Smart Ways To Boost Hotel Occupancy

hotel

The hotel industry is an ever-growing and evolving one, valued at more than $600 billion, according to the latest figures. It’s also an increasingly competitive one, with hotels not only having to compete with one another, but also the rise in private rentals, room-shares, guest houses, B&Bs, and more.

Keeping your hotel at the forefront of people’s minds when booking their trips and travels can be a challenge, and many hotel owners are forced to adapt and strategize with care and cunning in order to keep their hotel occupancy rates high and maintain top levels of consistent revenue.

Hoteliers need to be adaptable, ready to enforce new tactics, think outside of the box, embrace changes, and alter their approach to suit different situations. With this in mind, here are some key tips and techniques for you to boost hotel occupancy and raise revenues, even during low periods and midweek lulls.

Make the Most of Hotel Software

Technology is a big part of our personal and professional lives, with countless industries and companies making modern tech a big part of their business. Any modern hotelier wanting to keep up in this competitive, cut-throat market needs to do the same, embracing tech and investing in software to get ahead.

From hotel revenue management software packages to channel managers, booking engines, easy-to-use apps for your guests, self-check-in tablets, and more, there are a lot of options out there. Each one of them can help your hotel in terms of customer satisfaction, worker happiness, occupancy rate, and revenue too.

Know Your Audience and Market Directly to Them

A key aspect of running a successful hotel is knowing who you appeal to and understanding how to appeal to that particular niche. Of course, many hotels aim to appeal to the widest possible audience, but depending on your style, location, amenities, and so on, there are always going to be certain niches and types of people who are more likely to stay at your establishment.

Hotels near airports, for instance, will appeal to busy commuters and seasoned travelers who want speed, convenience, and simplicity throughout the process. Hotels offering more of a boutique, artistic vibe will draw in more of a millennial and Gen Z crowd, needing to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly and emphasize key aspects for these niches.

Improve the Guest Experience

These days, people expect more from their hotels than simple bed and board. They want experiences, amenities, features, customization, and so much more, and it’s vital for any hotel that wants to compete and succeed to offer the very best levels of guest experiences.

Improving your guest experience might include offering self check-in via a simple mobile app, saving your guests the need of having to actually visit the front desk upon arrival, or providing digital keys to unlock their doors. Speedy internet access, more on-site amenities, coffee machines in the rooms, and so on are just some common ways modern hotels are taking their guest experiences to the next level.

Collect Feedback

Of course, in order to improve your guest experiences, you need to know what guests want in the first place. One way to do this is to keep up with industry trends, making use of hotelier sites, networking, and online resources to see what other brands are doing and what guests are saying in global surveys.

However, a more accurate method is to actually run your own surveys and questionnaires to get real feedback from your specific audience about your actual establishment. These kinds of simple check-out surveys or follow-up emails to your guests can provide invaluable feedback, helping you learn more about what works and what doesn’t work with your current set-up.

Events, Offers, and Specials

Another great way to get more people through the doors, especially during those less busy times of the year or during the middle of the weeks when fewer guests tend to be present, is to start running more events, offers, and specials for your guests to enjoy.

Offer 2 for 1 meal for midweek guests, for example, or consider setting up one-day conferences, art shows, cultural events, and so on throughout the year to draw guests in. Provide discounts for mid-week visitors and set-up cost-effective deals that work for both your hotel and your guests.

Final Word

These are just some of the many ways you can work to improve occupancy at your hotel and take revenue to the next level too. There are a lot of other options out there, and it’s up to every hotelier to make the most of those options and really elevate their guest experiences.

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