Host Ryan Embree discusses insights and takeaways from Travel Media Group’s latest Spring Workshops where by he talked a person-on-a person with hoteliers about their hotel’s digital existence. Explore tendencies in hospitality and master how you can placement your assets for success through review response, social media, and reputation administration.
Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot in which hoteliers verify-in and we verify out what is trending in resort marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.
Ryan Embree:
Hi there everybody and welcome to one more episode of the Suite Place. This is your host, as usually, Ryan Embree, Director of Advertising at Travel Media Group. And we’ve got a terrific episode for you today. We do these episodes four instances a yr for the reason that we truly carry out 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 simply because we are coming out of the wintertime, which is generally a slower time for the business. And we’re finally starting up to see that expansion and occupancy. Now the springs the past couple yrs have obviously been a minor bit distinctive with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are chatting about positioning your resort digitally for achievement when travelers are exploring and they’re carrying out quite a bit of searching, which we’ll discuss about in this article in 2nd.
Ryan Embree:
So again, these are occupancy workshops wherever we satisfy one particular-on-1 with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 minute session speaking about the hotel’s electronic presence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the year of spring split, holiday seasons, Might, Memorial day, a great deal of great issues in the spring and genuinely setting ourselves up also for the summertime where occupancy truly heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, generally when I carry out these workshops, we get some genuinely superior takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we discuss about some common themes and threads. So in the previous, certainly we have talked about the staffing lack ideal now, which has been hurting a great deal of persons. This is our 3rd time performing a spring occupancy workshop. Again in 2020 and 2021, there have been really diverse discussions, which prospects me to our initially trend that we observed this workshop vs . other people, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we were speaking to. The optimism that was out there, that journey is returning.
Ryan Embree:
And as I communicate about these vacationers doing searches, you know, I have bought a actually amazing stat that we came throughout, where by it suggests U.S. organic Google research go to progress by market in Q4 of 2021 versus Q4 in 2020. And the percentage transform for travel was at 41%. So that is a good deal of eyes wanting and preparing and being motivated to vacation the moment again. But as I caution the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they’re gonna be hunting at your hotel’s electronic presence a large amount differently than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But development amount a single, occupancy is rising. It is below. Irrespective of whether we like it or not, transient leisure has often been there the earlier few a long time and has been primary the pack in restoration, but we’re also looking at enterprise, weddings occur back again. So we’ll converse a very little little bit about that later on, but the 2nd development that I observed on these conversations that I was obtaining is, you know, we have been as an market managing close to, it feels like, striving to determine out what to do to adjust to this pandemic, this new ordinary that COVID has variety of ushered into our marketplace.
Ryan Embree:
And then on best of that, you have this staffing lack, appropriate? Inflation now starting off to strike residence as very well, but we’re commencing to see matters variety of sluggish down and hoteliers truly finally examining issues like their social media, their opinions, overview responses. And a whole lot of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to really sit down and consider a look were being genuinely shocked with what they observed. They it’s possible had a entrance desk supervisor or a DOS that had remaining all through these earlier two many years that was in cost of this stuff. And now it is kinda laid dormant there. So I would really encourage you if you’re listening to this, verify your Fb, look at your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, hopefully you’re on these internet sites, but check out and see when the final time you posted, because time has been flying by proper now and before, you know, it, a whole lot of these posts that we ended up seeing ended up back again in 2021 and vacationers are wanting now extra than at any time for pertinent info.
Ryan Embree:
So if they see something back again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it is not gonna be applicable to them. And it could imply a unfavorable connotation, detrimental impact for the vacationers that are executing investigate. They are finally sitting down down and examining issues like their assessment web sites and viewing on web pages like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, areas where by tourists are creating reserving choices that the final review that they bought was six months in the past. We know right now that every little thing is relocating so promptly. Omicron arrived in November and swept via the country. And that improved the way that folks understand touring and the level of safety of what that was. So once more, examine like your resort, social media, your name and review responses. That was another matter we ended up chatting about, is locating the time to respond to opinions. And I know for a ton of hoteliers listening to this, it could be one particular of individuals items at the base of our priority listing, but it is so significant suitable now when we converse about our next trend, which is location expectations versus conference anticipations. And I’ll make clear the distinction.
Ryan Embree:
So conference anticipations is, consider about a traveler walking into an economic climate hotel and expecting Ritz-Carlton service at an economic climate amount cost. Those expectations are a minimal little bit too large, and it could be challenging to fulfill all those expectations. Setting expectations is a entirely distinct conversation. Believe of location expectations as another person walking into your hotel in the summer and expecting to get pleasure from that wonderful pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they had no concept that that was the situation. That is a failure to established anticipations from a hotelier standpoint. So there’s a incredibly unique big difference there. And when we talk about review reaction is one of the most strong areas that we can set anticipations for our future traveler.
