Lexington Services Boosts Internet Bookings and Revenue for Clients through Targeted Promotions, and Hands-On Channel Management
Operators Talk about Online Incentive Strategies, Team with Revenue Management Professionals to Leverage Corporate Travel Increases
Travelers are back on planes and in cars taking vacations and doing business. But in the past three years both corporate and leisure travelers have evolved in their booking habits and changed practices for the hotel industry. This year travelers are placing their confidence in the Internet and booking a growing number of airline and hotel reservations online.
Operators Use Promotions, Tap Revenue Managers to Increase Internet Reservations
A growing number of independent and chain properties wanting to increase their reservation productivity through Internet and other booking sources are turning to channel sales providers to tame the complex process of promoting their properties online. Operators are using services ranging from the latest website booking-engines, to comprehensive Internet marketing and promotional campaigns to boost productivity. “We know how to use the Internet,” said Ubaldo Fierros, Corporate Revenue Manager of Brisas Hotels and Resorts. “But our business property in Mexico City was having flat reservation growth because of the complicated rate and city codes required by many travel websites. To correct this we began working more closely with our Revenue Manager from the channel sales company we use at all six of our properties, Lexington Services.” Channel Revenue Managers are experienced online hotel marketing professionals that specialize in developing sales strategies tailored for individual properties and chains. The strategies suggested by Lexington’s Revenue Manager for Brisas included travel agency promotions and new corporate rates for its city properties that improved revenue and raised occupancies almost at once. “Lexington loaded updated corporate rates for two of our properties and negotiated new travel agency commissions that increased Internet and TA production, and this helped improved our ADR immediately,” said Fierros. “Reservation productivity from Orbitz, Expedia and other sites is growing fast thanks to the work of our property teams and our Revenue Manager at Lexington.”
Converting Headlines to The Bottomline
The Huntington Country Inn in the heart of Long Island, New York is a favorite of corporate travelers who prefer the quiet, well appointed property as home base while in the area on business. The General Manager, Guy Reed, saw that while industry publications were full of stories about the growing trend in Internet reservations, his property was not having the same experience. His response was to contact his online channel company and ask them for suggestions on how to change things. “I explained our performance concerns to our Revenue Manager at Lexington Services,” explained Guy Reed, Huntington Country Inn’s general manager. “After working with us a few days and doing research on our channel strategies and rate placements she was able to spot several ways to improve performance. One of the first tactics she used was to email special promotional rate offers to all the travel agents in our database. She checked our inventory at the sites where our rooms were offered then created an incentive marketing program on Sabre by offering preferred rates for a limited time to drive occupancy.” The results: the 62-room independent Huntington Country Inn property has seen a $4,000 to $6,000 improvement in the past three months. And now the hotel’s general manager has asked Lexington Services’ Revenue Manager to train his managers on how to sell more effectively over the Internet and GDSes. As Reed said, “Her industry experience made a real difference to our bottom line.”
Low Season Tune Up Doubles Reservations
Last year the 208-room La Posada Hotel/Suites in Laredo, Texas, suffered from the same dilemma as many properties, the low-season blues. Summer is the low season in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, and even though the tough drilling crews and oil and gas executives who frequent the hotel are used to the heat, business can turn soft in the long summer months. Heriberto Aguilar, La Posada Hotel/Suites’ reservation manager knew he could do more to improve occupancy during the summer so he contacted the property’s Revenue Manager. “I asked for help with our low season numbers, and put him to work,” said Aguilar. “Our channel sales partner is Lexington Services, and the first thing their Revenue Manager assigned to our hotel did was run a survey of our current availability across all the sites offering our rooms. He recommended that we discuss creating a summer promotion for La Posada that offered double commissions to travel agents who sent business to our property during the summer months.” The results were impressive. With the summer season in full swing, now half of all La Posada reservations are being generated by travel agents. “This is saying plenty,” noted Aguilar. “Receiving five out of every ten reservations from travel agents is a big change because we also book a large number of reservations from our website and from call-ins to our reservation agents. Our Lexington Revenue Manager works hands-on with our staff and this makes a big difference in our occupancy and reservation production. They focus on our hotel’s performance and that keeps more guests booking our rooms.”