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Make the most of your hotel’s email marketing moments this March

Make the most of your hotel’s email marketing moments this March

by | Feb 18, 2020 | Hospitality

The UK population are spending an impressive £79 billion on domestic tourism. 

British holidaymakers opted to take more domestic breaks or ‘staycations’ rather than travelling abroad last summer, with the trend set to continue this year due to lingering ‘Brexit fear’. 

According to the latest study from VisitBritain, 56% are planning to holiday at home in 2020, with events such as the UEFA Euro 2020 being held in London over the summer contributing to this continued preference for domestic travel.

With this in mind, are you doing anything to ensure that these guests choose your hotel over your competitors?

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Benefits of email marketing 

Save money – in comparison to traditional marketing, email is a much more cost-effective way of keeping in touch with your guests throughout their customer journey.

Save time – automation means that emails can be scheduled at the perfect time. Whether it’s an auto-response to a question about your hotel availability, or a confirmation email right after booking, today’s customers appreciate instant responses, and your team will be freed up to focus on other tasks.

Reach guests no matter where or when – as long as people are connected online, they can receive your marketing emails and engage with your brand on various devices, such as: mobile, tablet and desktop,

Target guests using personalisation – email marketing allows for greater scope when sending personalised messages to your guests.

People subscribe to email lists for different reasons, with some looking for the best deals on their next stay, whilst your loyal customers will want to stay connected with your promotions, topical content and community updates.

Email marketing enables you to customise your message for each individual on your list.

What should you be sending?

Welcome new mailing list sign-ups with an introductory email, informing them of what services you offer and any points of interest in your local area to encourage bookings.

Provide regular updates about your hotel or restaurant facility, including seasonal menus. 

Booking confirmations with the details of their reservation and the opportunity to add extra services to their stay.

Follow-up messages post-stay to gather feedback, increase reviews and referrals, and encourage guests to return.

Keep in touch after booking cancellations as these guests could be won back at another time. If you aren’t in touch with them, your competitors definitely will be.

Exclusive deals and discounts to incentivise guests to book, such as room rate offers and rewards for returning customers.

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Have you started thinking about your March send plan?

Happy Mother’s Day

With Mother’s Day coming up on the 22nd March, what are you doing to capitalise on this key calendar event?

Collectively, we’ll spend close to £1.6 billion on our mothers this year, with gifts of personalised cards (£50 million), flowers (£260 million) and spa packages or experiences (£1.4 billion).

Although our email focuses on an afternoon tea offering, you can use this as inspiration for your own campaign, whether you’re promoting a weekend away or pushing your spa and restaurant bookings instead.

Around this time of year, many people will be struggling for ideas for what to get their mum as a gift to show how much she’s appreciated.

Save them valuable time and take the pressure off by getting your offer in front of them early.

Talk to us for more information.

How was your stay?

As we’ve already covered, it’s highly important to remain in contact with your guests throughout their customer journey with you.

Sending them an email post-stay is potentially one of the most vital touch-points to show that you care about their experience, and to ask for vital feedback that can benefit you when it comes to making improvements and finding out what works and what doesn’t.

Keeping communications flowing with guests after their departure helps to promote loyalty and encourages them to return next time they plan on visiting the area.

So, send a communication such as this example a day or two after check-out, and consider including exclusive offers to incentivise repeat bookings.

Each month, we provide our hospitality customers with an inspirational send plan that they can adapt to suit their business and send to their guests. For more information, book a free, no-obligation consultation.

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Marketing to increase your hotel bookings this Valentine’s

Marketing to increase your hotel bookings this Valentine’s

by | Jan 31, 2020 | Hospitality

Share the love this February…

As Valentine’s Day is one of the highest grossing commercial holidays in the UK – with Brits spending approximately £28.45 on gifts for their significant other – it is the perfect opportunity to get your guests and past clients thinking about romance.

For hotels and restaurants, there’s ample opportunity to increase your bookings and reservations this February.

