inside - amazon s3 · issue 2 winter 2019 intelligence, innovation & inspiration for the...

ISSUE 2 Winter 2019ISSUE 2 Winter 2019ISSUE 2 Winter 2019

intelligence, innovation & inspiration for the hospitality marketer

Inside:We find out about the latest trends in luxury solo travel and how hotels can tap into this growing marketThe rise of voice technology means big changes for marketers – Curious digs deeper into voice for search

Marketing like a pro: How to manage measurement and return on investment

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ISSUE 2 Winter 2019

EDITORIAL TEAM:

Publishing director: Petra ClaytonEditor: Natalie Blachford Editorial contributions and thanks:Adam RowledgeCaroline Donaldson-SinclairCharlotte WinterbourneEmma EvershamFiona AdamsGeorgia WardIoannis PantelidisLesley WhyteMark McCullochMegan TrimbleMika BishopSam Weston Designed by Alison Cummins ([email protected])

CONTACT DETAILS:

Editorial and sales: Petra Clayton [email protected]

www.custardpublishing.com

Custardpublishing

Welcome to our second edition of Curious Magazine.

We were overwhelmed with the response from our launch issue which was unveiled at the Independent Hotel Show in London.

It was reassuring to know that we are informing the hospitality marketing community with no motive other than to share best practice and stay up to date on new strategies. As such we rely on the talent of our team and our own network to help drive the content for the magazine and to identify the best people to share their views and advice. So, if you are interested in being part of our editorial community or would like to advertise, we’d love to hear from you, so we can grow the publication and bring the marketing industry together.

In the meantime, I’m really excited about the content in this issue. There never seem to be enough pages, but we’ve crammed in some great stuff and listened to your feedback. In particular, a topic close to my heart is the importance of long-term strategies and investments, so our PR is not just for Christmas article on page 6 is a great read on the importance of maintaining, if not increasing your PR efforts post-launch.

I’m delighted to involve an academic in this issue and a very esteemed colleague – Ioannis Pantelidis is principal lecturer in hospitality management at the University of Brighton and a real inspiration when it comes to consumer behaviour and technology. His article on Artificial Intelligence on page 14 is not only thought provoking but practical in terms of understanding how to get involved with the technology.

Of course, another big marketing topic this year is voice marketing, which follows on nicely on page 16 and supports our discussions around the changing behaviour of our hospitality consumers. Natalie Blachford highlights how we need to rapidly get to grips with the rise in voice search optimisation.

Of course, no magazine is complete without some predictions and this month we invited Sam Weston from 80 Days to share six digital trends to watch in 2019.

Happy reading and we look forward to hearing from you.

Petra ClaytonPublishing director

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Curious magazine is published by Custard Publishing on behalf of Custard Communications Limited. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without permission.

Curious – ISSUE 2 Winter 20194

8 In The Know: deciphering what guests really want

12 Artificial Intelligence: what does it mean for the future of hospitality?

18 Show, don't tell

14 Time for marketing to find its voice

6 PR is not just for Christmas

25 The growing market of the luxury solo traveller

5

16 6 digital hospitality trends to watch in 2019

6 PR is not just for Christmas

8 In The Know: deciphering what guests really want

10 What's cooking: How to manage the chef-owner relationship

12 Artificial Intelligence: what does it mean for the future of hospitality?

14 Time for marketing to find its voice

16 6 digital hospitality trends to watch in 2019

18 Show, don't tell

22 From House to Home: The Evolution of Deer Park

25 The growing market of the luxury solo traveller

28 Curious Book Review: The Direct Method by Adam Hamadache

29 Curious meets: Maxine Briggs

30 Marketing like a pro: Driving a return on investment

32 Putting the courtship back into partnership

34 Show-rounds to conversions

36 The world wise web: How hotels are making it easy for guests to find what they want online

38 Wedding venues – are you China-Ready?

40 Will 2019 finally be the year hotels get social?

42 Final Word

contents

10 What's cooking: How to manage the chef-owner relationship

29 Curious meets: Maxine Briggs

6 Curious – ISSUE 2 Winter 2019

MARKETING STRATEGY


PR is not just for ChristmasEveryone knows how important it is to get the launch of a new brand, product or service just right – but the launch day should be the start, not the end, of the campaign. Megan Trimble discusses why seeing beyond the launch is so key to marketing and PR strategy.

7

Megan TrimbleGraduate of

University of

Cambridge and

King’s College London, holder

of a Diploma in Professional

Marketing focused in Driving

Innovation from the Chartered

Institute of Marketing, and

speaker at the Youth Marketing

Strategy Conference London

2017. Megan is an experienced

marketing professional with

an established history working

within the hospitality industry,

spanning QSR, casual dining,

retail, and travel markets.

MARKETING STRATEGY

When you’ve got a new product, service, or brand to launch to the world, it’s easy to get swept up in

the excitement and general rush to prepare everything for the big day when you press that imaginary red button and all is revealed.

But what then?In an ideal world, the big launch will be enough for

the masses to come rushing straight to your door, but, in reality, there’s still a lot more work to be done for your business to become a success.

It has been estimated that it takes anywhere between seven and twenty iterations for the average customer to act on the back of messaging (American Marketing Association, 2017). So why do so many companies stop their marketing and PR efforts on launch day?

A wedding isn’t a marriageAn official launch day is much like a wedding. Lots of preparation, lots of investment and Champagne bottles popping shortly afterwards. However, this is actually just the start.

There are countless articles written about how the first year of marriage, parenting or a new job can be the hardest – this also applies to business. To give yourself the best chance from the beginning, you need to set achievable goals on a regular basis for the months, and years, post-launch.

For example, you might set a target of securing X number of write-ups and testimonials in relevant publications in the month after you launch your new event space, targeting a specified list of new prospects by the three-month marker, and scheduling in an audit of your full activity after six months. Each of these mini-objectives will ensure that the product or business is still striving towards bigger goals, whilst assessing the work that’s already been done.

Recently-wed couples are also encouraged to delight in the ‘firsts’ they experience after the big day; you can ensure the enthusiasm doesn’t fade away over time by giving these moments as much focus as you did those key launch countdowns.

Stoke the fireThe most dangerous thing you can do when launching a new brand, product, or campaign is to take your foot off the pedal. After all the tireless effort to see the project to fruition, the project team may feel like it’s done and time to move onto the next thing – but the work is far from over.

A fire is only kept going by constant stoking and attention. Even temporary idleness can result in those flames reducing to embers, making it much harder to bring back to its former glory.

To avoid the slump, which often comes after the three-month halo effect has worn off, the best approach is to plan activity and marketing beyond the launch day from the start. This simple extension of a visual timeline or calendar has an enormous psychological effect in removing the hard stop of energy (and disastrously, budget!) that signifies ‘the end’.

As a minimum, the next six months need to continue the key messages that were used leading up to the launch – but awareness marketing never ends. There is always a new market to expand into, always someone who has missed your messages the first time round and always existing customers to retarget.

If the team are constantly looking ahead to the next plans and tasks, it’s easier to keep the momentum going and the team morale high.

Spice things upLet’s go back to our marriage for a moment. You’re nearing the end of the honeymoon period and it’s now time to enter the next stage of the product or brand lifecycle: growth.

New experiences, taking a different approach and thinking outside the box will guide you out of any projected, or actual, slump on the horizon.

Think about activities you can do after the launch that will continue to generate news and interest – this could be forging a targeted brand partnership, holding an event for key influencers or inviting people to something ‘behind the scenes’ like a masterclass with a chef.

Re-engaging your audience is vital at this stage to guarantee continued growth and interest. A brand cannot survive on the memories of a launch party. And no, throwing another party is not the answer – would you attend a vows renewal within months of the original wedding?

Whatever you do, make your hard work last longer with a strategic plan that extends the life of your activity and will ensure you stay on that high of the launch.

There is always a new market to expand into, always someone who has missed your

messages the first time round and always existing customers to

retarget.

7


In this new digital era, hoteliers have a plethora of information at their fingertips, and therefore they

know what their guests want and how they understand and cater to their needs. So why is it that when we think about our own hotel experiences and listen to those of our friends, colleagues and families, there is often disappointment?

Guest expectations on a continuous upward trajectory, ever-changing trends, intense competition: these are just some of the challenges that hoteliers today face in truly understanding guests and pre-empting their needs. Gaining insight into what they REALLY want has become more important than ever.

