96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot in which hoteliers examine-in and we check out out what is trending in resort marketing and advertising. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Howdy everybody and welcome to another episode of the Suite Place. This is your host, as often, Ryan Embree, Director of Marketing at Journey Media Group. And we’ve acquired a excellent episode for you today. We do these episodes four periods a 12 months due to the fact we actually conduct 4 occupancy workshops for hoteliers. And this season’s workshop is titled “Business is Blooming: How to Increase Occupancy this Spring.” So this is our spring occupancy workshop. It’s a person of my favorites for the reason that we are coming out of the winter season, which is normally a slower time for the field. And we’re at last beginning to see that advancement and occupancy. Now the springs the previous pair several years have definitely been a little bit unique with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are speaking about positioning your resort digitally for achievement when tourists are seeking and they are carrying out very a bit of seeking, which we’ll communicate about right here in second.

Ryan Embree:
So again, these are occupancy workshops exactly where we satisfy one particular-on-a person with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session speaking about the hotel’s digital existence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the season of spring crack, vacations, May, Memorial day, a great deal of excellent points in the spring and genuinely setting ourselves up also for the summertime where occupancy genuinely heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, usually when I carry out these workshops, we get some seriously superior takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we talk about some typical themes and threads. So in the past, clearly we’ve talked about the staffing scarcity correct now, which has been hurting a large amount of individuals. This is our third time performing a spring occupancy workshop. Once more in 2020 and 2021, there were being extremely unique conversations, which potential customers me to our 1st pattern that we discovered this workshop as opposed to other folks, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we had been conversing to. The optimism that was out there, that journey is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I communicate about these tourists performing searches, you know, I’ve got a genuinely astounding stat that we arrived throughout, exactly where it says U.S. organic and natural Google look for stop by growth by sector in Q4 of 2021 vs . Q4 in 2020. And the proportion transform for vacation was at 41%. So that is a whole lot of eyes hunting and planning and becoming inspired to journey when again. But as I warning the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they’re gonna be wanting at your hotel’s electronic existence a great deal differently than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But pattern quantity one, occupancy is developing. It’s below. No matter whether we like it or not, transient leisure has constantly been there the previous few a long time and has been primary the pack in recovery, but we’re also seeing business, weddings arrive back again. So we’ll speak a very little bit about that later, but the next craze that I discovered on these conversations that I was acquiring is, you know, we have been as an marketplace running all-around, it feels like, seeking to determine out what to do to alter to this pandemic, this new usual that COVID has sort of ushered into our industry.

Ryan Embree:
And then on leading of that, you have this staffing scarcity, ideal? Inflation now starting to strike property as properly, but we’re commencing to see things form of gradual down and hoteliers definitely eventually examining matters like their social media, their reviews, assessment responses. And a lot of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to truly sit down and get a search had been truly astonished with what they saw. They possibly had a front desk manager or a DOS that had left all through these previous two a long time that was in charge of this things. And now it is kinda laid dormant there. So I would inspire you if you’re listening to this, check your Facebook, check your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, hopefully you are on these web-sites, but look at and see when the very last time you posted, because time has been traveling by proper now and in advance of, you know, it, a lot of these posts that we have been looking at ended up back again in 2021 and travelers are wanting now a lot more than at any time for appropriate info.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see something again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be pertinent to them. And it could necessarily mean a detrimental connotation, negative perception for the tourists that are executing investigate. They are ultimately sitting down down and checking points like their critique websites and seeing on sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, sites where vacationers are creating reserving selections that the previous review that they acquired was six months ago. We know appropriate now that everything is shifting so rapidly. Omicron came in November and swept by means of the nation. And that altered the way that people today understand touring and the stage of protection of what that was. So once more, test like your hotel, social media, your status and assessment responses. That was an additional issue we were being chatting about, is acquiring the time to react to opinions. And I know for a good deal of hoteliers listening to this, it may well be a person of all those issues at the bottom of our precedence list, but it is so vital proper now when we chat about our following craze, which is setting anticipations versus meeting expectations. And I’ll describe the difference.

