Putting Hospitality back into Hospitality

I recently shared the stage in Las Vegas at the annual Hotel Electronic Distribution Association Conference (HEDNA), with four travel industry marketing and distribution experts as a moderator for a Panel with the topic, "Economy in Transition" and what that means to the hospitality industry. " As we bring 2009 to a close, thankful to have survived one of the toughest economic downturns, we examined the lessons learned and top takeaways as the industry moves forward in 2010.

Jan Freitag, Vice President of Smith Travel Research opened the panel by providing the audience with the state of the union and the outlook for the coming year. According to Smith Travel even though we have seen double digit declines in both occupancy and rate around the world, the United States was arguably one of the hardest countries hit.

One of the main challenges was as we saw demand decline, supply had increased - with a number of building projects started before the downturn happened. The Luxury and Upscale hotel markets were hit the hardest, while the decline in demand for group bookings hit a staggering loss of 25% at its peak during the year.

As the economy and travel are beginning to show some signs of recovery with hopes of a better 2010 leading into "heaven in 2011", (according to Freitag), we examined lessons learned for the hotel industry. I asked the group as part of their closing remarks to provide me with their takeaway for the audience to bring with them into 2010.

Tongue in cheek, Jan from Smith Travel said the industry should "buy more data" -- and then elaborated that in order to make decisions moving forward, one needs to be educated on the trends and current conditions. As an online marketing and distribution specialist, I of course believe that such analysis must also be done for each individual hotel and market through such tools as Website analytics. It is important to be sure you are measuring the channels that are actually working to drive sales, which leads us to the first point:

1. Use data intelligence to your advantage.
   "After having over 400 group bookings cancel last year", Art Jimenez, Senior Director of Leisure Sales, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority stated, "we had to bring it back to basics." The Las Vegas sales team deployed a back to basic mission of making thousands of personal sales calls and through relationship building, and quite simply asked for the business,
   
   They found this approach to be very successful, as we all know people buy from people and that has never changed. So with all the widgets and social networks available for the travel industry to spread their message, why not pick up the phone? Speak to someone in person and go have lunch with them. Create that old fashioned one on one personal relationship with your clients and separate yourself from the rest.
   
   
2. Bring it back to basics and pick up the phone.
   It's one thing to bring the business in but when it's there, we need service levels to meet guest expectations. "Often in a downturn the first things to get cut are Mystery Shopping and Training," explained Sandy Riach, Vice President, IT and Product Development, Trust International Hotel Reservation Services GmbH.
   
   The industry needs to recognize that a return to excellent service is an essential contributor to improving business. In an age of instant real time reviews from Twitter and other such social networks -- and with customer generated reviews now as the norm in the travel booking cycle, we need to remember how simple it really is to get our customers talking about us in a positive light.
   
   
3. Simply put, put the hospitality back in hospitality.
   Though many of us could not predict how bad 2009 was going to get, it was not the first recession the travel Industry has lived through. The conversation felt reminiscent of discussions after 9/11. We need to always be prepared for the next downturn.
   
   "Having a plan for down economic times is a must," said Jay Hubbs, Director, Hotel Revenue Management, Expedia Partner Services Group, Hotwire, "We can't fool ourselves that when we have good times that they will last forever." The travel industry has always been vulnerable and especially vulnerable to economic crisis - as well, new generations of customers who are concerned with issues such as sustainable travel are guiding the way customers are buying (or not buying travel) As an industry we always have to think ahead and be willing to re-invent ourselves.
   
   
4. Have a plan not only for the bad times but one that allows you to stay on the cutting edge of what your customers want.
   It is encouraging to see the signs that the worst is behind us with a little lift in demand, rate and occupancy in the last quarter of 2009. As we forge ahead into 2010 take the four lessons learned with you as your guideline for the coming year. Use data to your advantage, bringing it back to basics works, Put Hospitality back into Hospitality and never move forward without a plan!

Patricia Brusha is the co-founder of acoupleofchicks.com, a leading digital marketing firm with a passion for helping tourism businesses become successful online. Patricia is a 30 year veteran of the Hospitality Industry working in Sales, Marketing, and online search marketing. Patricia is also the Co-Chair, and Co-founder of the leading Canadian Online Marketing Conference - Online Revealed Canada. Patricia and partner Alicia Whalen are regular speakers at major travel and hospitality conferences, and the "Chicks" have been featured in publications such as the Globe and Mail, and in numerous major industry publications - including Hotels magazine and Lodging Hospitality magazine. A Couple of Chicks along with a team of ten, have won numerous awards including Hotelier Magazine Supplier of the Year 2009, and were ranked as one of the 2009 Profit Magazine Hot Emerging Canadian companies.

By Patricia Brusha, Co-Founder, A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing