Mar
24
It seems Google maps is going to become a price comparison site for hotels. I'll blog about this in another article when I've had a chance to think about it. But it's disappointing to think that, yet again, what could be a really useful route to market will probably get poisoned by "low price" promotions.
As all good hoteliers know (and so do your customers) - it is not all about price. Price becomes a default decision criteria when your marketing isn't up to the job.
So. Do you qualify for higher prices?
The Revenue managers amongst you will know what I'm talking about.
People who are wandering around the internet looking for "cut price hotel deals" are unqualified. You know nothing about them. You don't know what they want or when they want it - and so the temptation is to "fish" for them using cut price offers as bait.
It's a dangerous thing to do. I know of one hotel which placed a "£30 per night" offer on Laterooms as bait. When you clicked on the offer, it wasn't actually for the hotel at all, but for an apartment they used to sleep up to four visiting contractors (this hotel is near a large industrial complex) which you had to book for five nights and use all four beds in order to get the bait rate. In reality, the actual hotel bedrooms were on offer at £90 per night. Did anybody book 'em? What do you think?
Evidence seems to suggest that dropping prices is bad - take a look at this Cornell report - so if that's the case, how do you encourage people to buy at higher prices?
You qualify them.
To qualify a prospect, you need to find out what they want, what their problems are, what needs they are trying to satisfy. You also need to be able to communicate with them (otherwise how are you going to be able to ask them questions?). That's really difficult to do with someone who is wandering aimlessly through Laterooms, Expedia or Booking.com looking for a good deal. It's made even more difficult by the fact that those sites have probably already qualified them for their own purposes. Yes, their marketing is very good.
How do you qualify them?
Newsletters; surveys; free items of value; vouchers - anything that lets you identify who they are, where they are, what they want to buy and what they want to know about you.
Put together a sales process and work it. Put prospects in one end and work it hard so you can see customers coming out of the other. It's not instant, but you'll make more money from the customers who have come through your process.
Why? Because you'll be selling them what they want, at a price you both agree on, with minimal commission and you've got a good chance to sell them something else (a repeat visit or a referral) because they are YOUR customer. Not the customer of a booking website. YOURS. If you make the effort, you can reap the rewards.
Then you'll qualify for higher prices.
As all good hoteliers know (and so do your customers) - it is not all about price. Price becomes a default decision criteria when your marketing isn't up to the job.
So. Do you qualify for higher prices?
The Revenue managers amongst you will know what I'm talking about.
People who are wandering around the internet looking for "cut price hotel deals" are unqualified. You know nothing about them. You don't know what they want or when they want it - and so the temptation is to "fish" for them using cut price offers as bait.
It's a dangerous thing to do. I know of one hotel which placed a "£30 per night" offer on Laterooms as bait. When you clicked on the offer, it wasn't actually for the hotel at all, but for an apartment they used to sleep up to four visiting contractors (this hotel is near a large industrial complex) which you had to book for five nights and use all four beds in order to get the bait rate. In reality, the actual hotel bedrooms were on offer at £90 per night. Did anybody book 'em? What do you think?
Evidence seems to suggest that dropping prices is bad - take a look at this Cornell report - so if that's the case, how do you encourage people to buy at higher prices?
You qualify them.
To qualify a prospect, you need to find out what they want, what their problems are, what needs they are trying to satisfy. You also need to be able to communicate with them (otherwise how are you going to be able to ask them questions?). That's really difficult to do with someone who is wandering aimlessly through Laterooms, Expedia or Booking.com looking for a good deal. It's made even more difficult by the fact that those sites have probably already qualified them for their own purposes. Yes, their marketing is very good.
How do you qualify them?
Newsletters; surveys; free items of value; vouchers - anything that lets you identify who they are, where they are, what they want to buy and what they want to know about you.
Put together a sales process and work it. Put prospects in one end and work it hard so you can see customers coming out of the other. It's not instant, but you'll make more money from the customers who have come through your process.
Why? Because you'll be selling them what they want, at a price you both agree on, with minimal commission and you've got a good chance to sell them something else (a repeat visit or a referral) because they are YOUR customer. Not the customer of a booking website. YOURS. If you make the effort, you can reap the rewards.
Then you'll qualify for higher prices.
0 Trackbacks