The Know recently commissioned a detailed study into the preferences and priorities of luxury hotel guests. A comprehensive survey was conducted, comprising of a global population of well-travelled respondents, with 62% spending over 15 nights a year in luxury hotels and 12% spending over 30 nights.

The Know also collated information from its own

Fiona AdamsFiona Adams joined forces

with business partner Mané

Ryatt in 2016 to create The

Know. With their extensive

experience as guests at luxury

and boutique hotels, they

recognised a disjoin between

the true guest perspective and

the actual feedback received

by hoteliers. Drawing on 15

years’ experience in investment

banking, Fiona developed the

actionable intelligence service

and bespoke technology, which

enables hoteliers to receive

detailed, confidential, qualitative

and authentic feedback from

real paying guests.

members, or ‘Knowers’, who are frequent guests at luxury hotels across the globe. Trends, evidence and examples which have emerged via their confidential hotel reviews were incorporated into the results.

The analysis confirmed a number of well-recognised influences on the guest experience, but also some interesting and surprising insights into the luxury guest mindset.

What the customer really wants Guests seek a trusted source for

recommendations and reviewsWhilst both personal recommendations and TripAdvisor reviews continue to be dominating factors influencing choice of hotel for luxury guests, one important finding emerged.

The research found that 87% of luxury hotel guests would trust a friend’s positive recommendation over negative reviews on TripAdvisor, which highlights that direct recommendations hold the most weight.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

In The Know:deciphering what guests really want Knowing your guests, understanding what they want and need, adapting your services and offering to meet those requirements has always been the holy grail of delivering exceptional guest experience – Fiona Adams, co-founder of The Know, has found about what the luxury hotel customer really wants.

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The purpose of a visit significantly impacts guest priorities and preferences

Hotels are on a near constant quest to collate information, interpret it and convert it into meaningful actions that create a personalised experience for their guest. However, when asked to rank their priorities when staying for different purposes – Business Trips, Romantic Breaks and Family Holidays – 85% of respondents reported that their preferences changed as their purpose of stay changed.

There were common high priorities including food quality, sleep quality and WiFi; however, the notable takeaway is that to deliver the personalisation that guests want, in a meaningful and relevant way, a deeper level of understanding of the purpose of stay is required.

Eco-awareness has dramatically changedAn overwhelming 81% of The Know’s survey respondents consider themselves either ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘very eco-friendly’.

More importantly, 87% consider themselves eco-friendlier than they were five years ago, with 52% stating they are ‘significantly’ more eco-friendly.

While this clearly shows how environmentally-conscious guests are, the key to successfully implementing environmental strategies is ensuring it is at no detriment to guest experience or in implementing choice.

Technology – all is not what it seemsWith the exception of WiFi, the overall importance placed on technology is actually very low – not a single in-room technology amenity was considered very important by more than 50% of luxury guests. The amenities that were considered relatively important did not offer a wow factor, rather they were practical, optional and representative of the amenities relied upon in the home, with TV streaming topping the list.

However, when including WiFi in the question, 92% think technology is important when staying in a hotel, confirming that connectivity is still key but supporting the evidence that luxury guests do not want technology overload.

Guests value the basics even more than expectedPerhaps surprisingly, 88% of luxury guests felt like ‘the basics’ were not always performed to the standards they expected.

Our Knowers stated that when the basics weren’t done well, that is by far and away what they remember and will be likely to tell other people. Even if a hotel has a heli-pad, a resident DJ and all the trimmings from a technology perspective, if it is not clean, well-maintained and with good levels of service, the negative impact of these factors far outweighs the positive impact of others.

When asked about the most impressive and the most negative aspect that luxury guests typically remembered about previous hotel stays, almost all of the responses focused on fundamental things such as service, personalisation, cleanliness, upkeep and maintenance.

The factors that can shape a positive experience for a guest, increase their likelihood to recommend to others and inspire them to return as a loyal customer, are often based on simply how well a hotel executes the basics.

The Know’s full findings are presented in a white paper, available to download from www.theknow.club. For luxury guest insight, specific to your hotel, contact [email protected]

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

9


F&B

Operating a restaurant is much like creating a perfectly balanced dish. Certain elements and

ingredients just don’t work without each other. In the case of restaurants, an owner requires a chef to cook the food, while a chef – unless they have their own funds to run the business – needs someone to provide an environment where they can perform their role.

Yet the relationship, as anyone involved in the trade knows, isn’t that simple when deciding what to call the restaurant and how to market it. The restaurant owner or investor holds the purse strings, but they are unlikely to be well known, whereas the chef they’ve hired is more likely to have built up a reputation and profile that will be an attractive draw for potential diners.

This common situation often throws up the question – do you name the restaurant after the chef and/or place them centre stage in publicity campaigns to capitalise on their profile, or put the restaurant first and leave the chef’s cooking to do the talking?

As Richard Vines, chief food critic at Bloomberg notes, many chefs will want their name above the door and says he ‘wouldn’t blame them’. He adds however, that it carries a risk for investors should they decide to leave, referencing the closure of Notting Hill restaurant Marianne, which shut two months after the chef it was named after – Marianne Lumb – left.

Conversely, in many cases naming the restaurant

after the chef can help cement the relationship between the two, meaning the former party is more likely to stick around, says Cara Houchen, editor of professional chef network, The Staff Canteen.

“Opening a restaurant is a huge cost, so if you give a chef the opportunity to have their name above the door, it shows you are seriously investing in them and this hopefully generates longevity,” she says. “It can be a double-edged sword though, because if they do leave this will have an impact on the restaurant. But for a chef it is one of the best ways to have their own restaurant without investing their own money.”

If not using the chef’s name for the restaurant, Houchen advocates putting them at the centre of any publicity and marketing campaigns to help add personality to the business. As the saying goes, people buy people.

“Having covered a number of restaurants opening within hotels and talking to chefs, I’d say it gives credibility to the restaurant and helps it move away from being just another ‘hotel restaurant’,” she says.

Vines agrees that for more cautious restaurateurs and investors who don’t want to make that commitment, ‘the safest thing’ is to have a name unrelated to the chef, but make it clear they are heading up the kitchen.

“As when Monica Galetti opened Mere,” he says,

Emma EvershamEmma Eversham is a journalist

and copywriter who has

covered the hotel sector and

the hospitality industry for 10

years. She currently works with

Custard Communications and

has worked with a number of

B2B hospitality publications,

including BigHospitality,

Restaurant magazine, The

Morning Advertiser and

Hospitality & Catering News.

What’s cooking: How to manage the chef-owner relationshipWhat are the pros and cons of using a high-profile chef to name and promote a restaurant, and as a restaurant owner, what do you do when your head chef decides to hang up their chef whites?

11

F&B

pointing out that some of the biggest names in the culinary world prefer to use alternative monikers for their restaurants.

“It is interesting that a big chef like Jason Atherton avoids using his name, but by design brands the Social restaurants as his.”

Indeed, not all chefs will want their name above the door, says Tracey Fairclough, managing director of TAF Catering Consulting, who recommends that both parties think about the positive and negatives from their perspectives. She recalls a conversation with the late Antonio Carluccio on the subject.

“He very sadly admitted that a big mistake in life was that he’d succumbed to ‘brand Carluccio’ which had made him very sad and lonely. He described how he lost his sense of his own identity and went into a very dark place, which he ended up writing about in his biography, as part of his therapy.”

Fairclough says there needs to be careful consideration, research and gut instinct on both sides to ensure the decision is the right one.

“All parties have much to gain when the balance is right, the long-term implications are fully understood and the ‘brand’ can grow under the right conditions.

“Ultimately, there is no right or wrong approach. Some people love having their businesses named after themselves and experience wild success in doing so, like Gino De Campo, while others don’t.”

A decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly, owners need to ask serious questions about their business and the profile of the chef leading the kitchen, before settling on a name.

“Does the chef name in question inspire, motivate and drive bookings, or does it help break boundaries in the industry? Does it matter or drive a different behaviour to the booking customer to further their expectations of food, service and overall experience?

“If some of the answers are yes, it’s likely as an owner you’re onto something special to bring to the table. If you’re hesitating, you may need to think further about the commercial impact of making that commitment.”

Any restaurant, whether it takes the chef’s name or not, always runs the risk of a chef handing in their notice, which, besides the fact that the owner has a recruitment issue on their hands, could lead to the restaurant losing regulars if they visited for the chef, plus any accolades they may have earnt during their tenure.

