Selling Hospitality

Selling Hospitality Chapter 4

Unit Essential Question How are hotels and restaurants marketed?

Essential Question 1 How has the internet impacted hospitality marketing and how can it be used to increase sales in hospitality businesses?

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Marketing Hospitality Properties • Selling involves more than renting rooms or tables. • Image • The sales team needs to decide the image the hotel or restaurant will project.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Marketing Hospitality Properties • Ranking systems • Most ranking systems use a star or diamond system. • 5 stars refer to the highest quality and best-in-class accommodations. • Hotels or restaurants with more stars may charge higher prices however, the services and amenities offered must justify the higher costs.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Marketing Hospitality Properties • Customer satisfaction • Requires the involvement of all employees and staff. • Begins with the front desk clerk or restaurant host. • A bad experience will result in an unhappy customer who will tell potential customers about being dissatisfied.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Internet Impact • The internet is having a major impact on how individuals and businesses correspond with one another. • Infomediaries: Third parties used to make reservations through the internet.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Internet Impact • What customers expect • Convenience • Consistency • Information • High-speed access

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Changing Rules in Hospitality Marketing • Successful hospitality businesses have the common traits of speed, flexibility, and consistency. • Speed is necessary to respond to a dynamic business environment. • Customers are very fickle, and brand loyalty is much harder to accomplish today. • Flexibility is necessary to survive in the competitive marketplace.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Changing Rules in Hospitality Marketing • New rules for resources • Success in the hospitality industry depends on visionary leadership and a strong commitment to customer relations. • Creativity and risk taking are characteristics necessary for success. • Finding, training, and keeping employees who can respond to the demanding environment are becoming increasingly difficult. • The bottom line is customer satisfaction.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Changing Rules in Hospitality Marketing • Traditional sales techniques • Includes brochures, mailings, and bulk distributions. • Brochures should clearly identify hotel and restaurant highlights and must be readily available for prospective customers. • Targeted mailing lists are useful when sending out sales promotions that revolve around sporting events, honeymoons, family weekend packages, etc.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Changing Rules in Hospitality Marketing • Tracking quality • Customer feedback is important in maintaining repeat customers. • Psychographic information: Identifies reasons why customers stay at a particular hotel or eat at specific restaurant. • Psychographic and demographic data are combined and used to create successful marketing plans.

Marketing the Hotel or Restaurant Changing Rules in Hospitality Marketing • Restaurant sales • Sales strategies for restaurants are based on upon market trends, changing customer tastes, and competition. • Restaurants cannot depend on past successes and must constantly work to maintain customer loyalty. • Excellent food, atmosphere, and service are major factors when determining repeat business.

Essential Question 2 What are the various types of reservations and how has technology impacted the reservation business?

Hotel Reservations Reserving a Hotel Room • There are many ways a guest can make hotel reservations: • Telephone • Mail • Fax • Email • Face-to-face • Web site

Hotel Reservations Reserving a Hotel Room • Computer reservation systems keep the latest tally on available rooms. • Desk clerks can readily see which rooms are available, C/O, and occupied. • Customer loyalty is built on the assurance of reservation accuracy. • Nonsmoking rooms and the size of beds are important for different hotel guests. • The hotel’s sales department may offer good group rates for conventions or family reunions.

Hotel Reservations Reserving a Hotel Room • Types of reservations • Regular reservation: • A non-guaranteed reservation that is usually held until 6 p.m. on the date of arrival. • After 6 p.m. the room is made available on a first-come, first-serve basis. • Guaranteed reservation: • Requires the guest to pay for the first night prior to the guest’s arrival. • Held with a deposit or credit card. • Gives guests the peace of mind that they have a room no matter how late they arrive at the hotel.

Hotel Reservations Reserving a Hotel Room • Cancelled reservations • Courteous travelers call when they do not plan on using a reservation. • Cancellation numbers are assigned so the customer is not charged and the room is changed to available status. • Stayovers or overstays:Persons staying longer than their reservation. • Due-outs: People expected to check out.

Hotel Reservations Third-Party Reservations • Third-party distribution channels • Examples: • Travel agents • Internet • Hotels have become increasingly dependant on third-parties. • The hotel will usually pay a commission to the third-party.

Hotel Reservations Third-Party Reservations • Importance of communications • The reservation process is also linked to the data-gathering process. • Advances in technology, shortages in clerical employees, and consumers’ willingness to seek the best deal on their own make a focus on easy, accurate, and economically competitive reservations essential.

Essential Question 3 What markets take advantage hospitality event marketing and what strategies can be used to attract them?

Sales and Event Planning The Big Business of Hospitality • Hospitality Event Planning: Sales strategies that attract the business of large conventions and banquets. • Some use a Conference and Visitors Bureau (CVB): Promotes tourism and convention business. Typical members include accommodation facilities, special attractions, restaurants, and tour companies. • Group sales: Involve renting multiple rooms and meeting rooms. • Awards Banquets • Weddings • Proms • Reunions • Conventions • Social Events

Sales and Event Planning The Big Business of Hospitality • Sales staff • Plans strategies for convention and banquet business. • Must market the entire hotel product, including room, food and beverage service, meeting space, and recreational facilities.

Sales and Event Planning The Big Business of Hospitality • Advertising and research • Necessary elements are advertising, direct mail, publicity, and public relations. • Alert sales departments take advantage of free positive publicity in the newspaper. • Sales departments use marketing research to determine the best days of the year for business. • Forecasts: Projections of potential business based on past records of rooms sold, convention business, walk-ins, and meals sold. • Necessary for staffing, purchasing food, and ordering linen supplies.

Sales and Event Planning The Big Business of Hospitality • Catering for hospitality events • Catering has an enormous impact on the success of a conference. • Customer expectations rise with prices. • Most catered meals at hotels are expensive, so it is extremely important to have high-quality food and good service. • The catering department • Helps clients determine a meal that meets their budget and taste. • Has the task of making the customer’s experience a pleasant one.

Sales and Event Planning Potential Markets • Every meeting or convention has a unique personality with its own special needs. • Professional organizations: • Lawyers, doctors, teachers, or other skilled professionals • Political conventions • Special events: • Kentucky Derby, The Player’s Championship (TPC), The Super Bowl, etc.

Sales and Event Planning Sales Strategies • Brochures • Internet • Virtual tours • Mailing lists • Chambers of commerce • State tourism offices • Tour operators • Newspaper articles

Selling Hospitality