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Host Ryan Embree discusses insights and takeaways from Vacation Media Group’s current Spring Workshops where by he talked one-on-one with hoteliers about their hotel’s electronic existence. Uncover developments in hospitality and understand how you can posture your assets for success via overview reaction, social media, and reputation administration.
Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot in which hoteliers verify-in and we look at out what is trending in lodge promoting. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.
Ryan Embree:
Howdy everybody and welcome to another episode of the Suite Place. This is your host, as generally, Ryan Embree, Director of Advertising at Travel Media Group. And we’ve got a fantastic episode for you right now. We do these episodes 4 occasions a yr for the reason that we really carry out 4 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 a person of my favorites because we are coming out of the winter, which is normally a slower time for the business. And we’re finally starting off to see that advancement and occupancy. Now the springs the previous pair years have definitely been a minimal bit diverse with the pandemic and coming out of that. But with these workshops, we are chatting about positioning your hotel digitally for success when travelers are searching and they are executing pretty a bit of browsing, which we’ll speak about right here in next.
Ryan Embree:
So again, these are occupancy workshops in which we meet 1-on-one particular with hoteliers in about a 15 to 20 moment session conversing about the hotel’s electronic existence. How are they positioning themselves coming into the year of spring split, holiday seasons, May well, Memorial day, a large amount of fantastic factors in the spring and seriously placing ourselves up also for the summertime the place occupancy genuinely heats up. So with these episodes, what we like to do is, generally when I carry out these workshops, we get some definitely great takeaways and insights from the hoteliers that we discuss about some typical themes and threads. So in the earlier, clearly we have talked about the staffing scarcity right now, which has been hurting a lot of men and women. This is our third time executing a spring occupancy workshop. Once more in 2020 and 2021, there were being very various conversations, which leads me to our to start with development that we recognized this workshop versus some others, which was the positivity of the hoteliers that we have been talking to. The optimism that was out there, that journey is returning.
Ryan Embree:
And as I speak about these vacationers executing searches, you know, I’ve got a really wonderful stat that we arrived throughout, in which it suggests U.S. organic and natural Google look for go to growth by business in Q4 of 2021 versus Q4 in 2020. And the proportion change for journey was at 41%. So that is a whole lot of eyes hunting and arranging and getting motivated to journey after once again. But as I warning the hoteliers that I spoke to on this workshop, they’re gonna be hunting at your hotel’s electronic existence a good deal in another way than they did pre-COVID-19 and pre-pandemic. But pattern range a single, occupancy is growing. It is listed here. Regardless of whether we like it or not, transient leisure has generally been there the earlier couple a long time and has been top the pack in recovery, but we’re also viewing small business, weddings come back again. So we’ll chat a little bit about that later, but the second trend that I observed on these conversations that I was owning is, you know, we have been as an industry jogging all over, it feels like, attempting to figure out what to do to change to this pandemic, this new ordinary that COVID has type of ushered into our marketplace.
Ryan Embree:
And then on leading of that, you have this staffing lack, proper? Inflation now beginning to strike residence as very well, but we’re starting to see points sort of gradual down and hoteliers truly eventually examining factors like their social media, their assessments, evaluate responses. And a lot of the hoteliers I talked to when we took 15 minutes to basically sit down and choose a glimpse were being genuinely shocked with what they observed. They possibly experienced a front desk supervisor or a DOS that had remaining for the duration of these previous two years that was in cost of this stuff. And now it’s kinda laid dormant there. So I would encourage you if you’re listening to this, test your Facebook, check your hotel’s Instagram, LinkedIn, ideally you’re on these sites, but test and see when the past time you posted, because time has been traveling by suitable now and just before, you know, it, a whole lot of these posts that we had been viewing were again in 2021 and travelers are searching now extra than at any time for pertinent facts.
Ryan Embree:
So if they see something back in, in 2021 or even 2020, it’s not gonna be pertinent to them. And it could mean a damaging connotation, destructive perception for the vacationers that are accomplishing research. They’re at last sitting down and checking factors like their overview web-sites and looking at on web sites like TripAdvisor, OTAs, Google, places exactly where travelers are producing reserving choices that the very last assessment that they received was six months back. We know ideal now that every thing is transferring so speedily. Omicron came in November and swept by means of the country. And that altered the way that people today perceive touring and the amount of security of what that was. So again, verify like your resort, social media, your status and critique responses. That was a different thing we were being conversing about, is getting the time to react to assessments. And I know for a large amount of hoteliers listening to this, it could be one particular of individuals matters at the bottom of our priority checklist, but it is so crucial proper now when we communicate about our following trend, which is setting anticipations as opposed to meeting anticipations. And I’ll clarify the distinction.
Ryan Embree:
So assembly expectations is, believe about a traveler walking into an economy resort and expecting Ritz-Carlton service at an economic system degree price. All those expectations are a small little bit far too high, and it could be tough to meet people expectations. Environment expectations is a completely distinct discussion. Feel of placing expectations as anyone going for walks into your resort in the summertime and expecting to enjoy that lovely pool that you have, and your pool’s closed for renovations. And they had no plan that that was the scenario. That is a failure to set expectations from a hotelier standpoint. So there is a pretty special variation there. And when we chat about assessment response is just one of the most highly effective destinations that we can set anticipations for our long run traveler.
