Host Ryan Embree discusses insights and takeaways from Travel Media Group’s modern Spring Workshops wherever he talked a person-on-one particular with hoteliers about their hotel’s electronic existence. Find out traits in hospitality and study how you can situation your house for success via evaluation response, social media, and standing administration.
Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot where by hoteliers check out-in and we verify out what is trending in resort marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.
Ryan Embree:
Hi all people and welcome to one more episode of the Suite Location. This is your host, as usually, Ryan Embree, Director of Advertising at Journey Media Team. And we have got a fantastic episode for you currently. We do these episodes 4 moments a yr since we essentially 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 1 of my favorites mainly because we are coming out of the wintertime, which is typically a slower time for the market. And we’re eventually starting off to see that expansion and occupancy. Now the springs the earlier couple years have of course been a minor little bit distinct with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are chatting about positioning your lodge digitally for accomplishment when vacationers are searching and they are carrying out pretty a little bit of searching, which we’ll speak about in this article in second.
Ryan Embree:
So again, these are occupancy workshops where by we meet one-on-a single with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 minute session chatting about the hotel’s digital existence. How are they positioning them selves coming into the time of spring split, holiday seasons, May possibly, Memorial working day, a good deal of terrific points in the spring and definitely setting ourselves up also for the summer wherever occupancy truly heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, typically when I perform these workshops, we get some seriously excellent takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we communicate about some widespread themes and threads. So in the past, definitely we have talked about the staffing lack ideal now, which has been hurting a ton of people. This is our 3rd time doing a spring occupancy workshop. Once more in 2020 and 2021, there were being pretty diverse conversations, which potential customers me to our first trend that we recognized this workshop versus others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we had been talking to. The optimism that was out there, that travel is returning.
Ryan Embree:
And as I talk about these tourists undertaking searches, you know, I’ve bought a really astounding stat that we came across, where it says U.S. organic and natural Google look for visit advancement by marketplace in Q4 of 2021 compared to Q4 in 2020. And the percentage transform for vacation was at 41%. So that is a lot of eyes looking and setting up and staying motivated to vacation as soon as all over again. But as I caution the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they are gonna be wanting at your hotel’s electronic presence a whole lot in different ways than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But trend variety just one, occupancy is growing. It is in this article. Whether or not we like it or not, transient leisure has generally been there the earlier couple a long time and has been foremost the pack in recovery, but we’re also viewing small business, weddings occur again. So we’ll talk a minor bit about that later on, but the second craze that I found on these discussions that I was acquiring is, you know, we have been as an sector jogging about, it feels like, attempting to determine out what to do to alter to this pandemic, this new normal that COVID has kind of ushered into our market.
Ryan Embree:
And then on prime of that, you have this staffing scarcity, correct? Inflation now starting off to hit property as well, but we’re beginning to see points sort of gradual down and hoteliers definitely lastly checking factors like their social media, their opinions, critique responses. And a large amount of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to really sit down and take a glance were being truly surprised with what they observed. They perhaps had a entrance desk manager or a DOS that had remaining throughout these previous two many years that was in demand of this stuff. And now it is kinda laid dormant there. So I would motivate you if you’re listening to this, look at your Fb, check out your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, ideally you’re on these internet sites, but test and see when the last time you posted, due to the fact time has been traveling by proper now and in advance of, you know, it, a large amount of these posts that we were being seeing were back in 2021 and travelers are wanting now extra than ever for suitable details.
Ryan Embree:
So if they see some thing back again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be related to them. And it could necessarily mean a damaging connotation, destructive perception for the vacationers that are executing study. They’re finally sitting down down and examining matters like their overview websites and viewing on web pages like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, places the place vacationers are producing reserving choices that the last evaluate that they acquired was 6 months back. We know appropriate now that every little thing is moving so promptly. Omicron came in November and swept via the country. And that modified the way that individuals perceive touring and the amount of protection of what that was. So once again, examine like your lodge, social media, your status and review responses. That was an additional point we ended up speaking about, is locating the time to react to reviews. And I know for a large amount of hoteliers listening to this, it could possibly be just one of people matters at the bottom of our priority record, but it is so significant ideal now when we converse about our up coming trend, which is environment anticipations as opposed to meeting expectations. And I’ll describe the difference.
Ryan Embree:
So assembly expectations is, consider about a traveler going for walks into an financial state hotel and anticipating Ritz-Carlton provider at an economic system level rate. Individuals anticipations are a small little bit as well large, and it could be complicated to satisfy these anticipations. Setting anticipations is a absolutely various conversation. Believe of placing expectations as anyone walking into your lodge in the summer and anticipating to enjoy that beautiful pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they experienced no plan that that was the case. That is a failure to set anticipations from a hotelier standpoint. So there’s a quite unique change there. And when we communicate about evaluation response is one of the most strong destinations that we can set anticipations for our upcoming traveler.
