Holiday season is over, meaning not so many people are traveling as then and this decreases the amount of business hotels receive. Off- peak season usually leaves most hotel management struggling to keep the facility up and running with little or no business depending on location. Most hotels in the city center operate more off- peak compared to those out of town whose business highly depends on how well tourism is doing in the country and holiday season.
Below are some tips on how to keep the hotel busy when business is low.
Marketing
The hospitality sector in Uganda lately is very competitive especially for chain hotels, you have to outcompete the rest to keep at the top. The best way to do this is by having good marketing strategies tabled in whenever and be very aggressive at making sure the campaigns have a good reach.
Additional Services
Packages that come with booking a room should be organised to give more value to your guest’s stay. You can provide them with spa treatments, swimming classes, gym vouchers, complimentary wine and dinner just to keep your guests satisfied with their hotel choice.
Liaise With Events and Real Estate Companies
Sometimes it’s good to explore the many connections you get from networking with other businesses in the sector. In most cases when a big event like a concert or conference is in town the organisers will need to book a stay. Realtors always know the new people in town looking for a new house so they can recommend a hotel for the clients to stay in the meantime.
Promote Special Packages
When you have new packages for the guests to know about, make sure you promote them in travel magazines, booking offices and at the front desk. Encourage your employees to mention them to the guests whenever they can.
Online Travel Agencies
In a world filled with technology, it is easy for people to access anything just by the click of a button. So why not embrace this and use OTAs such as Jumia Travel? OTAs always give you the visibility you need, your hotel inclusive of rates and attractive pictures always online for a guest to book whenever they want. The best thing about this is your hotel stays online without a fee, you will however pay commission to the agency per booking depending on the terms you agreed on.
Tourist Attraction Promotion
One of the most common way to push your business is adding a package that works well with the tourism attraction in your location. A good example is how most lodges and hotels near national parks, mountains, forests, falls and water bodies create packages for guests that involve the attractions. These packages can be; boat rides, mountain climbing, water rafting, forest walks to keep the guests busy during the visit.
Focus on Theme Nights
During off peak season you can create themes at the hotel especially in the restaurants and promote them to attract clients. Ideas such as: wine tasting, Asian night, samba nights, band nights if well promoted can fill up your premises with crowds which creates business. When you have a gym, you can create dance classes and informing the guests about it.
Embrace Social Media
Social media is one of the best inventions of our current generation that makes business marketing so easy for anyone who is savvy with most of the sites. Social media gives you space to freely promote your packages, share pictures of happy guests and other activities happening at your hotel daily. Even better, promoting your company on social media sites is not very expensive and you can be on as many sites as you can as long as they suite your business. Social media presence also gives you an edge of other hotels since it is for potential clients to easily access you.
There is no better way to keep your hotel busy than when your customer care and hotel atmosphere is welcoming to the guests. The word of mouth promotion from the guests is valued by the potential guests.
