Hotels face several kinds of customers, all of whom have varying needs. There’s the business executive who travels in class and has a loaded schedule. They expect everything to be as they requested, and they will not hesitate to pay more for better services. Then there’s the millennial traveler who will do anything to get more than what they paid more. They are also the most vocal about their experiences. You’ll also face families traveling together, making a mess wherever they go with their children.
With all these, wouldn’t it be nice if you can make improvements without being a generic hotel?
Avoiding a Hotel Identity Crisis
You can work on changing the image of your hotel, but first things first. What do you think of it, and how do you want that to improve? Most boutique hotel owners in Gainesville face the equivalent of an identity crisis when they have an uptick in customers.
Last year, your sales were at an all-time high, and you want things to stay the same. Then you started thinking about additional services to improve your boutique hotel. You already know the importance of commercial landscaping services, but now you also need bells and whistles that visitors have grown to expect from hotel chains.
There’s only one problem: you’re not a big hotel. You’re a boutique hotel, and your establishment has certain charms that you’re trading for amenities that are better suited for big hotels. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Instead of adding amenities to your small hotel, you may be destroying its homely and cozy image all because you wanted to push for more occupancy. Is it worth it when it means losing the heart of your establishment?
Guests Have Their Own Checklists
Your efforts to improve your business may translate to a surge in reservations, but that does not guarantee that all guests will have the same positive experience. You are dealing with people who have diverse requirements and expectations. Executives are used to the most expensive suites, millennials like quirky establishments that they feel they “discovered,” and families want value for their money on top of child-friendly amenities.
If improving the image of your business is your priority, you may need to choose one type of guest to prioritize, customize your offerings for their needs, then market mostly for them. This doesn’t mean losing business; it just means your customer profile will target one specific hotel guest instead of being a catch-all for every traveler who is in the area.
Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin
You think it’s ridiculous not to offer free Wi-Fi if every other hotel in the area offers this without even advertising. However, your budget may not be the same as that of other hotels. If you insist on offering services you can’t afford, no matter how full your rooms are, you’ll only be losing money.
These days, most individuals have gadgets tied together with a plan, which means they have data to use for their personal browsing needs. Executives will not rely on cafe Wi-Fi to get their job done, and if they do need Wi-Fi in their room, they will be willing to pay for it on top of room charges. Be unapologetic about your services knowing that they are not burdening you financially.
Any business owner knows how hard it is to break even when you’re expected to offer a thousand services at once. A wise hotel owner would know how to pick and choose where to spend their resources.