While the Michelin guide makes it clear that stars are awarded to a restaurant, not a chef, it is the quality of the food which attracts the accolade. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the restaurant to lose a star in the next edition of the guide following the departure of the kitchen’s head chef.

“Losing a high-profile chef could affect some hotels, especially if they don’t replace the chef (who has left) with a similarly well-known one,” says The Staff Canteen’s Houchen. “It takes time to build a new reputation and loyalty with diners and similarly with the guides. At Pennyhill Park, for example, Matt Worswick is a very different chef to Michael Wignall, and he needed time to showcase his food style and build up the consistency required by the Michelin Guide. Despite not retaining the two stars he inherited, he and his team worked incredibly hard to get back in the guide a year later.”

For restaurant owners facing this situation, the message isn’t all doom and gloom, however. The arrival of a new chef provides a chance to entice back jaded former regulars or encourage new customers, plus provides a new hook for publicity opportunities. As Houchen says, not everyone is bothered about awards and accolades either.

“The Staff Canteen features chefs of all levels, accolades or not, so this would not influence our decision to feature them on the site,” she says. “In fact, a new chef gives us the opportunity to go back into a restaurant we may have featured before and find out what exciting plans and ambitions the new chef has.”

If the brand is strong enough on its own and has simply been enhanced by the presence of its departing head chef, then focus on those areas you’ve found that customers are visiting for, such as personalised experiences, or occasion dining. Going about it in this way will lessen the impact.

Tracey Fairclough concludes: “A chef is just one part of customer anticipation; making way for other aspects of dining that hold just as much power and thrall before, during and after visiting your establishment. Go mining for the hidden gems to bring out the very best in your offering – you might find a surprising answer.”


Increasingly we are hearing a lot about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will take over our jobs

and lives. You may often hear the terms ‘machine learning’

or even ‘deep learning’. It is important that you can distinguish between the two, because a product that has basic machine learning may be sold to you as a fully autonomous artificial intelligence agent, with the price tag that AI demands.

Machines today can demonstrate visual perception; voice recognition can make decisions and even translate accurately. Such functions can be achieved through coding that enables machines to learn. Advanced machine learning involves algorithms that learn from vast amounts of data, then use that learning to make decisions. Most of the functionality we see today is based on this machine learning (ML).

The next level of ML is deep learning and in this, the algorithms are structured in a way that resembles an artificial neural network that, through learning, can make an independent intelligent decision on its own. We can distinguish them simply as AI and Advanced AI, but for the purposes of this article, I shall focus predominantly on AI.

Machines with artificial intelligence have been part of our daily lives for years, even though most of us fail

to recognise their presence. You may have had an AI experience either through online banking functions or through your smartphone functionalities, for example.

AI scientists have been pushing the boundaries for decades, yet consumers tend to only realise it when it becomes really obvious. It may be obvious when we interact with services such as Siri or Google that we are using AI, but, believe it or not, machine learning and to some extent AI have been used in hotel websites for much longer than you imagine.

The key change that’s making AI more relevant for hospitality organisationsCross-brand sharing of big data analysis in large organisations, such as hotel or restaurant chains, and high-profile projects led by companies such as Google and Deepmind, are making the use of AI more accessible, more cost-effective and mainstream.

From self-driving cars to AI-assisted video interview protocols and medical diagnosis, our world is changing rapidly. In hospitality, major hotel chains seem to be at the forefront of AI adoption. These hotel companies are rapidly evolving their methods with big data consumer behaviour analysis, and AI can be very helpful with this as we are talking about parsing enormous amounts of data.

Artificial Intelligence: what does it mean for the future of hospitality?Artificial intelligence technology is advancing at an incredible rate – but seeing beyond the sci-fi, what does this mean for the hospitality industry?

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR


13

Ioannis PantelidisDr Pantelidis FIH is chair of

the Council for Hospitality

Management Education and a

principal lecturer in hospitality

management at the University

of Brighton. He is a Hospitality

Action Guardian and has

served on the Executive Board

of the Institute of Hospitality

and on the boards of three

more charities. He is the

hospitality editor of Tourism

and Hospitality Research

(Sage Publications) and on the

editorial board of four more

journals. Prior to his academic

career he worked for hotel

& restaurant companies in

Europe and has a preference

for applied research that

focuses on hotel and food

and beverage technology,

machine learning, big data and

operational efficiencies.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

AI technology is evolving rapidly, but it is not just the AI that is evolving. Our industry thinking is also evolving, and CEOs are increasingly realising that sharing data across brands (even if considered competitors) is much better for business as the collective synergies yield a multitude of benefits both for the hotel brands and their internal and external consumers.

Imagine having a real-time big data analyst who can identify trends in an instant and has access to data across all the major hotel groups. This can easily lead to better market segmentation and focused upselling!

An AI assistant can categorise and group markets, in ways that we never thought possible before (mainly because of the prohibitive costs of the analysis and data storage). An AI assistant can also help with swifter and better personalisation of customer experience.

If companies could gain a new understanding of the wants and needs of their customers, they could produce customised services and products just for that customer. From how you like your eggs in the morning to what newspaper you would like to read, or even a personalised summary of the news from various newspapers, the opportunities are limitless.

For internal customers (employees), hotels can gather data on meaningful interventions of an individual associate to the customer experience, then the AI can analyse this and help associates improve through external motivation (bonuses) or personalised training. The possibilities really are endless.

The AI doomsday scenarioAI is just a tool, and like any tool it can be used both for good and for harm. We need hospitality organisations to start developing codes of ethical and responsible behaviour – governments have already attempted to establish parameters; the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may be a headache now for companies but ultimately it is laws such as this one that will help minimise the risks of unethical data mining and aggressive selling behaviour.

Despite these laws, I believe companies themselves

should have an ethical compass that helps them moderate their developments.

Immediate benefits for marketersImagine AI-facilitated video technology assisting customers from the early stages of consumer decision making – the illusion of a personalised journey from the very beginning is a powerful tool. But that may be a thing for the future; for now, beyond the chatbots and the AI newscaster gimmicks, the AI-assisted big data analysis is what could give marketers tools that they could only dream of. Information has always been a major gamechanger but accurate information at incredible speeds is now becoming an affordable reality for many organisations.

How can SMEs make the most of AI?The best way to learn is by getting involved! Begin with understanding machine learning; Google has some great examples to help laypeople understand the basics. Partner with technology companies and help them understand the context of hospitality so that they can, in turn, build better intelligent systems for hospitality organisations.

Of course, not all technology companies are sympathetic to their customer needs, so you 'll have to find one that speaks the same language as you. The most important thing for any hospitality manager or marketer is to keep themselves updated with the latest developments. And yes, sometimes that means reading not just industry news but also academic papers. With open access papers, this is becoming increasingly easier not just for hoteliers but anyone with a thirst for knowledge.

Soon we shall see hospitality organisations evolving as thinking systems that work with their associates to deliver both amazing service and great returns to all stakeholders. We may finally get to see the seamless, holistic, immersive experience we all dreamed of, from searching for a hotel, to booking, to check-out and goodbye.

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TECHNOLOGY

The rise of voice technology is undeniable. It’s estimated that by 2021, more than four billion

mobile voice assistants (a market let by Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Home and Microsoft’s Cortana) will be used globally. Gartner is predicting that by 2020 30% of web browsing will be done without a screen, and last year a YouGov survey reported that one in ten people in the UK own a smart speaker – equating to around 6.6 million people.

Within the hospitality industry, a lot of focus has been given to how voice technology can be used to enhance the guest experience. Alexa for Hospitality was introduced in June 2018 and immediately rolled out to selected Marriott hotels, enabling guests to use an Amazon Echo device in their rooms to access hotel information, order room service, play music in their rooms, and more.

While the opportunities in-room voice technology provides are enormous and incredibly exciting, hotels, restaurants and venues need to take a step back in the customer journey and think about how voice can generate more business during a guest’s search.

Voice for SearchUsing voice for search is becoming more and more prevalent; analytics company Alpine.AI has reported that there are more than 1 billion voice searches made per month, and media measurement company

ComScore is predicting that in just two years’ time, 50% of all searches will be voice searches.

When it comes to travel and tourism specifically, Microsoft has released data on searches made with Cortana that show a staggering increase in voice searches for hotels of 343% year-on-year, while searches for flights have increased by 277%.

So why is voice search becoming so popular? The answer is that it’s simply more convenient – it’s hands-free, it can be done anywhere, and it’s quicker and easier.

