The local hotel market may be a savage battleground as establishments compete for the same sort of guest.
Maintaining a good profit margin may be tough, especially if your location is overcrowded and your competitors are working just as hard to increase their average daily rate.
You must figure out how to make your hotel stand out from the crowd. And to that, technology, such as hotel management software, is one of the most powerful weapons in the hotel's arsenal. These hotel technologies will help your boost guest satisfaction, streamline operation, drive guests to your hotels, and more. Here are a few hotel technologies that can help you get an edge over the local competition.
1: Keep an eye on the local competition
One of the most common blunders made by hotels is failing to keep an eye on what their competitors are doing. While it's excellent to have faith in your company strategy, a portion of it must be based on what your rivals are doing. This means you need to pay attention to their rates and promotions so that you can quickly make updates to your rates and promotions. Additionally, you might even learn that you can afford to offer greater deals or amenities in the run-up to an event or a busy time of year, attracting more people to your property. Don't forget to leverage your data to offer value and improve reservations during the week. However, don't go overboard with your marketing and discounting, it can degrade your property from the perspective of guests, so plan your promotions carefully.
Here's how you stay on top of what your competitors are up to:
- Using a revenue management tool, set up alerts and notifications for their rates.
- Sign up for their newsletters.
- Follow them on all social channels and see how they promote their services
- Examine their SEO and make changes to your own.
2: Online bookings through an integrated channel manager and website bookings
Online bookings have never been more crucial, thanks to the internet's ease of obtaining information and transparency. Guests may make educated decisions by looking up check-in and check-out schedules, facilities, pricing, and other information about your hotel.
Keep in mind that up to 64% of millennials use their cell phones to research, arrange, and plan their vacations, including booking hotel rooms. So make sure your hotel's website is mobile friendly, and the information is always up to date, not only on OTAs but also on the hotel website, to provide you an advantage over your local rivals. When it comes to the hotel's website, you may also use local SEO techniques to increase traffic.
3: Online ratings through a feedback management system
Hospitality is inherently a people's business and the guest feedback is the only way you can get success- thus it is crucial. You should put in a lot of effort to get great internet reviews because if you do, you'll have a strong reason to raise your prices. Furthermore, your visitors will generally identify your property's advantages and drawbacks, allowing you to see where you can improve. They may even be able to tell you how you stack up against the competition in your area. Most hotel management software includes an integrated feedback management system that allows you to gather and publish guest evaluations on your website, mobile app, and other platforms.
4: Offering mobile technology and advanced in-room technology
Check-in and check-out procedures have been made astonishingly convenient and simple thanks to recent advancements in hospitality technology. 81% of travelers want hotel businesses to provide better digital customer care and thus travelers have become used to amenities that help decrease long queues and waiting times including mobile check-in, electronic payments, online bookings, and a variety of other remote processes. The most recent security technology allows guests to use their cellphones as room keys, letting them enter their rooms directly. Similarly, guedusts may check out with a few clicks, eliminating the reception area entirely.
5: A branded app for before, during, and after stay convenience
Mobile applications, especially when connected with a property's current loyalty program and hotel management software, are an excellent way to engage visitors before, during, and after their stay. Insight on guest satisfaction and preferences may also be gained through the hotel's mobile app, which can be utilized to improve the quality or types of services given. Guests may also use the same mobile app to get hotel information, put service requests, order room service, control the in-room atmosphere, and connect with hotel employees. These digital compendiums may also be utilized to market upgrades and other special offers tailored to a guest's tastes, as well as creating upselling chances.
6: Targeting the right audience
Hotel management software helps hotels to more effectively target potential clients from a marketing standpoint. One of the most straightforward instances is hotels informing their business clients of their conference schedules, highlighting special prices and offers to certain groups, such as persons who have arrived at the same convention. This ability to connect with their target audience in real-time reduces marketing expenses while increasing efficacy and gives you an excellent jump start over the local competition.
7: Automation
Hoteliers have an unrivaled edge in terms of guest experience thanks to smart appliances and home automation systems that are currently being implemented in most new hotels. Intelligent elements such as automatic temperature management, lighting, alarms, entertainment technology, blinds, and other advancements improve client happiness while lowering overhead costs. It's more cost-effective for a hotel to invest in a 3G modem that can send SMS notifications to numerous groups of up to 16 recipients than it is to deal with irate visitors when one of the hotel's support systems goes down. Hoteliers may use smart in-room technologies to get an advantage over their local competitors.
8: Streamlined operations
Hotels become more productive by automating internal procedures with technology such as hotel management software. It allows administrators to organize and manage information from a single console, and it gives customer service representatives a comprehensive history of each customer. It also enables personalized interactions with visitors, such as the sending of automated emails.
9: Virtual Concierge
Using a virtual concierge to connect with guests is one of the simplest methods to acquire an advantage over the local competitors. By just walking onto a circular hologram projected on the floor, people may pick among categories such as entertainment, eating, and many others.
10: Use the real-time to data to make informed decisions
If you want to keep ahead of your competition and the market, you must have rapid access to information. With a revenue management solution, you can get this information instantly and It allows you to follow competitors and be notified when they modify any of your previously established rules. You may also do your own projections and anticipate demand for the local hotel industry using a tool like this, which means the prices you set are more correct and you won't lose income.
In a competitive business like the hotel industry, staying ahead of the competition and being relevant is critical. Implementing the correct technology successfully is a simple approach to differentiate yourself from your competition and appeal to today's tech-savvy tourists. Hospitality technology may alter the way customers interact with a hotel, resulting in repeat visitors, excellent ratings, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Let us know what are some of the ways you leverage technology to stay ahead of the local competition.
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