96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot wherever hoteliers verify-in and we examine out what is trending in lodge promoting. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hello every person and welcome to a further episode of the Suite Location. This is your host, as normally, Ryan Embree, Director of Internet marketing at Vacation Media Team. And we’ve got a wonderful episode for you now. We do these episodes four situations a year because we in fact perform four occupancy workshops for hoteliers. And this season’s workshop is titled “Business is Blooming: How to Expand Occupancy this Spring.” So this is our spring occupancy workshop. It is one particular of my favorites since we are coming out of the wintertime, which is typically a slower time for the marketplace. And we’re last but not least commencing to see that progress and occupancy. Now the springs the past few years have of course been a little bit different with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are speaking about positioning your lodge digitally for achievement when travelers are exploring and they are performing really a bit of seeking, which we’ll converse about here in next.

Ryan Embree:
So yet again, these are occupancy workshops exactly where we satisfy one particular-on-1 with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session conversing about the hotel’s digital presence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the time of spring split, holidays, May perhaps, Memorial day, a whole lot of fantastic issues in the spring and seriously environment ourselves up also for the summer months where by occupancy really heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, typically when I perform these workshops, we get some seriously great takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we communicate about some popular themes and threads. So in the previous, definitely we’ve talked about the staffing shortage proper now, which has been hurting a lot of people today. This is our third time executing a spring occupancy workshop. All over again in 2020 and 2021, there were really unique discussions, which leads me to our to start with craze that we found this workshop vs . many others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we ended up conversing to. The optimism that was out there, that vacation is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I chat about these travelers accomplishing searches, you know, I have acquired a seriously incredible stat that we came throughout, where by it says U.S. organic Google look for check out progress by industry in Q4 of 2021 compared to Q4 in 2020. And the percentage improve for vacation was at 41%. So that is a whole lot of eyes wanting and preparing and getting influenced to travel as soon as yet again. But as I caution the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they are gonna be wanting at your hotel’s electronic presence a lot in different ways than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But pattern variety just one, occupancy is developing. It is listed here. Irrespective of whether we like it or not, transient leisure has generally been there the past pair several years and has been primary the pack in restoration, but we’re also observing company, weddings come back. So we’ll speak a very little little bit about that later, but the 2nd craze that I recognized on these conversations that I was acquiring is, you know, we have been as an field working all around, it feels like, trying to determine out what to do to adjust to this pandemic, this new regular that COVID has type of ushered into our marketplace.

Ryan Embree:
And then on prime of that, you have this staffing lack, proper? Inflation now starting off to strike property as well, but we’re starting up to see points form of sluggish down and hoteliers truly finally checking items like their social media, their assessments, assessment responses. And a good deal of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to in fact sit down and choose a glance had been definitely astonished with what they saw. They possibly had a entrance desk manager or a DOS that experienced left all through these past two decades that was in cost of this things. And now it is kinda laid dormant there. So I would motivate you if you’re listening to this, look at your Facebook, look at your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, ideally you are on these internet sites, but test and see when the very last time you posted, due to the fact time has been traveling by correct now and prior to, you know, it, a great deal of these posts that we ended up observing have been back again in 2021 and travelers are looking now extra than ever for applicable data.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see anything back in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be relevant to them. And it could signify a negative connotation, destructive impact for the vacationers that are carrying out research. They are at last sitting down and examining items like their review sites and seeing on web sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, places in which tourists are generating booking conclusions that the past assessment that they got was 6 months back. We know proper now that all the things is shifting so fast. Omicron arrived in November and swept through the country. And that transformed the way that individuals understand touring and the level of basic safety of what that was. So yet again, test like your resort, social media, your track record and evaluate responses. That was a different matter we ended up chatting about, is obtaining the time to answer to evaluations. And I know for a whole lot of hoteliers listening to this, it could possibly be 1 of all those factors at the bottom of our precedence checklist, but it is so critical suitable now when we speak about our future development, which is placing expectations vs . assembly anticipations. And I’ll make clear the distinction.

