Aug
3
You've all seen the statistics:
"50% of bookings will be made online..."
"millions of hotel customers look at Tripadvisor every day..."
...blah, blah, blah.
Of course, online is good, online is a wonderful market opportunity for you.
Be careful though, because there is a danger that you might confuse "online" with "fully automated" and make a complete balls of selling your hotel.
"50% of bookings will be made online..."
"millions of hotel customers look at Tripadvisor every day..."
...blah, blah, blah.
Of course, online is good, online is a wonderful market opportunity for you.
Be careful though, because there is a danger that you might confuse "online" with "fully automated" and make a complete balls of selling your hotel.
If you run a restricted service property, you can get away with high levels of automation in your selling process. Cheap hotel rooms are a commodity. Automation of the sales process is a good way of reducing cost and the sales process itself is pretty straightforward. It revolves around price - if you're cheaper than the rest, you'll probably get the booking; if you're not cheaper than the rest, you probably won't. No need to employ "expensive" sales people to interact with your customers because there isn't much a sales person can do to influence the outcome.
However, many hotels don't want their rooms to be commodities. Many of you want to charge much more than bargain basement prices. Some of you even want to make a profit out of your rooms...
...and then you go and insist on a fully automated online selling process.
Why?
If you're selling "luxury" as part of your hotel experience, why do you want to introduce people to that luxury using a bargain basement selling process?
Your sales process can help to justify some of the higher prices you want to charge. If prospective customers want to ask questions, an automatic process lets them go no further than your FAQ page. If they want to ask advice, an automatic process lets websites like Tripadvisor do the advising.
Do you really think that customers being asked to spend £100 or £200 (or more) per night are going to be happy with that level of "service"?
Just because it's online, don't make the mistake of believing that automation is the answer. It may be cheap, but it's not the answer. Not for a luxury product.
People who buy luxury products buy all of the attributes orbiting around that product. They buy the service, they buy the interaction.
If they're looking for advice, why don't you use an online chat system to provide real and meaningful interaction?
If they're being asked to commit to paying you a large amount of money, why don't you use a real person to contact the customer post-sale and congratulate them on making such a splendid choice? Not only is this a good way of tackling the thorny problem of "buyers remorse" but it also lets prospective customers see just how pervasive your approach to "luxury" is.
It's not automatic, it costs a bit more to do, and it helps to differentiate you from competitors.
After all, isn't customer interaction something you encourage and train your operations staff to do? So is it not a good idea to encourage your sales department to do it too?
Fully automated is not a sales process, it's an order taking process.
What does your sales process look like from a customer point of view?
However, many hotels don't want their rooms to be commodities. Many of you want to charge much more than bargain basement prices. Some of you even want to make a profit out of your rooms...
...and then you go and insist on a fully automated online selling process.
Why?
If you're selling "luxury" as part of your hotel experience, why do you want to introduce people to that luxury using a bargain basement selling process?
Your sales process can help to justify some of the higher prices you want to charge. If prospective customers want to ask questions, an automatic process lets them go no further than your FAQ page. If they want to ask advice, an automatic process lets websites like Tripadvisor do the advising.
Do you really think that customers being asked to spend £100 or £200 (or more) per night are going to be happy with that level of "service"?
Just because it's online, don't make the mistake of believing that automation is the answer. It may be cheap, but it's not the answer. Not for a luxury product.
People who buy luxury products buy all of the attributes orbiting around that product. They buy the service, they buy the interaction.
If they're looking for advice, why don't you use an online chat system to provide real and meaningful interaction?
If they're being asked to commit to paying you a large amount of money, why don't you use a real person to contact the customer post-sale and congratulate them on making such a splendid choice? Not only is this a good way of tackling the thorny problem of "buyers remorse" but it also lets prospective customers see just how pervasive your approach to "luxury" is.
It's not automatic, it costs a bit more to do, and it helps to differentiate you from competitors.
After all, isn't customer interaction something you encourage and train your operations staff to do? So is it not a good idea to encourage your sales department to do it too?
Fully automated is not a sales process, it's an order taking process.
What does your sales process look like from a customer point of view?
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