Nearly half of the summer vacation How can hotels strive for more revenue

Original title: Nearly half of the summer How can the hotel strive for more revenue

Wang Wei, chief reporter of China Tourism News

As July draws to a close, the hotel's "summer homework" is nearly half completed, and whether it can finally meet expectations is an answer in the minds of most industry owners. "Although the pressure is great, there is still room for breakthrough" is the reply of many industry players to reporters. Through this peak season, hoteliers are also thinking about the next layout, channels, products, and markets, how to manage them, so that the hotel can obtain better revenue?

How can the channels be rolled out

Maintain rational expectations and ensure the stability of earnings; Set limited-time promotion thresholds to launch customized products and packages across different channels; Flexibly implement price management strategies based on market feedback...... This is what most hotels have been doing these days. The challenges faced by hotels this peak season are multifaceted, including the increase in commissions for individual channels from July. How to lay the channel? Some of the industry players have more experience.

"Douyin has raised the rate of accommodation software services to 8%, but at the same time, it has also introduced a preferential measure of ladder return. In other words, the better we sell in this channel, the more 'rebates' we will receive from the platform, which is not much different from the previous commission rate. The person in charge of a single hotel in Beijing told reporters that during this time, because of this newly adjusted rule, they have put more emphasis on this channel, after all, it can bring considerable traffic to the hotel.

"For merchants, traffic is the source of business. Whether or not you can make a profit involves the cognition, judgment and choice of different traffic platforms by merchants. "Some industry players mentioned a key point, at a time when market demand tends to be rational, it is more necessary for hotels to focus on tapping new consumption potential.

WeChat Channels and Xiaohongshu are suitable for "planting grass", Douyin can attract traffic through pre-sale package products, the fastest sales on Meituan are catering products, the proportion of OTA orders is relatively stable, and the higher the private domain traffic of direct sales channels, the more the hotel has the right to speak...... In the interview, the industry players have the same views on the advantages of each platform, but it can be clearly felt that they have their own focus on channel layout.

Entering July, the booking volume of Dongshan Daguan Hotel in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province has been at a high level. Xu Hengyong, general manager of Zhejiang Shangdongshan Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd., told reporters that the focus of this year's efforts is to make efforts to spread channels, such as making greater efforts to promote on WeChat video accounts to attract more customers who are not in the Yangtze River Delta. "As a high-end resort hotel located in the sinking market, there is still room for expansion of brand radiation, so marketing is particularly important at this stage."

"We are committed to improving our membership system and strengthening our direct sales channels, so that at all times, guests can book our hotels from official channels at the best rates. In this way, it is easier to grasp the core customer source in your own hands. A large domestic hotel group in charge of marketing told reporters that they will cooperate with different channels to expand their customer acquisition capabilities, but they will not be limited by any third-party platform or traffic anchor because of excessive dependence.

In the view of Li Chengyong, vice president of Century Jinyuan Hotel Group, the sales channels of hotels should be wider and wider, which is conducive to enterprises to adapt to the market law of "natural selection". However, the type of each hotel is different, which determines its marketing methods and sales channels will be different, and you can't just want to break through a certain channel, and the channel sources of corporate guests and individual guests are different.

How to design the product

What does summer look like in the village? You can hear the croaking of frogs in the rice fields, and you can also smell the scent of grass "carried" by the breeze. Last week, Zuo Wen, a tourist from Jiangsu Province who stayed at the Dongshan Grand View Hotel, took his children to participate in the "8-hour return to the village plan" organized by the hotel to explore the summer life in Dongjiashan Village, which is near the hotel. "I like to taste a cup of coffee with a fruity aroma in the retro coffee shop at the entrance of the village, and it is a child's love to make rubbings of mountain and forest plants. Although they have returned home, Zuo Wen and his children still remember the trip. "That's why I chose a high-end resort, even if it's an event outside of the hotel, every aspect is very well arranged," Zuo said. ”

