North West Hotels: Big Vs Small - The fight is on
Over recent years, the big hotel chains, including those in the North West, focused much of their marketing budget on the corporate market. There was good money to be made in conferences, meetings and corporate entertaining. These corporate firms, many of which are located in Lancashire and the North West area generally, are now looking at the easiest ways to reduce their costs and of course travel budgets have been the first to be cut – significantly.
How does this affect the North West owner managed hotels?
Well, the effect is twofold. Firstly the corporate customers are reducing their bookings and when they do book, they are always pushing for reduced rates.
Secondly, the larger chains are now competing more vigorously for leisure travellers as there has been a major shift and they have become more profitable than corporate clients. This has a direct effect on Lancashire’s smaller family run hotels. They need to up their game to ensure that they are worthy opponents and ensure that their customers are not being wooed by the larger hotels.
So, I think that the best way to handle this is to fight back, and here are my top 5 tips:
- Create a great website – most potential customers will be influenced by what they see on the internet before booking
- Provide good value for money
- Build loyalty – offer a discount to returning customers, provide them with updates by email etc.
- Review Trip Advisor and make changes where necessary to improve your customer’s hotel experience
- Advertise wisely ensuring travel agencies are marketing your product well
If you own/run a hotel in Lytham, I hope that you have found my blog interesting. At Ashworth Treasure we are keen for our clients to see us a business partners rather than just their accountants. As well as the business advice demonstrated in this article we can provide specialist tax advice.