Sectors to upswing today to revive your hotel business post Covid19

MyTravaly_Logo   01 Dec, 2020 22 mins read 319
Sectors to upswing today to revive your hotel business post Covid19

The pandemic encountered hotel industry with extraordinary challenges, the strategy to flatten the the covid curve resulted uninvited consequences upon restaurants and hotels. Their temporary closure and some transformational changes to be inculcated in their operations forever which resulted in significant decline on their revenues and services.Hotels did not witness single visitors since months due to quick contagiousness of the disease however had to bear the maintainence and other unavoidable costs leading to panic and disruption.

 Hospitality being directly connected to a lot of other services also suffered losses due to huge cancellation and even caused so to them like the shut down of public as well as private transport led to a hug decline in visitors of a tourist places. 

Therefore the current demand of the moment undoubteblty is to redefine and modify the  coping strategies according to the uncommon challenges being faced at the buiseness, however as the phase is bound to pass, we should continue to strive for the earlisest of recovery and restrain from the long term damages already suffered and can be caused in future by re-evaluating the ongoing progression in all the areas while some are listed below to enlighten you with the major changes to be made while managing these areas of your buisness.

How to regulate your pricing and finance

Before delving into customer service you need to deeply engage  and plan a solid pricing strategy along with hygiene for a profitable buisness and starting with them, reviewing them from time to time because even the past data upon previous disasters do not help much because we haven't experienced anything much similar before. 

Firstly look into the most simple pricing strategy for hotel is to regulate the tarrif according to the demand of the moment, which means that if the occupancy is running high, the room rates will be higher and when low we can lower them accordingly and also provide small benefits of upgradation or added services. 

The data customer data helps us maintain records and prediction according to the season and maintain track of room rate, occupancy rate and average revenue according to seasons. Do not run for offering higher discounts to encourage or increase in bookings as it can lead to longer recovery time in the market after normalization, it is recommended to focus less on  discount -driven customers and instead highlight your service value, prices can be reduced for certain types of services to ensure competiveness and attract sales .

Also you can study the statistics and regulate prices to let customers stay for short period through higher rates in the peak seasons and keep it lower in off seasons to encourage longer stay. Motivating a customer to upgrade their current purchase by encouraging them to pay more for better choices suggested while booking can help in better prospects of revenue satisfaction. 

 Provide less flexibility in cancellation when the tarrif is low and occupancy high, likewise offer  greater  flexibility in cancellation when price is higher.

Controlling costs is important in order to regulate revenues. Controling labour costs  through better training help staffs efficiently manage more work with less assistance which surplus labor expenses.

Also pay attention to the demand vs supply curve and do not flood with supply on particular domain when there's less demand. Look into some special and simple demads or service majority of the industry is missing out on currently by shifting their focus on hygiene, if adressed succesfully this can put you ahead in the market.

The finanace strategy adjustment can speed your recovery from  the crisis such as analyzing the demand pattern according to area and person, the pattern of cunsumption of food and beverage in the areas where the effect is less severe and so it is likely to recover soon and therefore target them by looking into their preferences and habits for more personalized service even at home. Also pay close attention to the changes we are likely to get used and is important to witness and work with it, start early and practice for better in terms of financing.

Investing in self-service technology would yeild better future in terms of return for the coming era where we all are rapidly heading and would be a far- sighted move.

A better collaboration with all the departments to regulate finance would be a better strategy than focusing on random certain areas to see oppurtunities to reduce cost during the crisis  by investing in the existing occupancy rate, ensure strict control on energy consumption through different ways and reduction in the same.

Reformulate your marketing

Regulating and cutting upon marketing budget is inevitable but not more than 50 percent is recommended  because studies prove that marketing yourselves on  regular intervals a buisness witnesses higher sales and growth.

This is a good time to thoroughly examine upon the inventory of your contents when everything is slow and the focus is upon hygiene of most of the operators and so make use of the situation to advantage competition by  going through the contents published analyzing their conversion rates, optimizing the keyword being used in the content for better visibility and ranking opon related searches and accordingly make changes for example if a video has higher reach and engagement look for the elements that make them such and accordingly use them in other content, eliminate the details which don't contribute, you can produce fresh content with some trending concepts and some different call to action, also align financial management with marketing and invest in a website with friendly interface and continue maintaining it through updated, relevant and engaging content .