Ryan Embree:
So meeting anticipations is, feel about a traveler walking into an financial system lodge and anticipating Ritz-Carlton support at an economic system level price tag. Those people expectations are a minor bit also high, and it could be tricky to satisfy people anticipations. Location anticipations is a completely unique conversation. Think of location anticipations as someone strolling into your hotel in the summer months and expecting to delight in that lovely pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they experienced no plan that that was the circumstance. That is a failure to established expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there’s a very exclusive change there. And when we speak about review reaction is one particular of the most potent locations that we can established anticipations for our long run traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Yes, it is incredibly vital to reply to the feedback that is in entrance of you and to that traveler that took time outta their working day to go away you a review for your company. But it’s also placing the anticipations for that long run traveler. So much has altered about the previous two several years from breakfast, amenities, even resort policies, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with guests. There could be travelers that when they arrive on to your assets have a completely diverse expectation. So if you are not setting people prior to their remain, then you are failing to established their expectations. And that is really the range one particular cause that we are observing detrimental critiques on line. As a ton of you know, that pay attention to this, Journey Media Team has a Reply and Take care of answer where by we reply to visitor opinions. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to in excess of 750,000 testimonials for our resort companions and are now responding to a thousand guest resort testimonials a day appropriate now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the range a person purpose, the variety 1 reason that we are seeing these detrimental reviews come in is since correct expectations are not established. So if we can use evaluation reaction as a way to communicate and information to foreseeable future vacationers, that’s gonna give us the prospect to established all those appropriate anticipations. And I’ll give you a swift example if you are next me. So a person of the factors that has wholly improved and I suspect will take a minor little bit more time changeover to get again to regular or pre-COVID is breakfast for our assets, proper? With the staffing shortage, with persons interacting, breakfast buffets, we were being informed to keep away from people during the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a place where accommodations could be at completely unique spectrums of breakfast. Some could be appropriate back again to where they had been in 2019 with a giant sizzling breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Other individuals are nevertheless staying conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest walks into your lodge and does not know what they are going to get in the early morning, that is a failure to set expectations. And we’re seeing that from time to time in these evaluations. So overview reaction is a excellent way to established that. Social media, also. Fb, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make sure that you’re setting these appropriate visitor anticipations, simply because we’re viewing that all over again, genuinely impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re performing with. And then last but not least, the past development that we talked about with hoteliers for the duration of these workshops is just altering to the new ordinary. Viewing these teams come back again and what it’s likely to take in purchase to get paid their company. Weddings, previous episode, if you are pursuing me the opportunity ideal now for weddings and marriage blocks for our houses is unbelievable profits possible out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you carrying out to try out to seize that and sector your resort, taking benefit of the bleisure travel development, appropriate? The company traveler that now is effective from house all 7 days and needs to begin their vacation early. They want to arrive out to the property on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their loved ones so that the family members can delight in some of the amenities or attractions in your spot. And they operate from the hotel, extending their holiday vacation, extending the home evenings for every remain. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our advertising technique to seize this new regular traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it is been a really hard couple years to do this variety of spring workshop. And I’ve had to dig pretty, extremely deep in exploration to test to come across some constructive news in the marketplace as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wood, if every thing goes ideal, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even even larger summer season.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from tourists. But the question I want you to question your self is how do you want to be picked out? Do you wanna be picked since that traveler had at first desired to continue to be at the hotel following doorway and they were being all booked or their rate was way way too higher and they chose your hotel since you were alternative B or do you want to be possibility A, do you want your traveler to be thrilled about the stay that they’re gonna appear on property? Do you want them to turn into an advocate of your hotel right after they continue to be on assets? Have you set good anticipations for this traveler when they stage in via your lobby and strategy the front desk, these are the style of issues that you want to be inquiring, mainly because again, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the variance between traveler A that I just explained and traveler B is day and evening. And after you get that sort of snowball outcome of occupancy and advocates for your assets, it just furthers your attain and electronic internet marketing and puts you at a competitive edge for increasing your occupancy. So if you have not participated in these workshops, as I described before, we do them each and every single year. It is 1 of my favorite components of my job below at Vacation Media Group. I would adore to discuss with you about your residence, about your place. We know every single one hotel is distinctive. So that is what I adore about these workshops. If you are intrigued in obtaining a conversation about that, certainly you can access out to us whenever at travelmediagroup.com and we’d appreciate to converse with you or up coming time we’ve received it in the summer season coming up. If you see that email operate throughout your inbox, schedule a meeting with me, love to communicate to you, but I am sure the up coming time we do these insights, we hopefully, fingers crossed, will have some terrific, wonderful news to share. So thank you for all the hoteliers that participated in the workshop. Thank you for all for listening. And we’ll speak to you next time on the Suite Location.

Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty method, be absolutely sure to subscribe and give us a five star ranking on iTunes. Suite Spot is created by Travel Media Team with protect art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your keep.