October
I have two sons who are involved in college
athletics and I
spend a great deal of time traveling on the weekends to catch their
home or
road games.
I am also a subscriber to each of their
university’s forums
or message boards that allows me to get the latest news about their
teams in
between games.
It is amazing how much traffic and
conversation is generated
in these social communities and if you are a hotel sales manager, you
should
consider how these forums and boards can be a great source of new
business for
your hotel.
At the Division I level there are typically
twelve games on
the schedule….six home games and six road games. Depending on the size
of the
institution, the popularity of the program, their opponents, and where
the
games will be played, the traveling audience can be sizable.
If you want to learn how to gain a portion
of this market,
continue reading.
Step 1 - In your local area, go to
your institution’s
sport’s or athletic’s homepage to locate each sport and their
respective
schedules. In addition to this year’s schedule, you can also Google
their
schedules for 2013 and beyond. This is an example of a site that provides information for
Division
I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). There are also sites that list
schedules for
Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, Division III, and
NAIA.
Let’s stick with football to continue this
exercise.
Step 2 - Click on ‘Football’ in the
menu and find the
team’s 2012 schedule. Click on the link and look for the teams that
will be
traveling to play in your city.
Step 3 - Make a list of those teams
and then conduct
a Google search for each one of those teams that looks something like
this…’XYZ
University sports message board’.
Step 4 - Check the search return to
identify the
forum or message board associated with that team, click on the site
link and
sign up so that you can become a member and be eligible to post
messages on
that board. Sign up usually requires an email address, username, and
password.
Step 5 - Sign in to the forum or
message board to
create a new post. Start with a post title something like this – ‘Great
hotel
for fans traveling to (your city) to see the (insert the visiting
school’s
nickname – ‘Texas Longhorns’ for example) play the (insert your
school’s
nickname – ‘Ramblin’ Wreck’ for example)’. Tweak your title to fit your
style but
make sure that you include your city, the visiting team’s nickname and
your
team’s nickname.
Step 6 - In your message body include
something like
this. ”We are excited that your Texas Longhorns will be coming to
Atlanta to
play the Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Wreck and I am inviting all of you who
will be
traveling to the game to be our guest at the ABC hotel. We are located
(include
the approximate distance from your hotel to the team’s stadium) and
have
(include your total guest room count, on site amenities, renovation
info,
ratings, area attractions, etc.). We also would like to extend a
(insert your
‘carrot’ or a promo code here) and would consider it an honor if you
would be
our guest. Here is my contact information and a link to our hotel’s
website and
on behalf of all of us at the ABC hotel, we look forward to serving you
during
your trip to Atlanta!
In some cases forums or message boards will
not allow you to
‘advertise’ so use Steps 7 and 8 as your Plan B.
Step 7 - Now go back to Google and
conduct a search
for the visiting team’s alumni association, go to their site and look
for the
‘Contact Us’ page that is provided on the site. The contact us page
will most
likely include an email address for ‘General Inquiries’ so your best
bet is to
pick up the phone and ask for the contact name and email address of the
individual who is responsible for that particular event or heads up
communications for the association.
Step 8 - Take the same message that
you created for
the forum or message board, tweak it if needed, and email it to your
new
point-of-contact with the institution’s alumni association to include
links to
your hotel, 800 number, promo code, online booking link, etc. Follow up
within
three to five business days to answer questions and secure the business.
The whole point of this exercise is simple
and productive.
Fans will travel to see their teams play on the road and they will need
a guest
room for a night or two during their visit. Be proactive and give them
a reason
to book your hotel and not your comp set.
Happy hunting!
Tom Costello is the CEO and Managing Director of iGroupAdvisors, a performance improvement consulting firm that specializes in the hospitality and travel verticals. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter or contact him by email.