With this in mind, we have prepared four campaigns for your send plan, showcasing special Valentine’s offers and an open event invitation for World Marriage Day to generate more revenue opportunities for your business.

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Billion pounds to be spent by UK consumers this Valentine's Day

%

Will visit a restaurant with a special Valentine's menu

%

Will choose a restaurant with a romantic atmosphere

Save the date

What better date than the 9th February – i.e. World Marriage Day – to open your doors to future brides and grooms for an open day event?

If holding a small wedding fayre is off the cards, use this topical campaign to promote your wedding packages and promotions, offering more intimate one-on-one venue tours to prospective newlyweds.

Valentine’s Day sees online searches for ‘how to propose’ jump from 12,100 in a month to 22,000 in February, making it a really hot topic amongst your customer base.

Invite potential customers to meet you and get a feel for your venue, whilst reaffirming your value above local competitors.

   

 

Valentine's Day

In the run up to the day itself, send this interactive campaign to encourage more direct bookings. For maximum effect, we would recommend targeting your hottest prospects using your recent open and click-through reports.

With a non-promotional angle, this is a great way to engage with guests and drive more direct bookings.

When planning a Valentine’s Day getaway, Brits are 40% more likely to choose a hotel over a rental like Airbnb, so share a great offer to secure their business.

   

 

Love at first bite

 

UK consumers spend over £1 billion on Valentine’s Day.

With a preference for experiences over gifts, it is expected that a significant amount of this revenue will be spent on dining out and romantic getaways.

When choosing a restaurant, 13% will opt for one that has a special menu or promotion and 21% will choose one with a romantic atmosphere – so consider making these the focus of your email this week.

Year-on-year, this holiday has become less about romantic relationships and more about ‘self-gifting’ and treating friends of family. Keep the sharing spirit going by looking at the memorable experiences your guests can have with you.

 

Ahead of your stay

 

This simple but effective campaign provides you with the perfect opportunity to cross-sell and upsell to guests pre-stay.

Remember to apply an appropriate filter or contact list targeting those staying with you in the near future.

Given that 59% are interested in upgrade offers, this is a key communication to increase spend-per-head, whilst reducing the likelihood of cancellations. 

 

Save the date

What better date than the 9th February – i.e. World Marriage Day – to open your doors to future brides and grooms for an open day event?

If holding a small wedding fayre is off the cards, use this topical campaign to promote your wedding packages and promotions, offering more intimate one-on-one venue tours to prospective newlyweds.

Valentine’s Day sees online searches for ‘how to propose’ jump from 12,100 in a month to 22,000 in February, making it a really hot topic amongst your customer base.

Invite potential customers to meet you and get a feel for your venue, whilst reaffirming your value above local competitors.

Valentine's Day

In the run up to the day itself, send this interactive campaign to encourage more direct bookings. For maximum effect, we would recommend targeting your hottest prospects using your recent open and click-through reports.

With a non-promotional angle, this is a great way to engage with guests and drive more direct bookings.

When planning a Valentine’s Day getaway, Brits are 40% more likely to choose a hotel over a rental like Airbnb, so share a great offer to secure their business.

Love at first bite

UK consumers spend over £1 billion on Valentine’s Day.

With a preference for experiences over gifts, it is expected that a significant amount of this revenue will be spent on dining out and romantic getaways.

When choosing a restaurant, 13% will opt for one that has a special menu or promotion and 21% will choose one with a romantic atmosphere – so consider making these the focus of your email this week.

Year-on-year, this holiday has become less about romantic relationships and more about ‘self-gifting’ and treating friends of family. Keep the sharing spirit going by looking at the memorable experiences your guests can have with you.

Ahead of your stay

This simple but effective campaign provides you with the perfect opportunity to cross-sell and upsell to guests pre-stay.

Remember to apply an appropriate filter or contact list targeting those staying with you in the near future.

Given that 59% are interested in upgrade offers, this is a key communication to increase spend-per-head, whilst reducing the likelihood of cancellations. 

