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Hotel revenue is not anymore driven by room sales but from extended stays. More and more hospitality businesses realize that the Guest stay cycle starts when the Guests research about

their potential place to stay and terminates when they book their next one.

At the hospitality battlefield, where businesses compete on the provision of value/money experiences, a reasonable competitive edge can be achieved

by adopting the extended Guest stay route. In the eyes of the Guest, a longer stay cycle is translated into greater value .

Notwithstanding, the hospitality services are a fraction of the tourist experience, which is produced with the input of other suppliers as well as the

Guest thyself. Modern-day Hoteliers must understand that keeping up with Guest needs and competition they must confront new challenges such as:

1. Experiences hunt & match.

2. A stretched Guest interaction before and after the stay

3. Greater volume of information available to take decisions

1. Experiences hunt & match.

Building a network of suppliers who are producing Tourist related experiences and goods is not an easy thing. Each service and product has to be evaluated in regards to its quality,

emotional impact, modularity to the Hotel services and conceptual cohesion. Also, the “experiences archive” needs to be constantly updated and in concord with the local character and resources surrounding the Hotel.

 

Issue #3

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Two of the many confronts in the hunt & match process are first, how to distribute the information to the Guests without overdoing it or providing unrelated info. The second is how to originate an association with the Guest by providing a piece of information or/and a service based on products that are not produced by the company itself.

The distribution of information can be done either by passive mainly “traditional” channels (i.e. concierge, Guest relations, printed promotion, company web site, social media, etc) or with

Guest pulling, interactive solutions aided by technology. Some more innovative ways of updating Guests on premises are smart TVs, smart room-telephones, and e-kiosks.

Thus, the most recent trend has companies investing heavily on mobile technologies and social media like based applications were information can

be shared, retrieved and evaluated by everybody Hotel staff and Guests with the added benefit that content is exclusive to “followers”. Two examples are Lobby

Finder and SPG insider.

Apart from exclusive access to their information directory Hotels have found other ways to create value for the Guest some which are: Making it simpler for the Guest to retrieve and use information, customizing services of external providers, special deals, VIP treatment as well as suggesting select, one-off lifestyle experiences such as VIP access to concerts, tours, restaurants, etc.

There are many more points to make regarding Hotels creating and selling a broader tourism product. There is certainly no right or wrong answer. You are welcome to respond to this issue and add your crumb of knowledge. You may leave your comments, stay updated and access the previous issues of Hospitality Mindsets on Facebook, Twitter and Slideshare.

Thank you for reading! Vassilis Xenoudakis

Facebook ~ Hospitality mindsets / Twitter ~ @HMindsets / Slideshare & Linkedin ~ Vassilis Xenoudakis