June, July, August and September months are considered to be the heart of the summer time in most parts of the USA. As a hotelier, are you geared up to capitalize on the summer vacation season rush? If not, it’s time to plan, focus and capitalize on the season’s advantages and identify your revenue maximising areas. You and your staff members may consider the following on how to get more organized to double your hotel bookings this summer time!
Give appropriate discounts
Many guests prefer to take a long time off from their busy schedules, go for vacation and relax for weeks. They are mostly quite flexible with their travel itinerary and holiday plan. Offering them a discount is a good idea to make them your returning guests. For example, give them complimentary stay for one night, when paying the same rate for the first few nights. This way you are not only making your hotel as their preferred choice of stay (for their next visit) but also ensuring a higher occupancy and incremental revenue.
Add the ‘Wow’ factor to your website
A well designed website can help in converting the visitors better and can boost up your online bookings. Make sure every aspect of your website; right from design, page loading time, SEO optimization, call to action and content is in sync with what the guest is searching/looking for. Take a close look at the booking processes on both your desktop and mobile device and make changes wherever required. Additionally, boost your content with high-quality pictures, captivating description of your property and also mention the tourist attractions nearby.
Leverage social media
No matter whether you are witnessing a high season or low season booking, always be on top of social media. Your competition and your guests may be on social media. You need to watch what your competition is doing on social media. Leverage the content that you have created on your website to maximize summer bookings. Guests look for experiential offerings – the content should help them identify their ideal choice of accommodation. Promote them on various social media platforms and drive visitors to your website!
Let your guest book in their own language
Considering it is the peak time for your business, guests will be flocking into your property from different regions, cities and countries. Landing to the booking page that is not in their language can prove to dampen your business and frustrate your guests. It may cause people to give up and book somewhere else. The hotel must look at historical data and see from which geo their guests are coming from mostly. They should try to implement those languages in their web booking system to increase the chances of getting more bookings from those countries.
Re-define your staff responsibilities
We all know, small and independent properties are known for multi-tasking to efficiently run their operations. This could happen more during peak season. Now is the time to re-define the roles and responsibilities of your staff personnel and keep everyone engaged. Not only this, shuffling of roles can help teams better collaborate and avoid overlapping of tasks assigned to them. Working on unique areas of hospitality and being exposed to new aspects is a win-win situation for all the employees and probably more fun too.
We are sure you will not miss out any booking coming your way and work towards fulfilling profit optimization goals. But wait! Are you investing in the right technology that suits your property’s needs and size? Hotelogix is a smart choice for small and independent hoteliers worldwide. Our solution is designed to streamline your operations, make you more agile and efficient, particularly during peak season.