Each month, we prepare a send plan just for the hospitality industry. These inspirational campaigns are designed to increase your brand awareness, generate you more bookings and influence loyal guests in 2020.

Get in touch to find out how much additional revenue you could be generating with a monthly send plan.

Book a consultation
Reduce your reliance on online travel agents

Reduce your reliance on online travel agents

by | Oct 19, 2019 | Hospitality

On average, 76% of online bookings are made through OTA sites rather than directly through the hotel.
Through a number of techniques and practices, the OTA model encourages consumers to be fickle with their booking commitments, with one in five of these reservations falling through.
Cancellations are unavoidable to a certain extent, but when those ‘no shows’ are causing your hospitality business to regularly lose out on revenue, what can you do to combat the problem?

%

Of online bookings come from OTAs

Why pressure tactics don’t work
When looking into hotel cancellation sources, there’s a significant difference between OTAs and direct bookings, with Booking.com at 57%, Expedia at 26%, and hotel websites at 14%.
Hotel comparison sites have faced considerable backlash over the last few years, with a recent investigation from Britain’s competitive watchdog finding that “pressure selling” techniques and “search misrepresentation” were rife amongst well-known OTAs.
As a result, it’s been estimated that 43% of consumers booked in error when using a comparison site because “they were in a rush”, with others feeling pressured to “secure a deal” (25%), or simply failing to pay attention (50%).
Whilst these techniques will lead to more bookings initially, they will also result in a far greater cancellation rate. And considering that you’ll often receive very limited information about that contact, you will also lose the opportunity to encourage them to rebook.
To reduce cancellations from hasty OTA bookers, you need to ensure that your hotel or restaurant is accurately represented on OTA and central booking sites, and that your website is packed with value-adding content that they can find organically.
By updating your online presence with your latest menus, events and offers, you’ll enable your prospective guests to make an informed decision about their next stay.
If a customer is on the fence and ready to cancel, nurture that relationship by sending them a welcome email, reinforcing the details of their booking and telling them more about your business.
Showcasing reviews from past guests will also alleviate any customer concerns, as it provides them with the chance to see your business in a positive light.

%

Believe OTAs give them "better value for money"

Finding the true source for ‘best value’
When looking for accommodation, 96% of Brits prioritise getting the best deal.
Even though half would feel more secure booking directly, only 15% will do so, as they think they’ll get a better offer from an OTA.
Some of the most common ploys used by comparison sites result in many holidaymakers not getting the deal they thought, for instance, with inaccurate countdowns and fake discounts.
In most cases, the hotels listed at the top of OTA sites have gained that prime spot by paying twice the standard commission rate – which can be as much as 40% – and leads customers to believe that the hotel is more popular than it is.
For your price-sensitive guests, we recommend the following steps:
  • Continually develop your online and offline marketing, drawing particular attention to your offers and exclusive packages.
  • Implement a loyalty scheme to reward returning guests, with the added benefit that these programs reduce the likelihood of your customers putting a lower price over the value that you provide.
  • Ramp up your promotions during slow periods.
How we can help
There are some obvious provisions that you can take to protect your business, such as taking deposits and claiming damages, but these can act as deterrents to future business.
A multi-channel marketing strategy that captures your USPs will help you to reduce your OTA reliance and generate more direct bookings.
For more information on what we can do for you, contact our team on 0344 800 84 24.
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The different customer types in hospitality

The different customer types in hospitality

by | Sep 10, 2019 | Hospitality

Do you know what drives your customers? Whilst 80% of businesses believe that they do, only 8% of their customers would agree.
By understanding your target market, you can enhance your customer communications, increase business efficiency and form strong guest relationships that can withstand competitive offers from your rivals.
So, what does your ideal guest look like, and what do you need to do to reach them?
Here are a few examples of the customer types within the industry, from corporate bookers to groups and families.

Families

By life stage, these consumers take the most holidays, with young families (i.e. children under 5) taking an average 2.4 domestic breaks and older families (children over 5) taking 2.7 per year.

