What to do to improve the average price of our hotel?

The task of monitoring and increasing the average price is a task that must be followed carefully by the manager or hotel director. Of course, to achieve this efficiently, it is essential to always involve the entire hotel team.

Today there are many tools and strategies to significantly improve our income on accommodation. These techniques go far beyond simply increasing the average price, and in this article we will mention some of them.

What can we do to improve our average price?

First things first: the hotel website (in this section, I suggest you read our article on how to efficiently design the hotel’s website and another one about booking engines for the website).

Undoubtedly, the website is the most profitable channel for any establishment, we say profitable mainly because, by selling from our own channel, we save on paying commissions to intermediaries. It is therefore very important to invest time and resources in this valuable distribution channel.

Increased sales through our website will result in: 

• A positive impact on income statement.
• A higher cash flow and reduction of our credit, thus minimizing risks.
• Improvement in profitability per room or GopPar (Gross operating profit per available room).
• An improvement when selling additional services of the hotel, helping to increase our Trevpar (Total revenue per available room).
• Help to create a good database and thus facilitate the work of the person responsible for the CRM.
• In many cases, it helps us to speed up the check-in process.

Social networks and internet communications

Today it is almost vital to have a presence in social networks, as well as a strategy for managing them. Facebook and Twitter are important, but do not forget about the many other channels, including TripAdvisor, Foursquare, YouTube and local websites or blogs.

Internet communication takes place everywhere, so you need to ensure that someone is always monitoring the different customer-company contact channels. Even in small hotels, revenue managers often do not have time to control the media, so in the coming years the role of community manager will become a basic need. Whoever does not take advantage over social networking to the benefit himself will clearly be at a disadvantage before his competitors.

Online reputation

We must pay special attention to our online reputation, especially considering that social networks affect the buying behaviour of people, being important for 51% of the reserves.

Some facts to consider according to TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer:

• 93% of travellers around the world say that valuations have an impact on their decisions about reservations.
• 51% of travellers around the world publish their own comments on the property after the completion of a trip.

Better relationships, better benefits

Today, one of the key factors in the world of revenue management in hotels are relationships. We should not try to do everything on our own, it is mandatory to invest time in building strong relationships with our distribution partners, including travel agents, tour operators, consortia programs and corporate accounts. Relationships are everything, so do not hesitate to spend as much time as you need developing this important aspect of any marketing plan.

Increase the average price of our hotel Establish objectives and budgets well in advance

Now is the time to set your revenue management and budget goals for next year. It is important to create the budget with enough time and try to anticipate any problems or mishaps that might occur.

To set the objectives and budgets in the best way, it is best to take at least the last two years as reference.

Make sure to consider all the issues mentioned in this article and include them in your budgets, including SEO, PPC and social media strategies.

Creating a revenue management culture

Revenue management has many benefits for the establishment in which it is implemented. Many of these benefits are economic but not all of them.

For an optimal implementation of revenue management culture at a hotel or resort, it is necessary for all the staff to be involved, trained, motivated and encouraged. This culture not only helps improves the average price, but also raises commitment. In this way we will improve both the RevPar (revenue per available room) and the Trevpar (total revenue per available room). In our next article we’ll talk more in depth about revenue management.

A good business plan

This is the difference between marketing a hotel or applying revenue management. To summarize we’ll say that the commercial department is the one which captures the demand, while revenue management manages it.

Most importantly: the quality of service

If we are able to maintain high quality service standards, always encouraging a good working environment, this will positively impact on our business, and therefore on the average price. Not to mention our online and offline reputation.

We must not forget that we sell, especially in hotels or holiday resorts, experiences. A hotel that does not pay attention to service quality, developing a good working environment, implementing procedural standards or forming training its staff, will hardly be able to exceed customer expectations.

In this article we explained what we consider essential to improve our average price while at the same time we consolidate ourselves in the market. In this way, we will be working to improve short-term results while building a business model with good prospects in the medium and long term.

In our next article we will discuss the importance of good revenue management culture at a hotel or independent resort. We will then explain its benefits, as well as aspects to consider within this culture.

We hope you enjoyed this short article and that it helps you improve the difficult task of increasing average price at your hotel or resort. If you have found this article useful or interesting, share it!