Generate more

DEMANDfor your hotel

IN 5 EASY WAYS

an eBook by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Intro #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Conclusion

Create a revenue-centric culture within your hotel…

Position your hotel strongly within the OTA segment…

Leverage Flash Sales/Private Sales within the online discount segment…

Build a strong online reputation for your hotel…

Contextualize your Product, Customer(s), and Value Proposition…

Measuring and generating demand is always a question that prospective clients ask…

About RateGain

Generate more demand for your hotel in 5 easy ways

In this eBook, we looked at demand generation activities with the online segments; however, there are many other segments to consider therefore try and come up with some ideas for each of those segments and add to your strategy plan…

RateGain Travel Technologies is a dedicated provider of SaaS-based solutions, which have been exclusively designed for the global travel and hospitality sector…

Measuring and generating demand is always a question that

prospective clients ask as it’s certainly a challenge many hoteliers

face. In order to be successful, hotels must set up an efficient,

effective and long-term demand generation strategy.

To have a successful strategy plan you must look outside the

obvious and definitely plan ahead. Create an annual strategy

calendar to have in place for the entire year and constantly

review it to be sure you are on time to put your actions into place.

Another key to having a successful plan is having the correct

technology in place to save time and drive more insightful insights.

In this eBook, we will walk you through 5 easy steps in creating an

efficient, effective and long-term demand generation strategy

How to generate more demand for your hotel

DEMAND

Introduction

1

#1 Create a revenue-centric culture within your hotel

Let’s discuss how to generate demand by building a revenue-centric

culture within your hotel.

Chances are most demand generation for your hotel comes from

the obvious departments such as: Sales, Marketing and Revenue

Management. But if you’re a smaller independent hotel, you should

get your entire staff involved and engaged in generating revenue

and demand for your hotel.

Training and educating the staff on the hotel business should be a

mandatory part of the on-boarding process for all new hires

whether it’s a receptionist, restaurant employee or housekeeper.

2

A mini session on the basics of Revenue Management is the perfect way to start by discussing the following:

REVENUEMANAGEMENT

Market Segmentation and whichsegments are most important toyour hotel.

Supply & Demand includingseasonality, statistics on thedestination in general, and howyour hotel is performing.

Competitive landscape and howyour hotel has a unique valueproposition vs. the competitive set.

Cost of doing business, i.e.;Distribution costs, commissions etc.

3

KPIs for the hotel

Teach your employees to be revenue generators! Here are a few examples of how you can make revenue and demand generation activities part of the entire hotel staff.

Reception staff

Make sure that your reception staff collects the correct data oneach guest during check-in. Name, email, address, phone numberas well as the method of booking, channel booked and marketsegment associated with the guest.

Also flagging if the guest is repeat or not and what type of travellerthey are (i.e., leisure, business, other).

It’s extremely important to have accurate guest data like correctemail address can allow your hotel to build a solid database inorder to push promotions and offers.

Second, having solid statistics on your guests is important tounderstanding your hotel. Where are your guests coming from, whyare they coming and how often do they come? If they’re a repeatguest and have booked via an OTA, how can you convert thatguest to be a direct booker the next time they make theirreservation?

4

These questions can lead to further engagement and conversationsand show the potential of the guest coming back or evenrecommending the hotel to a friend or family member.

Provide your entire staff with some kind of promotional offer to extendto guests when booking again directly with the hotel orrecommending the hotel. Types of promotions can be a discount offthe public rate, breakfast included on the next stay, or an upgrade arejust a few ideas. Create business cards for the staff to hand out to theguests that include these offers and track which offers work the best.

• Is this your first time staying with us?

• What brings you to the area?

• Do you come to this city often?

Restaurant staff

Breakfast is a great time to engage with guests. Train your restaurant staff to ask thecorrect questions while refilling the coffee. They should ask questions like:

5

Lastly, in order to create a strong revenue culture throughout your hotelyou must create goals and incentivize your staff. Keeping your staffengaged will lead to happy employees and push them to step out of thebox to contribute to the success of the hotel. It may also be a way for youas management to uncover some hidden talent within your staff.

