96 – Spring Workshop Takeaways

Natosha

Host Ryan Embree discusses insights and takeaways from Journey Media Group’s current Spring Workshops wherever he talked a person-on-a single with hoteliers about their hotel’s digital presence. Find out tendencies in hospitality and find out how you can placement your property for good results by assessment response, social media, and popularity management.

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Place the place hoteliers check-in and we check out what is trending in hotel internet marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hi most people and welcome to yet another episode of the Suite Location. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree, Director of Promoting at Travel Media Group. And we’ve acquired a good episode for you these days. We do these episodes four times a year due to the fact we truly perform four occupancy workshops for hoteliers. And this season’s workshop is titled “Business is Blooming: How to Develop Occupancy this Spring.” So this is our spring occupancy workshop. It’s one particular of my favorites since we are coming out of the winter, which is generally a slower time for the business. And we’re finally starting up to see that growth and occupancy. Now the springs the earlier pair many years have certainly been a little little bit different with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are talking about positioning your lodge digitally for achievements when travelers are searching and they are executing pretty a bit of browsing, which we’ll communicate about here in 2nd.

Ryan Embree:
So once again, these are occupancy workshops wherever we fulfill 1-on-a single with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session chatting about the hotel’s digital existence. How are they positioning on their own coming into the season of spring break, holiday seasons, May, Memorial day, a great deal of good points in the spring and seriously placing ourselves up also for the summer months where occupancy actually heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, ordinarily when I perform these workshops, we get some actually great takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we speak about some widespread themes and threads. So in the earlier, certainly we’ve talked about the staffing lack proper now, which has been hurting a good deal of persons. This is our third time doing a spring occupancy workshop. Again in 2020 and 2021, there ended up quite unique discussions, which potential customers me to our to start with pattern that we discovered this workshop compared to others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we ended up talking to. The optimism that was out there, that vacation is returning.

Ryan Embree:
And as I talk about these vacationers carrying out queries, you know, I’ve acquired a actually remarkable stat that we arrived across, exactly where it claims U.S. organic and natural Google search go to progress by sector in Q4 of 2021 vs . Q4 in 2020. And the proportion alter for travel was at 41%. So that is a ton of eyes hunting and setting up and becoming impressed to journey after once again. But as I caution the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they are gonna be seeking at your hotel’s digital presence a lot differently than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But development selection 1, occupancy is increasing. It is right here. Irrespective of whether we like it or not, transient leisure has often been there the previous pair many years and has been major the pack in restoration, but we’re also seeing company, weddings arrive again. So we’ll talk a little bit about that afterwards, but the 2nd trend that I seen on these discussions that I was having is, you know, we have been as an industry operating all around, it feels like, attempting to determine out what to do to change to this pandemic, this new regular that COVID has kind of ushered into our field.

Ryan Embree:
And then on major of that, you have this staffing shortage, proper? Inflation now starting off to hit residence as very well, but we’re starting up to see matters form of sluggish down and hoteliers seriously finally checking things like their social media, their opinions, evaluation responses. And a large amount of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to actually sit down and choose a glance ended up actually amazed with what they observed. They possibly had a front desk supervisor or a DOS that had remaining throughout these previous two a long time that was in cost of this things. And now it is kinda laid dormant there. So I would persuade you if you are listening to this, look at your Facebook, test your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, ideally you’re on these websites, but examine and see when the very last time you posted, because time has been traveling by correct now and before, you know, it, a great deal of these posts that we had been looking at had been again in 2021 and vacationers are searching now a lot more than ever for applicable information and facts.

Ryan Embree:
So if they see a thing again in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be suitable to them. And it could imply a negative connotation, detrimental impression for the vacationers that are carrying out investigation. They are last but not least sitting down down and examining items like their evaluate sites and seeing on internet sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, locations exactly where vacationers are creating scheduling selections that the final evaluate that they got was 6 months ago. We know right now that everything is transferring so fast. Omicron came in November and swept by way of the country. And that modified the way that individuals understand traveling and the amount of basic safety of what that was. So again, examine like your hotel, social media, your reputation and assessment responses. That was another point we had been conversing about, is locating the time to respond to assessments. And I know for a good deal of hoteliers listening to this, it may well be just one of individuals issues at the bottom of our priority list, but it is so essential appropriate now when we talk about our up coming craze, which is location anticipations compared to meeting anticipations. And I’ll make clear the variance.

Ryan Embree:
So meeting expectations is, assume about a traveler walking into an economy lodge and anticipating Ritz-Carlton company at an economy level rate. Individuals expectations are a little little bit far too superior, and it could be tricky to meet those people expectations. Setting expectations is a totally unique discussion. Feel of environment expectations as a person walking into your lodge in the summer season and expecting to take pleasure in that lovely pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they experienced no concept that that was the situation. That is a failure to established expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there’s a pretty exclusive distinction there. And when we communicate about evaluation reaction is a single of the most highly effective sites that we can established anticipations for our long run traveler.