Zheng Jiajia, a post-00 who traveled to Beijing, knew for the first time that he could go to the Summer Palace by waterway, which could be reached by boat, and he could enjoy the different scenery of Beijing along the way. And the program she experienced was included in the summer package at the Xiyuan Hotel in Beijing. Zheng Jiajia told reporters: "If you just look at the room rate, the price of the package is not much different from the hotel on weekdays, but because there are a lot of valuable additional content, I immediately feel that it is worth it." ”

Only by understanding the customer can we design the product they "want". Xu Hengyong observed that the summer hotel mainly faces vacation guests, in addition to parent-child families, there are also some "small team" guests, some of them are girlfriends traveling together, and some are small corporate team building. This type of customer group has a different understanding of cost performance from other customer groups. For them, whether the place is worth going to or not is the most important factor. Therefore, when the hotel designs summer products, it is thinking about how to make guests both relaxed and have a fresh experience.

In the view of the person in charge of Beijing Xiyuan Hotel, it is necessary to think from the perspective of the guests, whether this product is what they need most. "For example, it's common for a set menu to include afternoon tea, but we deliberately arranged the location for afternoon tea in a place where you can enjoy the hotel's treasured artworks. Because the summer in Beijing is very hot, many guests will choose to play indoors in the afternoon, and the arrangement of afternoon tea is just right. ”

In fact, fun offline events can also add points to the product. Starting in July, Club Eastern Mediterranean has launched the "Find Happiness 8" campaign at its resorts in China, where guests who submit a certain number of photos can receive a "Wonderful Home" blind box reward. For many hotel guests who love to take pictures, participating in the event itself is a happy thing, and it makes them feel more involved than directly "instant discount".

How to take care of the market

In the interview, a number of industry players told reporters that the market is not in a hot state, which does not mean that the market is not good. "Looking at the overall market, high-end hotels in some popular cities and destinations still maintain high occupancy rates." Zhou Gang, director of operations of CYTS Shanshui Hotel Group, said.

With the channels paved and the products on, how should the hotel market be managed under the current consumer trend?

Xu Hengyong believes that there are two key points worth noting, one is that if you want to attract guests, you must make them interested in the location of the hotel. In particular, resort hotels should also collect some local information when doing their own promotion, so that guests can have the idea of "wanting to come and explore" this place. Second, the more in the peak season, the more we must do a good job in word-of-mouth maintenance, and not let the service "drop" when there are the most guests. "At a time when everything can be evaluated, word-of-mouth publicity by customers in various channels is the guarantee for our continuous improvement of performance."

In Li Chengyong's view, hotels still need to understand more about market demand, not only for products, but also for flexible adjustments to prices, for example, according to the flow structure of guests. The hotel can neither move the price indiscriminately and cause disgust among guests, nor can it "rush" to the end with a price that affects the revenue effect. Of course, the consumption concept of guests is constantly improving, and it has become more picky, for hotels, whether they can be recognized by the market mainly depends on the quality of service, the characteristics and diversity of products, and the innovation of marketing activities. If you want to do better, you need the hotel to make adjustments to the entire service link according to the actual market demand. Now that the market is changing rapidly, the service concept and business model of the hotel cannot be too solidified, so as to really increase the width of the hotel's revenue.

Zu Changsheng, general manager of Beijing Duji Hotel Management Co., Ltd., suggested that in the face of market challenges, most hotels can adopt a strategy of prioritizing room occupancy to get more customers. For example, while expanding into other market segments, it is also important to focus on cooperation with travel agencies to reduce the occupancy rate by hosting a portion of tour groups.

In addition, reducing costs and increasing efficiency is also particularly important for hotels. Li Chengyong believes that the first is to reduce energy consumption, advocate the concept of green environmental protection, find new ways to save energy and reduce consumption in fine management, and secondly, reasonable employment, and try to control costs without affecting service quality.

Some industry players believe that if hotels want to adapt to the changing market environment as soon as possible, they need to capture new development trends and develop effective response strategies. In the future, the competition in the hotel market must be the competition of refined services, and the fight is who can provide projects with a stronger sense of experience and a better lifestyle.

Source: China Tourism News