12 Step Guide on How to Increase Sales in the Hotel Business

The hospitality industry is one of the worst-hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that tourism, corporate events and business-as-usual are almost on the verge of normalcy, every hotelier is busy racking their brains over tactics to increase sales. We bring you an interesting guide on how to increase sales in the hotel business.

How to increase sales in the hotel business?

• Step 1: Analyse demand patterns
• Step 2: Establishing dual reach: Channel Manager and a Booking Engine
• Step 3: Engage celebrities
• Step 4: Create marketing copies for each interest group
• Step 5: Curate experiences for each interest group
• Step 6: Cross-promotional strategies
• Step 7: Create a social media presence
• Step 8: Develop mailing lists
• Step 9: Have a mobile-friendly website
• Step 10: Promote mid-week weddings and curate an ambience
• Step 11: Imbibe the coworking and work-from-anywhere culture
• Step 12: Keep your employees happy

Step 1: Analyse demand patterns

The foremost answer to how to increase sales in the hotel industry is to create promotional strategies based on the analysis of your hotel’s demand patterns. Knowing your consumers, what they share in common, where they visit from, how long they are willing to travel, etc. Understanding these patterns helps bring out the most viable marketing strategy.

Step 2: Establishing dual reach: channel manager and a booking engine

The aim of getting more visitors boils down to the efficacy of your hotel’s outreach strategy. It is a crucial step in how to improve sales in the hotel business to provide your customers with multiple platforms where they can reach you.

This necessitates using a dual reach strategy of using:

• Booking engine.
• A channel manager.

A booking engine allows your customers to reach you directly for bookings, while a channel manager will establish your presence across multiple online travel agencies. This implies that you can sell your accommodation through multiple travel agencies, online and offline. The channel manager updates the reservations made across all agencies without any manual effort from the hotelier’s side.

Step 3: Engage celebrities

Being of service to prominent personalities across various fields serve multiple purposes. This helps stimulate word of mouth publicity as they may recommend your stay to other professionals from their field.

In addition, having clients with a significant social media presence can serve your hotel in the capacity of being marketed by a social media influencer. Celebrities may engage in paid promotions for your hotel if you guarantee them certain perks as a part of your service. This would serve as an effective way to improve sales in the hotel business.

Step 4: Create marketing copies for each interest group

Market identification is an important step in how to increase sales in the hotel business. For each hotelier, it is important not just to market the amenities and other features of their service, but the manner of presenting marketing copies is an influential aspect of promotion.

It is necessary to list out different target groups and curate the marketing strategy accordingly. For example, if the hotel is looking to host corporate events, it can advertise on platforms like LinkedIn or in business newspapers. To attract youngsters, advertising through social media channels like Instagram would be a better option.

Similarly, the amenities focussed on in these interest group tailored advertisements would differ. For instance, fun activities would necessarily have to be one of the prominent mentions in a marketing copy that seeks to attract youngsters. At the same time, features such as landscape, room service, etc., may interest the elderly.

Step 5: Curate experiences for each interest group

To have a wider reach, a hotel must provide services that interest each of its interest groups. An effective strategy would be to market your services to companies that have branches locally and host events frequently. The chances of your hotel being chosen for visiting delegates increase.

Similarly, your hotel can regularly host musical events, poetry sessions and similar events for differing age groups. For attracting families, offering an entire package inclusive of accommodation, food, travel guides, etc., helps gain attention. As a hotelier, you may also offer to plan a family’s vacation at your location.

Step 6: Cross-promotional strategies

Keep a tab of events, festivals, offerings of tourist sites around your location. Accommodate visits and guided tours to such places. Such offerings would also help you identify the seasonality patterns of your business, which in turn allows you to create offerings and packages for the offseason. Partnering with local restaurants would help offer a full, curated package to your client base.

Step 7: Create a social media presence

How to increase sales in the hotel business through social media? High-quality pictures, story edits, promotional videos all add leaps and bounds to your promotional basket.

• Social media channels can be leveraged to create virtual tours of your location, which would entice clients to book with you.
• Posting customer testimonials through social media channels may also help attract more consumers.

Social media content must be curated with the aim to take the experience to potential customers virtually.  Establishing a virtual experience may turn out to be the most effective way to improve sales in the hotel industry.

Step 8: Develop mailing lists

Mailing lists help stay in touch with customers.

• Mailing lists can be used to communicate offers, new service additions, etc.
• Taking consumer polls to improve service through mailing lists hints at the value a hotel places on its customer’s feedback, which adds to the reputation of the hotel.

Often, the answer to how to increase sales in the hotel business lies in consumer engagement.

Step 9: Have a mobile-friendly website

According to Travel Media Daily, 45% of all bookings take place on a smartphone or tablet. It is necessary to have a proper website that is mobile friendly. The increasing use of technology makes it necessary to have a mobile-friendly website. Taking the online presence a notch higher, developing an app would enable better consumer engagement.

Step 10: Promote mid-week weddings and curate an ambience

Mid-week weddings are gaining traction, given the restrictions on the number of guests and freelancing and the work from home culture. Curating the atmosphere and other necessary services to fit the wedding needs could help market your hotel for destination weddings.

Step 11: Imbibe the coworking and work-from-anywhere culture

The coworking culture has become popular since workspaces have shut down. It serves as a better and social alternative to working within the confines of our own homes. Subletting areas of your hotel as coworking spaces can help increase sales in the hotel business.

The work-from-anywhere culture is also gaining traction, and people prefer travelling to offbeat destinations and work from there. Accommodating service additions that would help your hotel serve as an away-from-home workplace can increase the sales of your hotel.

Step 12: Keep your employees happy

The hotel industry is all about the personal touch, making your guests feel welcome, tailoring services to suit their needs and creating a feel-good environment. Your employees will work towards creating that environment of warmth for your guests if you create a healthy work environment for them and treat your employees well.

In Essence

Increasing sales of a hotel business is not a one-way street. The above were some strategies on how to increase sales in the hotel business. Each hotelier must undertake their subjective research, analyse demand patterns, curate and try different service offerings. Accordingly, marketing strategies can be framed, which would lead to a boost in sales.

We bring you such topical and interesting suggestions to help you move along the growth trajectory for your business. Browse through OkCredit Blogs for more insights into the business world.

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FAQs

Q. What is most important in boosting sales?

Ans. The marketing effort, the promotional tactics implemented, and the outreach activities undertaken by the hotel serve as the most important aspects in increasing sales. It is necessary to harness technology and creative visuals to attract consumers. Bringing customer testimonials to potential customers is of utmost primacy.

Q. Why is cross-promotional selling of essence?

Ans. It is essential for a hotelier to gauge that the accommodation of a customer is only one aspect of their visit to the chosen location. Hence, it is important to engage with other offerings by different businesses in and around the location to provide the customer with a holistic experience.

Q. Why is it essential to create a brand?

Ans. Creating a brand image for your hotel will allow customers to identify your hotel as different from others specifically. The differentiation factor sets your hotel apart in terms of comparisons made among alternatives when potential customers choose their accommodation.