It is time to do our marketing plans again, with sales and marketing directors dusting off last year’s plan to figure out what needs to be done to improve business next year. It seems that the top priority may be gathering the information to help determine what could be done, and what will be the strategies to improve average daily rate.
According to TravelClick’s July 2011 North American Hospitality Review, ADR, rather than occupancy, will be the key driver in increasing revenue per available room for hotels in the upcoming year. This is ultimately fueling growth in the industry because the review shows RevPAR has consistently improved for the past 18 months. Additionally, demand for the midscale hotel market is beginning to return. Since the luxury market has seen the most growth since the recession “ended,” the uptick in the midscale market is a very positive sign.
The job that needs to be done is in the hands of the properties’ sales departments. A big part of the marketing plan for next year could be the sales action plan. When putting together this plan, sales staffers need to take a look at the appropriate figures to determine which markets have been the best based on their ADR and how much dollar business was generated from each of these markets against total dollar room sales for the property. The idea, of course, is to consider the best markets (based on ADR) to go after. A goal of increased dollar revenue for each market segment selected must be set. Once the goals are set, the sales staffers need to come up with various strategies to reach the goal within the year. The next step would be to document the strategies with a listing of who will do what in performance of the strategies.
One thing to consider is the cost of performing the activities. Set a percentage of the goal that could be allotted as expense for activities. For example, if participating in certain, appropriate, trade shows is a strategy to get more business from a selected market segment, then the cost for this activity probably should not be more than 10 percent of the expected revenue generated in business from that segment.
A form for each strategy should cover each activity and list who will do what, when it will be done, expected revenue generated and cost. For a sample form, send an email to [email protected].