in terms of organization, but get your hotels facilities front of mind for your local business community. As you’re providing the meeting space you can probably find time to introduce yourself and network a little.
Make sure these local business people know what your hotel has to offer them and their businesses in the future.
I have attended many meetings at hotels as a delegate or as a guest. I have never been offered an incentive by a hotel to return of my own volition.
Positive word of mouth is nice, but a referral and booking is better. Offer and encourage guests to refer their friends and family and make sure you have a way for staff to do the same. Structure the reward or incentive to fill the hotel when it’s usually under capacity.
But remember if you don’t ‘look after’ the referrer in the first place they will never recommend you. A friend recently spent a small fortune in a six star Dubai hotel where he is a regular guest. I was arriving the following week at the same hotel. My friend asked the management to ‘say hello’ to me. They never bothered!
Typical Check-In and Check-Out times are becoming pretty old school. More enlightened hotels are offering guests flexible check-in/out times without additional costs. Some hotels are allowing guests to stay for a full 24 hours. Check in at 5pm and leave after tea the next day. OK, so we’re talking more logistical management for hotels and this may mean leaving some rooms vacant so as to ensure availability. But 24-hour stays may create great future revenue earning loyalty. And don’t we all hate arriving at our hotel to be told that our room isn’t ready and that we need to check out at 11am.
Have a staff suggestion programme and pay them a percentage of what the hotel makes from their ideas. If the idea is a good one, then everyone wins.
Energy efficient LED bulbs last longer and use a lot less energy. So have a policy of switching to LED lights as you replace existing lights.
Many hotels give significant discounts to online sellers, but you will have had to commit to these discounts before the rooms were booked. Carefully audit the volume and revenue from this line of business and make sure you know what you’re giving away. Don’t be afraid to re-negotiate this if it doesn’t stack up against other sources of revenue, especially when the hotel is heavily occupied.
If you’d like to talk about these and other ideas that could help your hotel increase revenues, then get in touch. LAW Creative is an award winning specialist leisure and hotel communications agency, working across all media and communications channels including online and digital.
Please contact brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk
LAW Creative has won;
The Hotel Marketing Association (HMA). Best Campaign or Promotion Award.
The HMA. Best Internal Marketing Campaign.
The Meetings Industry Marketing Awards (MIMA). GOLD Award Best Brand Marketing Campaign.