Host Ryan Embree discusses insights and takeaways from Vacation Media Group’s current Spring Workshops where by he talked one particular-on-just one with hoteliers about their hotel’s electronic presence. Find out trends in hospitality and learn how you can place your house for results by evaluate response, social media, and name administration.
Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Place exactly where hoteliers check-in and we verify out what’s trending in hotel marketing and advertising. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.
Ryan Embree:
Hi there most people and welcome to a different episode of the Suite Place. This is your host, as normally, Ryan Embree, Director of Internet marketing at Vacation Media Team. And we’ve obtained a great episode for you today. We do these episodes 4 times a yr simply because we basically perform 4 occupancy workshops for hoteliers. And this season’s workshop is titled “Business is Blooming: How to Mature Occupancy this Spring.” So this is our spring occupancy workshop. It’s a person of my favorites for the reason that we are coming out of the wintertime, which is typically a slower time for the sector. And we’re at last setting up to see that development and occupancy. Now the springs the earlier few decades have obviously been a little bit diverse with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are speaking about positioning your resort digitally for results when travelers are exploring and they are performing quite a bit of seeking, which we’ll speak about right here in second.
Ryan Embree:
So yet again, these are occupancy workshops wherever we meet one particular-on-a person with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 minute session conversing about the hotel’s electronic presence. How are they positioning on their own coming into the period of spring split, holiday seasons, May possibly, Memorial working day, a whole lot of wonderful items in the spring and really location ourselves up also for the summertime exactly where occupancy genuinely heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, typically when I perform these workshops, we get some definitely superior takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we converse about some frequent themes and threads. So in the previous, of course we’ve talked about the staffing lack right now, which has been hurting a good deal of folks. This is our 3rd time doing a spring occupancy workshop. Once more in 2020 and 2021, there were being incredibly distinct conversations, which qualified prospects me to our initially development that we discovered this workshop as opposed to others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we were being chatting to. The optimism that was out there, that journey is returning.
Ryan Embree:
And as I talk about these vacationers undertaking searches, you know, I’ve acquired a actually incredible stat that we arrived across, exactly where it states U.S. natural and organic Google search check out progress by business in Q4 of 2021 compared to Q4 in 2020. And the share modify for travel was at 41%. So that is a whole lot of eyes searching and preparing and getting impressed to vacation after once again. But as I warning the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they are gonna be looking at your hotel’s digital presence a good deal otherwise than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But craze quantity a person, occupancy is developing. It is right here. Whether or not we like it or not, transient leisure has always been there the earlier pair several years and has been primary the pack in recovery, but we’re also viewing organization, weddings come again. So we’ll talk a tiny little bit about that later, but the second pattern that I seen on these discussions that I was obtaining is, you know, we have been as an business functioning about, it feels like, hoping to figure out what to do to regulate to this pandemic, this new standard that COVID has kind of ushered into our marketplace.
Ryan Embree:
And then on leading of that, you have this staffing lack, suitable? Inflation now starting off to hit residence as nicely, but we’re setting up to see items variety of slow down and hoteliers genuinely ultimately examining things like their social media, their opinions, evaluate responses. And a good deal of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to actually sit down and consider a appear were genuinely astonished with what they observed. They perhaps had a entrance desk manager or a DOS that experienced left through these earlier two years that was in demand of this stuff. And now it’s kinda laid dormant there. So I would persuade you if you’re listening to this, check out your Facebook, look at your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, hopefully you are on these web-sites, but check and see when the past time you posted, due to the fact time has been flying by proper now and just before, you know, it, a good deal of these posts that we were seeing were being back again in 2021 and tourists are searching now extra than at any time for suitable details.
Ryan Embree:
So if they see a little something again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be suitable to them. And it could imply a detrimental connotation, damaging impression for the travelers that are carrying out analysis. They’re finally sitting down and examining things like their assessment sites and observing on web sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, areas the place vacationers are building booking conclusions that the final assessment that they acquired was 6 months back. We know suitable now that all the things is relocating so quickly. Omicron came in November and swept by means of the country. And that altered the way that individuals perceive touring and the degree of protection of what that was. So all over again, check like your hotel, social media, your popularity and critique responses. That was an additional factor we were speaking about, is locating the time to react to evaluations. And I know for a ton of hoteliers listening to this, it might be a single of all those points at the base of our precedence listing, but it is so important proper now when we chat about our following pattern, which is placing anticipations compared to conference expectations. And I’ll clarify the distinction.
Ryan Embree:
So conference anticipations is, think about a traveler walking into an economy resort and anticipating Ritz-Carlton support at an financial state amount price. Those expectations are a minor bit much too large, and it could be difficult to fulfill those anticipations. Placing expectations is a entirely different conversation. Assume of placing expectations as an individual strolling into your lodge in the summer season and expecting to love that lovely pool that you have, and your pool’s shut for renovations. And they experienced no idea that that was the situation. That is a failure to set expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there is a extremely unique big difference there. And when we speak about review response is 1 of the most strong destinations that we can established anticipations for our future traveler.
