David M. Brudney, ISHC, September 18, 2012
I just returned from teaching a class on sales and marketing
to a representative group
of franchisees, independent owners and GMs of U.S.
properties with fewer than 200
rooms.
Although most of my consulting practice over the years has
focused mostly on fullservice,
upscale and heavy group-oriented hotels, I’ve always managed
to keep an eye
out for how business is conducted at the smaller properties.
Besides, when Karen and I travel on leisure trips and we’re
not patronizing some historic
small inn or a charming B&B, we very often stay at Holiday
Inn Expresses, Hampton
Inns and Best Westerns.
The sheer numbers alone demand my keeping current with these
smaller hotels.
According to AH&LA (excluding properties less than 15
rooms):
- 75% of all 52,000 U.S. hotels are 150 rooms or less
- The average size of all current U.S. hotels is only 96
rooms
- Nearly 65% are located in the suburbs and small towns
The topics that resonated best - - and prompted the most
spirited class participation - -
were social media, revenue management and OTAs.
What surprised and alarmed me the most, however, was the
lack of awareness,
experience and even basic interest in topics such as
marketing planning, marketing
plans, direct sales in general, and neighborhood or backyard
marketing in particular.
I came away with the impression this group thought marketing
plans were something
done only on Mars.
“Failing to prepare is preparing to
fail” – John Wooden
Marketing plans are an industry standard - - every
successful hotel has a
written/detailed marketing plan that is signed off on and
used periodically throughout
the year as a benchmark to help measure progress and make
necessary revisions.
Given today’s market dynamics, larger hotels have begun
replacing the traditional
marketing plan with “strategic conversations” where an executive
committee revisits
marketing and sales activities weekly - - at times even
daily and hourly - - making
necessary and timely adjustments.
Despite the impact of online travel reviews and ratings,
OTAs, and brand website
booking pages, an argument can still be made that 80% of all
hotel reservations are
either made from - - or influenced by - - a 20-block or
20-mile radius of every hotel.
Successful hotels plan on how to penetrate that 20-block or
20-miles radius. And that
requires a commitment to producing a detailed and
measureable marketing plan.
This will require some work and effort on the part of the
hotel, to be sure. Researching
who the customers are is part of the market analysis
component. Equally important is
the product analysis and the competition analysis - - two
pieces of any plan that enable
owners and operators to understand and accept their
property’s strength and
weaknesses, and what differentiates their product from the
competition.
One of the most important elements - - again, for those
smaller hotels with less than
200 rooms - - is to put in writing and commit to a detailed
plan for overall direct sales.
If a smaller hotel has no dedicated sales department, no
staff member charged with
direct sales responsibilities, then the GM or owner must
assume that vital role.
Direct sales primary action steps include:
- Identifying local/area KGBs (key generators of business)
- Identifying targeted audiences (business travel, leisure
and group)
- Identifying potential local/area alliances and
collaborating partnerships
- Conducting a S.W.O.T. test for property and primary
competition
- Establishing goals and measurement metrics
- Scheduling regular outside sales calls
- Making those calls!
- Recording vital information into a sales software/contact
management tool
- Follow up appointments and prospect site inspections
Without a formal written plan, any outside sales call
program becomes hit-and-miss and
very difficult to track. Far too often the program leads to
the GM announcing, “I think
I’ll go make some sales calls today.” Not a good idea.
Direct sales is just one component of a sound marketing plan
and must be fully
integrated with other elements that include advertising,
promotion, merchandising,
pricing, distribution channels along with social media
platforms, travel and trade shows
and budgets, of course. But
I’ll stop at direct sales for
now.
There are dozens of marketing plan samples online if your
property does not have a
formal plan or if you are interested in creating one. In
addition, most franchise
companies offer marketing plan templates to franchisees.
Templates may also be found
on my colleague John Hogan’s HospitalityEducators.com site.
And experienced
hospitality marketing consultants are available to help both
in person and online.
Plan your work; work your plan. Measureable results will
follow. And you will have
more confidence along the way.
___________________________________________________
David
M. Brudney is a charter
member of International Society of Hospitality Consultants
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David M. Brudney, ISHC, is a veteran
hospitality sales
and marketing professional concluding his fourth decade of service to
the
hospitality industry. Brudney advises lodging owners, lenders,
asset
managers and operators on hotel sales and marketing “best practices”
and
conducts reviews of hospitality (as well as other industry) sales and
marketing
operations throughout the U.S. and overseas. The principal of
David
Brudney & Associates of Carlsbad, CA, a sales and marketing
consulting
firm specializing in the hospitality industry since 1979, Brudney is a
frequent lecturer, instructor and speaker. He is a charter member
of International Society of Hospitality Consultants. Previously,
Brudney held hospitality sales and marketing positions with Hyatt,
Westin
and Marriott. |
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