96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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

Ryan Embree:
Hi there all people and welcome to a further episode of the Suite Location. This is your host, as often, Ryan Embree, Director of Marketing at Journey Media Team. And we’ve received a great episode for you right now. We do these episodes 4 instances a year simply because we truly carry out four 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 single of my favorites simply because we are coming out of the wintertime, which is commonly a slower time for the business. And we’re last but not least starting to see that development and occupancy. Now the springs the earlier few decades have naturally been a minimal bit distinctive with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are talking about positioning your hotel digitally for good results when vacationers are seeking and they’re executing pretty a little bit of exploring, which we’ll converse about right here in next.

Ryan Embree:
So yet again, these are occupancy workshops wherever we fulfill one-on-1 with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session conversing about the hotel’s digital existence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the season of spring split, vacations, May well, Memorial working day, a good deal of great points in the spring and really location ourselves up also for the summer season the place occupancy truly heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, generally when I perform these workshops, we get some genuinely superior takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we communicate about some typical themes and threads. So in the earlier, of course we’ve talked about the staffing lack right now, which has been hurting a ton of individuals. This is our 3rd time performing a spring occupancy workshop. All over again in 2020 and 2021, there were being extremely various conversations, which qualified prospects me to our 1st trend that we discovered this workshop vs . some others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we have been chatting to. The optimism that was out there, that travel is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I discuss about these vacationers carrying out lookups, you know, I have obtained a actually astounding stat that we came across, where by it states U.S. natural and organic Google search go to expansion by industry in Q4 of 2021 vs . Q4 in 2020. And the share alter for journey was at 41%. So that is a lot of eyes on the lookout and organizing and staying encouraged to vacation at the time again. But as I warning the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they’re gonna be searching at your hotel’s electronic presence a ton in another way than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But craze quantity one particular, occupancy is rising. It’s right here. Whether or not we like it or not, transient leisure has always been there the earlier pair a long time and has been top the pack in recovery, but we’re also looking at organization, weddings arrive back. So we’ll speak a small little bit about that afterwards, but the 2nd development that I noticed on these conversations that I was getting is, you know, we have been as an industry managing all-around, it feels like, making an attempt to determine out what to do to alter to this pandemic, this new usual that COVID has type of ushered into our sector.

Ryan Embree:
And then on top rated of that, you have this staffing shortage, right? Inflation now commencing to hit dwelling as perfectly, but we’re starting off to see points form of slow down and hoteliers seriously finally examining factors like their social media, their opinions, overview responses. And a good deal of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to really sit down and get a glimpse ended up definitely amazed with what they saw. They perhaps experienced a entrance desk supervisor or a DOS that had left for the duration of these past two a long time that was in charge of this things. And now it’s kinda laid dormant there. So I would inspire you if you are listening to this, test your Facebook, look at your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, with any luck , you’re on these web pages, but verify and see when the final time you posted, because time has been traveling by right now and before, you know, it, a large amount of these posts that we had been seeing were back in 2021 and travelers are searching now much more than at any time for related info.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see one thing again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it is not gonna be suitable to them. And it could necessarily mean a unfavorable connotation, negative effect for the travelers that are performing analysis. They’re finally sitting down and checking issues like their evaluation sites and looking at on sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, destinations exactly where vacationers are producing booking conclusions that the past evaluate that they received was 6 months back. We know proper now that anything is going so promptly. Omicron arrived in November and swept via the country. And that adjusted the way that men and women understand touring and the stage of protection of what that was. So once again, check like your hotel, social media, your standing and evaluate responses. That was another factor we were chatting about, is obtaining the time to reply to opinions. And I know for a lot of hoteliers listening to this, it could be a single of those people matters at the base of our precedence list, but it is so essential appropriate now when we chat about our next pattern, which is placing anticipations versus conference anticipations. And I’ll describe the variance.