As a consumer group, families can be difficult to please, mostly due to the fact that their needs represent those of a multi-generational group.

In 2017, 40% of bookings were for immediate family members only with a further 21% including extended members as well.

This means that you’ll need to balance priorities ranging from price and activities, to child-friendly amenities and services.

Children are a huge factor when it comes to where and how their families travel, with around 77% stating that their children “highly influenced” the planning of activities, and 54% saying that they helped choose the hotel.

The business or solo traveller

In the UK alone, business travel accounts for £39 billion, which is set to rise over the next ten years at 3.7% per annum.

Furthermore, what starts as a simple business trip for many consumers actually leads to a hybrid form of travel now known as “bleisure”, as 49% of corporate guests extended their stay this year to enjoy themselves.

This new trend is particularly prominent amongst millennials, considering that 80% of working professionals in this age range have planned personal time around their work plans.

Although these guests have begun showing an interest in shared economy platforms, with 25% having made an Airbnb booking and a further 44% considering it for the future, if you provide the right loyalty scheme, you’ll soon build a lasting rapport.

Whilst those aged 65 and over are fast-becoming the most common solo traveller, with 18% travelling alone within the past 12 months, and 81% of those suggesting that they wanted the opportunity to do what they want.

Whether travelling for work or pleasure, the solo traveller will require space, access to Wi-Fi, value for money and convenience.

Millennials

In contrast to other generations, millennials often travel with their friends or partners, and rely heavily on technology to plan and book their vacation.

Just to show you how techy-savvy they are, we’ve provided the following statistics.

  • 75% upload a photo or status to social media every day of their holiday.
  • 80% read between six to twelve reviews before booking.
  • 49% look at menus online before deciding on a restaurant.
  • 51% use their mobiles for hotel searches.

Despite loyalty schemes working for other customer types, they are often unsuccessful with millennials, as they’re more interested in trying new places.

However, given the free publicity that they can grant your hotel or restaurant from sharing posts and pictures online, millennials can actually generate you more organic business and referrals.

The hasty booker

As a business owner, last-minute bookers are an incredibly valuable asset.

The hasty booker is the least price-sensitive customer you’ll meet. Whilst it might be fair to assume they’re waiting for the right deal, it turns out to be quite the opposite, as these guests are more likely to have between £500 to £750 in disposable income per month and are aged between 35-44.

With a spontaneous outlook on life, these consumers don’t mind taking risks with their money (34% vs. 21%) and are more likely to “impulse buy” (51% vs. 43%).

The hasty booker is the perfect customer to attract during lulls in business but they can also be notoriously fickle.

One of the most common causes of booking drop-outs is a lack of research and planning, which sums up the hasty booker’s approach pretty well, given that 59% of these guests prefer not to plan ahead.

Stags and hens

Love them or loathe them, rowdy groups of hens and stags bring with them a lot of business.

In the last five years, stag and hen group spending has increased by 50% and 28% (respectively), leading to a combined worth of £300 million each year from the UK’s hen and stag industry.

With one in twenty of these events now lasting for a whole week, and the average cost sitting at £464 per person – including accommodation, drinks, food, and activities – it’s clearly a lucrative customer group for hoteliers and restaurateurs to target.

However, reports seem to suggest that these pre-wedding festivities can garner mixed reviews, even from their attendees. Although some say they’d be happy forking out more money to try new experiences, more than half of Brits (60%) dread attending or end up turning down invitations.

What’s more, some hotels are now showing reluctance to host these events for fear of attracting anti-social behaviour. Yet with 31% preferring a relaxed hen or stag, there are certainly other ways that your business can cater for these crowds.

Create meaningful and profitable relationships with your guests.

Find out how BriefYourMarket.com can help you to build the ultimate customer journey – book your consultation.

