Recap – the domestic market
- The importance of communication with customers
- Being understanding & flexible in your approach to dealing with bookings of any kind
- Considering the needs of each domestic segment
- Remembering that this is an opportunity to showcase your hotel to new segments
- Not forgetting your repeat guests
What the future holds
Sweden
As Sweden’s ‘no lockdown’ strategy meant that hotels and restaurants were not actually obliged to close, there’s a lot we can learn from how hotels dealt with the situation, which still saw Swedes understandably uneasy and more cautious.
With an initial negative curve, occupancy growth continued for them throughout April, and they too are starting to see normal patterns emerging.
What are the important things we can learn from them?
- Providing peace of mind
- Promoting staycations to attract local travellers
- Encouraging guests to book longer stays
- Driving immediate revenue through gift vouchers
- Building a strong community of followers
We recently sat down for a chat with Alexander Edstrom, CEO of automation company based in Sweden – you can have a listen to his take on the situation in Sweden versus elsewhere here.
In this competitive market, you need a rate plan that works for your hotel
- Your spa and leisure facilities
- Your amazing rooms
- Netflix
- Self check in
- In room dining
- Car parking
- Space / outdoor attractions around your property
Any kind of USPs that relate to making your guest feel particularly comfortable post Covid-19 should be highlighted.
- Heavily discounted pricing is not the answer. In fact, it will make a bad situation even worse
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Rewards rather than sales would be a more positive approach – a ‘welcome back’ reward
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However, be mindful of yielding that rate too far
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There is also the operational side eg rooms will be more expensiveto service and this needs to be factored in when you are calculating your lowest sell price
Amplifying your messaging
Last week, we wrote about the importance of your marketing activity at a time like this. It’s no good having the perfect messaging and rateplan if no-one can see it.
Going a step further, here’s a breakdown of what we think your marketing campaign strategy should look like for the month of June:
Early June
- Guests will start to consider booking a hotel stay and we expect to see an increase in demand, but we still advise you tread softly with your sales messaging at this point
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Focus your messaging on “Stay Safe, See You Soon”, positive and helpful content on social media
- Continue with your brand awareness
- Prospect to in-market audiences via YouTube Bumper Ads, Google Display and Facebook
- Increase your budget for ongoing campaigns: Brand Search & Hotel Ads
End of June
- At this point, we are expecting an increase in booking activity and it will be vital to invest in your book direct campaigns
- Don’t forget the importance of safety messaging and the value of offers
- Continue awareness campaigns if your budget allows
- Increase budget for ongoing campaigns: Brand Search & Hotel Ads
- Increase budget for remarketing campaigns on Google Display, Youtube and Facebook