Ryan Embree:
Sure, it is very significant to respond to the responses that is in entrance of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to depart you a overview for your enterprise. But it is also setting the anticipations for that long term traveler. So much has adjusted more than the earlier two a long time from breakfast, features, even lodge policies, the way we’re cleaning rooms, the way we’re interacting with friends. There could be tourists that when they appear on to your residence have a totally unique expectation. So if you are not placing those people prior to their stay, then you are failing to set their expectations. And that is basically the quantity one rationale that we are observing adverse testimonials on line. As a lot of you know, that pay attention to this, Journey Media Group has a React and Take care of alternative exactly where we respond to visitor reviews. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to in excess of 750,000 reviews for our lodge companions and are at present responding to a thousand visitor resort reviews a day suitable now in our headquarters.
Ryan Embree:
And the variety just one motive, the range a person motive that we are viewing these adverse assessments occur in is simply because proper expectations are not established. So if we can use critique reaction as a way to connect and message to long run tourists, which is gonna give us the opportunity to set these proper anticipations. And I’ll give you a swift instance if you’re adhering to me. So a person of the items that has wholly transformed and I suspect will consider a small little bit more time transition to get back again to typical or pre-COVID is breakfast for our residence, suitable? With the staffing scarcity, with people interacting, breakfast buffets, we ended up advised to keep absent from those people all through the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a put exactly where hotels could be at absolutely unique spectrums of breakfast. Some could be correct again to in which they were in 2019 with a huge hot breakfast buffet.
Ryan Embree:
Some others are nevertheless currently being conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest walks into your resort and does not know what they are going to get in the early morning, that is a failure to set expectations. And we’re observing that sometimes in these testimonials. So assessment reaction is a excellent way to established that. Social media, also. Fb, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make confident that you’re environment these appropriate guest expectations, because we’re viewing that once more, really impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re doing work with. And then finally, the previous pattern that we talked about with hoteliers in the course of these workshops is just modifying to the new typical. Seeing these groups come again and what it is likely to acquire in purchase to generate their enterprise. Weddings, very last episode, if you are adhering to me the chance correct now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our homes is unbelievable profits prospective out there.
Ryan Embree:
So what are you accomplishing to test to seize that and market place your resort, using benefit of the bleisure travel pattern, ideal? The enterprise traveler that now is effective from residence all 7 days and wants to start out their family vacation early. They want to occur out to the assets on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their relatives so that the household can enjoy some of the facilities or points of interest in your spot. And they perform from the resort, extending their getaway, extending the home nights for every stay. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our marketing and advertising technique to capture this new normal traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it is been a very tricky few many years to do this form of spring workshop. And I’ve experienced to dig incredibly, pretty deep in investigate to try out to obtain some constructive information in the market as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wood, if anything goes right, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even more substantial summer season.
Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from tourists. But the problem I want you to talk to by yourself is how do you want to be picked out? Do you wanna be decided on because that traveler had initially required to remain at the hotel subsequent doorway and they had been all booked or their amount was way as well large and they selected your hotel since you were alternative B or do you want to be solution A, do you want your traveler to be thrilled about the stay that they’re gonna appear on house? Do you want them to come to be an advocate of your resort after they keep on residence? Have you established suitable expectations for this traveler when they step in by way of your lobby and method the front desk, these are the style of questions that you want to be asking, because all over again, the occupancy will be there.
Ryan Embree:
But the big difference in between traveler A that I just defined and traveler B is day and evening. And once you get that variety of snowball impact of occupancy and advocates for your assets, it just furthers your get to and digital promoting and puts you at a competitive gain for escalating your occupancy. So if you have not participated in these workshops, as I outlined just before, we do them every single period. It’s a single of my beloved pieces of my position right here at Travel Media Group. I would enjoy to discuss with you about your property, about your location. We know each and every one lodge is different. So that’s what I like about these workshops. If you’re interested in getting a conversation about that, certainly you can access out to us anytime at travelmediagroup.com and we’d appreciate to discuss with you or up coming time we have acquired it in the summer coming up. If you see that e mail run across your inbox, timetable a assembly with me, adore to converse to you, but I am confident the upcoming time we do these insights, we with any luck ,, fingers crossed, will have some fantastic, 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 subsequent time on the Suite Place.
Ryan Embree:
To be part of our loyalty plan, be confident to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Location is generated by Vacation Media Group with cover artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you relished your remain.
