Don't rest on your online marketing laurels once hotel guests book rooms at your hotel; build incremental revenue by upselling to customers prior to and during their stays, says Nor1.
So, you've successfully engaged travellers and enticed them to book a room; however, before guests even arrive at your hotel, there are plenty more opportunities to nurture your relationship with them and add to your revenue by upselling.
The key to a successful upselling programme is tracking and learning from all the upsell interactions for a particular booking, so that this intelligence strengthens the accuracy of each subsequent offer and ultimately pleases guests.
1. Merchandise hotel features on your website
It may seem obvious, but there are countless hotel websites that fail to emphasise room features, amenities and other services. By showcasing these items, potential customers can learn more and you can market these features as 'exclusive' offers for those who book directly on the website.
2. Employ post-booking email marketing
Instead of just sending automatic confirmations when reservations are made, why not use this email to reinforce amenities and offerings? You can also send separate mobile-friendly email blasts that upsell to future guests through appropriate links and imagery.
3. Get to know your customer
Upselling alone will not make a hotel successful - the ability to generate incremental revenue and boost guest satisfaction lies in the delivery of personalised guest interaction. Knowing who the customer is - their demographics, psychographics and purchase patterns - allows you to tailor the experience to each guest.
Thousands of hotels are using Nor1's eStandby Upgrade to make personalised upsell offers to guests that are directly integrated into confirmation/pre-arrival emails. These data-driven offers are generated in real time by PRiME, Nor1's patented pricing and merchandising engine. PRiME uses complex algorithms to align transactional and guest-centic data in order to estimate the customer's willingness to pay for a particular room/service, and then simultaneously creates an offer for that guest.
With more than two million eStandby Upgrade offers made to hotel guests each month, this industry-leading solution consistently creates conversion rates of well over 20% and is generating millions in incremental revenue for hotels worldwide.
4. Integrate your upselling programmes
The more cohesive the upselling programme is across all channels, the more effective your staff can be in person. The benefits of a technologically integrated upselling programme are as follows:loyalty and guest experience improves with relevant and targeted offersthe right upsell offer is extended to the right customerit creates greater use of fixed assetsfront-desk agents are transformed into empowered upsellers.
Nor1's FrontDesk Upsell solution, recently selected by Kempinski Hotels and Principal Hayley Hotels, dynamically extends intelligent upsell offers to hotel guests. Functioning via a hotel's PMS and powered by PRiME, this upselling solution empowers front desk personnel to improve the guest experience while boosting the property's bottom line. It supports agents' upselling efforts and incentive programmes, so works best when standardised company-wide incentive tracking is in place.
5. Create mobile offers for today's mobile travellers
Mobile technology is enabling hotels to reach out to guests with offers throughout their stays, both on and off-property.
Consider the following:
In today's mobile age, last-minute bookers are turning into last-minute upgraders. Hotels must be able to create truly personalised real-time offers that can be delivered to guests at the point of consumption.
The potential of mobile is not only integral to marketing, but also to revenue management, property operations and loyalty. Ancillary offers are a huge revenue opportunity and a key driver of guest satisfaction. Even a select service hotel is capable of reaching guests with targeted communications about the weather, transportation and local dining.
By integrating all of the aforementioned upselling channels - web, email, front desk and mobile - you will entice guests to take action and enhance their stay.