Ryan Embree:
Sure, it is extremely critical to answer to the feedback that is in front of you and to that traveler that took time outta their working day to depart you a evaluate for your organization. But it is also placing the expectations for that future traveler. So a lot has altered in excess of the earlier two yrs from breakfast, facilities, even hotel insurance policies, the way we’re cleaning rooms, the way we’re interacting with friends. There could be vacationers that when they occur on to your house have a absolutely unique expectation. So if you are not location those prior to their continue to be, then you’re failing to established their anticipations. And that is essentially the amount just one cause that we are viewing damaging critiques on the internet. As a lot of you know, that hear to this, Journey Media Group has a React and Resolve resolution where by we reply to visitor opinions. We’ve now hit the unbelievable benchmark of responding to more than 750,000 reviews for our resort partners and are at present responding to a thousand guest lodge testimonials a working day proper now in our headquarters.
Ryan Embree:
And the range one cause, the selection one particular purpose that we are looking at these damaging assessments arrive in is for the reason that suitable anticipations are not set. So if we can use critique response as a way to talk and message to upcoming tourists, that is gonna give us the chance to established people right expectations. And I’ll give you a brief example if you’re following me. So one particular of the items that has absolutely changed and I suspect will acquire a minimal little bit more time transition to get back again to regular or pre-COVID is breakfast for our assets, appropriate? With the staffing shortage, with people interacting, breakfast buffets, we had been told to stay absent from all those in the course of the thick of the pandemic. Now we are at a area exactly where motels could be at wholly different spectrums of breakfast. Some could be right back to where they were in 2019 with a huge incredibly hot breakfast buffet.
Ryan Embree:
Other people are continue to remaining conservative, breakfast on the go. If your visitor walks into your lodge and does not know what they’re going to get in the morning, that is a failure to set anticipations. And we’re looking at that from time to time in these reviews. So overview response is a terrific way to established that. Social media, also. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, you wanna make sure that you are placing these suitable visitor expectations, simply because we’re seeing that once again, actually impacting hotels’ reputations that we’re operating with. And then at last, the previous craze that we talked about with hoteliers throughout these workshops is just changing to the new regular. Observing these teams arrive back and what it’s likely to consider in order to make their enterprise. Weddings, past episode, if you are subsequent me the chance correct now for weddings and wedding day blocks for our attributes is unbelievable revenue likely out there.
Ryan Embree:
So what are you executing to consider to seize that and market place your hotel, taking gain of the bleisure travel craze, appropriate? The enterprise traveler that now functions from home all 7 days and needs to start out their getaway early. They want to arrive out to the home on Wednesday, Thursday, or on Wednesday with their household so that the family members can appreciate some of the amenities or points of interest in your spot. And they work from the resort, extending their holiday, extending the area evenings for every remain. So how are we attracting? How are we adapting our advertising and marketing method to capture this new ordinary traveler that we’re gonna see? And as I wrap up this episode right here, I will say, it’s been a extremely tough few yrs to do this sort of spring workshop. And I have had to dig pretty, extremely deep in research to consider to come across some positive information in the market as it relates to occupancy and ADR, but knock on wood, if anything goes proper, this spring, we are in for a monster spring and an even more substantial summertime.
Ryan Embree:
So the occupancy is heading to be there from tourists. But the problem I want you to check with yourself is how do you want to be picked out? Do you wanna be chosen mainly because that traveler experienced in the beginning needed to remain at the lodge upcoming door and they have been all booked or their rate was way as well significant and they selected your resort mainly because you had been possibility B or do you want to be option A, do you want your traveler to be excited about the stay that they’re gonna come on house? Do you want them to become an advocate of your resort soon after they stay on assets? Have you set right expectations for this traveler when they stage in by your foyer and tactic the entrance desk, these are the style of queries that you want to be inquiring, simply because all over again, the occupancy will be there.
Ryan Embree:
But the difference among traveler A that I just stated and traveler B is working day and night. And as soon as you get that variety of snowball outcome of occupancy and advocates for your house, it just furthers your attain and electronic promoting and puts you at a competitive gain for growing your occupancy. So if you haven’t participated in these workshops, as I stated just before, we do them each individual one period. It’s 1 of my most loved parts of my task in this article at Vacation Media Group. I would enjoy to discuss with you about your home, about your spot. We know each and every solitary resort is different. So which is what I appreciate about these workshops. If you are interested in owning a discussion about that, clearly you can achieve out to us at any time at travelmediagroup.com and we’d love to discuss with you or upcoming time we’ve obtained it in the summer season coming up. If you see that email run across your inbox, program a assembly with me, adore to speak to you, but I am certain the next time we do these insights, we with any luck ,, fingers crossed, will have some fantastic, great news to share. So thank you for all the hoteliers that participated in the workshop. Thank you for all for listening. And we’ll speak to you up coming time on the Suite Location.
Ryan Embree:
To be part of our loyalty software, be absolutely sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Place is made by Journey Media Group with include art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree and we hope you savored your keep.
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