Site tours. Everyone wants to get their client in for a site tour.
The reality is, only some clients will come in for a tour. Some are too busy, some don't care, and most don't live close enough to visit your hotel anyway.
So, how do you differentiate your hotel from the rest when speaking to these prospects and leads?
Show, Don't Tell
When clients cannot come to your property before they make a buying decision, they need enough visual data to get a sense of your hotel. They need to feel it.
This means you must take every opportunity to showcase it; let's look at some ideas:
Great Photography Everywhere
We know how important it is to have great photography on your online profiles, but is it engrained in your sales process? Do your proposals contain pictures of your property? Do your proposals stand out from the competition?
Virtual Tours of Certain Areas
It may make sense to have virtual tours of specific areas of your property. Banquet space is a great example. What if every time you responded to a meeting lead, you were able to show them a virtual tour of your meeting space as well?
Remote Property Tour
What if you put a high-quality video together that walks your clients through your property? Caution: If you do this, it must be well done and entertaining.
Property Demo
How often do software companies give you a product demo? Why not do a demo of your hotel? Make a PowerPoint presentation that "walks" people through your property in 15 minutes. The client just completed a property walk with a 15-minute commitment instead of an afternoon.
Don't Be Shy
If you invest in these initiatives, use them. Create updated proposals for your portfolio, add video links to your email signatures, and include virtual tours to all first emails you send to meeting clients.
At the end of the day, most of your clients and leads do not live locally. To make it more challenging, many now work from home, making it even less convenient for them to stop by.
To combat these facts, investing in showcasing your property from afar is prudent.
All else being equal, who is your client going to choose? The hotel they can visualize, or the one left to their imagination?
About HotelTheory:
Hotel Theory believes hotel management is not a one size fits all solution. Their aim is to provide services that are tangible, see them in your profits tangible. With many full scale Hotel Management solutions in the market, Hotel Theory understands not everyone wants to completely hand off their hotel to a third party. Therefore, at Hotel Theory, they invest in your Organization and Leaders instead of their own. From High Impact Coaching programs to take your Leaders to the next level, needs based Supercharged Consulting to increase your bottom line, to their Flagship Hotel Executive Program which gives you the ongoing support you need without the overhead. Hotel Theory's goal is to create value for their owners through a high leverage process without paying for services you do not need.