Author: Sarah Trépanier

How to increase your property’s occupation rate?

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier

Understanding occupancy rate

The occupancy rate is used to determine over a given period the proportion of your rooms that are rented compared to the total number of rooms available. This rate can be calculated by day, month, week or another frequency and will vary according to the period under consideration. The higher your occupancy rate, the more your rooms are booked, and the busier your hotel is. Your occupancy rate may be lower at certain times. This situation happens at every hotel, even if you’re looking to have the highest possible occupancy rate as often as possible. Factors that will affect your occupancy rate include the season, weather, less favourable political or economic conditions or even a poorly positioned offer.

While your average occupancy rate may be close to 100% on Saturdays, on Wednesdays, it may hover at 30%. By studying your occupancy rate trends, you can learn a great deal about your establishment and implement targeted actions to increase your occupancy rate when needed, whether it’s for days of the week that aren’t as busy or for times of the year when business is slower. You must identify when dips in occupation occur and the reasons for them. Conversely, you also need to pinpoint the factors that boosted your occupancy rate for a given period. By doing this, you can repeat what you have done to increase your occupancy rate at other times when occupancy isn’t at its peak.

Things that impact occupancy rate

Occupancy rate will vary depending on your hotel’s type and location. For example, it stands to reason that the occupancy rate at a hotel located on a ski mountain will be much higher in winter than in summer. Conversely, if a hotel is located on the beach, it will be busier during the summer. Many other factors can affect your occupancy rate, including room rates, the guest experience, your online reputation, room cleanliness and the quality and availability of your facilities. That being said, without a doubt, a hotel located on famous ski mountain won’t need to exert a great deal of effort during the winter period. However, during the summer season, this hotel can attract as many guests if the surrounding attractions are just as active.

How to increase your occupancy rate

Define your target market

To increase your occupancy rate, you must define your target market. If you don’t target the clientele that best matches your hotel, you risk missing out on many potential guests. To define your target market, analyze the data your hotel management software has collected. If you analyze this data deeply, you’ll discover your clientele’s demographics, type and geographical origin. With this data in hand, you can determine which market to target to focus on by implementing marketing initiatives that will attract more guests from this segment.

Create customized packages and promotions

One of the initiatives you can implement to attract guests from your target market segment is to create packages and promotions that are likely to appeal to this clientele. Guests’ expectations vary according to certain factors, including income, age, cultural background, nationality and occupation. You must consider these factors to create packages and promotions your target clientele won’t be able to refuse.

Make the most of events

When creating packages and promotions for your target clientele, be sure to make the most of events being held near your hotel. This approach is sure to increase your occupancy rate. Cultural festivals, big conferences, concerts or other similar activities are golden opportunities to attract guests to your hotel. You can take advantage of these events in several ways. First, you can create an event-related package by including event tickets in the booking price, for example. You can also offer a special discount to people who show you their tickets for the event. Naturally, the best approach is pairing up with the event organizers so that they include a link to your hotel on the event website or their flyers. Remember, by promoting an event, you’re promoting your hotel. Even though these events may last only a few days, they can draw attention to your hotel and increase your occupancy rate. Moreover, if these events are recurring, they can attract a recurring clientele as well!

Offer tempting loyalty programs

Nothing works better than an advantageous loyalty program to guarantee a recurring guest base. Why would a guest come back to your hotel when they have so many other options? Of course, if they enjoyed their experience, they may be tempted to return, but they may also be looking around for new experiences. That’s where loyalty programs come into the picture. When such a program offers rewards that are attractive to guests, you ensure they’ll return to your hotel to make the most of them. Consider offering guests free nights after a certain number of stays or points accumulated, discounts, gratuities or any other reward that is likely to attract them to return to your hotel.

Ensure your hotel is accessible

Despite all the efforts you roll out to increase your occupancy rate, keep in mind that many elements can still deter potential guest from staying with you. You must consider these elements to make your hotel as inclusive as possible. First, make sure your facility is wheelchair accessible. Disabled people and the elderly may eliminate your hotel quickly from consideration if they feel it isn’t suitable for them. For families travelling with small children, make sure high chairs are available at your restaurant and cradles for the rooms. Have many people asked you whether your hotel accepts animals? It may be worthwhile to give it some thought. As these establishments are rare, accepting guests with animals would give you access to a new type of clientele. Depending on the size of your hotel, it could also be interesting to give your guests the opportunity to organize events such as weddings, corporate meetings or family gatherings. Based on your target clientele, all these elements should be kept in mind because they could all broaden your horizons and contribute to increasing your occupancy rate.