Ryan Embree:
So assembly expectations is, imagine about a traveler walking into an economy resort and anticipating Ritz-Carlton services at an financial state amount value. All those anticipations are a small little bit as well large, and it could be difficult to meet these anticipations. Environment anticipations is a entirely unique dialogue. Consider of environment anticipations as another person walking into your resort in the summer season and expecting to take pleasure in that gorgeous pool that you have, and your pool’s shut for renovations. And they experienced no plan that that was the situation. That is a failure to set expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there is a incredibly distinctive big difference there. And when we talk about assessment reaction is just one of the most potent areas that we can established anticipations for our long term traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Of course, it’s quite critical to answer to the feedback that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their working day to depart you a evaluate for your business enterprise. But it is also placing the expectations for that future traveler. So considerably has transformed about the earlier two decades from breakfast, amenities, even resort insurance policies, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with company. There could be travelers that when they come onto your residence have a fully distinct expectation. So if you’re not setting people prior to their continue to be, then you’re failing to set their expectations. And that is really the range one particular cause that we are seeing unfavorable critiques on the internet. As a lot of you know, that listen to this, Journey Media Group has a Reply and Solve answer exactly where we answer to visitor critiques. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to in excess of 750,000 opinions for our lodge associates and are now responding to a thousand visitor lodge critiques a working day proper now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the selection a person purpose, the range 1 purpose that we are seeing these destructive opinions arrive in is because correct expectations are not established. So if we can use assessment response as a way to converse and concept to potential travelers, which is gonna give us the possibility to established these correct expectations. And I’ll give you a swift case in point if you’re subsequent me. So a single of the things that has fully improved and I suspect will acquire a little little bit for a longer period changeover to get back again to usual or pre-COVID is breakfast for our assets, ideal? With the staffing lack, with individuals interacting, breakfast buffets, we were told to remain away from these during the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a put in which resorts could be at completely various spectrums of breakfast. Some could be right again to exactly where they have been in 2019 with a giant incredibly hot breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Many others are still being conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest 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 viewing that sometimes in these reviews. So evaluation reaction is a great way to set that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make absolutely sure that you are environment these appropriate guest anticipations, because we’re looking at that once more, actually impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re doing work with. And then at last, the very last trend that we talked about with hoteliers during these workshops is just modifying to the new usual. Observing these teams arrive again and what it is going to take in order to generate their business enterprise. Weddings, past episode, if you are pursuing me the chance appropriate now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our properties is unbelievable earnings possible out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you undertaking to attempt to capture that and marketplace your lodge, having edge of the bleisure travel pattern, correct? The organization traveler that now works from house all week and wants to start their trip early. They want to occur out to the residence on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their family so that the relatives can get pleasure from some of the facilities or attractions in your location. And they work from the hotel, extending their vacation, extending the place evenings for every remain. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our marketing and advertising tactic to seize this new regular traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode listed here, I will say, it is been a extremely tough few several years to do this type of spring workshop. And I’ve had to dig very, very deep in exploration to attempt to uncover some constructive news in the field as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if every little thing goes appropriate, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even bigger summer.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is likely to be there from travelers. But the problem I want you to check with oneself is how do you want to be chosen? Do you wanna be decided on because that traveler experienced at first wished to remain at the lodge next doorway and they were being all booked or their amount was way way too large and they chose your lodge simply because you ended up option B or do you want to be possibility A, do you want your traveler to be enthusiastic about the remain that they’re gonna occur on residence? Do you want them to turn into an advocate of your hotel just after they stay on house? Have you set right anticipations for this traveler when they step in by means of your lobby and method the entrance desk, these are the type of queries that you want to be asking, since yet again, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the variation among traveler A that I just defined and traveler B is day and night. And once you get that form of snowball result of occupancy and advocates for your home, it just furthers your reach and electronic marketing and puts you at a competitive advantage for increasing your occupancy. So if you have not participated in these workshops, as I mentioned in advance of, we do them each and every solitary time. It’s a single of my favourite areas of my task here at Journey Media Group. I would like to communicate with you about your residence, about your spot. We know each and every solitary lodge is unique. So that is what I adore about these workshops. If you are fascinated in acquiring a conversation about that, clearly you can reach out to us whenever at travelmediagroup.com and we’d really like to discuss with you or subsequent time we’ve acquired it in the summer months coming up. If you see that electronic mail run throughout your inbox, plan a meeting with me, appreciate to talk to you, but I am certain the future time we do these insights, we hopefully, fingers crossed, will have some wonderful, terrific 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 up coming time on the Suite Location.

Ryan Embree:
To sign up for our loyalty method, be guaranteed to subscribe and give us a 5 star score on iTunes. Suite Place is made by Vacation Media Group with go over art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you appreciated your remain.