Question for Our Hotel Marketing Expert Panel
What are your best practices for marketing a hotel/resort’s non-accommodation areas, e.g., spa, golf, etc.? How can hotels creatively target niche audiences for these areas, especially in low season?
Industry Expert Panel
Our Industry Expert Panel exists out of professionals within the hospitality & travel Industry. They have comprehensive and detailed knowledge, experience in practice or management and are forward-thinking. They are answering questions about the state of the industry. They share their insights on topics like revenue management, marketing, operations, technology and discuss the latest trends.
Our Marketing Expert Panel
- Joanne Greene – Hospitality Expert
- Jolien Alferink – Hotel Marketing Consultant, Orange Hotel Marketing
- Tamie Matthews – Revenue, Sales & Marketing Consultant, RevenYou
- Max Starkov – Adjunct Professor Hospitality Technology, New York University
- Adele Gutman – Culture and Guest Experience Expert, Hospitality Reputation Marketing Podcast
- Jacopo Focaroli – CEO & Founder, The Host
- Dustin Caromano – Director of Marketing and eCommerce, Première Advisory Group
- Nicole Sideris – Founder & Prinicipal Consultant, X Hospitality
- Luminita Mardale – Director Of Marketing And Business Development, Vienna House
- Grazia Dell’Aquila – Hospitality Consultant, IAMGRAZIA
- Stephanie Smith – Founder, Cogwheel Marketing
- Thomas Dieben – Founder, Becurious
- Ask Our Panel a Question
- Join Our Expert Panel
“Google and TripAdvisor alone have over 3.5 billion hotel searches per month. This is a huge audience and hotels should be using these tools to promote the non-accommodation aspects of a hotel. For example, if you have a cookery school, spa, golf facilities or a Michelin-star restaurant, try to mention it when you respond to your reviews.
It could be as a PS after you have signed off eg “PLEASE NOTE – Our cookery school is offering a special 2-for-1 offer in January and February – please visit our website for more details”.
Or you could mention it in the context of the reply e.g., “We look forward to seeing you again soon. Why not try our spa next time you stay and get 25% off your second treatment”.
Another prime, real-time example is with one of our clients in the Middle East who has a 9-hole golf course and wants to attract more business. At the bottom of his responses and where applicable, we add the following, which we also add on all of our OTA replies as it does not interfere with their business – **Please note, guests who stay 4 nights or longer receive a free round of golf or a free golf lesson**.
This is why responding to reviews is so important – it gives hotels the perfect opportunity to market their non-accommodation products on all portals, even on OTA sites and it is completely free of charge!”
“Creating collaborations, working with influencers with a targeted following and promoting this via all channels; socials, press clippings and digital campaigns. It may be worth reviewing if there is a need for separate landing pages, and separate Instagram accounts when the target audience for the Spa or Golf is different to the traveller booking the hotel for accommodation, allowing your marketing team to target your audience more specifically.”
“Be creative and think laterally. Every hotel has space that can be sold, now look for the customer who wants and needs that space.
- Vacant meeting rooms = personal trainers
- Unused bars = “paint and sip” classes
- Empty pools = baby and tots swimming lessons
- Beautiful gardens = picnics, proposals, painting classes, artists, photo shoots
Look to package items such as spa and golf to create something a group may enjoy. For example: “Dinner, Bed and Breakfast with unlimited Golf” or “Bed, Breakfast, Massage, Painting Class and Limo into town for a night out.”
Work with local suppliers to create marketing opportunities around SEO, Backlinks, social media etc. Anything that increases your ranking, reach and visibility.
Target sustainability. People will pay more for something that hits the eco-conscious vote. Ask yourself what can you add to the package in the way of a donation to the local charity, planting a tree or supporting a school. People will pay more to ensure they leave feeling good.
Price to provide value. This does not always mean discounting. People have excess savings at the moment, and they want to indulge. Going cheap may not be right for your market segment so price the experience according to how your market segments behave.
Trial, analyse, review and amend. You don’t know what will work so have some fun with different ideas. But remember, a package is not always designed to shift volume, sometimes it is just there to create marketing opportunities and links in your local area.”
“I am a firm believer that a hotel or resort is more than a place for providing temporary sleeping quarters. In the post-pandemic era, it is time to analyze, identify, diversify and maximize the revenue opportunities and adopt a total revenue management strategy and culture at the property.
To begin with, any hotel has numerous untapped, quite often significant revenue opportunities from:
1. Core “hotel” ancillary products
These products are primarily around upselling, upgrading and cross-selling the property’s core amenities: better rooms, suites, spa services, F&B (Interested in our Caribbean Buffet tonight?), early check-ins, late check-outs, etc.
2. “Non-hotel” ancillary revenues
* Sale of guest stay-enhancing ancillary products like champagne for special occasions, romantic stay decorations, chocolate-covered strawberries, ice cream, a bouquet of flowers, breakfast in bed, etc.
* Sale of city passes and tickets to local museums, theme parks, sporting events, concerts and performances, art exhibitions and other attractions, as well as sightseeing tours to places of interest.
3. Maximize Utilization of Hotel Spaces
* Create co-working spaces: Similar to Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan, create work-from-hotel spaces for out-of-towners, digital nomads and local entrepreneurs who do not want to be tied down by office leases. Create Room and Office daily, weekly and monthly packages and promotions, including WiFi, coffee, bottled water, snacks and catered lunch.
