If You List It, They Will Come: A Hotel’s Guide to Google Business Profiles
Most people planning a vacation start with a Google search. That’s why you work so hard to optimize your website’s search results placement with SEO strategies. And you should. But it’s not all you can do to make the platform work for you. Maintaining your Google Business Profile is an important step to stay competitive […]
Responding to Positive Hotel Reviews: Are You Making These Common Mistakes?
You have no doubt given much thought to responding to negative reviews, but what about the positive ones? Responding appropriately to positive reviews is also important for maintaining your hotel’s reputation and increasing guest loyalty. Don’t miss this opportunity to build stronger connections and highlight your property’s winning attributes to potential guests. Responding appropriately to […]
Getting to Know WebRezPro: Key Reports
While the thought of reporting makes many of us cringe, smart hoteliers know that tracking hotel reservations, rooms, and revenue is key to running an efficient operation and making decisions that drive success. Some lodging operators spend too much time manually gathering data from various sources and creating spreadsheets, but there’s a better way. Automated […]
6 Ways Hotels Can Boost Midweek Occupancy
Filling rooms during slower travel times is important to ensure your business’s long-term success and relevancy. Contrary to instinct, drastically reducing room rates won’t guarantee midweek bookings. In fact, it eats into your profits and undermines your hotel’s credibility. While price is a major factor in planning travel (especially with current inflation and for millennial […]
How to Compose the Perfect Hotel Booking Confirmation Email
Your booking confirmation email lets guests know you’ve received their booking, have all their details correct, and that there will be a place for them when they arrive. It’s that little bit of reassurance they need that everything went smoothly. But booking confirmation emails do more than simply confirm a guest’s booking. It’s your first […]
Travel Trends and Guest Expectations by Generation
It’s a tall order to find common ground in a group of people born between 1946 and 2012. Spanning four generations, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y/Millennials, and Gen Z play influential roles in shaping the travel industry for different reasons. Much of what you do to target a specific generation will invariably appeal to […]
9 Great Guest Activities Any Hotel Can Offer
One of the best ways to boost your hotel’s bottom line is to offer activity packages and add-ons. Not only do they provide an opportunity to increase your TRevPar, they give guests more of an experience at your hotel. People have returned to travel in droves, but today’s guests don’t just want a place to […]
How a Cloud PMS Generates Repeat Bookings
Growing a loyal customer base is great for business. (This goes for any industry, not just hospitality.) Bringing past guests back not only costs less than acquiring new ones, but loyal customers tend to spend more too. In addition, they advocate for your property, recommending it to their friends and family and sharing their stay […]
8 Things to Include in Your Hotel Budget
A budget enables you to plan for your business and evaluate the resources you have to achieve that plan. Projecting income and expenses for the year ahead helps you make better operational decisions. It’s like taking a road trip. You may get where you’re going if you simply drive off into the sunset, but your […]
Service Recovery Tips for Independent Hoteliers
“You can’t win an argument. If you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.” – Dale Carnegie Have you ever encountered an unsatisfied guest? Let’s not dwell on that question because, the truth is, virtually every hotel has received complaints at some point. However, adopting a defeatist or a […]
A Hotelier’s Guide to Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Employees
Your employees are the backbone of your business. That’s true across industries but particularly in hospitality. They facilitate bookings, welcome guests, and ensure their stays are comfortable and memorable. It’s imperative to find and hold on to quality staff members. However, this isn’t always easy, especially in the current post-pandemic labor market. In an AHLA […]
Pandemic Hotel Trends That Are Here to Stay
The pandemic is slowly fading, and people are just as enthusiastic for travel as they were before. However, the hospitality industry is not returning to 2019 but instead moving forward with innovative concepts and technology accelerated by the pandemic. To look ahead, we need to look back at “pandemic trends” that are now the norm. […]
Why and How to Identify Your Hotel’s Compset
Learn how you stack up against the competition by building an accurate hotel compset. Short for hotel competitive set, this is a group of lodgings that are direct competitors with your own. Analyzing your hotel’s compset unveils information to help you stand out from these competitors and become the most desirable option. Basically, you must identify […]
A Hotelier’s Guide to Social Media Marketing by Channel
The internet is a big place filled with office memes, cat videos, and competitor hotels. And while you don’t have to be everywhere, you do have to be where your target audience is. In addition to a mobile-friendly website, your hotel needs to be on the right OTAs and social media channels. An estimated 4.9 […]
How to Win Guests and Influence Customers
It’s been more than eight decades since Dale Carnegie wrote his famous book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Self-help books come and go, but this seminal work remains popular today. Why? The advice is not only practical and timely but also logical and straightforward. If Carnegie’s advice could be distilled into one sentence, […]
How to Maximize Hotel TRevPAR
Riddle: Two hotels have the same number of rooms and charge the same rates. On a given night, both book an equal number of rooms. However, in our imaginary revenue competition, there is a clear winner. How is this possible? The answer is simple (and the title of this post may be a giveaway!). TRevPAR […]
Happy Employees = Happy Guests: How to Increase Staff Engagement
While the pandemic may be winding down, and people no longer swarm the toilet paper aisle, labor shortage is still a significant challenge for lodging operations. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), 85 percent of its member hotels remain understaffed. And without staff, there is no hotel. Technology can increase efficiency so […]
How to Attract Price-sensitive Guests without Slashing Prices
With Covid lockdowns fresh in our memory, the desire to travel is still strong. But as inflation and high flight prices persist, the revenge travel surge may start to wane. As the cost of living continues to rise, so will travelers’ price sensitivity. Hoteliers should keep this in mind as they strive to balance profit […]
9 Ways to Keep Guests Safe at Your Hotel
Safety issues are a surefire way to bring in bad reviews, and if you’re really unlucky, end up on the news. If you endanger a guest, that supersedes everything else about the stay experience. No one cares how delicious your steak tartare is if it gives them food poisoning. They will care about the two […]
How to Create a Hotel Business Plan
Budding hoteliers can set themselves up for success by building a solid business plan. The symbolic foundation of your hotel, your business plan keeps you on track and accountable to your objectives and goals and is necessary for securing investors. This is not to say that initial plans should not be adapted and revised, especially […]
Capture More Bookings with Expedia Mobile Promotions
Statistics show 86 percent of the global population owns a smartphone. Mobile phones are everywhere, and travelers use them to book trips and stays. In fact, 54 percent of Expedia Group travelers book on mobile devices (Expedia Group internal data, 2021-2022). How can you ensure their searches find you? Target On-the-go Travelers To get found […]
Best Practices for Managing Your Online Hotel Reviews
There’s plenty of research to support the fact that reviews turn lookers into bookers with nearly half of US consumers trusting reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends. To boost bookings, accommodation providers not only need to accumulate online reviews but also respond to them effectively (more than half of consumers say they […]
Biophilic Design: 7 Essentials for Hoteliers
The motivation behind biophilic design is to strengthen the relationship between people and nature, reaping benefits such as environmental preservation, reduced stress, and increased productivity and overall well-being. This design philosophy is achieved by blurring the boundaries between outdoor and indoor areas to create a soothing, peaceful atmosphere that entices people to reconnect with their […]
Finding a Happy Balance: Direct Bookings vs. OTAs
Online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia and Booking.com can bring a significant proportion of revenue to a lodging business, but they also demand high commission fees. Do you love ’em or hate ’em? Ultimately, the relationship should be determined by the ROI generated from your OTA channels. While the commissions can sting, OTAs increase a […]