Ryan Embree:
Indeed, it is extremely significant to react to the suggestions that is in entrance of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to leave you a evaluate for your organization. But it’s also setting the anticipations for that foreseeable future traveler. So a great deal has modified over the previous two several years from breakfast, features, even lodge guidelines, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with attendees. There could be travelers that when they arrive onto your residence have a entirely various expectation. So if you’re not environment people prior to their keep, then you’re failing to set their anticipations. And that is really the variety 1 explanation that we are looking at adverse testimonials on the net. As a lot of you know, that hear to this, Vacation Media Team has a Respond and Resolve alternative wherever we answer to visitor reviews. We have now strike the unbelievable benchmark of responding to above 750,000 opinions for our lodge companions and are at the moment responding to a thousand guest hotel reviews a working day correct now in our headquarters.
Ryan Embree:
And the selection a single cause, the selection a person purpose that we are looking at these destructive opinions occur in is mainly because good expectations are not established. So if we can use review reaction as a way to talk and information to upcoming tourists, which is gonna give us the possibility to set all those appropriate expectations. And I’ll give you a fast instance if you are pursuing me. So 1 of the issues that has wholly altered and I suspect will take a small bit more time changeover to get again to typical or pre-COVID is breakfast for our home, suitable? With the staffing scarcity, with individuals interacting, breakfast buffets, we had been informed to keep absent from all those in the course of the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a position in which lodges could be at completely distinct spectrums of breakfast. Some could be correct back to where they had been in 2019 with a giant very hot breakfast buffet.
Ryan Embree:
Some others are nevertheless remaining conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest walks into your lodge and does not know what they are likely to get in the morning, that is a failure to set expectations. And we’re looking at that at times in these assessments. So assessment response is a terrific way to established that. Social media, also. Fb, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make certain that you’re placing these correct guest expectations, for the reason that we’re looking at that again, seriously impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re functioning with. And then eventually, the very last trend that we talked about with hoteliers for the duration of these workshops is just modifying to the new normal. Viewing these teams come back again and what it is heading to get in purchase to gain their business enterprise. Weddings, very last episode, if you are adhering to me the prospect right now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our houses is unbelievable profits likely out there.
Ryan Embree:
So what are you carrying out to attempt to capture that and market your lodge, using edge of the bleisure vacation craze, proper? The company traveler that now functions from household all 7 days and would like to start off their holiday early. They want to appear out to the residence on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their relatives so that the loved ones can get pleasure from some of the amenities or sights in your region. And they get the job done from the lodge, extending their holiday, extending the room nights per remain. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our internet marketing technique to seize this new standard traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode in this article, I will say, it’s been a pretty hard few a long time to do this type of spring workshop. And I’ve had to dig very, incredibly deep in analysis to test to uncover some good information in the marketplace as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if anything goes correct, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even even bigger summertime.
Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from travelers. But the problem I want you to ask on your own is how do you want to be preferred? Do you wanna be selected simply because that traveler experienced to begin with preferred to keep at the hotel future doorway and they have been all booked or their level was way also significant and they selected your hotel for the reason that you had been selection B or do you want to be solution A, do you want your traveler to be excited about the remain that they are gonna come on property? Do you want them to develop into an advocate of your lodge after they stay on house? Have you established appropriate expectations for this traveler when they step in by your foyer and technique the front desk, these are the style of concerns that you want to be inquiring, because once more, the occupancy will be there.
Ryan Embree:
But the distinction in between traveler A that I just spelled out and traveler B is working day and evening. And at the time you get that sort of snowball result of occupancy and advocates for your residence, it just furthers your attain and electronic marketing and places you at a aggressive edge for growing your occupancy. So if you have not participated in these workshops, as I stated in advance of, we do them every single year. It is one of my favored sections of my job right here at Journey Media Team. I would love to discuss with you about your residence, about your location. We know each individual single hotel is different. So that’s what I appreciate about these workshops. If you’re interested in acquiring a dialogue about that, definitely you can access out to us at any time at travelmediagroup.com and we’d adore to talk with you or up coming time we have acquired it in the summertime coming up. If you see that e-mail operate across your inbox, agenda a meeting with me, like to speak to you, but I am confident the up coming time we do these insights, we ideally, fingers crossed, will have some fantastic, terrific information to share. So thank you for all the hoteliers that participated in the workshop. Thank you for all for listening. And we’ll chat to you following time on the Suite Spot.
Ryan Embree:
To sign up for our loyalty system, be guaranteed to subscribe and give us a 5 star score on iTunes. Suite Location is made by Journey Media Group with address artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you liked your stay.
