The best way to increase sales in a downturns or recessions is not just to look 'outside the box', but to look 'outside the building'. When faced with diminishing sales, a shrinking booking window, and less corporate travelers on the road, hotels and resorts need to use short term actions and long term plans to expand sales. One thing for sure is that online sales will generate immediate results, so here are 4 quick steps to increase short term electronic sales and optimize online bookings now.
Take another look at your compset
Online Travel Agencies (OTA) have changed the way consumers shop for hotels, so re-evaluate your competitors in your destination. Smart travelers will click on price and star ratings to obtain a quick assessment of what they can get for their money regardless of location. So do the same, be objective and realistic, look outside your traditional compset, widen your vicinity or sub-region, enlarge your map, compare guest reviews, expand the amount of hotels exponentially, you will not regret it. Ask someone who's never visited your destination to provide you with your proper compset. When you monitor your competition, add another ∏ star up and down to complete this exercise.
Evaluate your manual tasks
Are you trying to manually yield your hotel rates? If you are, your team probably doesn't have the necessary tools to yield at night or during weekends when it matters most. One of the worst things you can do in a hotel transparent pricing era is to keep rates the same, so make sure you yield rates so you don't leave money on the table. The booking window is shrinking even more as people book on I-phones and blackberries, so empower your hotel with automation: consider automated revenue management systems that integrate distribution simultaneously with rates decisions so you don't lose on rates and occupancy.
OTA Page positioning, what is this?
Just like on Google, the order your hotel appears on the top of the page, or the middle of the page, or the top of page 2 or 3 will make the real difference in between successful occupancies and disappointing vacancies. The big difference now is that travelers use OTA as 'goggle engines' to select hotels, so make sure that your hotel appears in the right position at all times to maximize online sales. Anticipate your competitors rapid rate changes so that your hotel does not fall off page 3 or 4, because if you do, you might as well put a closed sign on your front door! To gain maximum market share, make sure to calculate optimal pricing positioning by star rating, guest reviews, location to ensure maximum bookings and revpar. Consider a multiple page positioning approach for your hotel's success.
Monitor & control your inventory
How many rooms did you allocate on all your OTA channels? What happens if this number runs out at night or on weekends? Keep your room inventory on the shelves, not in the back storage room. Allocate resources in your budget for real-time dynamic rate optimization with automatic room inventory control. These powerful tools will ensure proper room inventories on all electronic channels day and night giving your hotel a proactive attitude versus a reactive stance. Continuously monitor your booking pace, automate GDS and OTA updates to maximize online bookings.
About RevPar Guru
RevPar Guru provides hotels around the world with an alternative revenue management software solution, to manage revPAR intelligently and effectively, and deliver maximum profits. RevPar Guru's custom-designed Yield Dynamic Price Engine meets the rapidly changing needs hotels in a demanding business environment - dynamic rate optimization, real-time pricing, integrated internet and extranet yield channel management, and GDS sales distribution, to increase a hotel's revPAR while maintaining rate integrity and automated rate parity. It is the only revenue management solution that automatically optimizes and updates hotel rates across all major consumer travel websites, based on all market variables and in real time, and provides a strategic room inventory control. Once deployed, hotels can boost their occupancy rates and cut their distribution costs dramatically. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, additional information can be found at www.revparguru.com or by calling +1.786.478.3500.
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