Do the Math | Past Issues | Lodging Magazine - 0 views
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Diana Sardina on 15 Sep 12Upgrading is a marketing strategy that has been used for years and it has always been an effective way to maximize profits. We need to train our front desk employees the same way we train our sales staff. They are an important sales team to hotels
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Creating upgrades and offers for guests to take advantage of is a simple solution that can turn into big profits for hotels.
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The current trend in upselling is not only about presenting a guest with an upgrade or an offer, but also finding the offer that is right for that particular guest
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“It’s about doing it in such a way that it doesn’t feel like an upsell,” McGuire says. “It’s a balancing act between keeping the guest happy and driving revenue and profits
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It’s one of those channels that we know is creating incremental sales for hotels.”
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iPods and iPads has really changed the opportunity to effectively communicate with a guest at any given moment.”
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FrontDesk Upsell, which is part of the Nor1 platform, prompts front desk personnel with a sales script and a personalized offer through the hotel’s property management system (PMS) when a guest checks in. This scripted approach takes some of the guesswork out of the upselling equation and gives the staff more confidence when offering an upgrade.“For front desk personnel, this isn’t like a hard sell—it’s not like a used car salesman,” Buckhiester says. “This is about providing options. Those options may or may not be of interest to a guest, but in many cases they are.
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There is that customer experience element, if you’re using the analytics in the right way, to make sure the offer is not only profitable to you but relevant to the customer.”
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This articles is a wake up call to many hotels that are looking for ways to increase profit. The concept of upsale has been around for a very long time. It is time for hoteliers to go back to basic marketing concepts but utilizing the latest technologies. Property management systems contain so much valuable information about the guests. Hotels need to utilize this information to offer unique experiences.