Ryan Embree:
So conference expectations is, consider about a traveler walking into an economy hotel and anticipating Ritz-Carlton service at an economic climate stage price. People expectations are a very little bit as well substantial, and it could be tough to meet up with all those expectations. Setting expectations is a entirely distinct conversation. Think of location expectations as another person going for walks into your lodge in the summer and anticipating to love that wonderful pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they had no plan that that was the case. That is a failure to set anticipations from a hotelier standpoint. So there’s a really unique variation there. And when we discuss about evaluate reaction is a person of the most effective spots that we can set expectations for our long term traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Certainly, it’s incredibly essential to respond to the comments that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to go away you a overview for your company. But it’s also location the anticipations for that foreseeable future traveler. So much has transformed over the earlier two decades from breakfast, features, even lodge policies, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with friends. There could be vacationers that when they come onto your residence have a totally unique expectation. So if you’re not environment people prior to their stay, then you are failing to set their expectations. And that is essentially the quantity one reason that we are observing destructive evaluations on line. As a great deal of you know, that hear to this, Travel Media Team has a Respond and Take care of option the place we respond to guest testimonials. We have now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to around 750,000 critiques for our lodge companions and are presently responding to a thousand guest lodge opinions a day ideal now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the range 1 explanation, the quantity a person reason that we are looking at these negative assessments occur in is because good expectations are not set. So if we can use evaluation reaction as a way to communicate and message to foreseeable future tourists, which is gonna give us the chance to set these appropriate anticipations. And I’ll give you a swift example if you are next me. So a single of the matters that has absolutely improved and I suspect will consider a very little little bit for a longer period changeover to get back again to standard or pre-COVID is breakfast for our house, correct? With the staffing lack, with persons interacting, breakfast buffets, we ended up informed to continue to be absent from all those throughout the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a position wherever inns could be at totally different spectrums of breakfast. Some could be ideal again to the place they have been in 2019 with a giant sizzling breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Many others are still becoming conservative, breakfast on the go. If your visitor walks into your lodge and does not know what they are going to get in the early morning, that is a failure to established anticipations. And we’re observing that from time to time in these reviews. So overview reaction is a good way to set that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make guaranteed that you are environment these appropriate visitor anticipations, simply because we’re viewing that yet again, really impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re working with. And then last but not least, the last craze that we talked about with hoteliers in the course of these workshops is just changing to the new regular. Viewing these teams appear again and what it is likely to choose in get to gain their organization. Weddings, final episode, if you are subsequent me the possibility right now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our houses is unbelievable earnings possible out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you accomplishing to check out to seize that and market your resort, having edge of the bleisure vacation craze, proper? The business enterprise traveler that now works from household all week and desires to commence their family vacation early. They want to arrive out to the property on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their loved ones so that the family can love some of the amenities or attractions in your region. And they do the job from the lodge, extending their vacation, extending the place evenings for every continue to be. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our promoting technique to capture this new usual traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it’s been a really tricky few a long time to do this type of spring workshop. And I’ve experienced to dig quite, extremely deep in investigation to try to discover some beneficial news in the marketplace as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if anything goes ideal, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even bigger summer season.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from travelers. But the issue I want you to question you is how do you want to be preferred? Do you wanna be picked out for the reason that that traveler had initially preferred to stay at the lodge next door and they had been all booked or their charge was way way too large and they selected your lodge because you ended up option B or do you want to be choice A, do you want your traveler to be excited about the remain that they are gonna occur on assets? Do you want them to come to be an advocate of your resort after they keep on house? Have you established correct anticipations for this traveler when they move in by your foyer and tactic the entrance desk, these are the style of queries that you want to be inquiring, mainly because yet again, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the change between traveler A that I just spelled out and traveler B is day and night time. And the moment you get that form of snowball impact of occupancy and advocates for your house, it just furthers your reach and electronic internet marketing and places you at a aggressive edge for growing your occupancy. So if you haven’t participated in these workshops, as I mentioned right before, we do them every one season. It’s a single of my favorite pieces of my task below at Journey Media Group. I would love to discuss with you about your assets, about your locale. We know every one resort is unique. So that is what I appreciate about these workshops. If you are interested in owning a dialogue about that, obviously you can attain out to us at any time at travelmediagroup.com and we’d enjoy to speak with you or future time we’ve acquired it in the summer season coming up. If you see that e mail run throughout your inbox, timetable a meeting with me, like to talk to you, but I am certain the upcoming time we do these insights, we hopefully, fingers crossed, will have some good, fantastic 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 following time on the Suite Location.

Ryan Embree:
To sign up for our loyalty method, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Location is produced by Journey Media Group with deal with art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you savored your continue to be.