Pay unprecedented attention to social media marketing and regularly update an engaging and interactive content that appeals to the target audience because we have noticed a huge upsurge in the consumption of social content since covid outbreak and there are data which  show surprising hike in the number of social media users and is a great way to inform the users about the safety standards you are  maintaining, the current offers and packages to constantly remind them of your existence and exceptional service and therefore all the smart brands have started recognizing the oppurtunity to make use of it.

Concentrating upon the things that make you unique like a different location in isolation away from crowd and easy to reach and enjoy so you need to lure them with what you already have and portray their benefits in relation to the current scenario. Prudently market your accomodations affordability, safety to target your local audiences for more frequent visits in their own city, elaborate and lure them with the description of a local trip for a change or a home delivery on food to encourage potential customers who would definitely engage with you due to the monotony  and long wait to move out of the home.

Marketing is the best way to communicate with your existing as well is potential customers and rest of audience whom you cannot approach personally therefore deliver like you're cummunicating in person and especially today when the audience is actively engaged with all the platforms where you need to deliver. By focusing on the audience and their current demand you can grab your target audiences attention and turn them into visitors with a strategic content delivery.

Providing a direct booking access to your audience for mutual conviniences enable the visitor to directly get in touch with you so that you can  remind them to complete the booking they've left  midway this increases the chances of conversion, create compelling facebook ads to get in touch with potential visitors. Also provide some offers that stand out because this is what everybody's doing by giving them some unique services or benefits and a cherishable experience like an enlightening yoga sessions, private movie nights that grabs guests attention in the market.

See analytics to better know the strategies and the content that are driving and work on them accordingly. Directly communicating with your past customers to remind them of your existence and offers and services through automated marketing which requires minimal effort and promptness.

The email campaigns should be personalized and allow the customers to feel heard and seen and that you care for their preferences and needs which establishes a personal connection and call to action.   

Through marketing you need to increase awareness of your service, make sure the informations related to your service is easy to comprehend, understand as well as attractive. you also need to promote your buisness more and more when the buisness is running slow by providing simple yet powerful incentives which attract potential customers, enhance relationships with customers through clear and personalized communication from time to time to encourage them to visit again and again, ask them of their opinion and reviews to make them feel important and their opinions counted. 

 Adopting latest technologies

The tech features which was considered privilege suddenly emerged as necessity in the current era and is emerging as the new way of life and its adoption is now inevitable but the fact is how fast and how broadly is it going to be adopted in the currently.

The future trend regarding technology is going to be in union with minimum contact and transparency maintained regarding levels of  hygiene for the future which is the current demand of the industry and also every hotelier is actively looking forward to adapt to the technology relevant to their industry.

The hotel's own mobile applications enable customers easiest booking experience through few clicks from home minimizing contact and ensuring safety, easily providing accurate informations to the guests at minimum efforts.

Help them track check-ins and check-outs digitally which leave zero room for mistakes in bookings and enable the operational tasks  lot more efficiently, accurately and quickly.

Digitalized check ins have replaced misplaced or duplicate keys  and enables a guest to provide room key to the guest through the app. Infrared sensors restrain from disturbing guests through sensors to know if the room is occupied and they should visit later for the cleaning and other services minimizing personal contact. Self service is the new trend in pandemic to remain safe and avoid touch, it enables guest order their preffered room service through mobile apps.

Contactless payments have emrged with several advantages during pandemic aprt from speed and convinience, because it does not demand any card or wallet to be carried wherever you go which are prone to carring germs due to constant touch with customers and billing staff and improves customer satisfaction due to less hassle. Introduction of robots to maintain hygiene through practicing more efficient cleaning and help atmosphere remain covid free or germ free due to least human involvement who are prone to the covid threat.

In mordern times customers expect most personalized and safe service than ever before, and so chatbots are able to clarify multiple queries almost accurate as well as instantly and at the same time and customers are more likely to share their reveiws with it due to an lively interaction with customers providing room for other engagements of the staffs available and also provides data analysis and precise guest preference record and organize customer data for a better customer experience with minimal efforts of staffs.

Enhancements like digital menu systems are providing easy updation and editing of the menu, ensuring zero contact, adjust prices, also suggests relevant add ons during ordering, personalizes the experience according to preferece, time and season of order.