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Revolutionise your approach to self-generating business

Revolutionise your approach to self-generating business

by | Aug 22, 2019 | Hospitality

In the last five years alone, technology has revolutionised the way that the average consumer will research, plan and book their next holiday, adding a whole new meaning to the concept of a personalised customer experience.
A 2017 Barclays report found that – out of millennials – just over half (51%) would choose one hotel over another if it meant that they could check-in via their smartphone, with 44% taking an interest in providers that offer room control functionality from a personal device.
Hilton Hotels are a prime example of how technology can be leveraged by hoteliers as a point of differentiation. Their “Connected Room” allows its guests to tailor aspects like the room’s temperature, lights and entertainment from their phone.
Yet whilst the need for innovation is apparent, very few are using digital avenues to maximum effect, relying on commission-based comparison sites instead of self-generating new and repeat business leads.
Eight in ten bookings that are made last-minute are completed over mobile but only 16% of mobile bookers will go direct.
Holidaymakers want an ultra-personalised experience in 2019, with 41% going out of their way to find brands that will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to provide recommendations based on their interests and past travel experience.

%

Last-minute bookings are completed over mobile

%

Want to check-in from their smartphone

%

Would use brands that offer AI recommendations

The rise of the micro-break
Over half of global travellers (53%) are planning to take more weekend trips this year, giving you the chance to increase repeat bookings and create customers for life.
To cater for this demand, consider what you’re currently offering – or could make available – to those who would be interested in a condensed but action-packed stay.
For instance, market a 24-hour turnaround vacation that includes your top recommendations and most popular promotions for local businesses in the area, as well as a room discount for off-peak periods.
According to experts, there will be a surge in desire to stay in “unique and remarkable” accommodation types, most likely due to the growing popularity of sharing our travel experiences on social media sites such as Instagram – so remember to lead with your USPs in your marketing.
Millennial holidaymakers
In the early 2000s, over 110,000 young Brits booked onto the Thomas Cook package, Club 18-30 holidays, bringing in an annual sum of £48 million.
Many have since speculated what has caused millennials to lose interest in this brand, settling on the increasing diversification within the industry, the drive amongst young people to try new things, and social media’s influence over finding “more photogenic travel opportunities”.
This change highlights the struggle business owners face to identify exactly what consumers – especially those under 35 – want from them.
Last year, ethical branding gained considerable traction with today’s consumers – particularly the younger generations, including 54% of those aged 16-19, who stopped buying from a brand that they perceived as “unethical”.
Likewise, travellers are showing more interest in adding purpose to their trips, wanting to learn new skills and life lessons (56%), whilst becoming more conscious of the issues affecting their chosen destination – e.g. human rights, equality and working conditions.
To maintain relevance with your guests, you need to know who they are and what they expect from you.
By surveying them at booking, pre-stay and post-stay, you will build a comprehensive profiling of your customers that can then be used to target them with repeat booking incentives.
How we can help
With the rise in customisable travel and expectations for an on-demand service, holidaymakers are becoming more specific when it comes to what they want from their next trip.
Marketing helps you to segment your audience, targeting them with relevant content to drive bookings and reduce your OTA reliance.
For more information on what our multi-channel marketing platform can do for you, contact our team on 0344 800 84 24.
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The ultimate booking experience

The ultimate booking experience

by | Jul 30, 2019 | Hospitality

A quarter of our disposable income will go towards our holidays, with the average British household taking two main trips per year and spending over £6,000.
With Brexit an ever-present concern, and more consumers deciding to stay closer to home for their 2019 vacations, you will need a winning strategy to attract their attention and business, starting with an insight into the customer booking experience.
A Nationwide spending report recently found that four in ten Brits will dip into their savings to afford their next trip away, whilst a quarter will borrow money – relying on credit cards (15%), personal loans (4%), and friends or family (3%).
Whilst many intend to stick to a budget, six in ten will end up overspending – typically by at least £250 – and will take around three months to pay it all off.
To position your hotel as the ultimate staycation destination, and reduce your OTA reliance, it’s important to develop the customer experience you provide.
Holiday spending habits in the UK:
  • Book their vacations online 81% 81%
  • Overspend by at least £250 60% 60%
  • Dip into their savings 40% 40%
  • Will borrow from family or loans 25% 25%
Hotel marketers have defined the travel booking journey as consisting of five phases, those being: dreaming, planning, booking, experiencing and sharing.
So, what are you doing at each of these stages to win over new and returning guests?