Ryan Embree:
Certainly, it is incredibly important to answer to the suggestions that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to depart you a evaluation for your business enterprise. But it’s also environment the expectations for that future traveler. So a lot has transformed around the previous two yrs from breakfast, amenities, even hotel insurance policies, the way we’re cleaning rooms, the way we’re interacting with attendees. There could be travelers that when they occur on to your property have a totally distinct expectation. So if you’re not placing those prior to their keep, then you are failing to established their anticipations. And that is truly the range just one rationale that we are observing negative opinions online. As a good deal of you know, that pay attention to this, Vacation Media Group has a Answer and Take care of option wherever we reply to guest reviews. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to more than 750,000 reviews for our resort associates and are at present responding to a thousand visitor hotel opinions a day ideal now in our headquarters.
Ryan Embree:
And the amount a person explanation, the variety one particular rationale that we are seeing these detrimental assessments occur in is mainly because proper expectations are not set. So if we can use evaluation response as a way to converse and information to long term travelers, that’s gonna give us the opportunity to established those suitable anticipations. And I’ll give you a fast illustration if you’re next me. So 1 of the matters that has totally changed and I suspect will choose a small bit lengthier changeover to get back again to standard or pre-COVID is breakfast for our house, appropriate? With the staffing shortage, with people today interacting, breakfast buffets, we were explained to to remain absent from people during the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a position in which inns could be at totally distinct spectrums of breakfast. Some could be correct again to in which they were in 2019 with a giant hot breakfast buffet.
Ryan Embree:
Others are however remaining conservative, breakfast on the go. If your visitor walks into your hotel and does not know what they’re likely to get in the early morning, that is a failure to set anticipations. And we’re looking at that in some cases in these testimonials. So review response is a wonderful way to established that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make certain that you’re setting these appropriate guest expectations, due to the fact we’re looking at that once more, truly impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re working with. And then lastly, the very last craze that we talked about with hoteliers throughout these workshops is just changing to the new standard. Looking at these teams arrive again and what it’s likely to choose in order to gain their enterprise. Weddings, previous episode, if you are next me the possibility proper now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our homes is unbelievable income possible out there.
Ryan Embree:
So what are you undertaking to attempt to capture that and industry your lodge, getting gain of the bleisure travel development, appropriate? The organization traveler that now will work from dwelling all 7 days and wants to get started their holiday early. They want to occur out to the residence on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their loved ones so that the relatives can get pleasure from some of the amenities or attractions in your location. And they do the job from the lodge, extending their holiday vacation, extending the room nights for every keep. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our marketing strategy to seize this new ordinary traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it’s been a extremely difficult pair a long time to do this type of spring workshop. And I have had to dig really, incredibly deep in investigation to attempt to obtain some beneficial information in the field as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if anything goes correct, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even bigger summer months.
Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from tourists. But the problem I want you to inquire oneself is how do you want to be picked? Do you wanna be preferred simply because that traveler experienced in the beginning desired to stay at the resort future doorway and they were all booked or their price was way also higher and they selected your lodge since you had been selection B or do you want to be option A, do you want your traveler to be fired up about the remain that they’re gonna arrive on property? Do you want them to turn into an advocate of your resort just after they continue to be on house? Have you established proper anticipations for this traveler when they move in by means of your foyer and approach the entrance desk, these are the form of concerns that you want to be asking, for the reason that once again, the occupancy will be there.
Ryan Embree:
But the difference among traveler A that I just described and traveler B is working day and evening. And at the time you get that kind of snowball impact of occupancy and advocates for your assets, it just furthers your arrive at and electronic marketing and advertising and places you at a aggressive advantage for expanding your occupancy. So if you have not participated in these workshops, as I pointed out ahead of, we do them just about every solitary year. It’s a person of my beloved parts of my occupation here at Travel Media Team. I would adore to speak with you about your property, about your locale. We know each individual solitary hotel is unique. So which is what I really like about these workshops. If you are fascinated in having a conversation about that, definitely you can achieve out to us at any time at travelmediagroup.com and we’d really like to talk with you or up coming time we have obtained it in the summer coming up. If you see that e mail run throughout your inbox, program a assembly with me, really like to chat to you, but I am confident the future time we do these insights, we ideally, fingers crossed, will have some good, wonderful news 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 future time on the Suite Place.
Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty application, be absolutely sure to subscribe and give us a five star ranking on iTunes. Suite Spot is manufactured by Travel Media Group with cover artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you appreciated your remain.