The introduction of live kitchen to ensure contactless preperation of food and ensuring safest possible delivery apart from that enhances the customer and chef interaction for a special an customized experience and gueszt satisfaction.

Enhancing upon hospitality services

The changes brought about by the social distancing and enhanced hygiene level would result a completely new way of work and interaction and operation of different tasks which is why a training and understanding of requirements of the new normal is crucial and learning to successfully operate in new working style. 

Proper training is needed to familiarize the staffs with the working process involving to maintain physical distancing along with promptness, a guidance upon communication  and execution in coordination with the boundation and reinforcing safe working envoironment.

Attending every small detail in terms of cleanliness would be inculcated into day to day services and will be more frequent, ensuring sanitisation to every corner of the property will be a regular task and also look in to other areas for improvement in hygiene, special attentions to be paid to meeting areas, restauraunt and bars, lounge, fitness centres, reception and other places of frequent interaction to be paid.

keep the staffs well informed and ready to immediately attend to the concerns of the customers and regular undelayed assistance perfectly following the respective norms and demands of current landscape.

To  keep the economy rolling we need to assure our customers of the proper implementation of the highest safety standards being maintained, such as by providing them more friendly and chemical free cleaning products such as disinfectant wipes , taking efforts to change the perception of a clean envoironment and improve their response towars the situation through your own actions, improvisations and  mindset.

Efficiently Implementing the strategy of the measures to be taken for the new adaptions in the place and also abide by the same. The ways of eating and living of people are going to change drastically and therefore hoteliers need to take care of the same.

The food and beverage department will have to start connecting and appealing to the local audiences more than the visitors because this is what going to bring the revenues to the table. A culture or envoironment to be developed which attracts more of the local travellers and also the market will be more concerned of price than ever before and the food on budget will be more in demand, the experience and the trust is going to play an important role in building revisiting and  loyal customer base post pandemic. It is important to understand the need of the current traveller or visiters who will be making decisions more based on the experience, though technology is the necessary demand of the moment but it can never take place of a personalized experience recieved from a person or a staff so we need not remove the focus from providing personal assistance to the guests by completely abiding with the safety norms. 

Due to the increasing risk of pandemic exposure more and more people are opting for  at-home experience also the restauraunts ought to maintain their buisness  upon lesser capacity of employees as well as guests than before. There were a few masters and providers of at-home experiences before but now the trend is upon rise  and would even grab the market more and therefore the delivery experience and home catering services also plays a role in the brand reputation owing to the exposure to the larger audiences.

Collaboration and partnering

Do remember that you aren't alone in this combat with crisis and pondering upon collaborative options and a collaborative work would bring raised quality, standard and convinience in your service, proffesional growth due to wide interaction and learning at your workplace, improved customer experience due to better understanding of their need by coming across the insights of how other domains adresses to the needs of their customers creatively and likewise increase loyalty and profits. 

It also helps better understand about your competitors and the current trend so that you can surpass them and remain ahead in the market due to additional benefits and differnce in experience that you offer.

To remain ahead in the current market which demands strategic planning of which collaboration and partnership can be a promising step through amicable agreement between two firms to work upon a common task and shared goals with mutual agreement, benefits, competencies and consequent growth.

By partnering with airlines, other hotels, car rentals and online travel agents you can direct resources to your customers and offer more convinient and collective services which will be prefferd by travellers in the current crisis due to lower efforts and better in-budget package pricing  offered upon partnerships that also claim broader benfits on lesser hassle. This leads to improved return on investment and help both the firms recover from the heavy losses as an effect of the pandemic. It is for above reasons we see international hotels simultaneously collaborating and partnering with diverse firms to target global customers which help them land upon better services, brand reputation, competitive advancement as well as handsome revenue.     

while everyone waiting for the revival of the hospitality and working hard to cope with the consequent losses in different areas of the industry the powerful recovery is just waiting at the threshhold of the current disruption and its aftermath would soon take over the tourism domain. The recovery would definetily seek for the major changes in the function and operations and so it is necessary to adapt to the transitional requirements of the current age, however if the brands desired pitch is well marketed and reaches the potential customers it would strongly help in growth, though the  losses  caused by the pandemic is quite consequential and can be recovered if the hospitality sector reimagines  a marked transformation in the ongoing practices and moves forward with caution and strategic planning and unites together, it would soon reap the fruits of some remarkable accomplishments.

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