Moving Your Independent Hotel To The Next Level
Independent shops have a hard time appealing to new customers.When it comes to marketing independent hotel chains, the challenges are even more significant.
In a market where chains enjoy a reputable and renowned reputation, newcomers often struggle to get noticed. Indeed, town hotels especially tend to attract short-term visitors who are looking for accommodation for a night or two.
More often than not, these visitors are on a scheduled trip, whether it’s for business or personal reasons. Consequently, their choice of hotels will be dictated by a variety of factors, such as the presence of a car park, a 24/7 front desk for late travelers, the cost of the room and additional facilities such as a breakfast buffet or a gym studio.
In this context, chains are more likely to attract customers, as their long history encourages trust.
For independent hotels to get noticed, you need to be competitive on features that customers can’t find at similar-priced hotels. You need to develop a unique and creative approach that’s both compelling and profitable.
Develop your online presence for your independent hotel
Online exposure plays a huge factor as well. If your hotel isn’t part of a common chain your independent hotel may get lost in the mix. Therefore building up your online presence should be a priority.
If your independent hotel comes up first in the online search for the town or city you are in, you will attract a lot more customers. You’ll want to have a steady stream of traffic coming to your website to achieve this.
Also having special offers and free lead magnet giveaways can be another incentive to attract new business to your hotel. This could be something like a free room upgrade, or breakfast special, or bottle of wine upon check in.
This doesn’t need to be something over the top extravagant either. If you gave away a $15-$20 bottle of wine, but booked a room for 3 days and made a few hundred dollars it would be worth it.
If you’d like to learn more about how to increase traffic to your site, check out this post and video below.
Stop wasting your resources blindly
First of all, business regulations all around the world are dedicated to protecting the environment. Therefore, hotels need to develop strategies to reduce waste at a variety of levels. You can go further by promoting a green management hotel that offers a variety of environment-friendly approaches.
Admittedly green strategies come at a cost, so you need to pay close attention to maximizing your time and resources throughout the structure – view Mingus Software for more on running a performing hotel smoothly with reduced investments. Using management tools, you can establish unique insights about your customers, and tackle green requirements room by room.
From keeping track of your green toiletry products to cutting waste on washing and cleaning processes, you can free up some budget to offer your customers an environmentally-safe breakfast and support related charities. Conscious customers are likely to go out of their ways to stay in hotels that reduce their impact on the planet.
Can you renew your vision?
Your hotel is a business, and as such; it has a vision that drives its strategy. But, customers expect more from their hotel than being just a bed for the night. They want an experience they can’t forget.
From a business perspective, the key is to renew yourself to meet your customers’ expectations. Lack of inspiration is the death of independent hotels. You need to find your quirkiness to build a niche audience.
Thankfully, inspiration is all around you, from books that challenge your thoughts to new skills that push your forward. For instance, a lot of independent hotels take inspiration from their local history, with many Austrian hotels decorating rooms around famous musicians.
Create a referral program for marketing your independent hotel
Another powerful marketing strategy you can utilize to promote your independent hotel is with a referral program or affiliate marketing program. This is basically where you create an incentive for people to promote your hotel business.
This could be a free night’s stay for referring your hotel, which could lead to another guest staying at your hotel. It could also be a monetary incentive. People that refer new guests earn a small commission.
Implementing this strategy can get a whole lot of people talking about your independent hotel. On top of that the beauty of setting up a program like this is that you only pay out a commission after a sale is made.
You also wouldn’t have to be spending your own marketing dollars or time on this marketing strategy. People who are your affiliates are the ones spending their time and energy on promotions.
Implementing this strategy could be a great way to bring in more business to your independent hotel. If you’d like to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out this beginners guide to affiliate marketing.
Finding partners in the most unexpected places
Last, but not least, why not make people come to you for the hotel experience only – instead of choosing the room after arranging for the trip? Have you considered partnering with local experts to offer activities? Novotel hotels in Switzerland have created an escape room within the hotel. But you could just as well propose weekend dance classes with a local dance teacher, for instance. Or how about craft workshops?
Independent hotels are guilty of lacking strategic creativity. If you want to succeed in a competitive environment, you need to go the extra mile and review your green strategy, your vision, and your extra-professional offerings.
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