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Increasing Your Hotel Repeat Business in 6 Achievable Steps
As a hotel business owner, seeking ways to find new customers is important. But it’s even more crucial to focus on increasing your hotel repeat business.
According to smile.io, repeat customers only make up 8% of a customer base, yet they bring in 40% of a business’s revenue. Returning hotel guests clearly trust the service quality. As a result, they are more likely to spend money on the amenities your hotel offers, including room service, spa treatments and gift shop purchases. Guests who take full advantage of your hotel’s offerings mean more profit for your business. In addition, repeat customers are organic brand ambassadors – essentially serving as free hotel advertising.
There’s no doubt returning guests are valuable to your bottom line. Hospitality business financing funds strategies, such as the ones below, to increase your hotel repeat business:
1. Create Personalized Customer Profiles
Develop profiles for the different types of hotel guests you host. This will help you target them with specific messages. For example, if you cater to vacationing families as well as executives in town for a conference, those are two very different customer profiles. The dad traveling with his kids wants to know about family-friendly resort activities. The executive wants to know about access to a work space in her room. Identifying customer profiles helps you personalize your message to increase your odds of hotel repeat business.
2. Implement Email Outreach Campaigns
Every past and future guest has given you their email address. Stay on their radar by creating an email marketing campaign. Keep the messages engaging and relevant with weekly discounts and recent customer stories. Let guests know about upcoming special events nearby or on site. Use high-quality images of the hotel to remind guests about their past experience and encourage hotel repeat business. The emails should be relevant and timely – no need to spam inboxes every day. If you need professional help, you can use a marketing business loan to hire an email expert.
3. Market to Seasonal Stays
There’s no doubt your business experiences a “busy season.” No matter when increased tourism hits your area, plan to target guests and encourage hotel repeat business during these times. It’s important to stay on top of any trends, including those deployed by your competitors, for both busy and slower seasons. In that vein, consider offering extra perks for off-season hotel guests. Discounts and resort credits are enticing ways to maintain a steady flow of business.
4. Develop Creative Incentives
Loyalty programs are a great way to encourage hotel repeat business. For example, you could award guests points for every stay with you. These points can be collected for room upgrades, gift cards, and free stays. Such programs can really motivate guests to come back again and again.
5. Pay Close Attention to Service Levels
When you want to increase hotel repeat business, it’s crucial to listen to customer feedback. Don’t ignore guest requests. Find a way to say “yes” whenever you can. Otherwise, poor service levels could lead to negative online reviews that hurt your brand and affect business. Therefore, make it a priority to set service level expectations with your team. Exceptional service leads to customer loyalty. As a result, you’ll have greater chances to increase hotel repeat business.
6. Use Renovation as a Marketing Opportunity
If your rooms and guest areas are run down, you won’t have customers clamoring to return. But renovating your spaces can be tricky. How do you maintain the customer experience in the midst of construction? One choice involves closing off areas, but that could mean hosting fewer guests. Another involves offering cheaper prices to guests because of the inconvenience. In either scenario, your business sacrifices current income for the potential future revenue those renovations will bring. You can use business renovation financing to fund the upgrades and get you through the slow period. The great news? Once your upgrades are complete, you can leverage the changes in your next marketing campaign. Past guests will be intrigued to make a repeat visit.
Efforts for Increasing Your Hotel Repeat Business
There are many ways to increase your hotel repeat business. The choice becomes where to spend your time and money to make the biggest impact. Partnering with QuickBridge for your hospitality business financing gives you the funding you need to take action. We offer guidance and a streamlined process. You get flexible funding tailored to your specific needs.