It’s not just the tool people use to search that’s changing though, it’s the terms people are searching for too.

Time for marketing to find its voiceArtificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain – all are being hailed as the technology hoteliers can’t be without, but by looking to the future many marketers may be ignoring the tech that’s already here and is rapidly changing the entire customer booking journey.

Natalie BlachfordWith a degree in multi-media

journalism and a background

in travel and tourism PR,

Natalie Blachford manages a

mixed portfolio of consumer

and corporate clients at

Custard Communications,

including luxury hotels,

venues and events, and

constantly strives to identify

new opportunities for clients

through cross-channel

communications, to raise

their profile.

15

TECHNOLOGY

keyword search and a voice search is the use of stop words, such as ‘the’, ‘at’, ‘you’ or ‘I’. Search engines like Google have been programmed to filter these out, but they are integral to the phrase search used by voice and should be actively encouraged in VSO.

Length of copy is important too, as the answers to search questions are going to be read aloud. It needs to be concise and to the point – a 2018 study by Backlinko of Google Home search results reported an average length of just 29 words for a voice search result, with readability levels typically at that of a 14 or 15-year-old.

Digital Knowledge ManagementOne element of VSO that’s absolutely vital is Digital Knowledge Management (DKM). This is the management and syncing of key business data that will ensure your business appears in the right searches.

Amazon has directly integrated its smart speakers with DKM platform Yext, to ensure all business information is correct, including location, opening hours, phone number, website, etc. Hotels and restaurants can also add details like menus, promotions and discount codes, which can help give the customer exactly what they’re looking for – and deliver direct business.

It’s essential for hospitality businesses to make sure all of their online listings are up-to-date and consistent across all sites, including their own website, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Google Local, Yelp, and even with OTAs. Kayak has already integrated with Amazon to offer hotel booking via Alexa, and it’s only a matter of time before others follow suit.

Other ways of ranking higher in voice search include building domain authority (DA) – the Backlinko study found the average DA of a voice search result was 76.8 – and sourcing positive reviews and mentions from trusted sources.

Voice search is a game-changing marketing channel that’s going nowhere, and if hoteliers don’t act now, they will be facing a serious risk of being left behind.

Voice is much more conversational than written search. Considering that the average speaking speed is between 125 and 150 words per minute and the average typing speed is just 40 it can afford to be, but it’s not just about the practicality.

People interact with digital assistants in the same way they would with a person, addressing them directly and asking a fully-formed question. While this may have been initiated by the need to activate devices by saying ‘Alexa’ or ‘Google’ and then asking your question, now it’s an engrained way of thinking.

This means that a typed search for ‘luxury hotels Sheffield’ becomes a voice search for ‘Which is the best luxury hotel in Sheffield?’, and consequently the principles of traditional SEO no longer apply.

Voice Search OptimisationVoice Search Optimisation (VSO), takes elements of SEO that marketers will be familiar with, but applies them specifically to the patterns of search only used in voice.

The most significant way a voice search differs to a typed search is that only one result – the one deemed by the search engine to be the best – will be offered. Customers can’t scroll through options or apply filters, so it’s vital that businesses are appearing as the number one result in the searches where they want to be found.

Content on hotel websites needs to reflect the same conversational tone of the questions being asked in order to rank highly. Think about writing more colloquially (if the positioning and tone of voice of your brand allows) and using questions and answers within your copy. Also think about what questions people might be asking – someone may search for ‘Where can I have lunch in Westminster?’, but they may also search for ‘Where can I have lunch near the Houses of Parliament?’, so including that in your content will help to optimise for local search.

One big difference in format between a stilted typed

77% own their own home

58% earn over$75,000

Who owns a smart speaker ?

53% are aged18-36

73.5% are married

*Research by CapTech September 2017


TECHNOLOGY


6 digital hospitality trends to watch in 2019As we enter the new year, attention is naturally turning to what 2019 will bring for the hospitality industry; what are the digital trends we simply can’t afford to ignore?

17

1 Unlocking the true value of dataData as a commodity has never been more valuable. The introduction of GDPR has only compounded this and as an industry we are beginning to realise that it’s a privilege, rather than a right, to hold the data of our guests.

Of course, this data is useful in a number of ways, but it’s the increasing role it plays within the personalisation of a guest’s experience that is of most interest, creating more memorable stays while maximising yield.

2 The growth of videoGuests have begun to expect that a luxury hotel will have commissioned a video to introduce their property. It’s rapidly become an additional layer of service transparency and they may question the lack of inclusion for those without.

Add to this the rocketing increase in popularity of live video on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram; 80% of us now prefer to watch a live video from a brand rather than read a blog.

3 Gathering digital influenceStrong reputation management continues to be vital for hoteliers, with guests holding ever-increasing sway, especially on social networks.

Influencer marketing continues to grow in popularity and can be very effective, provided you avoid the pitfall of evaluating a potential partner based upon social following alone – engagement remains a vital measure of their value.

4 A responsive website isn’t enoughThis year could well be the first year that isn’t touted as ‘the year of the smartphone’, with focus shifting to smart technologies, AI and voice. However, smartphone usage continues to grow and influence the way that we do business.

This year saw Google introduce mobile-first indexing and an increased focus on AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to improve the way content is delivered on smartphones.

TECHNOLOGY

Of course, it’s now the default to build websites responsively with a ‘mobile-first’ approach, but more so, it’s no longer about making sure a page simply displays OK on mobile, it’s ensuring the complete user journey throughout your mobile offering is as smooth as possible.

5 A race we cannot afford to loseOTAs got the jump on hoteliers many moons ago because they were more agile, quickly integrating technology into their businesses to gain advantage. As technology evolves ever further and the likes of AI, voice and blockchain become more mainstream, the message is clear: hoteliers cannot fall behind again.

Accor’s acquisition behaviour over the last few years is a prime example, looking beyond hotels to alternative accommodation providers and technology businesses.

The pendulum shift may not quite be swinging towards hoteliers, but there’s an increasing wealth of tools and technologies in the hotelier’s playbook that should result in hoteliers being more informed and empowered in 2019.

While we as an agency are big advocates of using benchmarking to better understand your hotel’s performance relative to the industry, it’s vital that we use that data productively and don’t let it limit us. Collectively, we must all aspire to be better than the benchmarks.

6 Data fuelling creativityFinally, it’s important to remember that every year the internet becomes more saturated with marketing messaging, making it increasingly challenging for a brand to stand out.

It’s vital that, as an industry, we focus on delivering genuinely creative campaigns, fuelled by steadfast insight and a true understanding of our audience. Our guests are better educated on just how much we know about them and it’s time that we use that knowledge to deliver real value.

Now is the time for hoteliers to innovate and use all the tools, agencies and partners at their disposal to drive the industry forward.

Sam Weston Sam Weston is marketing

manager for 80 DAYS, a

creative and digital marketing

agency specialising in the

luxury travel and hospitality

sector. He also created and

curates the online hotel and

travel marketing community,

HotelSpeak.com.

It’s vital that, as an industry, we focus on delivering genuinely creative campaigns, fuelled by steadfast insight and a true

understanding of our audience.


Firstly – why is video such an important part of the marketing and PR mix?Video is the richest form of media. You can tell a much more engaging story when you have words combined with visuals, movement and sound. People have a more immersive sensory experience with video that can bring your message to life in ways that a single medium can't.

Given the alternatives, people seem to prefer video to other mediums – Hubspot reported that "Where both video and text are available on the same page, 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service.”

Do you think video is something all hotels and hospitality businesses should be implementing, or at least considering?That depends on what they're looking to achieve, but video can help with a wide variety of objectives. They could use video to promote their brand (so it’s distinct from competitors), at events and exhibitions to capture attention, or on their website to showcase a particular service and increase bookings or enquiries. They could also use video to tell a story or to focus on one aspect of their hotel or service. For example, a 30-second social ad could reveal glimpses of a new suite to entice people to click through and find out more.

Does the effectiveness of video depend on who your target audience is, or can it work for any audience?Video can work for any audience as long as you understand and appeal to their perspective, their values, their psychology, their logic and their emotions.

What makes a really great video? Have you seen any examples you love within the hospitality, tourism and leisure sector? Even boring subjects can be made into popular and exciting videos – for example, one of August 2018’s most viewed ads on YouTube – in the UK – was about airline safety. You know, the talk we all try to avoid listening to (even though we shouldn’t) just before we take off. The bit about seatbelts and exits and lights in the floor… Well, Turkish Airlines took that to a whole new level when they partnered with LEGO. They created something that was amusing, memorable and informative. It’s had more than 23 million views so far – not so boring after all.

