GDU Ninja Update 40 - The Lime Trees Hotel EBook
GDU Ninja Update 40 - The Lime Trees Hotel EBook
A fictional story, based on a fictional hotel. It couldnt possibly be true...could it?
Background
Max watches his parents waste their life on their precious hotel, whilst he wiles away his on the beaches of Asia, but is suddenly called back when disaster strikes the family.
Thrown reluctantly in to the deep end, Max struggles to get to grips with the loss making business. Along this bumpy road he learns and makes mistakes in equal measures, but obtains help (and more) from an unexpected quarter.
Essentially this story takes a look at a classic issue prevalent in the small to medium sized independent hotel sector; They want the business to be profitable but dont undertake any sales and marketing to make this happen.
As a software supplier to this sector, we supply all the tools necessary to do this, but we cant make the properties use them. Using anecdotal evidence we suspect that only 1% (one percent) of our customers actually execute a Sales and Marketing Plan in some form. Hotels would not employ a Chef who cant cook, a receptionist who cant use a computer, a housekeeper who cant make beds, but Sales and Marketing is seen as 'nice to do if we have time' operation, which they inevitably dont.
In this story Max reluctantly starts to appreciate that to bring the hotel back to profitability he has to get to grips with Sales and Marketing. We look at what he does, and the mis-steps he takes (blowing his budget on a single TikTok video, believing a pretty coloured website is the answer to his problems etc). It also takes a look at the dry but often overlooked area of Revenue Management (making sure all rooms types are available on the right channels and rates are being flexed regularly). A room rate plan base on occupancy is an invaluable tool to make sure that everyone in the property can flex the room rates to drive the hotel occupancy.
It attempts to show that their is no magic bullet, that success in hospitality is the 'patient accumulation of small successes (thank you Donald Rumsfeld). That a 1% increase from an 'extra' OTA combined with a 1% increase with Google Adwords and a 1% increase from FaceBook Marketing soon starts to add up to that worthwhile 10% growth in business.
His challenges, apart from his own naivety is the 'management' ie His mother! He overcomes this by ensuring that she has a regular monthly report of key measurables. If hotel owner/managers were honest they would admit that they are beset with issues running a business and they rarely have clear information on which to base decisions. Saying to a hotel owner 'i want 500 per month for Google Adwords' is completely different to 'i want 500 per month because it is generating 6000 of room sales'. Call it 'managing upwards' if you want, but this is an important skill to have in hospitality.
A second challenge comes from the accountant (and we think we might take a bit of flak for this), but be aware that Accountants are paid to highlight expenditure, it is not usually in their DNA to support expenditure that 'might' improve turnover. Again Max overcomes this by reporting key measurables on a regular basis. Anyone could question the financial benefit of the 'Free Breakfast', but Max was able to point to an increase in direct bookings and a reduction in commission costs with his key measurables.
As Max progresses in fits and starts he eventually reaches the point where he has a solid Sales and Marketing Plan in place. This is a piece of 'comfort and clarity' to everyone; Accountants, Owner/Managers and whoever is executing the plan. Proceed without one at your peril!
Read the Full Story HERE
View the Sales and Marketing Plan only HERE
Download a blank Sales and Marketing Plan for your own use HERE
We will let you be the judge of how far fetched this story is, but participate in the debate on FaceBook HERE