8 Proven Tips to Succeed in the Hospitality Industry and Scale Your Business

As a business owner or a hotelier, you must be able to multitask, manage a hectic and fast-paced work environment, and deal with complex work commitments if you want to succeed in the hospitality industry.

With the passing of the lingering fear of COVID-19 from everyone’s mind, people have started to pursue their traveling goals again. They are eagerly planning for staycations, corporate meeting trips, and solo trips.

This means that the businesses in the hospitality sector will be in cut-throat competition with each other and do their best to attract visitors their way.

If you are new in the hospitality sector or a small hotel business wishing to scale further, this blog is for you.

Here we’ll discuss what measures you can take to attract new guests, retain old ones, and achieve success along the way.

Let’s dive in!

8 Tips to Achieve Success in the Hospitality Industry

1. Launch an engaging and mobile-friendly hotel website

Your hotel business website is the most important and the only distribution channel for securing direct bookings. This is the only platform where you won’t have to part with a portion of the sale as a commission.

A business website is essentially the foundation of any effective online marketing plan and will help you succeed in the hospitality industry if built appropriately.

No matter what hotel marketing strategy brought a potential customer to your website, this is where they can find out more about you as a hotel business and decide whether or not to make a reservation with you.

Therefore, a booking engine is essential for your website to manage self-service reservations. And a mobile-friendly website is now necessary as more people browse the internet on their phones and tabs to search for bookings.

Include the following on your website to make it more appealing and credible to potential guests:

• Ensure to list all the services your hotel business offers.
• Post reviews of past customers to promote credibility.
• Include photos of hotel interiors along with guests engaged in some activity for a more humanistic touch.
• Include photos and details concerning nearby outdoor activities that guests would enjoy.
• Regularly post about current deals and discounts.

2. Promote your hotel business with online travel agencies

No hotel business can acquire consistent bookings in the new digital world without leveraging the services of travel agents and online travel agencies. In the long run, a simple listing can result in hundreds or thousands of reservations.

However, it’s important to remember that a commission will be levied each time a booking is made using such an agency. Therefore, you shouldn’t put all of your hotel marketing efforts only on online travel agencies.

Such sites should be used only to generate additional bookings for your business rather than neglecting your direct sales efforts entirely.

3. Learn how to use social media effectively

Have you been using social media to promote your hotel business and attract new guests?

If not, now is the best time to start!

It’s free to create business accounts on major social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. And it’s never been simpler to set up dynamic business pages in seconds.

But establishing a social media presence is irrelevant if you don’t intend to keep it up. Make sure you’ve hired at least one employee to manage your business accounts and keep them active and engaging with meaningful content.

Posting fresh content is critical, so make sure you have a content delivery schedule in place. Consider starting a hotel blog that you can frequently refer to from your social media accounts if you lack time to create new content consistently.

If you master the art of running your social media accounts efficiently, it will help you succeed in the hospitality industry.

4. Treat your guests to an innovative experience

Today’s hospitality industry is more than just arranging accommodations for guests and providing timely room service. As a result, you must determine your guests’ desires and expectations in order to treat them with a unique customer experience.

There are many travelers who prefer to explore outdoors more than spend time inside the hotel. However, such guests can be attracted by interesting activities such as live concerts, fitness classes, poolside fun, spas, and special culinary experiences to spend more time in.

You can arrange for these activities or other similar ones as part of your promotional plan. This will also encourage these guests to book again with your hotel and post positive ratings and recommendations on social media and other review sites, which is critical for the hospitality industry’s success.

5. Increase hospitality success with effective communication

You could be the owner of the hotel business or the general manager, or a part of the waiting staff. But if you cannot communicate effectively with your guests or coworkers, the operational efficiency of your hotel business will go haywire.

A critical component of effective communication is listening to your customers, understanding their issues, and acknowledging their feedback. It helps you understand your guests’ wants and requirements.

Effective communication will also help you understand your staff’s capacity, availability, and capability.

Suppose a guest makes a specific demand that only certain staff can help you accommodate. But without confirming with the concerned staff’s availability, you agree to your guest’s demand.

In case your employee turns out to be unavailable, the entire situation will cause you not only embarrassment but also contribute to tarnishing your business’s image.

Therefore, effective communication is one of the imperative skills for every hotelier, regardless of their position. It will also help you succeed in the hospitality industry when you combine it with providing top-notch customer service.

6. Hire a capable workforce to deliver superior customer service

There is more to your hotel than just the food, ambiance, and decor. In the hotel industry, the services you provide to your guests are also quite significant.

You require a qualified staff that can accommodate the needs, preferences, routines, likes, and dislikes of your guests. Incorporating this will ensure your success in the hospitality industry.

You must also invest money, time, and effort in training your staff in all facets of the hospitality industry.

A small hotel will also have fewer employees than a large hotel, so training them won’t be a time-consuming job if you have a small or mid-sized hotel business.

7. Aim for positive reviews and ratings

A great review or recommendation can earn you a new guest. In comparison, a poor review can cost you hundreds and ruin your brand image.

Try to earn positive reviews and ratings from previous guests by engaging with them after checking out via personalized follow-up and survey emails.

Monitor reviews on the most popular social media and review sites. Keep a note of negative feedback and reach out to unhappy guests with helpful resolutions.

Mitigate negative reviews wherever you can. Keep in mind that word-of-mouth advertising, though old school, is one of your most effective marketing strategies.

8. Know your competitors

To retain your competitive edge, you must visit hotels, cafes, restaurants, and other businesses that cater to the same client base as yours. This will help you identify their flaws and strengths and where you are lacking.

Additionally, you need to establish contacts with executives and experts in related fields like catering and event planning. Build solid relationships with people in those industries and look for chances to strike business deals that will benefit both parties.

Final Words

Even if you are starting a hotel business or simply want to expand it, following these eight strategic tips will ensure your hotel industry’s success.

These useful tips will help you not only get new clients but also understand their needs and requirements and offer them the best customer experience.

Apart from implementing these tips, you can also leverage the power of technological advancements and adopt tools like hotel CRM and channel manager.

These tools will help you manage and streamline your business operations and pave the way for you to scale your business successfully in the hospitality industry.

AxisRooms Editorial Desk

AxisRooms, a software suite provider for the hospitality industry, is committed to aiding your business growth, not just with our state-of-the-art products and services, but also with the latest updates from the travel and hospitality industry. Got something to say? Write to us at: [email protected].