How to attract business travellers

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier
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Technology is essential

C’est simple, pour inciter les voyageurs d’affaires à séjourner dans votre établissement, celui-ci doit être bien équipé au niveau technologique. En effet, lorsqu’un voyageur est en déplacement pour affaires, il doit quand même travailler et avoir l’équipement nécessaire pour y parvenir. Une connexion Internet rapide est donc inévitable dans la chambre ainsi qu’un espace de travail adéquat doté d’une chaise ergonomique, de prises de courant accessibles et d’une planche à repasser avec fer. Il est également important de diminuer au maximum les pertes de temps afin de maximiser la productivité du travailleur en déplacement. Les arrivées et départs accélérés sont très appréciés auprès de ce segment de marché pour qui le temps est précieux. Vous pouvez parvenir à accélérer ces processus au moyen de bornes d’enregistrement, de fiches d’enregistrement en ligne ou simplement grâce à un logiciel de gestion hôtelière Cloud rapide et performant.

Having up-to-date technology and amenities is a simple solution to encourage business travellers to stay at your hotel. When a person is travelling on business, they must continue working and have certain tools close at hand. To this end, rooms should be equipped with high-speed internet, adequate workspace, an ergonomic chair, accessible power outlets and an ironing board and iron. It’s also important to maximize business traveller productivity and avoid time wastage with accelerated check-ins and check-outs. Having a fast and efficient Cloud PMS or offering online & kiosk check-in and check-out are very popular options with this time-conscious market clientele.

Guest profiles are becoming more diverse

More and more business travellers are extending their hotel stays, so they can explore the local attractions or country they are visiting. In 2017, close to 40% of North American business travellers chose to do this. This trend is especially strong among millennials (48%) compared to baby boomers (23%). The business traveller cohort no longer consists strictly of middle-aged men; they are becoming more diverse in age and gender, and their profile differs more and more. Your communications must target multiple audiences, older and pragmatic businessmen and younger recruits eager to discover the working world. To gain more information about your business clientele, it is important to set up custom fields in your PMS so that your front-desk staff can gather details about your business traveller’s profile. With this data, you will then be able to set up an effective email marketing strategy. Obviously, you can continue to suggest your business travellers to book a meeting room, a table at a restaurant or an airport shuttle. According to their profile, you can also offer business guests to extend their stay at your hotel by suggesting activities and attractions to explore in your area.

The importance of retaining business travellers’ loyalty

Nous le savons, les clients fidèles sont un atout précieux pour un établissement hôtelier. Par contre, une mère de famille ne viendra pas séjourner dans votre établissement tous les mois. Les clients d’affaires, eux, ont l’occasion de le faire. Ainsi, si vous réussissez à rendre fidèles les voyageurs d’affaires qui visitent plusieurs fois par année votre région, vous vous assurez un revenu récurrent. Pour convaincre la clientèle d’affaires de retourner dans votre établissement, vous pourriez lui offrir des tarifs négociés ou encore, un programme de fidélisation avec des récompenses adaptées à ses besoins.

It goes without saying that loyal guests are a valuable asset to any hotel. However, a mother with a young family is unlikely to visit your hotel on a monthly basis, while business guests have more opportunity to do so. So, if you can successfully retain business travellers as guests multiple times a year, you’ll generate recurring income. To convince business travellers to make return visits to your hotel, consider offering them preferential rates or a loyalty program that features rewards tailored to their needs.

Always remember that a satisfied business traveller can also become a potential family segment guest. You have everything to gain by offering special offers or packages to your business guests, so they make a return visit to your hotel in a context other than a professional one.

Everything you need to know about loyalty programs

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier
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Reasons for a loyalty program

Loyalty programs are well known for creating a win-win situation: Guests get rewarded for their loyalty, and, in exchange, the hotel collects guest data and increases its retention rate. Loyalty programs are proven to have a positive impact on member-guest stay frequency and hotel revenues.

Types of rewards to offer

Loyalty programs make it possible for guests to accumulate points to get free nights. However, there are other rewards you can offer your guests. As a hotelier, it’s up to you to survey guests and ask them what they want. Some guests may prefer immediate small discounts or other rewards rather than having to wait for a more substantial gift on a future stay. Immediate rewards you can offer guests are free access to the mini bar or a credit applicable to your spa or restaurant. You could also offer them a free drink at the bar, free late check-out or free movie rental. The point is that the guest should feel privileged to be a member of your program and view membership as real added value.

However, rewards need not be limited to your establishment. In partnership with local attractions, you can offer discounts or free admission to local activities such as winery tours, festivals, museums, spas or ski resorts. Moreover, you need not offer these rewards in exchange for points; you can choose to offer guests rewards simply because they hold privileged “member” status.