Dreaming

According to Think with Google, we experience travel micro-moments throughout the dreaming phase, or as they coin them, “I-want-to-get-away moments”.

On average, we’ll spend three hours a week daydreaming, with the most common fantasy being our next holiday – leading 17% to either miss or take a wrong turn when driving.

There is no fixed time for how long this period will last. For some, it may take only a matter of minutes from dreaming up their next holiday to actually booking it. Whilst for others, reaching that next step could take a matter of weeks or months.

However, it is a crucial stage in terms of marketing. Brand loyalty does not yet play a part in the customer journey – with 82% of leisure travellers yet to choose an accommodation provider – making it an opportune moment for you to put your business in front of your audience and demonstrate your value.

Planning

Now that they have a rough idea of what they want, your customers are ready to start researching their options. For British holidaymakers, that can take 30 hours spread out over five weeks.

In today’s market, the booking process happens across digital channels for 90% of consumers, providing you with a multitude of customer touch points to oversee and maximise on.

Whilst previously we’d have flicked through travel brochures, we’ll now scour the internet for 4.5 hours for more information and reviews before making a commitment.

The planning phase is crucial for determining value, with concerns about the quality of the facility (63%) or the food (47%). This is where your customer testimonials will prove useful, putting your prospects at ease.

Booking

Your customers are on the verge of booking, and whether that’s through your website, an online comparison site or over the phone, you need to provide a seamless service.

More cancellations occur from OTA bookings than from your website, mostly due to the utilisation of high-pressure tactics, with Trivago making headlines in 2018 for apparently “misleading customers with false advertisements”.

Half of all Google searches (46%) are location-specific, which means that if you have a strong online presence, you’ll improve your chances of driving traffic direct to your website – utlimately reducing your OTA reliance.

It’s also critical to get the “post-purchase experience” right, as getting it wrong will push 93% to buy from a competitor next time.

One of the biggest grievances with a brand’s post-purchase service is the speed of email delivery, with 81% frustrated after waiting longer than ten minutes, so be sure to provide a follow-up confirmation message to every customer.

Experiencing

How your guests interact with your brand will determine whether they’ll come back or not. With email marketing, you can encourage customer loyalty whilst influencing spend-per-head, with reports that pre-arrival campaigns – typically – see a 57% open rate.

When guests reach the experience stage of their travel booking journey, they’re often looking for ways to add value to their holiday, which you can provide in the form of your additional services, restaurant and spa packages.

Though they may initially be travelling for business, 49% of corporate guests will choose to extend their stay to enjoy some downtime, rising to 80% for millennials, who will plan their personal time around work.

Providing relevant information to the right target market will improve your chances of hitting the mark.

Approximately 50% of smartphone users will research what to do mid-stay, demonstrating that at every point of the customer journey, you need to be showcasing what the local area – and your hotel – has to offer.

Sharing

The final stage of the travel booking journey is one of the most important yet most commonly overlooked – sharing.

Your ability to generate direct bookings hinges on what your customers are saying about your brand online, making all the difference for 96% who look up reviews and 76% who focus on pictures from past guests.

Social media plays a crucial role attracting new customers – and helping your business to engage its recent visitors – with 42% believing it’s important to share their travel experiences and 40% picking destinations based on “Instagrammability”.

So, are you collecting and sharing your recent reviews? If the answer is no, you’re missing out on repeat business opportunities.

By honing the booking journey, you’ll stand out from your competitors and give your customers an experience that meets their needs.
BriefYourMarket.com work with hoteliers and restaurateurs across the UK, putting them and their brand in front of their guests at optimal moments.
To hear how we’re helping businesses generate repeat business from their data, cross and upsell their services and increase customer lifetime value, book your consultation.
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