The arrival of snow can have a devastating effect on small independent luxury hotels. Having been almost full for the first two weeks of January, the snow arrived and with it the cancellations. All our marketing activity which had been so successful will not generate the anticipated revenue whilst the bad weather continues. One of the hotels whose website I manage was, a couple of days ago, still full for this coming Sunday. Then the weather forecasters started predicting heavy snow for the weekend and the cancellations started coming in.
What to do. Firstly, it’s imperative to secure the bookings for a later date. You might have to extend any offer for a further period for these people. You might even have to offer a very small incentive. Secondly, make sure you put a snow report on your website to say that the roads are all clear and there isn’t a problem, if this is the case. Make sure this is also on all the emails leaving the hotel.
If you have a twitter account, keep posting positive messages, especially if the snow isn’t bad where you are.
The chances are you will have taken some lovely photos of the hotel during the snow that makes it look ‘fairytale’. Post these to your website and include some stories of people having a lovely time whilst with you during the snow. You’ll not get back the revenue you’ve lost due to the cancellations but at least you can make something positive of it.
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