How To Increase Sales in Hotels
The "Fabu" Hotel's sales department has just hired you. One of the reasons that you were selected above all the other job candidates was because of your astute ability to troubleshoot problems and solve them immediately. "No problem," you say to the hiring manager. It should be a piece of cake; but it isn't. When you check the books, you find dismal results. You blink. What are you going to do?
- Check the books. Go over everything and ask yourself questions. Ask the accountants questions. Check each stat with the other. If the sales were higher one month then they were another month, note that. Go over each sales and marketing plan. The books should be the first thing that you should check everyday, not to mention have monthly meetings over.
- Get the customers point of view. Place survey forms inside of each guest's room. Give an incentive for each customer to want to complete a survey: a free day at the spa, one day of free meals or free dry cleaning and pick up service. Knowing what the customer likes and dislikes is a very big key to improving hotel sales.
- Become a sponsor for a community event. This will give you plenty of coverage and exposure within the community. While manning your table at the event, pass out coupons that give guests discounts off of room stays, room service and other hotel services. The only way to redeem these incentives is to stay at least one night.
- Look at the competition. You might have to get your hands dirty by checking into a competitor's hotel to see what is going on. Whether you give yourself away or not is your business. Look at everything: room service, maid service, bellhop service and check-in. Take notes of everything. Implement any changes that need to be done in your hotel, spread the word about a grand re-opening and get ready to be a hit, again.
- Be apart of hospitality tradeshows. Better yet, host one. As a host, you are not only able to see first hand what the competition is doing, you can charge a significant fee for vendor's space.
- Hold a contest. Ask the public to send in the best suggestion for how to help improve hotel sales. The winner will get a week's stay at the hotel for free. Before any prizes can be handed out, there has to be proof that the winner's idea was the significant reason for an increase in sales.