To conclude, demand generation does not have to come from theobvious. Creating a revenue culture within your hotel can definitely assistin this process and is a great way to ensure that all employees areincluded in the success of the business.

HAPPY EMPLOYEES

=HAPPY CUSTOMERS

6

Traditional OTAs like Booking.com, Expedia, are the overwhelmingproducers; however, do not overlook other small OTAs like HRS andAgoda to generate additional business. Ensure you have a reliablechannel manager that connects to a large variety of OTAs.

Some OTA partners may only contribute a handful of reservations permonth so you do the math. Take for example a hotel that works with6 smaller OTAs that produce on average 8 room nights per month.That is an additional 576 room nights annually. This also helps tobetter spread your production amongst OTAs. As the old phrasegoes, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Another way to diversify OTA business and generate more demand isto look into your feeder markets. Have a look at your competitorhotels via Metasearch sites and find out if they are working with anyOTAs that you have not yet added and be sure to add them.

If you do not have a solid insight on your feeder markets, you mightbe surprised to see what you find. Be sure that you review this on amonthly basis as you will find seasonality in your feeder markets.

Booking.comHRS

Agoda

Expedia

#2 Position your hotel strongly within the OTA segment

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Although OTAs come at a cost, these are experts in marketing and do havepowerful tools to help your hotel. Ensure that you do a proper displacementanalysis before running promotions to be smart about increasingyour incremental revenue.

When working with OTAs to generate demand, carefully consider targetedpromotions. Some OTAs have the ability to push promotions to specificmarkets/clients so be sure that you understand all of your options.

Lastly, look outside the obvious. For Independent hotels, usingchannels like Airbnb works great. Hotels are increasingly worriedabout the rise of this channel and for good cause. However, if youcan’t beat them, join them. Think about the traditional Airbnb guest,what are they looking for? Often larger rooms like Triple or Familyrooms which traditionally was more difficult to sell in city centerhotels during the weekdays.

On top of that, stays for Airbnb guests tended to be much longerthan the traditional OTA, normally 4+ nights. So by adding thischannel, you can further diversify your distribution, fill lower demandrooms, save on cost (Airbnb is low commission) and also addincremental revenue.

For a hotel located in Europe, January is typically very low seasonfor most hotels in Europe but this is summer in South America.Therefore, guests from this market would be taking their annualholidays. Speak with your market managers to see the optionsavailable for pushing out targeted promotions during your hotel’slow season. Be sure that you do this enough in advance to effectthe target booking window.

8

In part 3 of this series, let’s discuss demand generation within

the online discount segment - Flash Sales/Private Sales.

•••••••

Voyage PriveeTravelzooSecret EscapesGrouponTripAlertzVeryChicTravelbird

There are also several of these sites specific to eachcountry/region, so do your research to find out which ones couldhelp generate business for your destination, based on your topfeeder markets.

One great way to generate more demand and gain occupancy,especially during the low season is through Flash Sales or PrivateSales. These agencies work by selling distressed inventory withdeep discounts. Some of the more popular sites for these types ofsales are:

#3 Leverage Flash Sales/Private Sales within the online discount segment

9

The first step in working with Private Sale sites is to understand how these types ofpartners work. Some first questions to ask when you get in contact with the potentialpartner are as follows: (Generic answers are also next to each question).

Most require 90 days but can

be up to 6 months or more.

Because these sites are

focused more towards leisure

travellers they require

availability for weekend stays

(Friday, Saturday/Sunday);

however, if you have needs

dates that fall on weekdays as

well you can certainly include

those days.

What is the stay window I must provide?

This depends upon each

individual partner but it can be as

short as 7 days and as long as 30

days.

How long does the sale last?

Again this depends on each partner.

The commission can be as low as 15%

and up to 25%. The average is around

20-22%. It is highly advisable that you

try and negotiate the best commission

from each partner.

What is the commission % that you charge for each booking?