But the most popular ad in YouTube in August – in the UK – was by EasyJet, featuring a flamingo crossed with a giraffe. Novelty can be very effective at getting attention!

When it comes to actual content of a video, what do you think works well? The content that works well is whatever the audience wants or needs to see and hear. To earn and retain their attention, you need to create content that is relevant, intriguing, interesting and exciting… to them!

Too many corporate videos fail this test because they focus on including what they want to say, not what the audience wants to hear. When we say excite, we don’t necessarily mean your video has to make someone jump for joy, we mean it needs to elicit a positive, visceral reaction to what they’re seeing. If a hotel wanted to use a video on its website to showcase its facilities, the question to ask is what is it about those facilities that would interest the audience? Then, decide what sort of content can best demonstrate that.

Lee CarnihanMarketing manager for award-

winning animated video and

film producers Curveball

Media, Lee is an experienced

marketer, having worked

on digital projects from

website design and builds

through to social media

campaigns, content creation

and promotion for SMEs and

multinationals.

Show, don't tellIt goes without saying that video is the medium dominating digital content, but with hefty costs behind slick production, is it really worth the investment? Curious spoke to Lee Carnihan of Curveball Media to find out how hotels can make video a vital part of their PR and marketing mix.

INSIGHT

19

INSIGHT

Is there an optimum length for holding people’s attention? In a word, no. Clients shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking people have very short attention spans. People can quite easily concentrate for hours watching TV or a movie, listening to the radio or reading a novel. What people actually have is a shortage of interest in what you’re saying or showing them: if they don’t see anything of interest or relevance, they’re not likely to give you their attention.

The precise length of any video is also informed by where the audience will see your video and their state of mind at the point they see it. For example, in social media, your audience isn’t likely to be thinking about your brand. They’ll be looking at posts from their friends and family, or other people they follow. Which means posts from brands need to work exceptionally hard at earning people’s attention, to attract them away from what they were already looking at.

Let’s talk about placement – once you’ve got a great video, how do you go about getting it seen?Pinpointing where the video will be seen needs to happen right at the start, before you commission a thing. Knowing where it will be seen informs how it will be promoted, how it will be scripted and filmed or animated, all of which then affect to what degree it will be seen.

Promoting your video with a paid campaign is vital. Don’t publish and pray your audience will see it. The more you invest in paid promotion, the more likely your video will be seen.

If you’re working with influencers, start seeding your

video early on, long before the video is finished. Contact them and demonstrate the relevance and benefit to them of sharing it with their audience.

What would you say to a client who asked if you could make them a video that would ‘go viral’?We’d ask them to look into our crystal ball… But seriously, if we could predict what would go viral, we’d be millionaires by now, twice over. If a client does have a desire for something to go viral, we tell them a story. One video we made for a client was shown by Bill Gates at Davos. It got more than 3 million views on social; not bad by any stretch of the imagination. But we didn’t start off by saying ‘how can we make this video get 3 million views in social?’ We started off by understanding the purpose of the video, where it would be seen and the audience, and taking it from there.

How do you measure the ROI of video? What sort of outcomes could you expect from a well-thought out and well-executed campaign?Pick the metric that tells you if the purpose of your video has been achieved. How a brand decides to measure a video’s ROI should be decided at the briefing stage and with respect to the purpose of the video, the audience, the placement and the level of promotion behind it.

For example, if it’s a 30-second social ad, you could measure how many people it was served to and the retention rate. If your ad was designed to encourage people to click through to your site, how many people clicked through and what did they do next?

ROI is unique to each client and each video. No two are the same. It’s fool’s gold to think any two videos can be compared like-for-like unless they have identical content, audiences, placement, goals and promotion. We shouldn’t underestimate the timing of a video’s release either. Some go viral because they hit a nerve or strike a chord that can never be repeated because it’s part of the zeitgeist.

Video can work for any audience as long

as you understand and appeal to

their perspective, their values, their

psychology, their logic and their emotions.


INSIGHT

Have you seen any good examples of hospitality businesses using video to great effect?Yes. Adnams’ video to relaunch The Swan in Southwold after a 10-month refurbishment is pretty good – it goes back to the question about how hotels and the hospitality industry can use video. They used video to intrigue people and generate enthusiasm by cutting quickly between lots of scenes (revealing different parts of the hotel) and showing the staff in the hotel putting the finishing touches in anticipation of the all-important guests. The sound design and use of upbeat music is integral to the success of this video too, because it adds an audible sense of urgency to the visual motion.

Getting all of these elements right isn’t something you can do in five minutes with a smartphone. Good planning and good ideas are the key to producing a successful video like this. It also underlines the importance of pre-production, which is where the core work lies in producing an engaging video, i.e. understanding the purpose, place and audience.

There’s an argument that anyone with a smartphone and iMovie can make their own video content now – so what are the benefits of outsourcing it to a dedicated video specialist?The argument doesn’t really hold up. That’s a bit like saying anyone with a knife can cook a desirable and

delicious meal for a restaurant full of diners. Having the right tools is only one aspect of making

a great video. You have to have the right people in the right place with the right idea – and of course the right planning – to be able to make a video that the audience will want to watch. The Adnams video is not just a collection of quick and dirty shots which were taken by any old member of staff with a smartphone – it was clearly very well thought-out, planned and finely crafted. The production value of your video may positively, or negatively, affect how people perceive your product or service.

Do you have any other top tips for what makes an outstanding video?Good ideas and good planning are key. It must be relevant to the audience, and play to their wants, needs and desires. It must be built on logic and emotion. It must break the pattern of what the audience expects, because that’s what makes it engaging. You set up an expectation, then do something different just when they think they know what’s going to happen. All of that takes time, skill and vision.

If you’re seriously thinking about your video strategy, have a butchers at our blog article which gets to the heart of what you need to nail upfront if you’re going to invest in video: www.curveball-media.co.uk/how-to-get-the-video-you-want.

21

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Seen as a brave approach by some, at the start of 2018 18th century Devonshire stately home Deer

Park decided to make its accommodation and event spaces available for exclusive hire only and cease operating as a hotel.

Managing director of Deer Park Country House, Mark Godfrey, has labelled the change as a ‘logical progression’ of the business.

During the summer months, the hotel was experiencing days without any leisure business inbetween weddings and events. Rather than relying on OTAs and reducing the accommodation rates, Godfrey and his team put in place a plan to play to the business’ strengths.

Changing the operation strategy of Deer Park was implemented into their five-year plan, alongside a range of investments and a rebrand.

Investing in successDeer Park has invested £3.5million in restoring and preparing the estate to become the ideal wedding and events venue.

From the removal of the reception desk to the creation of brand-new meeting space The Shed, a range of improvements have been made to the grounds, accommodation offering and event spaces.

MARKETS AND TRENDS

This also included the renovation of the estate’s three-bedroom self-catering cottage, the development of a cider orchard and further investment into the outdoor dining areas and garden.

Fine dining to fire pit feastsAlready established as a leading foodie destination in the local area, since converting to a venue Deer Park has had to adapt its two-AA Rosette dining experience to cater for a variety of large-scale events.

One of the biggest challenges for head chef Richard Still and executive chef Hadleigh Barrett was decluttering the day-to-day offering and creating banqueting menus with the seasonal dishes the hotel is famous for.

Due to the growth in demand for al fresco dining at events, the estate now offers three different outdoor dining experiences: a rotisserie in the Walled Garden, BBQ at the Chauffeur's Hideaway and a Mediterranean kitchen with a clay oven. As well as offering a new dining opportunity for exclusive-use guests, the outdoor kitchens also operate as their own bookable event spaces, adding an extra level of experience to each function.

“Inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi’s use of open fires and coals to cook vegetables, Richard and Hadleigh

Georgia WardHaving joined Custard in

2014, Georgia has developed

a wealth of knowledge of the

hotel market, serving a diverse

portfolio of hotels from small

independents to large hotel

groups. Highly engaged with

the industry, Georgia has

recently undertaken the role

of brand manager at Custard,

nurturing the company’s

leading reputation and

reinforcing its deep-rooted

connection with the industry.

