Sales clinic: Flash sales are another option for hotel marketing

Flash sales are really not anything new to marketing, but for the most part, we see them related to retail sales. However, we are now seeing them grow in the travel business.

The idea with flash sales is to create buying (or booking) urgency on the part of the specific consumer market.

For example, we have all seen the “Daily Deal” promoted in daily newspapers. Here is how it works: A special promotion, at discount prices (usually half off) is made available from a retailer to a consumer, but only is available if a consumer opts to buy the “deal” that day. The buyer goes online to take the offer, makes payment and receives a coupon, which is presented at the time of receiving the product.

Is this an option for hotels? How about creating buyer urgency for hotels rooms when occupancy is low? Through daily deals, a hotel can offer rooms at lower prices for specific dates, and indicate that the offer is only good for a specific period of time.

This method of flash sales is operated by Pilot Interactive, which issues vouchers for buyers and collects the advertised fee. Once the vouchers are redeemed, Pilot Interactive sends the amount of the voucher to the retailer.

Then, of course, everyone is familiar with Travelzoo. Anyone can join online, and there is no cost to get their deal email announcements. Again, here, the deals are advertised as being valid for a short period of time to increase urgency on the part of the buyer. For example, a lead item in one of their recent announcements was the opportunity to purchase a $75 seat for $40 to see the “Christmas Holiday Extravaganza” at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The deal had to be purchased within a three-day window. When you go online to make a purchase, you see the clock ticking down. All this creates urgency to buy.

Travelzoo also has gotten into the hotel and resort business, and we see all kinds of deals listed to buy packages at resorts and hotels. However, each is advertised as available only during a short period of time. There is an up-front flat fee the hotel pays for the deal to be advertised. For more information, contact Steve Bertogli at sbertogli@travelzoo.com.

Another opportunity for hotels and resorts lies with SniqueAway. This is a private-sale site providing leisure-travel members access to exceptional travel deals. The site has 1.5 million members within a specific market—resort properties. Members of this site have higher-than-average incomes and above-average educations. Resorts can run sales on SniqueAway at no cost—free marketing to a motivated audience of travel buyers. For more information, contact Mark McCullough at mark@sniqueaway.com.

There is no doubt we will see more hotels use flash sales as a marketing tool in 2012. There are other companies, similar to those mentioned above, that will be unveiling appropriate programs for all types of properties.