Ryan Embree:
Yes, it is very essential to respond to the responses that is in entrance of you and to that traveler that took time outta their working day to depart you a critique for your business. But it is also environment the expectations for that foreseeable future traveler. So substantially has altered around the previous two years from breakfast, facilities, even hotel policies, the way we’re cleansing rooms, the way we’re interacting with attendees. There could be tourists that when they come onto your house have a entirely various expectation. So if you’re not placing all those prior to their continue to be, then you are failing to set their anticipations. And that is really the number a single motive that we are seeing adverse critiques on the web. As a whole lot of you know, that pay attention to this, Vacation Media Group has a React and Take care of alternative the place we reply to guest critiques. We have now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to about 750,000 testimonials for our resort companions and are at the moment responding to a thousand visitor hotel opinions a working day proper now in our headquarters.

Ryan Embree:
And the selection one motive, the variety a person explanation that we are viewing these unfavorable evaluations occur in is since suitable expectations are not established. So if we can use overview response as a way to connect and concept to foreseeable future tourists, that’s gonna give us the option to set those people right expectations. And I’ll give you a speedy instance if you’re pursuing me. So a person of the matters that has fully modified and I suspect will choose a very little little bit lengthier changeover to get back to standard or pre-COVID is breakfast for our home, suitable? With the staffing scarcity, with people today interacting, breakfast buffets, we were told to stay away from individuals throughout the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a area where lodges could be at absolutely distinct spectrums of breakfast. Some could be correct again to wherever they have been in 2019 with a big very hot breakfast buffet.

Ryan Embree:
Many others are continue to becoming conservative, breakfast on the go. If your visitor walks into your hotel and does not know what they’re likely to get in the morning, that is a failure to established anticipations. And we’re viewing that sometimes in these critiques. So assessment reaction is a fantastic way to established that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make positive that you’re placing these suitable guest anticipations, because we’re viewing that yet again, definitely impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re doing the job with. And then eventually, the past pattern that we talked about with hoteliers all through these workshops is just altering to the new typical. Looking at these groups appear again and what it is going to acquire in order to receive their small business. Weddings, last episode, if you are following me the prospect proper now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our properties is unbelievable earnings likely out there.

Ryan Embree:
So what are you accomplishing to try to seize that and industry your resort, getting gain of the bleisure vacation craze, proper? The business traveler that now is effective from property all 7 days and needs to begin their holiday vacation early. They want to arrive out to the home on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their loved ones so that the family members can get pleasure from some of the facilities or attractions in your location. And they get the job done from the hotel, extending their holiday vacation, extending the room evenings for every continue to be. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our advertising system to seize this new ordinary traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode here, I will say, it’s been a pretty challenging few a long time to do this type of spring workshop. And I’ve had to dig very, pretty deep in analysis to attempt to find some favourable news in the market as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wooden, if anything goes ideal, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even even bigger summertime.

Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is going to be there from vacationers. But the query I want you to inquire oneself is how do you want to be preferred? Do you wanna be chosen for the reason that that traveler had in the beginning preferred to keep at the hotel following door and they had been all booked or their charge was way too high and they chose your resort since you were being option B or do you want to be possibility A, do you want your traveler to be thrilled about the remain that they’re gonna come on assets? Do you want them to come to be an advocate of your resort after they continue to be on residence? Have you established correct expectations for this traveler when they action in as a result of your foyer and approach the front desk, these are the sort of inquiries that you want to be asking, since once more, the occupancy will be there.

Ryan Embree:
But the variation involving traveler A that I just explained and traveler B is working day and night time. And the moment you get that variety of snowball effect of occupancy and advocates for your assets, it just furthers your arrive at and electronic marketing and places you at a competitive benefit for expanding your occupancy. So if you haven’t participated in these workshops, as I stated before, we do them each single time. It is one of my favored sections of my work below at Journey Media Team. I would enjoy to speak with you about your property, about your spot. We know every solitary lodge is different. So that’s what I really like about these workshops. If you are interested in obtaining a dialogue about that, definitely you can attain out to us whenever at travelmediagroup.com and we’d enjoy to speak with you or next time we have obtained it in the summer time coming up. If you see that electronic mail run throughout your inbox, program a meeting with me, appreciate to discuss to you, but I am confident the subsequent time we do these insights, we hopefully, fingers crossed, will have some good, excellent information to share. So thank you for all the hoteliers that participated in the workshop. Thank you for all for listening. And we’ll communicate to you up coming time on the Suite Spot.

Ryan Embree:
To be a part of our loyalty application, be guaranteed to subscribe and give us a 5 star score on iTunes. Suite Spot is made by Vacation Media Team with go over artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you relished your remain.

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