Vacation Rental Owners Can Learn From Top Ten Tips for Marketing Luxury Boutique Hotels & Resorts
Jan. 10, 2007. Anyone who has experience with luxury boutique hotels and resorts knows that sales and marketing for a small, often independent, property requires a different approach from large corporate hotels, according to Ling Riley. These differences are also applicable to luxury vacation rentals. This differnet approach is consistent with the Top Ten Tips published in the Vacation Rentals Newsletter of VacationRental.org.
In an article in Lodgistica Hospitality Management, Ling offers the following Top Ten Issues that boutique hotel properties should consider when crafting their 2007 plans:
"1) Promote a Destination Experience. The modern guest is looking for more than a luxurious room, they want an experience. Situating your property as part of a larger destination experience will inextricably connect your hotel to the destination for the repeat visitor.
"2) Promote a Hotel/Resort Experience. Today’s guests want to understand how they’re going to feel and what they are going to do at your hotel, as well. It creates anticipation, so you should create that for them prior to arrival.
"3) Consistency in hotel management, marketing, and sales. . Most individual hotels miss the boat on one or all of these by not knowing how to prioritize, how to spend funds wisely, and how to stay on message.
"4) Know your guests. With a growing number of firms specializing in guest database analysis, luxury boutique hotels have the opportunity to understand their demographics on an extraordinarily detailed level.
"5) Revamp your website. There are a few—and only a few—hotels and resorts that have successful websites.
"6) Online marketing. From content syndication to email offers, online marketing is a cost-effective way to reach your audience and most contemporary guests (no matter their age) are internet savvy. Online marketing offers more flexibility, is quicker to produce, and costs less than most print advertising and direct mail pieces.
"7) Correspond with your past guests. Past guests are your most valuable asset and it’s critical to reconnect with them periodically. Start with a well-designed “Thank You� email shortly after the guest has returned home and then periodically—maybe once per quarter—send a letter with a special offer specifically targeted to the past guests.
"8) Create strong relationships with industry organizations.
"9) Set realistic group sales goals.
"10) “In-house� sales & marketing matters. No one is as dedicated to your hotel as your own hotel operations management team."
