Why do people shop for hotel rooms online? The obvious answer is to compare rates and book with the lowest possible rate. So, the question then becomes if a certain aspect of your audience is looking to save money when booking a room online, how can you get that specific niche of the market to spend more money at your hotel? It’s not a simple answer and it is not an easy answer, but we do have an answer…
Learning How to Upsell
In all honesty, upselling is an art form. Be it the way your website is laid out, the perception of value from the guest, or how the property itself is perceived. For instance, why are guests on OTAs regularly picking Property A over Property B when they are both priced the same? Clearly, the guest perceives the money being spent as a better value at one property over the other.
Two of the most important factors in upselling are going to be timing and tone. You cannot be overly pushy when trying to upsell and you absolutely do not want to offer something at the wrong time when a guest is least likely to accept an offer. And yes, both can be addressed during the online experience.
First Things First
Before we get rolling on actual techniques, the property’s online presence may need to be addressed. This goes from the company website to the social media pages to the information available on OTA websites. The important thing to stress at this point is you want as much of the experience available at the hotel to become visual for online visitors.
In order to accomplish this, you may need to invest in 360-degree virtual tours of the property as well as hiring a professional photographer to capture the true essence of what your property has to offer. It may also require rewording the description given on the rooms available online. We need to make it very clear when they are getting value for a basic room package compared to the best the property has to offer. You literally need to train the guest to understand and recognize the difference when specific trigger words are using, such as “basic” over “luxury” or “deluxe.”
Upselling the Property
Once the facelift has occurred, you need to develop a plan on what you are going to upsell to the client, how it will be worded, and when you are going to do it. We are basically going to have two opportunities to upsell a guest: during checkout and just prior to arrival.
When the guest is going through the checkout process, it is unlikely you will be able to get them to upgrade significantly, but there is a chance you can get them to spend a few more dollars for their room. For most properties, this is going to be about amenities or view. For instance, if you are beachfront property and someone books a “basic” or “standard” room as they check out, one way to entice the guest is by creating a pop-up that says something along the lines of “For only $19.95 more, you can have THIS view instead of THIS view.” In the pop-up, actual pictures of the view for each room would be inserted for THIS.
Because each property is unique in the upgradeable benefits it offers, you will need to sit down with your sales team to list these out and decide what the most enticing upgrades for that specific moment would be.
An even better opportunity for upselling the guest is through either a text or email message prior to their arrival. This offers the guest a more relaxed setting, as they have already spent the money for the room, so small upgrades may not seem too financially daunting at checkout. For example, if the room rate is $99 per night and you try to get them to do a $20 upgrade on the room, all they can see is a $119 checkout cost. After the fact, however, that checkout cost is only $20. Yes, they are spending the same amount in either situation when all is said and done, but there is a better perception of value if they are upgrading after the actual booking but before they arrive at the property.
Do not underestimate the timing of this offer, either. When the guest is doing the original booking, they are probably in a money-saving mindset. After the room is booked, their attitude will likely have changed and with a little lucky timing, you will get their attention when they feel the need to pamper themselves or do not mind spending a few extra dollars on the trip.
Email and text also afford you the opportunity to offer upgrades based on each travelers behavior. If, for example, a guest regularly visits the spa but has never had a food charge on their bill, how likely are they to go for a food upgrade regardless of the price? On the other hand, if you have a guest that visits the restaurant or orders room service 50 percent of the time, don’t you think that particular guest may go for a restaurant or room service upgrade if it offered them a perceived value?
You can go up and down the features of your specific property to create very specific upgrades for each type of guest to present these offers. In addition to making the upgrade sale, you are also training your guests to look for these opportunities every time they stay at the hotel. Over time, the goal would be for the guest to add these upgrades when they book rather than having to wait or entice them in last-minute email offering.
Additionally, train the staff to make a big deal about the upgrade when a guest takes advantage of it. The front desk agent can see the charge right on the folio when the guest is checking in, so congratulate them for taking advantage of something and saving money. Saying something along the lines of, “Great decision on accepting that spa upgrade, by the way, because you are saving a LOT of money!” The more perceived value they receive, the more likely they are to “take advantage” of the offer the next time they stay at your property.
Are you happy with the marketing efforts by your sales team and the execution by the front desk team? If your managers are not delivering for you, let JDI help. Joseph David International is the #1 ranked hotel recruiter because we don’t just find managers, we find the perfect fit for your specific hotel and situation. For more information about our hospitality recruiting services, please click here.