MARKETING INDEPENDENT HOTELKEEPERS : IT’S NOT THAT YET…
An exclusive self-authored study by Coach Omnium
This is the third time that Coach Omnium has carried out a study on the hotel marketing of independents (excluding franchisees of integrated hotel chains), after those of 2006 and of 2011. We wanted to know what had evolved in recent years in this area., particularly in relation to the rise in power of OTAs (online travel agencies) and more broadly Internet tools, with its comparison sites and traveler-consumer comment sites. We were not disappointed.
First, we can see a small improvement in awareness of the importance of marketing your hotel. Our survey allows us to say that almost 2 hoteliers on 5 develop active marketing (1 on 5 in 2011), even dynamic. Mais, 3 on 5 are always in a disconcerting passivity or wait-and-see attitude.
Can (Really) do better, not to say must do better. Because how to find customers, make your business profitable and fight against the competition by doing nothing, or almost nothing, on a commercial level ? A beautiful hotel, well placed is no longer enough to attract the public.
Ensuite, two aspects have progressed significantly since our last survey in 2011 :
– The generalization of hotel-specific sites, with — the icing on the cake — an integrated real-time reservations engine and SEO concerns. This is good since 92 % French and foreign hotel guests use the Internet to find hotels where they can stay.
– The omnipresence of OTAs, dont sans surprise Booking et Expedia. 91,2 % independent hoteliers work with one or more online agencies, contre 57 % in 2011. Not only, there are many of them in this situation, but the volume of rented rooms that go through OTAs is staggering, even dismaying : 42 % of hoteliers declare that more than 40 % of their activity traffic (and up to more than 70 % !) passes through online sales agencies.
Against all odds, the majority of professionals interviewed by Coach Omnium show their satisfaction in working with OTAs, which bring them many customers and, without whom, Many of them recognize that they would not get through it economically. Even if most think that this ease comes at a cost (commissions) a little or much too exaggerated. Mais, few ask themselves the question of how much it would cost them to break away from OTAs and strike out on their own.
The other aspect of commercial awareness is that the majority of hoteliers surveyed are interested in the online reviews that customers leave about their hotel.. They are also the vast majority to respond.
Room prices are always set massively by comparing themselves with local competitors.. Which do the same… so it’s the dog that bites its tail. This is a practice that is all the more surprising given that prices are not the only criteria customers use when choosing hotels..
As for measuring the impact of commercial actions undertaken — when they are undertaken —, very few hoteliers admit to achieving this, or subjectively.
AN OVERLY TARGETED COMMERCIAL ACTION
Mais, what we will remember most from this survey is that independent hoteliers are all over the Internet, who furiously obsesses them : their website, the OTAs, traveler review sites, adaptations to smartphones, etc. It's a bit normal, because it's new, and they realize that customers adhere to it massively and naturally.
Except that hoteliers are missing out on many other ways to find customers. Including, first of all, telephone prospecting and especially marketing in primary areas to companies which sometimes or often have recurring needs for hotel rooms for their visitors..
In summary, we can't complain about the competition / para-concurrence (dont Airbnb), if we do not make a minimum of effort on the commercial and promotional level. This deficiency is confirmed in our study.
The contents of the file to download for free :
- Marketing methods used by independent hoteliers and their evolution since 2011.
- The place of online travel agencies (OTAs).
- The means chosen to encourage direct reservations.
- Management of e-reputation by hoteliers.
- Membership in a voluntary hotel chain as a means (among others) to market your hotel.
- How to Set Room Prices.
- Measuring commercial benefits.
- The commercial organization within independent structures.
- And many other themes.
Published on 18 october 2018
Mark Watkins
Source : https://www.coachomnium.com/bonus/bonus-5-etudes-sectorielles-et-marches/commercialisation-hoteliere.html