Eight ways to market your accom according to season
Distribution plans needs diversified strategies to cater to seasonal changes.
A well thought out action plan helps maintain healthy levels of demand all year long.
1) Be proactive and analyse your markets
An in-depth analysis of your source markets will reveal where your guests come from for each season. For example, Europeans would like to getaway in winters to warmer places like Southeast Asia or Latin America. So, identify the trend and do targeted offers to capture their bookings, well in advance.
2) Understand Your Channels Performance
Review the performance of all your online channels in detail. A close look at the monthly reservations data from each channel can help identify the pattern for all seasons. Accordingly, you can strategise on ways to optimise the seasonal performance of these channels.
3) Entice travellers for an increased stay
Lure the travellers for an increased stay at your property by offering discounts for longer stays or offering value-add packages. This is particularly helpful for targeting leisure travellers as they tend to stay longer than the business travellers. Such offers can be rolled out during weekends and holiday periods where demand from business customers are generally low.
4) Partnerships
Drive business through local and global partnerships as they do help increase your presence in the market thereby driving more traffic.
During low season especially this strategy works great, as your rooms and services can be clubbed as a package along with the partners offering.
5) Understand user booking journey
Travellers usually compare the deals and rates on multiple OTAs before confirming their booking. Analyse these booking window sessions per season, to know what channels are performing best in terms of gaining reservations. With this data you can create a clever strategy to get more bookings.
6) Competitor intelligence
Set competitive rates based on your competitors to attract more customers. Intelligence tools like WatchMyRate help you price your rooms against your competition and get more bookings. Also, keep an eye out for the distribution partners your competitors work with along with understanding their rates and offers.
7) Content makeover
Visual content with happy and appealing images often results in more clicks. Use of sunshine and cocktails images for summer promotions or snow and skiing images for winter vacations on your metasearch profile, social media accounts and official website will result in added traffic.
8) Inspire Loyalty
It’s not uncommon for families to return to the same hotel year after year. Attracting families to your hotel repeatedly is an excellent way to build a loyal customer base. Friendly staff topped with passionate service makes a huge difference in guest experience and ensures repeat visit. Use this loyalty in translating to more direct bookings by offering exclusive seasonal offers.
About STAAH:
STAAH is a New Zealand-based technology company that specialises in cloud-based channel management and booking engine for accommodation providers helping them maximise their online revenue. Founded by Gavin Jeddo in 2008, a pioneer in the field of distribution technology, STAAH’s industry-leading technology powers a property’s distribution through online travel agencies (OTA) and direct bookings.
STAAH partners with over 15000 properties across 90 countries through its operations in New Zealand, Australia, India, UAE, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, UK and Europe.