* Create F&B revenue opportunities in empty and underutilized spaces by installing vending machines, pizza or burger robots. These robots can provide tremendous revenue opportunities for budget, economy and midscale properties without F&B or replace struggling restaurants at upper midscale and other 3- and 4-star properties.
* Vending Machines: We will be witnessing a real resurrection of the vending machine serving breakfast, snacks, and hot and cold drinks, naturally in a much more sophisticated reiteration. Marriott is already testing giant vending machines it calls “grab-and-go marketplaces” that can dispense everything from coffee to breakfast sandwiches and cereal.
4. Creating Airbnb-type of product
Create a short-term rental type of hotel product: Introduce weekly and monthly rates for suites with kitchenettes, adjacent rooms to appeal to family travellers; rooms with the use of a community kitchen, washers and dryers. How many hotels offer rates for extended stays or family stays which are favoured by travel consumers in the current environment? Remember, a weekly rate is NOT a daily rate multiplied by seven. A monthly rate is NOT a nightly rate multiplied by 30! Make sure that your CRS, WBE (Website Booking Engine) and Channel Manager can support weekly and monthly rates and fire them if they can’t.
Generating non-core and ancillary revenues requires a) the implementation of merchandising strategy and culture at the property/hotel company, b) incentivizing and training your staff, and c) adopting technology solutions to automate as many of the internal processes as possible.”
“I think that many hotels miss the opportunity to softly shift bookings to off-peak nights by not offering a rate calendar on the booking engine.
Regarding selling non-accommodation assets, I recommend that you first think about all the things your various guest types might want to do when they visit your hotel that they are enjoying at other attractions/services in the area or when they are at other destinations or even at home.
How can you bring those experiences to your property in a unique way? What resources do you have that might be used to create a unique experience? How can you partner with local talent to create unique experiences?
Walk through your property and look at every section of space and ask if you could not use the same space in the same way in the future, what else could you do with it to create value for your guests or your community? Supporting the local community is always a winning strategy and will lead to added opportunities in the future.”
“Niche guests would generally go wherever they can avoid the hordes and the noise of the high season, to indulge in staycations, weekends, and low-pace trips to indulge in their hobbies or switch off and relax. As mentioned in this panel, Virtual Reality technology might trigger the guests’ senses, offering a feeling of “how it would be if only you were here”, especially in times of conflict and global economic uncertainty.”
“Use your CRM to dissect information on the buying behaviour of your guests and target them with unique offerings via guest communication. Upsell tools across guest communications (email, text) and at POS (kiosks, app, IBE) to drive ancillary revenue to outlets. During low seasons, focus on the local market and target via geo-focused digital campaigns to drive volume. Utilize programming and offerings that will be competitive in your market.”
“We often assume that our guests read the entire website and know about all of our facilities before they arrive. At many properties, guests have been heard saying – “next time I will bring my gym wear, I did not release you had a spa”, etc. Often we fail to communicate these facilities and offerings to our guests before they arrive. Our guests are already coming to stay, so why not leverage them, they will probably create more experiences and generate more revenue. The pre-arrival communication should not be a “set and forget” scheduled message, it should be reviewed constantly.”
“Vienna House Easy Airport Bucharest is an airport hotel, so we have a special niche for guests. We close deals with airlines companies to accommodate their crew and passengers, and with companies for accommodating their guests at arrival and departure in Romania, but for low season. During summers and holidays we address individuals who have vacations booked outside the border and they stay with their families – but before and after the flight in our hotel. Also, we offer special offers for leisure groups that have an early or late flight.”
“Many spas, golf facilities, and swimming pools can experience difficulties in sales during the low season. Creating a marketing strategy to help overcome this season is important.
For example, it could be an option to create promo codes depending on the season in autumn, specials in mid-summer, or other unique discounts to attract customers. Also create gift baskets, boxes, or other pre-packaged assortments that customers can purchase to give as gifts. Offer unique packages that include popular services, treatments, and products. Offer packages that include specific services, offering a golf experience to customers to discuss how to improve their training. Meet guests to discuss their wellness preferences – and all that can lead to the creation of special personalised packages.
Offer a discount and display it on the website. Rebrand the web presence with a new website or landing page focusing on those facilities to appeal to the target audience.
Link social media to the spa, golf and other facilities.
Work with a variety of event planners and let your target audience know that the facilities can be booked easily, that open days can be organised, and that they can avail of private spa access and discounted service rates.”
“For non-hotel driving revenue centres, you need to determine your desired mix of local demand. Many spas, golf facilities and even some restaurants want or need a local following to fill the gaps during the low season. Your local marketing strategy should be very different than when marketing and selling those facilities to those staying at the hotel. Distinct campaigns, channels and strategies are needed to maximize the ebb and flow of local demand to complement other travel demand.”
“Giving guests the possibility to personalise their stay by offering restaurant, golf or spa reservations is still complex for most hotels. There are property management systems that offer connectivity with, for example, restaurant and spa reservation systems. However, for golf courses, this can be a challenge. In terms of CRM, it would be good to store specific guest preferences so that (automated and personalised) offers can be sent to the guest, both pre-arrival or during the stay. Also, training your front office staff to ask if restaurant or spa reservations are desired, can easily result in an increase in non-accommodation revenue.”
Ask a Question & Join Our Expert Panel
Would you like a question to be answered by our Industry Expert Panel? Or would you like to join our community of experts and share your experience, insights, and knowledge with fellow industry professionals? Via the buttons below you can submit a question or submit a request to become part of our expert panel.
Leave A Comment