Develop Corporate Alliances To Net Higher Occupancy & Revenue

May 28, 2011

Netting higher occupancy and revenue are two constant concerns for any hotel. During high season, filling rooms is less worrying as guests flock in without too much effort, but, during low season…

Leisure travelers do not travel at any time of the year. They make reservations only during peak season aka summer and other school vacation periods. This travel and reservation pattern means you suffer from lower occupancy levels the rest of the year. It also creates an extremely cutthroat environment during the low season.

The Dilemma
Fewer travelers traveling to your destination and every hotel (including yours) is trying to sway these travelers in their direction by offering heavy discounts and value added packages. Since, every hotel is using the same discounting strategies attracting and converting travelers becomes a game of luck and chance.

Now, instead of leaving your low season revenue to luck and chance, you can choose a more reliable form of gaining guests. Business travelers unlike leisure travelers do not make travel plans based on weather conditions and school vacations. Other factors such as meetings and conferences motivate their visits. By pursuing this guest types, you can add a guest source that provides a steady stream of business year round.

If you are already targeting business travelers with a corporate rate program, you can amplify results by launching a SEO marketing campaign to build awareness of business amenities available at your hotel. However, a better and more effective way to get the business of business travelers is by proactively setting up corporate alliances.

A corporate rate program is not the same as a corporate alliance. A corporate rate program enables you to lure in business travelers by offering them a lower than published room rate. It is an excellent way to attract business travelers and gain word of mouth advertising but it does not guarantee a steady in-take of business travelers. A corporate alliance on the other hand, practically guarantees the presence of any business traveler from the allied company/organization travelling to the region due to the exclusive room rate.

Many companies or organizations that regularly book hotel rooms for their employees in certain destination set up alliances with a hotel to get a better corporate rate then the rate given under the hotel’s regular corporate program. You can take advantage of this existing trend to boost your occupancy ratio and revenue by proactively approaching companies/organizations to create corporate rate programs exclusive to said company/organization. Today, many hotel property chains have corporate alliances to bring in business of business travelers, why shouldn’t you benefit too?

P.S. As a ResAvenue affiliated hotel, you can even offer allied companies/organizations reservation convenience with a unique login id. The company/organization will be able to make reservations directly online at the special negotiated rate.

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