Making sure your program is effective

It’s a good idea to have a loyalty program, but it’s more important to keep your members active. If your members feel confused, disappointed or frustrated with your program, they’ll stop being active. To avoid this pitfall, you must communicate with your members clearly and frequently. Tell them how they can use their points or what reward they can receive during their next stay to encourage them to stay active. Also, the process to redeem reward points must be as easy as possible. To keep things simple, consider creating a member web portal where they can log in and view their member profile, points balance and the rewards available.

To make the most of the points offered to your member-guests, it might be a good idea to offer them points as soon as they purchase something in your establishment, such as dining at your restaurant or using your spa facilities. This way, you encourage your guests to take advantage of your various services and allow them to increase their points without having to stay at your hotel overnight. You could also offer points to guests when they book a stay directly on your website. In this way, you’ll increase direct bookings and let your members accumulate points.

When setting up a loyalty program, it’s essential to feature it on your website, ideally, with a dedicated webpage. Your reception staff should also be trained to promote it to guests.

Setting up a user-friendly loyalty program that offers members relevant rewards can have a significant positive impact on your operations.

Why is it beneficial for hoteliers to train their staff?

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier
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1 – Boost their performance

Investing in training isn’t done simply for the employee’s benefit — it can greatly improve their efficiency too. Employees with extensive knowledge of their work tools tend to outperform others since they can maximize the full potential of the Property Management Software (PMS).

Online training offers your staff the opportunity to learn from real experts. It also frees up the time of your own trainers, whose role as a trainer is often improvised, so they can focus on their real duties.

2 – Improve service

Employees who have a good grasp of their hotel management software can concentrate on the other tasks that need to get done. So, instead of wasting time trying to understand how the PMS works, they’ll use the automated features.

3 – Share responsibilities

When trained to address any type of situation, employees can work autonomously at peak times, which can translate into taking on more responsibilities. Managers can therefore focus on their main role, which is to supervise overall activities. Better trained staff will also be more motivated because they’ll be in control of their work tasks.

4 – Give to get something back

Training your staff is an expense. However, the average return on investment is between 7% and 49%, which represents significant gains. In all cases, the amount invested will be recouped and may increase by up to 50%.

In the hotel industry, the impact can be even greater for front desk clerks or reservationists. Refusing a sale, quoting the wrong rate and giving poor customer service all cause revenue loss. Training therefore plays an important role in ensuring stable revenues for an establishment.

5 tips to make your hotel staff more productive

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier
personnel-hotelier-productif

Give incentives to work harder

One of the first things you can do to encourage your hotel team to work harder is to give them incentives. This can be anything from bonuses for good work, more time off, an employee award, or something similar that recognizes the hard work they’ve been contributing to the operation of your hotel.

People like being rewarded for doing great work. You’ll find that the more you reward great work, the more productive your hotel staff will be. This is extremely beneficial during the peak season.

Encourage breaks

You need your staff to be efficient, productive and ‘on-fire’ when it comes to operating your hotel and looking after guests. However, with this high workload, it’s also important to encourage breaks to help reduce the risk of an employee having a burnout. If this occurs, your hotel will suffer because key staff members will need more time off to recover from the extra work.

Instead, encourage time off and make sure you have adequate staff who can fill in. You’ll find that your staff will become more efficient and productive if they aren’t tired or pushed to their limits. So encourage employees to take some time off when they’re getting overworked or stressed out.

Make them accountable for their actions

If your hotel staff doesn’t do a job properly, it’s important that they’re held accountable for it. There should be consequences to their actions. Consequences will make them work harder to avoid these mistakes or inefficiencies in the future. After making them accountable for their actions, you’ll find that their productivity will increase greatly.

Stop micromanaging

Sometimes micromanaging won’t motivate your staff members. Micromanaging gives them the impression that you don’t trust them to run your hotel. Instead, try to step back a little and give them more responsibility.

Show them that you trust them to get the job done right the first time. If they don’t, make them accountable. Over time, you’ll find that by giving them more responsibility, their efficiency and productivity levels will increase because they’ve become more confident in themselves and in how they operate their area of your business.

The uplift towards happiness

Concerns and imperfect actions are catalysts that provide us with key indicators on what to do next. Ideally, we want to be as proactive as possible so that concerns don’t happen in the first place. But we live in an imperfect world. Don’t take for granted the impact your employees will have on your hotel brand.

Identify new and creative ways to embrace happiness for your hotel team. Happy employees will have a positive impact on your hotel’s productivity.

Exploiter un hôtel est exigeant et très stressant. Si vous pensez que votre personnel n’est pas aussi productif qu’il le devrait, pourquoi ne pas changer les choses un peu et essayer quelques-uns des conseils ci-dessus? Vous pourriez être surpris de voir à quel point vos employés peuvent devenir plus productifs simplement à la suite de petits changements.