These days, travel is less about sun, sea and sand, and much more about the destination a person is travelling to. So, ask yourself the question. Do you know enough about the destination of your hotel? Even if you’re the most luxurious 5-star hotel somewhere, this isn’t necessarily enough to pull in customers anymore. The preferences of the millennial generation has seen a significant shift, so it’s now vital for hospitality businesses to provide customers with a fully integrated experience. How, as a hotel, can you achieve this?
Well, you need to think about a customer’s entire trip, rather than just their stay at your hotel.
First things first – why don’t you incorporate local products and activities into what you offer? People are becoming greener, and are willing to pay the price for green products. Farm-to-table dining has become increasingly popular, so hotels that adopt environmentally friendly practices when it comes to food and drink are a step above the rest. Travellers are always keen to try local cuisine, whether they’re in St Lucia or Yorkshire. If you can, use ingredients from nearby farms, fishermen, grocers – or even your own vegetable garden. You might be surprised how much this will impress a prospective guest.
As well as boosting local businesses through food and drink provision, you can also partner with local businesses to offer experiences to guests. This could be anything, from local tours to boating excursions. Also, have you thought about producing your own experiences for guests? What is there stopping you from organising trips and experiences for guests? Nothing. So why aren’t you doing it? There’s a whole host of benefits that can come from this. As well as profitability, you can potentially reach out to a wider audience.
Think about it. You offer guided tours on the local area. Well, already this could well appeal to your guests. Not only do they tell people about the beautiful hotel, but the fantastic tour they went on. You can also plug this across all of your distribution channels. You can write blogs, take pictures and create videos. These can go on your website and across social media.
There’s so much that can come, just from adding a few experiences to what you offer. As well as marketing these experiences, you also want to market the destination as a whole. Not only do you want to tell travellers why they should stay at your hotel, but why they want to visit a destination in the first place. For example, you might be a hotel based in Spain. Why does your guest want to visit Spain? You need to convince them that not only do they want to go on holiday, they want to go to Spain, to the area where your hotel is based and stay at your hotel. This may sound complex, but it really isn’t. You just need to sell the entire experience.
To really stand out from your competitors you need to think outside the box. Perhaps there’s a huge event happening nearby. You can capitalise on this. Tell potential customers about this event. Then tell them how they could turn that event into a holiday. What other things are there to see and do nearby? Why do they want to turn that weekend event into a week’s holiday? What are you doing as a hotel to make that the holiday of a lifetime?Perhaps you don’t tell them in a written post though. Have you thought about showing them?
Video content is the new big thing. People want to see what they could experience rather than just hearing about it. Are you wondering how you could do this? So, you’re a ski resort in the Alps. You have beautiful views from your hotel and some fantastic ski slopes. Don’t just tell people this – show them. Create a video showing the views and the slopes. Why not go a step further and create a video from the guests perspective? What exactly are they seeing as they ski? It may seem very complex but it really isn’t. You just need to think about what it is that can really make someone’s holiday unique and show it to them.
Show them why you’re better than the rest. Whatever you do, you want to try and be different to your competitors. Remember, you’re not just a hotel – you’re part of an experience.
