96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Location exactly where hoteliers look at-in and we verify out what’s trending in resort marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hi there everyone and welcome to an additional episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, as generally, Ryan Embree, Director of Internet marketing at Journey Media Group. And we’ve got a good episode for you these days. We do these episodes 4 periods a year due to the fact we actually perform four occupancy workshops for hoteliers. And this season’s workshop is titled “Business is Blooming: How to Grow Occupancy this Spring.” So this is our spring occupancy workshop. It’s 1 of my favorites mainly because we are coming out of the wintertime, which is commonly a slower time for the sector. And we’re at last commencing to see that expansion and occupancy. Now the springs the past few several years have definitely been a minimal bit distinct with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are conversing about positioning your hotel digitally for achievements when travelers are searching and they’re doing pretty a little bit of searching, which we’ll speak about below in second.

Ryan Embree:
So yet again, these are occupancy workshops wherever we meet up with a person-on-a single with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session chatting about the hotel’s electronic presence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the period of spring crack, holidays, May well, Memorial day, a great deal of great things in the spring and definitely location ourselves up also for the summertime wherever occupancy definitely heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, ordinarily when I perform these workshops, we get some genuinely superior takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we talk about some typical themes and threads. So in the previous, naturally we’ve talked about the staffing scarcity right now, which has been hurting a lot of folks. This is our third time executing a spring occupancy workshop. Yet again in 2020 and 2021, there ended up extremely unique conversations, which potential customers me to our to start with pattern that we recognized this workshop versus other folks, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we had been chatting to. The optimism that was out there, that journey is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I talk about these travelers undertaking searches, you know, I’ve got a seriously awesome stat that we arrived throughout, the place it suggests U.S. organic and natural Google look for check out expansion by sector in Q4 of 2021 vs . Q4 in 2020. And the percentage adjust for journey was at 41%. So that is a good deal of eyes seeking and arranging and staying influenced to travel at the time yet again. But as I caution the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they are gonna be wanting at your hotel’s digital presence a large amount otherwise than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But development number one, occupancy is increasing. It’s right here. No matter if we like it or not, transient leisure has generally been there the past pair a long time and has been foremost the pack in restoration, but we’re also viewing organization, weddings appear back again. So we’ll speak a tiny little bit about that later, but the second craze that I discovered on these discussions that I was owning is, you know, we have been as an sector managing about, it feels like, attempting to figure out what to do to change to this pandemic, this new standard that COVID has form of ushered into our sector.

Ryan Embree:
And then on top rated of that, you have this staffing scarcity, correct? Inflation now starting off to hit household as nicely, but we’re setting up to see items variety of gradual down and hoteliers definitely eventually checking points like their social media, their critiques, evaluation responses. And a ton of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to really sit down and get a glance were genuinely surprised with what they observed. They it’s possible experienced a front desk manager or a DOS that had left throughout these earlier two decades that was in cost of this things. And now it’s kinda laid dormant there. So I would persuade you if you’re listening to this, verify your Facebook, verify your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, hopefully you’re on these web pages, but examine and see when the very last time you posted, mainly because time has been flying by appropriate now and right before, you know, it, a ton of these posts that we ended up viewing were back in 2021 and travelers are looking now more than ever for related facts.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see anything back again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it is not gonna be appropriate to them. And it could imply a detrimental connotation, damaging impression for the vacationers that are performing exploration. They are eventually sitting down down and checking things like their evaluate sites and observing on sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, spots where tourists are earning reserving decisions that the very last critique that they acquired was six months ago. We know proper now that every little thing is moving so rapidly. Omicron arrived in November and swept as a result of the nation. And that altered the way that individuals understand traveling and the level of security of what that was. So once more, look at like your hotel, social media, your standing and evaluate responses. That was another point we had been conversing about, is getting the time to answer to opinions. And I know for a good deal of hoteliers listening to this, it may well be one particular of people issues at the bottom of our priority listing, but it is so vital suitable now when we discuss about our future development, which is environment expectations versus meeting anticipations. And I’ll clarify the big difference.

