Within the hospitality industry, every season has its revenue advantages and disadvantages. Finding revenue success lies in focusing and capitalizing on each particular seasons advantages. Know the purchasing habits of your clientele. Familiarize your team with how to upsell certain items or services in the summer months. Take action to prepare the team and hotel for this season with a summer plan.
The only reason the peak summer season may fail to bring in an abundance of revenue is if your hotel team is unprepared. There’s still time yet to plan and get organized, and we want to help!
Summertime has the ability to bring in a significant amount of revenue and now is your chance to capitalize on it. To ensure your hotel profits as much as possible over June, July, and August, consider taking action in the following ways:
Look Your Best
The need for hotels may be higher in the summer months, but the competition is higher as well. To stand out among the masses, you need to put on your best look. Spruce everything up. Hopefully most of your “spring cleaning” has already taken place, but if not, ensure a “spring cleaning” takes place before the wave of tourists streams in.
Avoid Losing Money – Review Pricing Data
One of the easiest ways to gain or to lose money is by succeeding or failing to review pricing data, and then adjust accordingly. Pull out your records from last summer and determine if adjustments need to made. Other factors to consider:
- Competitors prices
- Special events
- Minimum/Maximum length of stays
HMG Hospitality – Your Partner for Management, Development and Maximizing Revenue. More Here >>
Streamline Reservations
With the many online channels customers are able to book through, it’s easy for hotels’ online reservations to become scattered. The administrative task of keeping up with the scattered reservations become huge – and costly. Not to mention the incredible amount of errors that can occur through overbooking, lost bookings, etc. The solution to this? Automate your online reservation system.
Gather Customer Data and Personalize
Awareness is key to profiting. If you are aware of who your guests are, you can cater to them and increase the chance that they’ll return, and/or that more guests like them will book a stay. Why bother adding family-friendly amenities and programming if your main demographic are couples and businessmen? As you go through your data pay attention to where guests are from, which generation they’re a part of, how far in advance they book, and what their preferred ancillary services are. This data alone will help guide your summer plan and sales efforts.
Create Engaging Content
For many, summer is a time for fun fun FUN. Summer is when people are in the mood to vacation, explore, and enjoy free time, which is exactly why your hotel should be providing content to help them do so! You are the experts in your city or region and now is your chance to share what guests can do, see, experience, learn, etc.! This can also be done to promote what to do, see, and experience on property, but remember the 80/20 rule – 80% helpful and only 20% self-promotion. A few added benefits of content creation will include:
- Increased package bookings if applicable (i.e. packages that include excursions for sightseeing, food tastings, etc.)
- Increased ancillary services revenue (if guests know all that your hotel offers, they’ll be more likely to take advantage)
- Increased, on-property, engagement of guests – which will translate into better reviews and more bookings!
Get on Your Social Media Game
Be on social media. Your competition is on social media, your guests are on social media, even your city is on social media. Now it’s your turn. If you already are on social media, up your game and efforts. Remember all that content you just created to help guests maximize summer fun? Promote it on social media! Drive traffic to your website! Increase your direct bookings!
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Increase Ancillary Offerings
This is a great way to capture more revenue over because, as mentioned, people are in the mood to let loose and indulge over the summer! Offer poolside massages, a more robust blended drink menu, in-room childcare, and more! Use social media to promote ancillary offers and even last minute special deals!
There are endless ways to increase your hotel’s revenue with a summer plan, but it’s up to you and your hotel team to implement them! The key to success is organization, focus, and creativity. Put in the work and you will be rewarded!
For further guidance and management assistance, contact the hospitality industry’s leading management experts – HMG Hospitality – today!