The Hotel Marketing Blog from HotelSphere

Earlier this week I happened to be sharing a dram with an hotelier who is nearing completion of a £1 million refurbishment of his property.

These days it is prudent to cut costs. So that’s what he’s doing: Advertising programmes have been sliced; product offerings reduced; staffing levels cut and employee training brought to nearly a standstill.

At the same time, some wild sales offers are being made online – you might have seen these offers floating about on the internet, for example “rooms for only £10”.

Elsewhere on this blog I try to encourage you to think of your marketing expenditure as an investment, not a cost. To do this effectively means you have to prepare it and measure it as an investment. You’re not a bank, no government is going to come and bale you out. You’re not a bank, with a bit of luck you might actually have a sustainable business model.

But unless you treat your marketing efforts with the respect they deserve, your other investments (in the fabric of your property for example) will be exposed to even greater risks.

Continue reading "Listen very carefully - I shall say this only once"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Computers make it so easy to simply dash off documents and publish them straight to the internet - the words can end up on a website or in an email faster than you can think.

...and that's the problem.

Continue reading "Read your sales copy before you publish"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Today, we're going to run another Google search experiment.

We want to explore how we can establish a better search engine position than the one we've got for the term "four star hotel in Inverness".

We want more people to click on our hotel. It is, after all, one of the finest, luxury, four star hotels in the city of Inverness.

So if you find this listing on Google having searched for "four star hotel in Inverness" (or something similar, like "luxury hotel in Inverness"), remember to click on this link so we know where you've come from.

Thanks for helping with the research!

Posted by HotelBlogger

At last! Somebody who tells it like it is.
You can say what you like about accountants, but at least some of them are getting people used to the idea that the current economic malaise might not be as much of a "short dip" as a "deep trough".
PKF in the USA are forecasting 60% occupancy for Florida hotels in 2009. PWC are talking about 70% occupancy for London hotels.
The first step in preparing yourself for what may be about to hit in 2009, is to recognise it for what it is.
Serious.
However, it is not the end of the world.

People will still go on holiday.
People will still stay in hotels.
* people will still go out to eat.

How will you make sure they choose to do these things at your hotel?

Continue reading "PKF and PWC forecast doom and gloom for 2009"

Posted by HotelBlogger

...swearing at mobile phone companies.

I was trying to order a phone. Have you ever tried phoning a branch of any of the main mobile retailers? They don't make it easy you know. In fact, they don't want you to call the branches at all.

Retail branches are for people to walk in to. Not for phoning. Which is a bit of a pain if you're phoning around trying to find out who has got what in stock. Let's face it, letting your fingers do the walking is better than traipsing around a shopping centre in the pre-christmas hullaballoo.

But they won't let you speak to the shops...

One company (the red one) has a customer service number you can call, which insists on getting either an account number or a mobile number - you type it in aparrently, so they can have your call answered by the right people. But what if you're not a customer yet? Well, I can't tell you what happens in those circumstances, because I gave up after 15 minutes on hold, being told that there was a "fault with my number".

Automation is nice, but sometimes you've just got to talk with your customer, listen and make the sale. It really can be that simple - and it keeps people in jobs.

Posted by HotelBlogger