Will your hotel be ready for the economic recovery?
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Will your hotel be ready for the economic recovery?
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Category: Worldwide - Industry economy
- Figures / Studies
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2009-02-04
Smart hoteliers are not waiting for change. They are acting proactively to stay relevant in their market and spring back at the first sign of recovery.
Smith Travel Research reported a 16.4 percent drop in U.S. hotel RevPAR the second week of January 2009, compared to the same week a year ago. Average occupancy fell 12.9 percent, and ADR declined 4 percent. For luxury hotels, occupancy actually fell by 24.4 percent in the first week of January; ADR fell by 8.9 percent.
How can a hotel weather this prolonged economic downturn, and prepare itself to be one of the first to bounce back when the good times return?
With leisure travel at an all time low and business travel budget on the decrease, hotels should look to their own backyards to sustain their immediate future, specifically to small businesses.
There is an abundance of local and regional small businesses, each with anywhere from 2 to 20 roomnights annual potential that, together, can produce thousands of roomnights. Local businesses also entertain clients regularly and therefore can provide hotels with thousands of F&B covers.
Small businesses, however, are not cost-efficient for hotels to pursue. The hotels’ sales teams are already working at maximum capacity to compete in a shrinking market and are struggling to maintain relationships with the better customers. Small businesses continue to be off the radar for most hotels.
Hospitality Marketing Concepts has just the right solution for building the local and regional small business market for hotels: A turnkey solution that requires no cash outlay from hotels, and places no demand on the hotels’ human resources.
HMC has been designing and operating successful, private-label membership loyalty programmes for both independent and branded hotels and hotel groups for over 20 years. Paid membership programmes have proven, time and again, to be tremendously effective in establishing local customer loyalty quickly for new properties, and are exceptional recession-proof tools that generate incremental revenue for both new and existing hotels during difficult economic times.
With an established foundation of local and regional customer base, hotels will be in a much stronger position than its competitors in the marketplace. This foundation will give the hotels significant advantage and a strong head start when the good times return.
Many hotels have reaped the benefits of HMC loyalty programs during tough times, making financial headways despite dramatic challenges like the Gulf War, and SARS. For more information on HMC’s loyalty solutions, visit www.HMCloyalty.com or contact us for more details and a marketing agreement at partners@clubhotel.com.
Offers made within a private network are opaque – invisible to the public. Therefore, the hotel’s public image and rate integrity remain intact. There is also no rate gap to make up as public rates have not been compromised.
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