What happens when you have tried all the marketing tactics and matched your price to those of your competitors, but still don’t see an increase in guests. You are certain that you have a great property, great location, and a great team but you can’t seem to grow the numbers?
Well, there are things you can do in order to attract more customers to your establishment without having to lower your prices as an option.
1. Understand your audience and their expectations
Know your audience and what they need most. By catering to their particular needs, you will be able to add value to your guests’ experience.
Identify whether your business is frequented by business clients, couples, families, or adventure tourists. Once your main audiences have been established, tailor your services accordingly. It’s important to consider that your establishment may host more than one audience type. You need to ensure you can still tailor your services and facilities to suit each individual as the future of hospitality is personalisation.
Would families appreciate kids’ playgrounds and nanny services? Would the business guests appreciate having a business center and fast wi-fi? Is it your guest’s birthday? Would the couple appreciate a private dinner instead?
KitchenSpot offers a wide range of hospitality equipment for various settings, contact us to speak to our consultants.
2. Strengthen your value proposition and benefits to customers
If you and your competitors offer similar prices, your potential customer needs to be reeled by your value proposition. Why should they choose you over the others?
What is so unique about your establishment that they’re not going to get anywhere? It can be a solution that you offer to your customers or the partnerships you have with other companies that add value to your clients. Is it the location of your establishment that offers a view like no other? Is it a partnership with a transport company that gives your guests 50% discount on transport?
Identify and explain how these features translate into benefits to potential guests.
3. Be easily found online
Gone are the times where businesses could solely depend upon walk-ins or word-of-mouth. The easier you are to find online, the higher your chances are that your customer base will grow.
Make sure your website ranks high in search engines and it’s easy to navigate once people get to your website. Most people are now using the web on their mobile devices, ensure you optimise your website for mobile viewing. Invest in great images showcasing the unique features of your property, keep the copy short and interesting, use strong headlines, and make use of a simple website design that is easy to navigate.
Build a presence on social media and take advantage of emerging trends in social media. Create social media marketing campaigns as well as remarketing campaigns such as google ads. As technology advances, consider investing in a virtual reality tour of your property or host your e-brochure online. Check out KitchenSpot’s e-brochure online.
List your property online on listings such as booking.com, TripAdvisor, Airbnb to extend the probabilities of finding your property.
When looking for a place to stay, clients tend to weigh several properties in their options. This usually happens in a very short space of time, so you need to take advantage of every opportunity to influence the customer your way.
4. Validate your claims with social proof
You have done your best to provide the prospective client with all the information about your property. A client might still want to hear what others have to say about their experiences with you.
Encourage customers to leave honest reviews when they check out. Ensure to respond to critiquing reviews by offering a genuine and concise apology. Remember a customer is always right, even if you do not agree with their review, be polite about it.
Collect and display customer testimonials, ratings, reviews, badges, awards, and certificates.
5. Simplify your booking system
Clients always shop around before making a booking. Often there is not much time difference between browsing and decision-making. Your business needs to ensure that information about your property is readily available. Once a customer decides to make a booking, the booking process should be straightforward.
In the event that a customer needs more information before making a booking, provide quick avenues for such information, whether it’s 24/7 phone responses, quick email replies, chatbots on your website, or social media messaging.
Invest in an online booking engine where clients can check room availability, prices, and book at their convenience.
6. Invest in customer experience
They say that people can forget what you say to them, but not how you made them feel, and hospitality is a feeling. Train your staff to provide guests with the best customer experience. Fast check-ins, friendly staff, attention to detail and a comprehensive support team will improve the customer’s experience.
With these 6 tips to attract more customers to your hotel or lodge, you should feel confident moving forward with your business. While these tips work in most cases, be sure to take your hotel’s specific needs into account and use the techniques that will work best for you.
