Hotel Marketing Association Blog » Hotel Promotions http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog All aspects of marketing in the hotel industry Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:14:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 If you’re doing great marketing people will complain about you! http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/if-youre-doing-great-marketing-people-will-complain-about-you/ http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/if-youre-doing-great-marketing-people-will-complain-about-you/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:00:08 +0000 Pam Carvell, Marketing Consultant http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/?p=127 I read a fascinating quote in last week’s EP Condense from the former head of HR at Tesco, in that in her first performance review with Sir  Terry Leahy, after what she considered a successful year, he criticised her saying  ’nobody complains about you’. The point he was making was that she should be taking risks. In their business they have to constatly adapt to their environment and have to move fast and take risks.

It made me reflect that when I’ve done some of my greatest marketing, it’s when I’ve been least popular! Because great marketing campaigns in the hotel industry invariably impact Operations and possibly Sales, and they don’t like change. I have been told so many times ‘we can’t do that’, by which they meant ‘we don’t want to do that and change the way we’ve always done things’  aka ‘you’re taking us out of our comfort zone’.

Great marketing ideas should never be limited by the lack of willingness by Operations to make changes. As a great marketer you should be able to reason logically as to the long term benefits of your campaign. You should have total belief in what you are doing.

Of course not everything you do will be successful, but great people learn from failure. And go with your gut feel. Most great ideas wouldn’t have survived research. And most great entrepreneurs follow their intuition.

]]> http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/if-youre-doing-great-marketing-people-will-complain-about-you/feed/ 0 How can we reach the lonely? http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/how-can-we-reach-the-lonely/ http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/how-can-we-reach-the-lonely/#comments Sun, 15 May 2011 16:11:03 +0000 Pam Carvell, Marketing Consultant http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/?p=122 I read a very sad fact in an article about Martha Lane-Fox in The Times. 3.5 million people in this country don’t see anyone in a week and 1.7 million don’t see anyone in a month. Part of her new brief is to make the internet available to everyone, so that such people would at least have a connection to others, even if it is via the internet.

Considering how many hotels there are in this country and that we are in the hospitality industry isn’t there more that hotels could do to reach out to the lonely in their communities? I have no specific ideas in making this suggestion, but I am a great believer that charity starts at home. Hotels have meeting rooms and public areas that are empty for much of the day. Many have minibuses that are only busy at certain times of the day. Great marketing isn’t just about great ads and fancy promotions, or even doing things just for the media coverage. It could be reaching out to your community and genuinely becoming part of it.

]]> http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2011/how-can-we-reach-the-lonely/feed/ 0 Can hotels start charging for guests wanting specific rooms, along the lines of BA’s new policy of charging £10-60 for advance seat bookings? http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2009/can-hotels-start-charging-for-guests-wanting-specific-rooms-along-the-lines-of-bas-new-policy-of-charging-10-60-for-advance-seat-bookings/ http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/2009/can-hotels-start-charging-for-guests-wanting-specific-rooms-along-the-lines-of-bas-new-policy-of-charging-10-60-for-advance-seat-bookings/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:17:55 +0000 Pam Carvell, Marketing Consultant http://www.hotelmarketingassociation.com/blog/?p=42 BA launched what they refer to on their website as their ‘ Enhanced seating policy’. This allows passengers to pay between £10 & £60 to choose their seat in advance. Only time will tell what percentage of people take them up on this, and if it will generate a much-needed increase in revenue. It made me question whether hotels could cleverly adopt a similar policy. Of course many hotels also charge more for sea view / river view rooms etc, but never allow the customer to choose a specific room. I know that rooming lists tend to only be done on the day, but surely we can be cleverer than that? Frequent business travellers inevitably end up with favourite rooms in hotels, or rooms in certain parts of the hotel. I have a feeeling that many of these would pay a supplement to gurantee their favourite room, just as BA are counting on passengers wanting to gurantee their favourite seat.

At a time when business is tough, this could generate incremental revenue and become another valuable revenue management tool.

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