Again this depends on each

partner however the minimum

discount is usually 30% and

that applies to the room rate

and F&B included in your

offer.

Is there a minimum discount required ?

10

.

This depends on each partner and

obviously this would vary

depending on the size of your hotel

and specific needs. Often, this can

be determined on a daily basis. Be

sure that you do not overcommit

yourself to allotments that can

displace other business. You often

have the opportunity to add more

allotments during the sale.

What is the daily allotmentrequired?

Typical value adds that can make

your offer more attractive are:

breakfast included, upgrade

included, late check out/early check

in, welcome drink included, free

parking, discounts on F&B or Spa.

What value adds aresuggested?

This depends on the partner. Most

prefer fixed pricing; however, if you

ask, daily pricing is an option if you

would like.

Do I need to offer a fixed price for

this offer or can I offer daily

pricing?

Yes, most partners allow for

blackout dates, you will be limited

to the number that you can offer

but you do have the ability to

protect your high demand dates.

Can I include blackout dates?

Once you have the above information, you can start to draft youroffer. A few things to keep in mind when creating the offer.Determine your stay window. For example, if you would like toimpact the summer season, start your sale in May/June and offerweekends only and once your slower season starts (from July 1 forexample) you can start to offer all days of week through the typicalsummer months.

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Also remember if you would like to work with 2-3 different partners,you must plan each sale so that they do not overlap each other.We suggest creating a planning calendar on a yearly basis so youknow in advance exactly when you want to launch your sale(s)throughout the year.

The next step is to determine the offer. This step requires carefulconsideration. Keep in mind that typically the discount must bebased off the room value and F&B value. The other value addsare meant to be enhancements to make the offer moreattractive. Also keep in mind that you need to price the offer offyour lowest available offer that can be found online. You mustalso determine the minimum room revenue that you will accept,minus commission and other costs, and make sure you work withinthis number.

Remember, sales like this are meant to sell distressed inventoryand add occupancy during your need periods. You may want toconsider offering a two-nights offer that gives a bit further discountbut would attract customers to stay longer.

Finally, make sure that your staff is aware of the offers that are outthere in the market and if a guest calls the hotel to book direct,make this offer available. You could save on commission andcreate direct contact with the guest.

SPECIAL

OFFER

12

With an endless amount of information widely available for consumers

via the Internet, it’s important to build your reputation in order to get the

best amount of exposure possible. The following statistics are proof that

having a strong online reputation is important for hotels:

• According to a study conducted by TripAdvisor, 93% of the peopleinterviewed find reviews important when determining which hotel theywill stay at and 53% would not book a hotel without having a guestopinion about it.

• Hotels with 50 reviews or more are 1.4 x more likely to get bookedthan hotels with less or no reviews. (Expedia)

These statistics are just a few examples of how impactful onlinereviews can be on a consumer’s buying decision.

#4 Build a strong online reputation for your hotel

• 62% of consumers felt more likely to book a hotel when seeingmanagement actively replying to online reviews (TravelMedia)

• 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personalrecommendations (Brightlocal)

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ADR

1. Review and analyse guest feedback. This is very easy to do once you have a

reliable Online Reputation Management Tool in place. You can easily identify

your strengths and weaknesses and work to improve them.

2. Enhance your online presence. Make sure that you are registered with all

review sites to be able to manage the feedback as well as photos, contact

details of the hotel, etc.

3. Set a goal for your hotel in terms of reputation improvement, specific areas of

improvement, and number of reviews. Keep track of your progress and

celebrate success!

4. Reply to all reviews, both positive and negative and be active on social

media sites to show consumers that you are engaged.

5. Create a guest engagement and satisfaction culture in your hotel.

Encourage your staff to engage with the guests and create unique

experiences. Hold all departments accountable to contribute to the

positive growth of your guest satisfaction and online reputation.

6. Reward your staff for personal mentions or departmental

improvements. Empower your staff. Remember, happy staff = happy

guests!

