It is quite difficult to promote and to generally grow a small or independent hotel. You will go up against really strong brands and a lot of work is going to be necessary. There are situations in which you would be faced with problems since you cannot make a profit due to the seasonality of the establishment and we need to understand the fact that much work is what becomes vital.
Growing the small or independent hotel is mainly a problem because of the competition. This is true even when faced with the peak seasons. It is the main hotels that are going to fill up first due to their reputation and their marketing budget. You want to do all that it takes in order to fight the giants. Consider the following tips.
Improving The Booking Process
This is the first thing that you want to do. Statistics show that many of the bookings are abandoned when they are way too complex or simply complicated. Also, most of the small or independent hotels do not have an online booking possibility. You want to invest in this since we live in the age of the internet.
The investment that you will make in order to allow online buying and booking for potential visitors is really low. Do it and there is a very good possibility that you are going to increase sales in a very short period of time.
Work On Your Branding
Most of the small and independent hotels have a branding problem. They simply use the same things that they have been using for years. It is really important that you adapt to the local markets and that you focus on what your potential visitors are going to appreciate. Refreshing your branding may be enough to increase sales by around 50% in various cases. Make sure that all the branding you use is suitable for the goals that you have at the moment and the services that you offer.
Maximize Social Media Potential
Everyone talks about social media and all hotels can take advantage of this opportunity. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. You want to always have the pages that people expect you to have. This includes Facebook for general presentations and Twitter for news and more. If you want to take everything one step further, you can add Pinterest to showcase your rooms. Try to find the social network platforms that will help you to reach your potential audience and communicate with it.
Value Customer Experience
One of the big problems that appear with the small hotels is that customer experience is usually neglected. You should not make this mistake. Think about the unique selling point that you have. This is what will help you out the most since it gives you access to something that someone else does not have. Customer surveys aid you to quickly figure this out. Also, you want to be presented on the large industry sites like Tripadvisor. Giving your customers the possibility of writing a review helps out much more than you may believe.