Once you have a guest’s attention, you want to make as much as you can without upsetting the guest or making them feel cheated. Incremental revenue can dramatically improve the bottom line but if done incorrectly, it can also cost you future sales and create animosity between the guest and the hotel. The goal in generating more incremental income is to sell guests services they actually want and/or need rather than forcing something on them.
Before the Guest Arrives
Prior to the guest arriving, you are pretty much at the mercy of your website. Most travelers today will book online directly through the hotel website or by using an OTA, such as Orbitz or Travelocity. That being the case, the hotel’s online profiles must be as complete as possible. For instance, if you are a pet-friendly hotel or have pet-friendly rooms, this is information that should be readily available online for guests to see. This can help draw in guests that may not have even been considering your hotel prior.
Check-out offers are also a way to drive sales. For instance, create a pop-up that offers a room upgrade for anyone that is staying two or more nights. You can also do something like this with a breakfast offer for certain room types and above. The possibilities for this type of upselling are limitless and they can add significant profits over the course of the year.
Sell Your Underutilized Space
Another way to drive sales is by turning underutilized space into a profit center. When I worked at the Cherry Hill Hilton, we had a beautiful lobby and a patio behind our wedding pavilion. Our catering team often tried to sell this space for individual functions. There were times when the main lobby would be used for a cocktail reception all on its own if all our ballroom space was being used up. To lure weddings in, we would offer the back patio as a chapel for a small fee or even give it to them free of charge if it was the difference-maker in getting or losing the function.
Today, we see more and more work-from-home professionals than ever before. These individuals often need office space to hold meetings when they need to sit down with a client. If your hotel has ample lobby space, small meeting areas can be created and sold independently as well as to hotel guests that need a more private working space.
If you go that route, that space can also become an even bigger profit center by incorporating food and beverage service. For instance, if you have a day where half a dozen “office spaces” have been booked, consider putting out a consumption coffee break station for them to buy their food and beverage without having to go very far. With some creative thinking, you can turn virtually every inch of the property into a profit center.
During periods when you have a full house and the hotel bar and restaurant are expected to be full, consider using the lobby as an extension of the restaurant or create an additional lounge using that space. Hire an entertainer, move a portable bar out there, and set up cocktail rounds and high tops. At the very least, it will take the pressure off the restaurant. At best, you will have guests hanging out in the “new” cocktail lounge rather than heading elsewhere for their food and beverage that night.
Once the Guest Arrives
When the typical guest arrives at your property, the key to getting them to buy more services it to simply listen to their needs. A few helpful questions and their answers will tell you everything you need to know about where they plan on spending their money during their stay. Guests who are from out of state will depend on your staff to guide them, so make sure everyone is trained on where you want to steer these guests.
You should also take guest surveys and reviews very seriously. This feedback will go a long way in helping you tailor your property to the overall needs of the typical guest that stays in your hotel.
It should also go without saying that delivering a positive guest experience during their stay will create loyalty. That loyalty should be rewarded. Generally, we offer them rewards points for their stays, but do not be afraid to go above and beyond what the brand itself is giving them as a reward. By taking a personal interest, you can create loyalty that goes above the brand and is more about your particular hotel than anything else.
As an example of going above and beyond, look at some of your regular guests that generally arrive late Sunday night every week. There is a very good chance these guests have not eaten and an even better chance the restaurant will be closed by the time they arrive on property. Look up past bills to see what they like to order from the restaurant and have the staff prepare a meal before they shut it down for the evening. Imagine the delight of a guest as they check-in to find out you took the liberty of having something to eat ready for his or her arrival. Even if they don’t eat it, the gesture itself will go a long way to securing that guest’s loyalty to your hotel property.
While we never want to bleed a guest for money, we do want to maximize the money they spend during their stay and we want them to want to come back as well as feeling as though they are getting value for the money they spend. This is the type of thinking that will take your property to the next level. If your team is falling short, it may be time to call Joseph David International. JDI is consistently ranked among the top hotel recruiters in the country because we don’t just find candidates, we find the ideal candidate for your specific property and needs. For more information about our hospitality recruiting services, please click here.