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Heightened Security Requires New Strategies in Hotels
Sales
Carol Verret / March 2003 |
The threat of looming war is taking
an already elevated level of security to new heights. Public buildings,
office towers and military installations are increasingly difficult to
access. Hotels, especially large destination and gateway properties, are
aware of the potential risks to guests and have their own security issues.
This is likely to become more of an issue when and if the US goes to war
in Iraq.
The temptation on the part of hoteliers may be similar to that following September 11. Immediately following that event most businesses, including hotels and hotel companies, went into a temporary state of paralysis. Business travel came to a screeching halt and hoteliers' first reaction was to look for ways to reduce expenses. However, this time expenses have already been cut to the bone in many cases. There are some hotels and hotel companies that included the marketing and sales function in their expense revisions. While there was often a great deal of 'flab' in these budgeted expenses, the smart companies measured their cuts against productivity and many have sought to provide enhanced training opportunities for their sales staff to enable them to cope with the new economic realty. When we look at the travel trends following September 11, we see that corporations have pared down their business travel - this will be attenuated with the threat of terrorism again on US soil. Association and trade show attendance has been negatively impacted by the economy. (Travel Industry Association of America, www.tia.org) The market segments that were once the backbone of hotel revenues can no longer be assumed to support property budgets. Couple that increased level of security with the urgent need on the part of hotels to develop new business, a new approach to prospecting for new business has to be developed. A mainstay of 'backyard' marketing used to be to make cold calls on every commercial building within a certain radius. This simply will no longer work in major metropolitan areas. Access will be denied very quickly to those without appointments. Alternative markets take more time, skill and creativity to develop. How then to ensure that a hotel is squeezing every bit of business out
of their local markets? The following are but a few ideas and certainly
not exhaustive. WARNING - This approach requires sales people to dig deeper
for longer to maximize this opportunity. If management is not prepared
to support the time and increased learning curve in new business development,
read no further!
These are just a very few of the things that hotels can do to redirect
their sales efforts for new business development. Communicating with and
qualifying these new leads also requires a different strategy than what
has always been done before. That is the subject for another newsletter!
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