RIGHT GUESTS, T
he principle of revenue management – selling the right product at the right time and the right price to the right guest –
will never change. But who is the right guest? Or more precisely, how do you know you are targeting the right guests? Michael McCartan, area vice-president,
EMEA at IDeaS, says: “The simple answer is to look at the hotel’s bottom line, but there’s more to it. A lot of properties are hyper-focused on room revenue and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s obviously only part of the story.” More hotels are broadening their revenue
management approach to also factor in ancil- lary guest spending. Questions like: ‘Is this guest segment likely to book spa services?’ and ‘Do they typically spend substantially on food and beverage?’ are now being weighed in stra- tegic decision-making. In any case, over the lifespan of a hotel, it
may be necessary to change the target audi- ence simply because of the natural cycle of life. When Mark Bevan, managing director of Gemini Hospitality Group, took over the man-
“We try extremely hard to reach our
audience” Mark Bevan, Gemini Hospitality Group
agement of the Elms Hotel & Spa in Worces- tershire in November 2022, the physical assets were in good condition following recent investment. But he knew a digital makeover was necessary to attract a younger clientele and give the hotel a sustainable future. “The website wasn’t great and the online booking process wasn’t either,” he remem- bers. “I’m an absolute believer more than ever now, especially since the pandemic, that your
RIGHT REVE
A digital makeover will help to target the right guests and assist with overall revenue management. Ben Walker looks at how to upgrade your systems to get customers through the doors
website is your shop window. People research online first. Gone are the days when they pick up a brochure or a guidebook.” The hotel’s target market is now 25- to
45-year-old couples and families looking for leisure breaks. How does the hotel reach them? With Instagram and Facebook ads; Google pay-per-click ads on search terms; and remarketing ads (on the premise that peo- ple need to see a product on average 10 times before making a purchase). Return on investment from digital advertising
has increased from 8:1 to 42:1 since he joined the hotel, says Bevan: “For every pound we spend on digital advertising, we get £42 back.” The hotel’s number of Instagram followers
has shot up from 6,800 to 23,000. It is mostly women who discover the Elms on Instagram, but the majority of direct bookings are made by men who first visit the hotel’s Facebook page. Bevan has widened the hotel’s target audience radius from a two-hour drive to a three-hour drive and included London. “We try extremely hard to reach our audi-
ence. Every few weeks we review: What’s reaching who? What return are we getting? Where are they coming from? And we refine and refine,” he says, adding that since Novem- ber 2022, direct bookings have increased from 60% to 87%. The hotel must keep coming up with new seasonal messages and reasons for guests to come to the hotel and Bevan is confident that he is reaching the right audience. “We get people who stay here once every
couple of years for a special occasion and we get people who stay every month because they like coming here. We don’t internally differentiate between those guests,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re spending £4 on a coffee or £1,000 on a two night-stay. We need to make sure people feel they get value for what they are spending. There’s too much competition in the hotel market. If you don’t deliver the experience first, they’ll never come back, and second, they’ll tell everyone and put it on TripAdvisor, which is very detrimental.”
46 | Technology Prospectus 2024
www.thecaterer.com
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