GHOTW’s VP marketing and sales, Rita Machado, shares some of the group’s learnings for coming back strongly into the MICE market.
Hotel representation company Great Hotels of the World (GHOTW) has kicked off a series of online training sessions to support their members (approximately 50 independent hotels) to provide them with guidance through this time of change and uncertainty.
Key takeaways from the first online training session, The Roadmap to Recovery Post-Pandemic, covered what hotels need to do to be business-ready for the upturn.
As countries around the world take their first steps towards reopening, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, the speed of change and the amount of information can be overwhelming, so at Great Hotels of the World, we launched our new online training sessions to support our member hotels and prepare them for the upturn. Starting with The Roadmap to Recovery, we are advising our hotels to stay ahead of the curve and make sense of what is happening around them for a successful recovery.
We highlighted three focus areas– communication, digital transformation and products and services.
Communication
- Review brand story: ensure key messages illustrate what makes the hotel special and different, but also recognise the changing customer and stakeholder sentiment in this dynamic environment. Tap into your networks to have a clear understanding of what you need to do from a brand and storytelling perspective. The three words Great Hotels of the World are hearing time and time again are trust, safety and flexibility.
- Signpost: be clear with clients about your reopening plans
- Connecting and looking after clients: be transparent with business partners and guests and talk to them about your team, about the safety and hygiene measures in place and the cancellation policy. Take this opportunity to listen – there is no better way to rebuild a business than by asking guests and business partners what they need and expect and working to fulfil those expectations.
- Look after the community: create partnerships with local businesses to support them and ensure that the business you drive to the hotel also supports the local community.
Optimise digital sales and distribution channels
- Check, update and improve all online digital channels: the consumer was already moving onto digital platforms and coronavirus has accelerated this move to digital.
- Optimising digital channels: this means reviewing, updating, and improving all online and offline content, website and social media channels, imagery, OTAs, online directories, convention bureaus and anywhere else the hotel appears.
- Flexibility: continue improving the working partnership with customers and bookers, review reservation policies and cancellation procedures and remain flexible.
- Trust: share details of hygiene and safety policies, any implemented programmes, and special conditions put in place.
- Measuring success: with the move to digital, it is easier to measure success, and essential to measure success, so investing in measurement tools is vital.
Review products and services
It is clear that customer requirements have changed, therefore getting ahead in the game will require embracing those changes:
Business Travel
- Safety: corporate travel’s main concern will be duty of care, backed by robust travel procedures that encompass safety, insurance. GHOTW recommends hotels proactively communicating their health and safety measures to guests.
- ‘Bleisure’ Travel: GHOTW also predicts a growth in ‘bleisure’ travel (business travellers who extend their business trip for a few leisure days). There will be a higher uptake of extending business travel trips because there will be less opportunity to travel, it will be more difficult and more expensive, therefore employees have invested interest in enabling clients to extend their stay for extra days of R&R. GHOTW recommends proactively offering bleisure rates and ideas. This could include room upgrades, from a double room to a family room for example, to encourage clients to stay longer.
MICE:
- Safety: GHOTW recommends for hotels to audit venues from a safety perspective and make sure staff are well trained. Obtain certification where possible and if not, follow another destination’s criteria so you can make sure everything is in place.
- Smaller events: it is likely that larger events will not return for some time, therefore events will be smaller and may be organised in multi-destination simultaneously. Being part of an international network will be a huge advantage.
- Virtual meetings and events: digital will play an increasingly prominent role and hybrid events will likely become the new normal. During an event, technology will play an important role in engagement and measuring event ROI. Find opportunities to include the hotel in the pre- and post-engagement actions so it stays top of mind for participants.
- Outdoor spaces: hotels with outdoor spaces will be highly valued due to safety and social distancing measures. GHOTW therefore recommends hotels look creatively at their spaces with new eyes and considers adapting where possible. For example, upgrading an unused rooftop into a new outdoor space.
- Flexibility: event planners and corporates will be apprehensive about making commitments in such uncertain time. Be flexible on contract cancellation policies, share the risk whenever possible and review existing contracts.
As a collection of independent hotels, our members have an opportunity to stand out from their competitors and interact on a more personal level with guests.
Alongside this, the introduction of new packages and offerings and flexible event spaces within the hotel are equally important. Smaller events are likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future so hotels must be flexible and look at reinventing their event spaces, or introducing new outdoor spaces to aid social distancing, in order to meet this demand.