Earlier this year, the owners and management team of Deer Park Country House made the bold decision to focus solely on its wedding and events business and convert the four-star property into an exclusive use venue. Curious spoke to general manager Mark Godfrey to find out how they did it and if it’s been a success.

From House to Home: The Evolution of Deer Park

23

MARKETS AND TRENDS

have incorporated this style and use three fire pits (one each for vegetables, meat and fish) to add a new dimension to their dishes”, says Godfrey. “The kitchen team work closely with the estate managers to develop menus that utilise the fresh produce grown on-site as much as possible. By just focusing on the events offering, the kitchen team has been able to maintain its high standard and keep to its homegrown ethos.”

Targeted marketing & insight-driven campaignsThe move to become an exclusive use venue was driven by the growing demand for weddings and events. Consequently, Deer Park adapted its position in the market and developed its marketing strategy to focus on these two target business channels and audiences.

Godfrey says: “By removing all the extra messages that come with promoting a hotel, such as activities, packages and F&B, the team was able to streamline the marketing approach. We have evolved our tone of voice, website appearance and branding to establish our new marketing message of ‘our house, your home’ without having to steer away from our original homegrown brand values.”

Since repositioning as an events venue, Deer Park has sought support from digital marketing partner 80 Days and consultant Chris Ward to develop clear customer personas and understand how to attract them.

Godfrey adds: “This extensive insight has provided Deer Park with a clearer approach to online advertising and attracting potential bookers to the website. The new approach has seen the number of enquiries increase by 17% for corporate events and 8% for weddings over the last year.”

Attracting lucrative destination weddings“Weddings have always been an important source of business for Deer Park and even more so now”, Godfrey explains. “With its revised customer personas, Deer Park has been repositioned as a destination venue to attract a target audience of London and overseas-based couples, who are looking to have multiple-day weddings with their entire family in one location.”

To promote weddings all year round, Deer Park uses all the marketing tools it can get its hands on. The venue hosts seasonal wedding fayres, utilises online wedding directories, such as Hitched, and prioritises its Google ranking as its main marketing platform. The new approach has seen the venue increase the number of weddings hosted per year from 20 to 120, as well as quadrupling the average spend.

The team has worked hard to nurture relationships with local businesses, to ensure the venue has the best possible wedding suppliers. Deer Park offers its partners an opportunity to engage with its events team and develop at its annual two-day wedding workshop. Organised and hosted by the events team, the event brings together 100 suppliers to take part in masterclasses, learn from guest speakers and find out more about working with the venue.

Disrupting the meetings & events marketAs a hotel, Deer Park’s corporate business was virtually non-existent, but the team now plans and hosts a diverse range of events, from four-person meetings to 400-employee company takeovers.

Godfrey explains how offering a range of on-site teambuilding activities for bookers to take advantage of, including wood-fired cookery classes and fly-fishing, has boosted corporate bookings.


“Deer Park is now disrupting the 24-hour delegate rate market by offering competitive prices for two-day corporate retreats, promising a more productive and creative meeting. We now accommodate over 300 individual bookings a year.”

As well as an increase in wedding and meeting enquiries, Deer Park has seen a growth in demand for house parties and milestone celebrations from both members of the local community and groups from further afield.

Community engagement key to succeed When the news was first announced that Deer Park was closing its hotel operations, many people in the local area were disappointed to be losing their regular lunch spot and special occasions venue. The Deer Park team knew that engagement with this loyal local audience was vital to keep them onside. The management team were keen to explain the decision to regular visitors and provide them with opportunities to still enjoy the estate, even after the change.

To keep the local community engaged, Deer Park now hosts Grapevine Club dinners eight times a year, featuring a five-course meal of locally inspired dishes and matching wines, as well as summer and winter balls. The venue also continues to do whatever it can to support local charities and businesses through fundraising events and utilising local suppliers.

Tackling challenges head-onAs would be expected when making a significant change to the entire model of a business, the process wasn’t without its challenges.

With a change in the operation of the property, the team encountered logistical issues that didn’t exist before, such as shutting down the property on free days and organising deliveries on days that the venue isn’t open. Each member of the team was involved in the problem-solving process, enabling the venue to harness their years of experience for a smooth-sailing operation.

MARKETS AND TRENDS

Changes to the staffing structure of the venue also couldn’t be avoided, but as with every stage of the process, communication was key.

“People have always been at the heart of Deer Park, but when we decided to change the business model, we realised we would need to reduce the number of team members from 35 to 20”, Godfrey says.

This was a difficult yet necessary decision for the venue and was unsurprisingly met with uncertainty. The board wanted to be as transparent as possible with the choice and notified each department individually of the change and the impact it would have across the team.

Godfrey says he offered support and guidance to the staff departing the business, assisting many in entering first-class roles at other properties in the area. The change has resulted in a more invested and engaged team, with a staff turnover of just 6%.

Godfrey calls the transition ‘seamless’ and says the team haven’t encountered any big, unexpected problems. He believes this is a result of the gradual progression of the plans and working as a unit.

Final word of adviceMark Godfrey offers a word of advice to other hoteliers thinking about changing their business:

“Those looking to transform their business model need to be forward-thinking and not be afraid of change. For the change to work, you need to focus on what you do well, be flexible in your approach, don’t try to please every and enjoy your job – otherwise, what’s the point?”

FACTBOX:

Number of function rooms: 4

Number of bedrooms: 33

Number of team members: core team is circa 20 plus flexible working team

Number of weddings held per year: 120

Number of other events per year: 300

25

MARKETS AND TRENDS

The growing market of the luxury solo travellerSolo travel is on the rise and with increasing pressure to tailor offerings while maintaining profitability, navigating the market can be tricky. Custard’s Charlotte Winterbourne shares her top tips and industry trends to aid the development of your proposition.


MARKETS AND TRENDS


An ever-increasing number of holidaymakers are taking the decision to go it alone, no longer viewing

solo travel as a daunting exercise or lonely venture. From seeking some peace and quiet to simply not having the patience to wait for a travel companion in a world of instant gratification, the rise of solo travel has seen consumers demanding more choice and less penalties for travelling by themselves from accommodation operators.

One in six of those surveyed in The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) 2018 Holiday Habits report had taken a trip by themselves in the last 12 months; a notable increase from 12% and 6% in 2017 and 2016 respectively. The largest surge was seen in the 35-44 age category followed by the 25-34s, suggesting a younger audience is now benefitting from the joys of flying solo, not just the stereotypical over 60s on rainy walking breaks.

Social media and technology may have also played a large role in the trend, reducing barriers and easing accessibility to destinations. Google Trends reported that the search term ‘solo travel’ has seen a 200% increase in the past five years, and Pinterest’s 2018 travel report saw an even more jaw-dropping rise of 593% in solo adventures being searched for and saved, indicating that the solo travel movement is, somewhat ironically, full of followers.

Hotels can often be a particularly difficult area to navigate for the solo traveller with sites such as Airbnb or Hostelworld sometimes catering more obviously to a single guest’s needs. However, keeping in mind the following points can result in capturing a new and worthwhile market with immense reward.

Charlotte WinterbourneCharlotte joined Custard

Communications from

Newcastle University with

a degree in marketing and

management. She oversees a

variety of B2B and B2C clients

including hotels, venues,

consortia and events.

Your audienceTo truly understand your customer, you must know what drives them to make a purchase. Over three quarters of people travel alone to be able to experience a destination uncompromised by others (ABTA Holiday Habits report, 2018), resulting in less time spent in their hotel room as they look to explore everything the local area has to offer. Therefore, placing a focus on what is on offer at your destination prior to booking completion through channels such as social media or on retargeting advertising, will help to convert solo holiday planners into guests.

Women are considerably more likely to travel alone than men (Unique Home Stays, 2017), therefore creating a product that specifically targets them will reap rewards. Luxury hotel Dukes London has created a ‘Duchess Room Service’ programme specifically catering to women travelling alone, offering female room attendants for room service, female amenities in the bathroom and more recently introducing complimentary blow-dries.

The bugbear of all single guests, single supplements, often prevent soloists from choosing hotels due to the premium they pay for visiting by themselves (Mintel Solo Holidays report, 2018). Accommodation suppliers that offer a reduced rate for single guests or additional benefits to justify the premium cost have a higher chance of resonating with the single traveller.

Finally, solo trips tend to take place during the off-peak season according to last-minute holiday platform HolidayPirates, presenting the opportunity to actively target solo travellers and sell rooms during quieter periods of the year.

