Mr Anil Kumar Prasanna, Chief Executive Officer of AxisRooms shared with Entrepreneur.com some simple tips to spruce companies’ sales and marketing strategies.
Website: Offer More Than They Seek
A website should give visitors an idea of what you offer and help them book the property with ease. However, visitors do more than just stay on your property.
To make their website user experience better, you can create a small chat window/ web form to understand the reason for their travel, suggest things to do and holiday calendars.
Social Media: More Than Posting Five Times a Day
Wouldn’t it be a poor experience if the brands and businesses you follow on Facebook deliver the same posts on Instagram as well? As a hotelier, you got to avoid doing this with your own property content. Each social medium has its own audience.
Mr Anil shares the following tips which can be implemented at no cost:
- You need not be present on all social channels
- Create custom visual content for Instagram and Snapchat
- Create detailed content for Facebook
- Use Twitter as an engagement tool (Dhiraagu and Bank of Maldives uses Twitter actively to address customer concerns and to announce service disruptions)
- Share property pics and conduct polls on Facebook and Twitter, ask the audience to pick their favourite
Listing on Distribution Channels and Metasearch Engines
It is important to verify which OTA channels bring you more business. You should remember you are catering to an audience with a very wide age group. More than just the price, it is the attractive package, seasonal deals displayed on OTAs that can drive better occupancy rate. Marketing to the right segment becomes crucial to maximize the ROI.
Metasearch platforms such as TripAdvisor and Google Hotel Finder have become increasingly popular among customers as they find it easier to compare existing rates.
Membership Rewards
Membership programs are crucial if you want to build a loyal customer base. Most reward programs such as Shellbeans, Ooredoo Club Premier offer extra amenities and discounted prices.
Looking beyond the conventional loyalty programs, you may also reward guests for following your brand on popular social media channels, asking them to upload video reviews, testimonials and suggestions – which can be rewarded as well.
Cross Promotion – Events
Watch out for popular entertainment and business events in your city/locality and create exciting tie-up packages. There have been campaigns where hotels create a theme (based on a popular movie or book characters and offer special amenities to match the theme) to attract specific categories of clientele. One recent example would be the 90s themed dinner hosted by local cafe’, The Goatfish Cafe’ and Bistro.
Monitor Your Competition
This is one of the most valuable aspects which can help you design not only your campaigns but also set your prices right to attract more guests. Sign up for their email subscriptions, and keep up with all their marketing campaigns.
At the End of the Day, Surprise Your Guests
If you want your customers to have a memorable experience, you need an unconventional way of surprising your guests by delivering something outside of the promised amenities.
Hiding short notes about relationship and love for guests on their honeymoon, observe little quirks about your guests and offering surprise tokens of inexpensive gifts (especially when they dine at your restaurant or during check-out) can make your guests memorably remember their stay at your property.
No amount of discounts or free breakfast coupons can match your willingness to care for your guests.
