Ms. Shaw

Sales & Marketing

Leveraging the In-hotel Experience to Drive Incremental Revenue

By Stacy Shaw, President & Founder, m-k-t-g

So how do you maximizing guests' expenditures? By using a touch-point marketing strategy. Touch points are opportunities for generating incremental revenue from hotel guests throughout their stay from the moment of arrival to departure. Touch-point marketing involves determining the message, identifying the areas of opportunity, developing a method of delivery and tracking the conversion rate. In a nutshell, you have to tell the guest what you want them to do, how you want them to do it, affirm that they have made the right decision and tell them thank you for their spending. In addition to driving incremental revenue, touch-point marketing is critical to building brand loyalty.

The first key to a successful touch-point marketing campaign is a clear, concise message. Don't confuse your guest with too many messages. While we all like options, nothing is more frustrating or will get your guest to tune you out quicker than being inundated with multiple messages telling them what to do. Focusing on one to two message themes at a time will ensure clarity, deliverability of service and a high conversion rate.

The next steps in maximizing the effectiveness of every touch point are to identify where these opportunities exist and what is the best method of message delivery. Take the "five-senses" approach in developing touch-point delivery methods. Appealing to a guest's sense of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing will help cover all the bases. While each property offers unique touch points, the following key areas are common to most:

Pre-arrival

A comprehensive touch-point marketing program begins before the guest arrives. From your hotel's website to the reservation confirmation, you can begin telling guests what you want them to do during their stay and even provide them with an incentive to comply. Make sure guests know about all of the amenities and services your hotel has to offer before they arrive.

Promote your restaurant, health club, spa, 24-hour room service, business center, golf facilities or business center. By providing this information in advance, you are helping the guest plan ahead to experience all that your property has to offer.

Arrival/Check In

The sense of arrival sets the tone for a guest's stay, and your employees are the touch points during this process. By creating a sense of arrival that is both welcoming and helpful, your guests will feel more comfortable spending their time and money in your hotel instead of going off-property for their ancillary needs. Your doorman, bellman and front desk clerk have the first on-property chance to touch guests with a verbal message and provide collateral that will orient them to the hotel and assist them during their stay. From distributing a newsletter that includes a map of the hotel and F&B offers to an incentive message on the guestroom key, there are many methods of communicating to guests at this touch point.

In-room

The guestroom experience offers a multitude of ways to convey to guests how they can spend money at your hotel. However, your efforts will not be successful unless you make it easy and interesting for the guest. A restaurant menu buried deep within the hotel directory does not jump out and tell guests what to do. A creatively delivered and strategically placed message will get their attention and elicit a positive response.

Public Space

From waiting for the elevator to asking the concierge for recommendations, your guests spend a lot of time in the public areas of your hotel. Ensure that they are greeted with messages that encourage spending. Your hotel's lobby actually provides the perfect opportunity to appeal to a guest's five senses. Nothing will make you hungry quicker than flavorful food aromas. Have your chef in the lobby providing a delicious preview of your restaurant's cuisine as guests are returning from activities and meetings are adjourning. Deliver your message in an art form to grab your guests' attention. Include a message on the hotel's daily meetings and events locator listing and provide take-away information in sitting areas that guests can read at their leisure.

Meeting Space

However tantalizing the presentation, we've all sat through meetings where our minds wandered and our dream of becoming the next Picasso is evident from the doodles on the notepad in front of us. A meeting room provides the perfect opportunity to reach a captive audience. From providing the notepads with a screened message in the background to placing discount coupons for one of your outlets on the chairs, get creative in suggesting ideas for guests' post-meeting activities.

Outlets

Probably the most well-known touch point is a hotel's restaurant, coffee shop and bar. Most hotels have used touch-point marketing in their outlets in some form or fashion. The most common approach is cross-selling of the outlets and publicizing future food and beverage promotions. In most cases the message and delivery method need to be refined to be direct and representative of the caliber of the property and brand in order to provide optimal impact. Because F&B offers tend to change frequently, many properties make the mistake of generating in-house flyers at the last minute to capitalize on an opportunity. Delivering your message in this format increases the chance of mistakes and diminishes your hotel's image or brand, as well. Quality collateral does not have to be expensive. A customized F&B template program can address immediate needs while delivering your message in a manner that maintains the image of your hotel and brand.

Another key factor in generating outlet revenue is your concierge staff. Since the concierge staff recommends restaurants to guests daily, conduct periodic test calls to ensure they are recommending your hotel's restaurants first before sending a guest off property to dine.

Checkout/Post Stay

Checkout is a crucial touch point. Solicit feedback, provide a bounce back and, most of all, say thank you to the guests for choosing your hotel and your brand. Develop a system to review folios to determine conversion rate so that you can adjust your touch point marketing efforts to maximize incremental revenue in the future.

Other touch points to consider include fitness centers, business centers, gift shop, valet parking, your sales efforts and, of course, any employee/guest interaction.

Just remember, when you tour the corridors and public spaces of your hotel, behind virtually every door exists a new way to drive incremental revenue and elevate your guests' in-house spending. Which reminds me about using posters and audiovisual messages in hotel elevators ... yes, the marketing opportunities truly do run from the top to the bottom of your hotel.

Stacy Shaw is the president and founder of m-k-t-g, a full-service marketing communications agency focused on the hospitality industry, the agency works with companies that engage in lodging, dining, entertainment, development, tourism, recreation and gaming. Stacy brings over 20 years of marketing and hospitality experience to m-k-t-g. With a communications degree from Eastern Illinois University, Stacy began her marketing career at Foote, Cone & Belding. She continues to hone her passion and her extensive marketing background at m-k-t-g. Ms. Shaw can be contacted at 312-202-6935 or sshaw@m-k-t-g.com Extended Bio...

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