2727

MARKETS AND TRENDS

Wellbeing and taking time outWellbeing continues to be at the forefront of hospitality trends but consider providing a twist on the standard yoga and mindfulness packages.

US hotel superbrand Kimpton recently introduced an immersive campaign with its ‘Room 301’ concept, encouraging guests to self-reflect and enjoy more personal experiences with in-room activities such as painting their most secret confession on the wall or describing the most defining moment of their lives in the ‘Guestbook 2.0’.

Kathleen Reidenbach, chief commercial officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants said: “The campaign is grounded in the idea that in our world of rapid innovation and technology, travellers are actually craving more authentic connection, more personal experiences, more surprises and more humanity, which is great for solo travellers.”

Exhilarating experiencesHowever, not all solo travel is about relaxation. Adventure travel is another key segment of the solo travel industry, providing less seclusion than a trip to the spa and opportunities to build friendships through teambuilding and comradeship. With Mintel finding that 25% of solo travellers have chosen a holiday to engage in a hobby (Solo Holidays Report, 2018), creating special activities packages will appeal to those looking to interact with those who share the same interests.

Solo travel operator Just You has also seen significant interest in its more adventurous trips, with “experience-led and active holidays proving some of our best sellers,” states Alistair Campbell, managing director.

Drawing guests outCreating spaces for solo guests to connect with each other and come out of their rooms can also enhance solo stays, while offering the flexibility and choice if guests want to take some time for themselves. Concepts such as Holiday Inn’s Open Lobby developments provide an accessible space for guests to meet and relax with board games and a variety of seating layouts to promote communication.

Rafael Intriago Rodriguez, director of sales at Holiday Inn London Wembley, said: “Having an Open Lobby brings a modern and warmer feeling to a hotel – but more importantly, it allows guests to connect with each other by offering a much more pleasant place to be – a ‘home from home’ for guests. This is particularly appreciated by solo travellers, and the feedback we have had at Holiday Inn Wembley has been amazing.”

Holding events in these spaces further appeals to the single traveller, offering them a multitude of choices to socialise if they feel lonely. "At Arlo, we focus on engaging all types of travellers in our thoughtfully-designed public spaces, which encourage interaction and connectivity," said Dayna Castano, corporate director of marketing for Arlo Hotels. "We have daily programming, ranging from mixology classes, fitness offerings and live music, to our sustainability-focused 'pARLOur Talks' and movie screenings. I think it's easy for solo travellers to feel like they've found a community and home base at Arlo."

Alternatively, in a number of their hotels, Kimpton hosts social hours including activities such as Flight School Fridays where guests are encouraged to make their own paper planes to race against each other, or in the Kimpton Taconic Hotel, a community puzzle asks guests to write a quote about why they love the destination, promoting conversation and a sense of belonging.

DiningEating by oneself can sometimes be a little daunting, so providing the option to eat at the bar, order room service or even having a group table in your restaurant removes the intimidation from dining alone. “A lot of people want to go away on their own and like to meet people on their travels and we love when guests get chatting in the bar and share a drink together. We also offer guests to dine at a banquet table so they can choose to join fellow travellers for a meal,” says Julia Davies, co-owner of The Cottage in the Wood, Malvern.

If your hotel doesn’t offer full-service dining, partnering with local eateries to promote those that suit solo diners’ needs could be a mutually-beneficial collaboration, and making these suggestions easily-accessible through in-room promotion and tailored guides will further enhance your guests’ experience.


Georgia WardHaving joined Custard in

2014, Georgia has developed

a wealth of knowledge of the

hotel market, serving a diverse

portfolio of hotels from small

independents to large hotel

groups. Highly engaged with

the industry, Georgia has

recently undertaken the role

of brand manager at Custard,

nurturing the company’s

leading reputation and

reinforcing its deep-rooted

connection with the industry.

28

Between Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and the increase of online advertising, hotels are having

to work harder and harder for their direct bookings. Hotelier and marketer Adam Hamadache’s book The Direct Method offers hoteliers an insightful guide to increase the number of direct leisure and wedding bookings for their property.

According to The Direct Method, most independent hotel websites attract on average 5,000 unique users a month with an approximate 1% conversion rate, meaning only 50 bookings are made per month. This book offers a framework to help convert some of the 4,950 other potential guests looking at the site.

The framework consists of three sections: The Prospect Method, The Browser Method and The Wedding Method. From utilising online advertising to adapting your social media messaging, each method provides a range of tools and techniques to attract new guests, remarket to existing prospects and secure wedding enquiries.

One of the key takeaways from the book is how important it is to communicate the benefits of booking

REVIEW

directly with your hotel. Using OTAs has a range of advantages for guests, such as convenience, special discounts and loyalty schemes, so to encourage guests to book with your property, it’s essential to communicate the benefits throughout the website. The Browsing Method offers a 12-step checklist to better conversions, which includes adapting website copy, embedding pop-ups and rotating hero images.

The Direct Method provides independent hoteliers with implementable tactics and easy to follow strategies for utilising and developing a hotel’s online presence to increase direct bookings. The book has taken into account that not all hotels are the same but has provided valuable techniques that every hotel can execute. I would definitely recommend the book to any hotelier looking to maximise their online conversions.

The Direct Method by Adam HamadachePrice: £3.47www.thedirectmethod.com

Curious Book Review:

The Direct Method by Adam Hamadache

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PROFILE

What excites the Wedding Ideas team when looking to feature a venue?The team still love a beautiful rustic barn, the grandeur of a stately home or something quirkier, like a vintage cinema. So, what we get excited about now are venues that think outside the box in terms of the overall experience on offer to couples. Experiential weddings are a big trend and set to grow, things like couples asking their entire congregation to join them walking down the aisle – venues that can create and accommodate those experiences are really hot right now.

What does Wedding Ideas see as the key wedding hospitality trend for the next couple of years?One word – Instagram! Most couples want every element of their wedding to be Insta-worthy. Venues need to offer creative food experiences, such as fabulously indulgent dessert stations or funky trucks offering Guatemalan street food. But with plated service back in fashion too, there needs to be a huge emphasis on camera-ready food. Chefs that have vision and push boundaries, making guests ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ whilst reaching for their iPhones, will be right on the money.

What gaps are you seeing in the British wedding venue market?There is definitely still a gap in the market for outdoor wedding venues – couples looking for that perfect field, campsite or meadow: outside spaces that can host a festival-style wedding with luxury and style.

Do you feel Brexit will affect the market? Will more couples marry abroad, or do you think the uncertain market will benefit UK venues as people play safe and stay home?Any reduction in spending power linked to exchange rate fluctuations generally encourages people to stay in the UK. The quality, variety and beauty of venues in the UK has never been higher and, ultimately, the ability to deliver a special day will always be a key driver in the decision-making process.

Are you seeing a lengthening of weddings beyond a day and how long are they now lasting? How can hotels and venues take advantage of this?The trend for creating pre-wedding activities is becoming ever more popular and looks set to grow over the next couple of years. Big society weddings are leading the way and even though their budgets are beyond most people (sadly Beyoncé won’t be singing ‘Crazy in Love’ at many weddings), the trend for big set-pieces and activities leading up to the big day will still trickle down. Hotels and venues need to be flexible and think beyond the day itself to offer excitement and inspiration over two, three or even four days.

Curious meets: Maxine BriggsEditorial director of Wedding Ideas magazine Maxine Briggs has her finger firmly on the pulse of the UK’s wedding industry – Curious spoke to Maxine to find out about the hot trends for 2019 and what hotels and venues can do to stand out from the crowd.

The quality, variety and beauty of venues in the UK has never been

higher.


MARKETING STRATEGY

Marketing is commonly an early target for cuts when budget concerns are raised as it is seen as

primarily a cost, rather than a contributor to the sales funnel itself. More often than not, when a business owner thinks this the reason is not that their marketing campaign has been ineffective, but more likely that their marketing team has failed to correctly measure and demonstrate the ROI.

Great marketing should have very tangible benefits to businesses, reaching target customers, selling products, and ultimately increasing profits – but monitoring, measuring and reporting it is absolutely crucial.

What do I need to know?Your first priority is to ensure you complete an all-encompassing audit. Knowing where you are now is vital to seeing what changes you will be able to make through activities and investment. You may have already been set marketing goals and therefore have key measurements to track against, but if you haven’t, you need to set them now, so you have a clear vision to work to.

