Small Luxury Hotels Improve Website Performance

In 2001, Alberghi Marketing founder, Mike Lanigan, was appointed to develop the internet marketing opportunity for von Essen hotels, then comprising only five properties. He achieved excellent results as Director, Internet Marketing, whilst having to keep pace with the rapid growth of the collection.

Mike benefits from 35 years direct marketing and internet marketing experience. Years ago, Mike was accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing working on several successful marketing projects under the DTI’s Enterprise Scheme. Later, he created the brand and the catalogue for embryonic wood screws (as it then was) mail order company, Screwfix Direct, now a multi-million pound operation. Later still, he created and managed websites for the International Spas Association (ISPA) and Champneys amongst many others.

Alberghi Marketing has now evolved as a proven internet marketing formula for improving website performance,  especially for small, independent, luxury hotels; specialist activity that is complemented by Mike’s infectious enthusiasm which has proved to be such an inspiration to hotel staff.

Mike’s direct marketing expertise is also of benefit to online retailers in improving website performance, generating  more traffic and increasing sales.

Most websites for small independent luxury hotels are designed be people without much knowledge of the hotel industry or without direct marketing experience. The websites consequently might look pretty but they underperform their marketing and sales potential by a very large degree. A hotel’s website has the potential to be the most powerful marketing tool available. It’s capable of generating well over 80% of total revenue, so its worth to you must never be underestimated.

Do you need to improve the performance of your website? Follow the link to a few simple questions to help you decide.

Improved performance means:

a. increased traffic to your website
b. improved conversion of traffic to enquiries
c. improved conversion of enquiries to bookings

These are a few comments received from client hotels during the last five months:

‘We broke our records for breakfast numbers and lunch today and therefore we were not doing afternoon teas’
‘Looking good for another record busting month’ (August 09 being the month)
‘STOP PRESS – July 09 breaks the record’
‘PS – approx 99% occupancy for next 10 days which is encouraging.’
‘We only have 7 rooms left all week!’

Both September and October also exceeded expectations. I worry about the economic climate’s effect on small hotels in the trough months of November, January and February. Touch wood, things are looking good still whilst holding rates, but my attention to client websites’ performance is as acute as ever.

Alberghi Marketing

Thursday, 26th November, 2009

Kit and Louise Chapman and friends are hosting a grand Moët & Chandon dinner at The Castle Taunton, featuring some of the most outstanding champagnes and wines from the cellars of Moët & Chandon, including Moët’s 2003 vintage at the welcome party. This is followed by a four-course feast prepared by Chef Richard Guest matched by a list of legendary labels from around the world:

• Dom Perignon.
• Cloudy Bay from New Zealand.
• Cheval des Andes, Argentina’s famous joint-venture with Château Cheval Blanc.
• Le Petit Cheval, Cheval Blanc’s second wine.
• And a glass of Veuve Clicquot to end the evening.

An evening not to be missed.

www.alberghimarketing.co.uk

Champagne expert, Champagne lover and Master of Wine, David Hesketh, Managing Director of Laurent-Perrier UK, joins Gerard Basset at the Laurent Perrier Champagne Dinner at Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest in Hampshire. David Hesketh will share with diners his passion about the delicious Laurent-Perrier Champagnes served during dinner.

Please not, there are special Sunday night and Monday night rates. If you’d like to make the most of this enjoyable evening, there’s a special rate for those attending of only £110 per bedroom (including full English breakfast) for the Sunday night.

Hotel TerraVina is the boutique hotel in the New Forest, owned by Gerard and Nina Basset. Gerard was co-founder of Hotel du Vin.

www.alberghimarketing.co.uk

This winter, in my opinion, is going to be difficult for all hotels at whatever level. However, I believe small, independent luxury hotels have an opportunity to outperform their larger competitors by being more active locally. Conference business has been knocked for six in the economic downturn but as things improve, many will be turning their attention once again to conference budgets…and this is when they might well be in the market for change.

