96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Location exactly where hoteliers look at-in and we look at out what’s trending in resort advertising and marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hello there every person and welcome to yet another episode of the Suite Location. This is your host, as often, Ryan Embree, Director of Marketing and advertising at Journey Media Team. And we’ve acquired a wonderful episode for you these days. We do these episodes four moments a year because we really conduct 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 is a single of my favorites for the reason that we are coming out of the winter, which is usually a slower time for the sector. And we’re finally commencing to see that growth and occupancy. Now the springs the previous few many years have clearly been a minor little bit distinctive with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are conversing about positioning your lodge digitally for good results when travelers are seeking and they are doing quite a bit of exploring, which we’ll talk about in this article in 2nd.

Ryan Embree:
So again, these are occupancy workshops the place we satisfy one particular-on-one with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session speaking about the hotel’s electronic existence. How are they positioning on their own coming into the year of spring split, holiday seasons, Might, Memorial working day, a large amount of wonderful factors in the spring and truly placing ourselves up also for the summer time the place occupancy truly heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, typically when I carry out these workshops, we get some definitely excellent takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we chat about some frequent themes and threads. So in the past, certainly we have talked about the staffing scarcity ideal now, which has been hurting a ton of folks. This is our 3rd time accomplishing a spring occupancy workshop. Once again in 2020 and 2021, there have been very various discussions, which qualified prospects me to our initially development that we recognized this workshop as opposed to some others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we ended up chatting to. The optimism that was out there, that travel is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I communicate about these vacationers carrying out searches, you know, I’ve received a genuinely remarkable stat that we arrived throughout, where by it states U.S. natural Google search pay a visit to progress by field in Q4 of 2021 versus Q4 in 2020. And the proportion alter for journey was at 41%. So that is a great deal of eyes hunting and scheduling and remaining encouraged to travel as soon as yet again. But as I warning the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they’re gonna be looking at your hotel’s electronic presence a large amount in another way than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But pattern variety one, occupancy is escalating. It’s in this article. No matter if we like it or not, transient leisure has normally been there the past few several years and has been primary the pack in recovery, but we’re also seeing small business, weddings come back again. So we’ll talk a minimal little bit about that later on, but the next trend that I seen on these discussions that I was owning is, you know, we have been as an marketplace jogging about, it feels like, seeking to determine out what to do to modify to this pandemic, this new ordinary that COVID has sort of ushered into our sector.

Ryan Embree:
And then on prime of that, you have this staffing lack, appropriate? Inflation now setting up to strike household as perfectly, but we’re commencing to see items type of gradual down and hoteliers really lastly examining matters like their social media, their evaluations, evaluation responses. And a ton of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to basically sit down and take a look were seriously stunned with what they observed. They probably experienced a entrance desk supervisor or a DOS that experienced still left for the duration of these previous two decades that was in charge of this stuff. And now it’s kinda laid dormant there. So I would motivate you if you are listening to this, check your Fb, examine your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, hopefully you are on these websites, but check out and see when the final time you posted, because time has been traveling by suitable now and before, you know, it, a large amount of these posts that we were looking at had been back again in 2021 and tourists are hunting now far more than ever for pertinent details.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see some thing back in, in 2021 or even 2020, it is not gonna be appropriate to them. And it could suggest a unfavorable connotation, detrimental perception for the travelers that are executing investigation. They are last but not least sitting down down and checking factors like their evaluation internet sites and observing on web-sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, destinations where tourists are generating reserving decisions that the very last evaluation that they received was six months in the past. We know proper now that all the things is relocating so speedily. Omicron came in November and swept by the country. And that altered the way that folks perceive traveling and the stage of security of what that was. So again, check like your hotel, social media, your reputation and assessment responses. That was an additional matter we ended up talking about, is getting the time to react to assessments. And I know for a great deal of hoteliers listening to this, it may be one particular of people things at the base of our precedence checklist, but it is so critical proper now when we talk about our upcoming development, which is setting anticipations vs . meeting anticipations. And I’ll make clear the distinction.

