Well, thank goodness Christmas and New Year are over for another year. But it's January and your beds are empty. Of course, there is no magic solution. But there are a number of actions you can take to give your accommodation business a quick winter service and make sure it runs efficiently over the next 12 months.
1. Stop the leaks
If the roof leaks, you get if fixed. Sales opportunities leak away just the same, though, through a lack of procedures. Do you have procedures in place to identify where your guests come from, their names and addresses and their organisation? Do they have more business for you?
Make sure your team are aware of how much it has cost you to get the phone to ring and ensure everyone is trained to answer the phone and take the right information.
Check you have procedures in place for any sort of enquiry, whether it comes to you direct or from the internet. What literature do you send out and how is it followed up? What system do you have for looking after your regular room bookers?
Best of all, have someone ring your pub every so often and make an enquiry. This occasional 'mystery shopping' will help you to know whether everything is under control when you're not there.
2. Guests disappear
However successful your business, each year a percentage - it could be up to 25 per cent - of your guests will go away and not use you any more. You may not have upset them, it's just that they have moved on, changed companies or found a better solution to their accommodation needs. Every business needs a plan to make sure that these gaps are filled.
Who is going to be responsible for making new contacts? Make a plan for this activity. Your number of rooms dictates how many clients you need, so maybe you only need to make one or two prospecting calls a week. But you have to stick to it and make sure it is done.
3. Learn to say no
I'm sure you get your fair share of unsolicited calls offering great deals on advertising. Whatever they are, just say no. You will save yourself a fortune. If you think the proposition is good, ask them to explain how you can track the results of the advertising. If there is a cast-iron way, give it a try. But all those £45 and £125 payments soon add up.
Write a list of all your advertising in local magazines and websites. If you know what worked, fine - but if you don't know, make sure that you don't renew it.
4. Can prospects find you?
Check you can be easily found. Have you updated your website recently? Search engines promote sites that are constantly looked after and updated. So check out the opportunities for other sites to link to you, even if it is just the accommodation section of the local area or town site.
More people are using the internet to gather information even if they don't actually book online. It is vital you can be found through various search terms. Try it for yourself and if your site does not come up on the first or second page, speak to your website designer and have them test some different text.
5. Action is better than reaction
You never know where business comes from, so cover as many options as possible.
Local businesses (if there are any) are obviously a great source but other local opportunities can include schools, colleges, universities, charities, defence establishments and hospitals. Find a contact, establish their potential for you and put them on a list to follow up. Do you have a leaflet you can leave with them?
6. What's in it for them?
At its most basic level, you are offering a room for the night. Often a guest is only with you for eight hours and, to be honest, how much is that really worth? About £25?
But guests do spend anything from £65 upwards for an overnight stay, so they must want something more than they get at the local branded budget hotel. It is therefore an emotional not a logical decision.
Check you are engaging with your prospects on an emotional level by always communicating benefits, not features. When you are answering a telephone enquiry don't give facts and features, give tempting descriptions of what the experience of staying with you will be like.
Review all your literature and your website and make sure you interpret every feature of your venue and create a benefit. You can do this by asking the same question of every feature: "which means that...?"
7. Tastes change
As in food, there has to be a gradual evolution of your offer; so too have tastes changed in hotel rooms. Chintz has been replaced by muted plain colours and duvets have largely replaced blankets.
January is a good opportunity to take stock of your room product and ensure it meets the needs of your market. Stay overnight in your own rooms - (or have a friend do it for a more balanced view) just to appreciate what your guests experience.
Why not prepare a short questionnaire to gauge feedback from your guests over the course of a month? Your questions need to relate to different target markets since, for instance, business travellers will have different needs from weekend visitors.
8. Understand your yield
Yield management is the thought process that encourages you to maximise occupancy in periods of lower demand and maximise room rate in times of higher demand. This only works if you have good historical information so you know when demand is high and when it is low.
Look back at last year and identify peaks in demand caused by annual or one-off events. You should be able to make a schedule for this year to help you know when to hold out for your published room rate and when you may need to be a bit flexible to keep up your occupancy. Write it all down and share the information with your team so everyone knows what the parameters are.
9. Business is what you make it
There are any number of self-help books that tell you can have anything you like, you just have to want it enough. My own view is that it is a bit more complex than this. However, if you know what you want to achieve from your business (on a personal and a business basis) and set yourself some written goals, you can go a long way towards achieving what you want.
Involve your whole team in your goal-setting, agree some tactical actions and write these down - just one side of A4 will do. Without this road map it is so easy to veer off the agreed route.
10. Take a break
The only way to look at your business afresh is to get away from it. Ideally, stay at a hotel or pub you admire so you can get some new ideas. You will come back refreshed - and with a more critical eye. And hopefully you will see your own signage, garden, lighting and atmosphere with a fresh eye.
Plan your break now, so that you have it in your diary and your team can get used to the idea that you will be away. Michael Cockman is a hotel marketing specialist who helps accommodation owners maximise their room revenue opportunities. He is the author of Putting Heads on Beds - a practical guide to marketing independent hotel or guest accommodation.
Michael Cockman is a hotel marketing specialist who helps accommodation owners maximise their room revenue opportunities. He is authour of Putting Heads on Beds, a practical guide to marketing independent hotel or guest accommodation.
For more information visit www.puttingheadsonbeds.co.uk