In order to effectively monitor your hotel’s online reputation to generate moredemand, it’s highly advisable that you invest in a reliable Online ReputationManagement Tool.

Once you have the tool in place, we recommend taking the following steps toimprove your online reputation and generate more demand.

Cultivating your hotel’s reputation is an ongoing discipline that needs to be managed on a daily basis. If you do nothave the resources to dedicate one person at your hotel to manage this, involve everybody to ensure this criticaldemand generator is not being ignored.

14

The first step in understanding demand generation is to fully understand yourProduct, Customer(s) and Value Proposition. Take for example a 4-starhotel located in city center that has a good mix of both business and leisuretravellers. Think about the target customers or target market segments andhow you can create a unique value proposition to appeal to both.

For the typical Business Travelers, following are a few examples of

value propositions that they’re looking for:

Working Deskin the Room

Laptop Safein the Room

BusinessCenter

Healthy BreakfastOptions

Onsite GymIron & Ironing

Board in the Room

LaundryService

#5 Understand your Product, Customer(s), and Value Proposition

Free & FastWiFi

15

Most leisure travellers are more price sensitive. Once you have nailed

down your target product, customer(s) and value proposition thesecond step to creating an efficient, effective and long-term demandgeneration strategy is pricing.

On the other hand, a typical Leisure Guest may tend to look for the values such as:

Location to Local Attractions and Transportation

Room Size and Comfort Positive Online Review Scores

Onsite Facilities like Swimming Pool, Spa and Restaurant

16

An important part of correct pricing is tracking what your competitorsand the market are doing. In order to correctly do this, you must investin a reliable rate shopping tool that can help you to track yourcompetitors pricing on a daily basis as well as provide an overview ofthe different rates & room types they are offering, when and how oftenthey are changing rates, when they are sold out (market compression)as well as many other useful data analytics features and tools.

Once you have some intelligence on what the market is doing in termsof pricing then it’s time to create different pricing options that wouldappeal to the different types of customers you have identified as yourtarget clients. The typical business guest may be willing to pay a bitmore given they have more flexibility in the cancellations, whereas thetypical leisure traveller may be looking for that deal so, paying less inadvance with a no cancellation policy could be an attractive offer.

Try and create multiple price points and offers with the correctrestrictions to appeal to a large variety of customers. Make sure youare clear with your price offering and on any given stay date, try not tohave too many offers that could confuse but enough to attractdifferent types of guests.

Lastly, be sure to review your offers and pricing strategies on aseasonal basis and make changes as necessary to market demands.

17

To conclude, the aforementioned 5 steps will have you on yourway to become market leaders, whether you are a new hotel orhave existed for quite some time.

In this eBook, we looked at demand generation activities with theonline segments and generating revenue centric culture withinyour hotel; however, there are many other segments to considertherefore hotels should explore each of those segments too andadd them to their demand generation strategy. Remember toinvolve your entire staff in demand generation activities and focuson customer satisfaction.

Once you have your strategy in place, we recommend you not toforget to measure the results and success of the strategy. Whatworked? What didn´t? Did you achieve your goals? How couldyou change your strategy to better adapt with new trends in themarket?

Lastly, do not forget to review step 5 in the process (Contextualizeyour Product, Customer(s), and Value Proposition, this maychange depending on market conditions therefore it’s importantto always have the positioning of your hotel at top of the mind todrive the maximum demand.

Conclusion

18

About RateGain

RateGain Travel Technologies is a dedicated provider of SaaS-basedsolutions, which have been exclusively designed for the global traveland hospitality sector. Products rendered span through online rateintelligence, hotel price optimization, competitor rate shopping,seamless electronic distribution and online brand reputationmanagement.

Esteemed clientele of this global travel technology firm comprise ofrenowned hotels, online travel agents, airlines, car rentals, cruise liners,tour operators and wholesalers.

Since its establishment back in the year 2004 by founder and CEO,Bhanu Chopra, the organization has acquired over 12,000 clientsworldwide.

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Contact us: marketing@rategain.com

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have experienced RateGain!“

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