Low Cost Marketing Strategies For Hotels and Guest Houses
By Tina Best
5/5
()
About this ebook
As an independent hotel or guest house owner, you’ve got a challenge. You’ve got to make yourself stand out when there are dozens of chain hotels competing for your guest’s attention. As the travel economy grows ever tighter, this process only becomes more and more vital.
Related to Low Cost Marketing Strategies For Hotels and Guest Houses
Related ebooks
Your Guide to Owning & Operating a Hospitality Property - Successfully Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Open & Operate A Hotel, Resort or Inn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strategies to Master Communication at Your Hospitality Property Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Your Hotel Business Future Ready Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevenue Superstar!: The Simple Rules of Hotel Revenue Management Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guide to Front Office Operation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hospitality Management: People Skills and Manners on and off the Job Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hotel Revenue Management: The Post-Pandemic Evolution to Revenue Strategy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevenue 20/20: Back to Basics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hotelier’S Mind: Setting Strategy for the Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis is Revenue Management: How the Best Revenue Managers Create Massive Value Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guide To Hotel Housekeeping Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hospitality Property Organizational Structure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Open a Bed & Breakfast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStart Your Own Bed and Breakfast: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGuest Expectations in The Hospitality Property Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Heart of Hospitality: Great Hotel and Restaurant Leaders Share Their Secrets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Hospitality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Service to Experience: The Guest Perspective Paradigm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStart Up Your Restaurant: The Definitive Guide for Anyone Who Dreams of Running Their Own Restaurant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exceptional Customer Service: Exceed Customer Expectations to Build Loyalty & Boost Profits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before Last Call: How to Increase Your Restaurant’s Profitability Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Guide to Buying a Restaurant: Practical Advice to Get It Right Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive Steps to Your Own Internet Travel Agency Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restaurant Redefined Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTravel Business and More: Step-by-Step Startup Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Start & Run Your Own Bed & Breakfast Inn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Marketing For You
Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-By-Step System For More Sales, to More Customers, More Often Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Freedom Shortcut: How Anyone Can Generate True Passive Income Online, Escape the 9-5, and Live Anywhere Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Millionaire Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Win In Court Every Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emotional Intelligence: Exploring the Most Powerful Intelligence Ever Discovered Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The YouTube Formula: How Anyone Can Unlock the Algorithm to Drive Views, Build an Audience, and Grow Revenue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Exposed and Explained by the World's Two Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Passive Income Cheat Sheet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Best Credit Repair Manual Ever Written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Start a Nonprofit Organization: The Complete Guide to Start Non Profit Organization (NPO) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Story Wins: How to Leverage Hollywood Storytelling in Business & Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Low Cost Marketing Strategies For Hotels and Guest Houses
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Low Cost Marketing Strategies For Hotels and Guest Houses - Tina Best
Low Cost Marketing Strategies For Hotels and Guest Houses
Tina Best
Copyright 2010 The Butler Publishing Group
All rights reserved
Smashwords Edition
****
Chapter 1: You vs. the Chains
As an independent hotel or guest house owner, you’ve got a challenge. You’ve got to make yourself stand out when there are dozens of chain hotels competing for your guest’s attention. As the travel economy grows ever tighter, this process only becomes more and more vital.
The chains have huge budgets, and they have staying power. They also have the option to simply pick up and move out of a market that isn’t working for them. You probably don’t have that luxury, and you probably need to keep your rooms full to keep your doors open. So you’ve got to beat the chains at their own game to avoid losing customers to them. Fortunately—this can be far easier than you might think.
Many independents are in trouble. It’s not just the economy; it’s the state of the hotel industry—a look at any newspaper covering the hospitality industry will tell you that. Consider this excerpt from a 2009 Washington Post article titled State of Independence:
"Can any luxury hotel or resort thrive -- or even survive -- as an independent property? In a world where a handful of global hotel chains -- Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Accor of France, and InterContinental of Britain -- dominate the lodging market, can a single property, no matter how famous, stand alone?
At least on the surface, the answer is no."
You might not run a luxury hotel. You might run a small bed and breakfast or a quaint country get-away. Or you might, indeed, be attempting to cater to the 5 star crowd, running a historic hotel that’s been standing for generations.
Or perhaps you haven’t even started yet. Perhaps running your own hotel has been a lifelong dream of yours, and you’re wondering if you’re defeated before you begin. You want to know what you’re getting into and whether or not you have a hope of success. These are fair questions, particularly in today’s economy. Yet your dream does not have to be barrelled under by a steady flow of homogenized hotel rooms.
There are independent hotels that are surviving and thriving. They’re doing so with creativity, a fierce sense of personality, and a real heart for their customers, and you can do it too.
Understanding What Makes You Different
How much do you really need to think about your chain-based competition? In a very real way, you actually don’t need to spend much time at all. Your strength doesn’t lie in trying to be more like a chain hotel. Instead, your greatest strength lies in the fact that you are not just another chain hotel. You have strengths that the chains do not have, strengths they cannot carry off. You have the capability to rise above the mass marketed noise in order to become something truly different—something really special. You want to be the noteworthy lodging destination in your area, a place that stands above the crowd.
Chain hotels have brand policies. Those policies might not be a good fit for your current market. They may in fact be constricting—keeping you from achieving those little touches
that would make your hotel great.
You have the ability to bring your guests that real person touch
that’s so often missing in an increasingly automated world. You can speak to your guests and find out what they need—find out what’s really important to them. You can be real people
and build relationships. Relationships are what today’s economy is all about. You can make your hotel more than just a place to sleep. You’re not a chain? Celebrate it! The keys to your success lie in not being Best Western, Laquinta, or Red Roof Inn—even in a tough travel economy. Especially in a tough travel economy.
The Value Proposition
You’ve no doubt heard of the value proposition, also known as a unique selling proposition. You may have thought about it only in terms of other businesses—after all, being in the hotel seems, on the surface, to be fairly straightforward. You have nice rooms, decent beds, a good location that is conducive to vacations in your area. Right? Yet as an independent hotel owner, it is extremely important for you to get a good handle on a value proposition for your hotel. You have rooms, yes, but who are the rooms for and why do people come to your rooms over anybody else’s rooms?
If you haven’t actually bought your new hotel yet, you’re in a great position, because you can choose your value proposition now, and then purchase a hotel that’s most likely to fit. You can then mold your new purchase to fit your vision, rather than trying to retrofit and re-brand a hotel that’s been operating without much of a value proposition for years.
If you’re an existing owner you can still do this exercise. In fact, it may become important for you to make some real changes at your hotel in order to massage a real value proposition out of whatever you’ve been doing to date. You may have the glimmers of a value proposition in your organization, or, more commonly, you may never have developed anything at all.
You may have been relying on factors like a convenient location. You may be in a rut of simply selling a bed for the night. But with a lot of thought and effort you can start to understand the things you do well, things you