Ryan Embree:
So meeting anticipations is, think about a traveler going for walks into an financial system resort and expecting Ritz-Carlton assistance at an financial system amount selling price. Individuals expectations are a small bit as well superior, and it could be challenging to fulfill individuals expectations. Placing anticipations is a completely distinct dialogue. Think of placing anticipations as somebody walking into your hotel in the summer months and anticipating to love that wonderful pool that you have, and your pool’s shut for renovations. And they had no idea that that was the case. That is a failure to set expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there is a extremely unique variation there. And when we talk about overview response is just one of the most impressive locations that we can established anticipations for our long term traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Sure, it’s very essential to respond to the feed-back that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to leave you a evaluation for your small business. But it’s also setting the expectations for that foreseeable future traveler. So a great deal has altered over the previous two several years from breakfast, amenities, even lodge insurance policies, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with visitors. There could be travelers that when they come onto your residence have a entirely different expectation. So if you are not setting people prior to their keep, then you are failing to set their anticipations. And that is basically the quantity just one reason that we are observing adverse assessments on line. As a lot of you know, that hear to this, Journey Media Team has a Reply and Take care of alternative where by we reply to guest testimonials. We have now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to in excess of 750,000 opinions for our resort associates and are at this time responding to a thousand guest lodge critiques a day proper now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the selection one particular explanation, the selection just one rationale that we are observing these destructive evaluations come in is mainly because suitable anticipations are not established. So if we can use assessment response as a way to converse and message to upcoming tourists, that’s gonna give us the opportunity to set all those suitable expectations. And I’ll give you a fast instance if you are next me. So just one of the things that has completely changed and I suspect will take a little bit lengthier transition to get again to normal or pre-COVID is breakfast for our residence, ideal? With the staffing lack, with folks interacting, breakfast buffets, we ended up advised to continue to be absent from these during the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a area the place hotels could be at completely distinct spectrums of breakfast. Some could be proper again to exactly where they were in 2019 with a giant sizzling breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Other individuals are even now getting conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest walks into your resort and does not know what they’re heading to get in the early morning, that is a failure to set anticipations. And we’re looking at that at times in these evaluations. So overview response is a terrific way to set that. Social media, also. Fb, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make confident that you’re location these right visitor anticipations, simply because we’re seeing that yet again, definitely impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re performing with. And then ultimately, the last craze that we talked about with hoteliers for the duration of these workshops is just altering to the new typical. Viewing these teams occur again and what it’s heading to take in purchase to make their business enterprise. Weddings, very last episode, if you are following me the possibility suitable now for weddings and wedding blocks for our attributes is unbelievable income potential out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you performing to try to seize that and market place your resort, using benefit of the bleisure vacation craze, suitable? The company traveler that now is effective from home all 7 days and would like to get started their vacation early. They want to arrive out to the assets on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their loved ones so that the spouse and children can appreciate some of the facilities or points of interest in your location. And they perform from the hotel, extending their holiday vacation, extending the place evenings per continue to be. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our marketing tactic to capture this new usual traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode in this article, I will say, it is been a very challenging couple yrs to do this sort of spring workshop. And I have experienced to dig incredibly, really deep in research to consider to locate some optimistic news in the industry as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if almost everything goes ideal, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even even larger summer time.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from vacationers. But the dilemma I want you to inquire by yourself is how do you want to be picked? Do you wanna be decided on for the reason that that traveler had at first wanted to keep at the hotel future doorway and they were all booked or their charge was way also superior and they selected your lodge simply because you have been possibility B or do you want to be solution A, do you want your traveler to be psyched about the keep that they are gonna appear on assets? Do you want them to turn out to be an advocate of your lodge soon after they keep on residence? Have you established correct anticipations for this traveler when they phase in via your lobby and method the front desk, these are the kind of inquiries that you want to be asking, for the reason that all over again, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the distinction involving traveler A that I just described and traveler B is day and night time. And as soon as you get that kind of snowball impact of occupancy and advocates for your home, it just furthers your access and electronic marketing and advertising and places you at a aggressive edge for rising your occupancy. So if you haven’t participated in these workshops, as I outlined in advance of, we do them each and every one period. It’s one particular of my favourite areas of my career below at Travel Media Group. I would appreciate to discuss with you about your residence, about your spot. We know each individual single lodge is diverse. So that is what I like about these workshops. If you are interested in possessing a conversation about that, definitely you can arrive at out to us at any time at travelmediagroup.com and we’d appreciate to converse with you or upcoming time we’ve acquired it in the summertime coming up. If you see that e-mail run throughout your inbox, routine a assembly with me, love to communicate to you, but I am absolutely sure the following time we do these insights, we with any luck ,, fingers crossed, will have some excellent, great 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 subsequent time on the Suite Spot.

Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty method, be absolutely sure to subscribe and give us a 5 star rating on iTunes. Suite Place is produced by Vacation Media Group with address artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you appreciated your stay.