Ryan Embree:
So assembly anticipations is, consider about a traveler strolling into an overall economy hotel and anticipating Ritz-Carlton service at an economic system level cost. People expectations are a little little bit too significant, and it could be tricky to meet people expectations. Location expectations is a completely diverse dialogue. Believe of setting expectations as anyone walking into your resort in the summer season and anticipating to get pleasure from that beautiful pool that you have, and your pool’s shut for renovations. And they had no plan that that was the case. That is a failure to established expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there is a extremely unique variance there. And when we communicate about critique response is 1 of the most powerful spots that we can established expectations for our long term traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Sure, it’s pretty critical to react to the suggestions that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their day to leave you a assessment for your small business. But it is also environment the expectations for that long run traveler. So substantially has transformed more than the past two several years from breakfast, features, even hotel guidelines, the way we’re cleaning rooms, the way we’re interacting with visitors. There could be tourists that when they occur onto your home have a fully unique expectation. So if you’re not placing those people prior to their keep, then you are failing to established their expectations. And that is in fact the amount one rationale that we are seeing adverse evaluations on the web. As a ton of you know, that hear to this, Journey Media Group has a Answer and Take care of resolution the place we reply to guest critiques. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to in excess of 750,000 opinions for our lodge partners and are presently responding to a thousand visitor resort assessments a day ideal now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the quantity 1 cause, the selection one reason that we are looking at these negative evaluations appear in is since correct anticipations are not established. So if we can use evaluate reaction as a way to connect and information to upcoming vacationers, that’s gonna give us the option to set people proper anticipations. And I’ll give you a swift instance if you’re next me. So a person of the factors that has totally transformed and I suspect will just take a little little bit longer changeover to get back to typical or pre-COVID is breakfast for our assets, suitable? With the staffing lack, with men and women interacting, breakfast buffets, we have been told to continue to be away from people during the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a area where resorts could be at entirely different spectrums of breakfast. Some could be appropriate back again to in which they have been in 2019 with a large scorching breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Other folks are nevertheless becoming conservative, breakfast on the go. If your guest walks into your hotel and does not know what they are likely to get in the morning, that is a failure to set expectations. And we’re observing that sometimes in these assessments. So critique reaction is a excellent way to set that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make positive that you are location these correct guest expectations, for the reason that we’re looking at that again, really impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re doing work with. And then at last, the last trend that we talked about with hoteliers in the course of these workshops is just adjusting to the new ordinary. Looking at these groups occur again and what it is going to take in buy to make their enterprise. Weddings, last episode, if you are adhering to me the opportunity proper now for weddings and marriage ceremony blocks for our homes is unbelievable earnings opportunity out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you executing to try to seize that and industry your lodge, using advantage of the bleisure journey trend, proper? The business enterprise traveler that now operates from house all 7 days and wishes to commence their vacation early. They want to occur out to the assets on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their family so that the family members can enjoy some of the features or points of interest in your place. And they perform from the resort, extending their holiday, extending the place evenings per remain. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our advertising strategy to capture this new usual traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it’s been a extremely tricky pair years to do this kind of spring workshop. And I have had to dig really, incredibly deep in analysis to attempt to uncover some constructive news in the field as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wood, if everything goes ideal, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even bigger summer time.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is heading to be there from tourists. But the question I want you to inquire you is how do you want to be chosen? Do you wanna be picked for the reason that that traveler experienced to begin with wished to remain at the hotel up coming door and they were being all booked or their fee was way far too higher and they selected your lodge simply because you were alternative B or do you want to be selection A, do you want your traveler to be energized about the continue to be that they are gonna occur on house? Do you want them to turn into an advocate of your hotel just after they remain on house? Have you set right anticipations for this traveler when they stage in by means of your lobby and solution the front desk, these are the type of questions that you want to be inquiring, due to the fact once again, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the variance amongst traveler A that I just discussed and traveler B is day and night. And as soon as you get that sort of snowball impact of occupancy and advocates for your residence, it just furthers your access and digital advertising and marketing and places you at a aggressive gain for expanding your occupancy. So if you haven’t participated in these workshops, as I stated just before, we do them every solitary period. It is 1 of my favorite parts of my position right here at Travel Media Group. I would love to communicate with you about your property, about your locale. We know every single single lodge is diverse. So which is what I really like about these workshops. If you’re interested in owning a conversation about that, obviously you can attain out to us whenever at travelmediagroup.com and we’d appreciate to communicate with you or future time we have bought it in the summer coming up. If you see that e-mail operate throughout your inbox, routine a meeting with me, really like to communicate to you, but I am guaranteed the up coming time we do these insights, we with any luck ,, fingers crossed, will have some fantastic, good 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 next time on the Suite Place.

Ryan Embree:
To sign up for our loyalty system, be guaranteed to subscribe and give us a five star ranking on iTunes. Suite Place is produced by Vacation Media Team with address artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you liked your continue to be.