It’s always important to appreciate that, when chasing new conference business, you’re asking companies to switch from hotels that are tried and trusted. Why should whoever makes the decisions put their heads on the block for you by giving your hotel a try? They’d be in serious trouble if you cocked up. However, they might have suspended their conference activity over the last 12 months and so might be in the market for somewhere new, somewhere that’s not so corporate, somewhere that’s run by passionate owner/managers who really care.

You now need to ensure that EVERY potential conference/board meeting/partners meeting/etc client knows you exist and why you would be such a good choice. Someone needs to visit every company/firm/organisation within a given radius with a presentation package for each individual director/partner…yes, I’m talking about cold calling. (Trying to make appointments over the phone can be a waste of time.) You won’t get to see the people concerned but your research will tell you their names and handing over a personally addressed envelope in reception is far more likely to hit the target than a letter which could well be regarded as junk mail.

I was once in the offices of the biggest solicitor in the area and created quite a stir in reception with the hotel’s brochure and what I wanted to do. One lady was very interested in the hotel as a wedding venue for her daughter and she hadn’t known the hotel even existed and several expressed interest in the restaurant!

My message is simply, there’s an opportunity for you over the next few months but you need to get out there and seize it.

Alberghi Marketing

If you’re designing or redesigning your website, you need to ensure the developers do not present you with a design that includes text reversed out of a dark background. Designs that incorporate reversed text usually indicate that the developers have little experience of direct marketing, and a website is an exercise in direct marketing writ large. It’s a fact that reversed type is more difficult on the eye and not as easy to read. I despair when I see a hotel website that has a black background. The designers are simply impeding the performance of the site.

When selecting a website developer, ask what direct marketing (or general marketing) expertise they have and whether or not they have any experience of the hotel industry. I don’t believe developers can be qualified to produce a performance website without direct marketing expertise…good direct marketers are always looking for response and the need for response should influence design and content.  Without hotel experience, your developers won’t be able to think ahead and contribute to your success.

Alberghi Marketing

Email marketing for small idpendent luxury hotels starts with recognising the promotional opportunity of EVERY email that leaves your hotel. It doesn’t matter to whom an email is being sent, if it’s a hotel branded email, it should be promoting a break or breaks, an event or events, menus, late availability, news, or anything else that might prove of interest to a recipient. By EVERY, I mean suppliers, friends, relatives, the bank (!), everyone.

Make use of links back to the relevant pages of the hotel’s website and make use of a PS…this can be in bold!

You can check your website statistics (Google Analytics is great and it’s free) to see if you can increase traffic to specific pages of your website via the links in your emails.

Alberghi Marketing regularly sends mystery emails to client hotels to check how well they’re responding to email enquiries. No reason why you hotel owners shouldn’t send such emails to their own hotels.

As the economy starts to improve, small independent luxury hotels need to be ready to take advantage of the conference opportunity. Many companies have pulled in their horns and have curtailed much of their conference activities. This is an opportunity for small idependent hotels to get into these companies to persuade them to switch allegiances. Not only could you offer a better environment and possibly a better deal, but they would also not have to deal with an agent.

If your hotel has a sales manager, you need to ensure he/she spends no more that two days in the office. A good sales manager is out networking and cold calling, spreading the message personally. A poor sales manager spends an inordinate amount of time in the office, trying to make appointments, looking at advertising opportunities, most of which would be a complete waste of money, arranging ‘fam’ trips which are more a jolly for those attending rather than useful marketing exercises and preparing reports. It’s essential that EVERY company within a given radius knows you exist and that needs legwork to achieve.

Most importantly, small independent hotels need to ensure their websites are performing to the max. I never fail to be amazed by the number of hotel websites that are simply not performing…I can tell just be looking at them. If you’re going to take advantage of the upturn, your website needs to be seen high up in Google, not amongst all your competitors on a hotel portal website that you’re paid to be on, and needs to generate enquiries/bookings once people arrive .

Many small independent luxury hotels whose marketing activity has been focused on website and sales activity during the past 12 months have done exceptionally well without recourse to low rates…low rates might fill a few more beds but profit gets hammered. However, that’s another story.

Alberghi Marketing