Start with the basics, such as increasing the reach of your messages. To do this, look at your database numbers, social media following and verified sales leads. By looking back at the average growth of these figures over the past year or two, you should be able to

construct a target for the following month, quarter or year, and get your team to rally behind the drive to hit those goals.

Knowing your baseline is essential for when you go out to your customers with new marketing initiatives, allowing you to effectively compare and note the changes that your investment has brought.

Try looking at your website traffic averages, sales trends, level of conversion, SEO rank, average dwell time on the website, and subscriber growth as a starting point of easily comparable states before and after additional marketing is applied to support your business.

“But how much business did that generate?”Here comes the challenge. Unless you are tracking your campaigns through specific codes – i.e. quote ‘secret word’ to get your reward and having this set up as a noted part of your process – it can be tricky to confidently attribute sales to specific marketing activity.

With direct sales this can be easier as you have an established connection with your customers and can ask them about their purchase decisions or ask them to complete a feedback form as part of the post-sale journey. However, with online or distanced sales, you’re going to have to use a bit of analysis to get to the bottom of it.

Megan Trimble

Marketing like a pro: Driving a return on investmentWith budgets under scrutiny and demands for business growth continuing, marketers are having to prove their value more than ever. Here, Curious looks at the ways in which marketing contributes to the bottom line, how to manage the return on investment, and what really matters in your marketing results.

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CUSTARD

TIPS!

MARKETING STRATEGY

One way you can do this is through measurement of the increased traffic to your website through online activity such as social media campaigns, banner advertising and email newsletter slots. Comparing against your sales tracker, particularly if it goes into detail about the time and date, will then help to cross-examine how this additional traffic played out in completed sales, creating a direct link to the marketing activity.

Another key indicator, if your financial trackers aren’t obviously applicable to marketing metrics, can be establishing the cost per customer. This can be done by dividing the cost of marketing activities during a certain period by the amount of sales in the same period. Whilst this doesn’t prove direct correlation between the two, it can provide an idea of the different efficiencies of the chosen activities. For example, if you run an influencer event in one month and a sponsored email newsletter the next, you can establish which is more cost-effective.

Using this knowledge, marketers can then use powerful insights to make necessary decisions concerning the allocation of their budgets.

For example, a restaurant had exhibited at a local student fair the previous year and was debating whether or not it was financially viable to exhibit again. Besides the costs of hiring a stand at the event, staffing it, and the implied costs of offering discounts and freebies on the day, there was also the inherent sales potential to consider.

Sales figures were pulled for the restaurants who had exhibited at the student fairs and compared to restaurants of a matching cover basis and location setting (i.e. city centre versus retail park). From here, the three-month period after the exhibition was examined for changes in the sales trend, including focusing on sales which incurred a student discount.

Surprisingly, the restaurants who had exhibited at the student fairs had seen no clear improvement on their student sales despite the investment. In comparison, the restaurants who did not exhibit, had instead been given direct marketing options to local

student accommodation, and these had seen an uplift of 14% within the three months post the activity. Examining the results on a comparative basis therefore allowed the marketing team to more accurately, and commercially, identify the most valuable ways in which to distribute their funds for the following year, and avoid the high prices of an activity that had not proved successful.

Think outside the spreadsheetWhen looking at the numbers, remember they can only tell you so much. On paper, the cost of a marketing campaign may seem high compared to sales it has generated, but there’s more than just sales to consider when looking at the return you have achieved.

Brand awareness, reputation, consideration and reaching new audiences can all be incredibly valuable, but rarely show up on financial reports. These should be considered where possible for your business and given the value they deserve, as sales cannot exist without a customer first being aware of the product or service on offer.

Marketing is contributing to a whole host of unseen parts of the business through its mere existence. A customer recognising a logo may well be the foot in the door that the sales team needs to progress an enquiry further down the sales funnel.

Often, sales are attributed to the last touch point of marketing that led to the purchase. However, Jill Avery, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, reminds us that “consumer behaviour may be the result of 30 years or more of marketing. Google search ads look like they have a high ROI, but they are often building on and benefiting from many other forms of marketing.” (Harvard Business Review, 2017).

No metric or marker of ROI will tell the complete story of the marketing initiatives on its own, they must be reviewed as a collective to see where they influence each other, and where changes in one area can cause ripples in another. Combining data is essential to draw conclusions that are valid and concrete.

Know where you are starting from, focus in on your targets, and compare the results during and after the activations. A continuous cycle of this approach will keep you on the right track and ensure investment is made in the correct places.

Megan’s ROI tipCreate an easy to use dashboard covering your main KPIs that the whole team can access at any time, making the targets clear, and ensuring everyone is pulling towards the same goal.


MARKETS AND TRENDS

Putting the courtship back into partnershipDirect bookings may be the holy grail for hotels and venues, but strong and positive relationships with agencies are essential to securing big corporate business. Curious looks at how venues can strengthen those relationships, and give agencies what they need to become a preferred venue.

Many venues do not use agencies to their full

advantage.

MARKETS AND TRENDS

Lesley WhyteLesley is an award-winning

public relations and marketing

communications consultant,

who has worked both in-house

as a senior PR manager and

in various freelance and

permanent agency roles before

joining Custard in March

2016. At Custard Lesley uses

her extensive contacts and

in-depth media knowledge to

deliver dynamic, results-driven

campaigns that meet clients’

strategic objectives.

33

Top five tips for venues: 1 Make sure your contact details and

capacities appear on your website

2 Take time to build personal relations with agents

3 Offer value-added services as well as DDR discounts

4 Concentrate on the experience take away of fam trips

5 Secure industry accreditation to provide added assurance

“Venues need to rethink the way they promote themselves and what hidden gems they have

that really set them apart.” This is the advice from Karen Guile, director of

leading UK venue sourcing and accommodation booking agency tobook and its new online venue search, Search4Venues.

When it comes to venues and agencies working in partnership, Guile is adamant ‘relationships are key’ for venues to increase their conversion rates. At tobook they work with clients across many sectors, seeking to build solid working relationships with both their clients and their hotel/venue partners to achieve the best results for all parties. She says: “Many venues do not use agencies to their full advantage.”

It’s not always about discounted daily delegate rates either. Sometimes value-added services can be more appealing to secure a booking. “Value-added services are a great option, providing the value is useful to the client. Increasing the food offering isn’t always the best way forward, however offering a free syndicate room or AV equipment is a big incentive.”

Fam trips One way to build relations with agents is by offering fam trips. But, with lots of incredible opportunities on offer to agents and time constraints affecting the number of trips and showcases they can physically attend – are they still viewed as a key marketing tool?

Guile says: “For smaller agents it can be difficult to see venues. A mixture of venue visits to our office, attending events such as the MI Forums, The Meetings Show, AEIA and CHS Group events mean we can meet with a number of venues at once. As a team we try to visit a venue every two months which usually includes dinner and, if further away, accommodation.

“I think the mixture of events is fantastic from those that allow you the opportunity to experience a venue by just being there, to those that provide team building events and destination knowledge. The key is the ‘take away’ experience that an agent will remember your venue for.”

Website optimisationGuile says some of the biggest challenges facing her Midlands-based agency when searching for locations to host their clients’ events come from the venues’ own websites. With so many markets to appeal to, there can be an overload of information and finding what’s relevant can be ‘time-consuming and frustrating’.

Just making a few simple amends to your websites could easily help. “Providing relevant contact details rather than contact forms is a huge help,” says Guile. “Ensuring fundamental information such as number of bedrooms and cabaret layout capacities is also beneficial in the initial venue finding stage.”

Accreditation Other factors influencing agents’ booking decisions include accreditations such as AIM – the only national accreditation for the sector offered by the Meetings Industry Association (mia). “It may not be the primary booking factor however it does have an influence,” she says. “Knowing that venues have been independently assessed and achieved valuable awards or status can be helpful when working with your client on their final venue choice.”

Wellness in the workplaceLooking towards the future, aside from technology, which Guile seed as a permanent trend as it is ever-changing, she believes health and wellbeing will be a big trend in the year ahead.

She says: “At a recent event I was lucky enough to be asked to be part of a Q&A forum and one of the venues had petting guinea pigs onsite to help promote the health benefits of animals in reducing stress, which proved their commitment to the wellbeing of their employees, students and delegates.”

She concludes: “Engagement was a key element during 2018 and I think this will still be the case this year.”


Whose responsibility is a show-round, a site inspection, or a fam visit? What is a show-round

and why is it so important? These are some of the common questions around what is fundamentally one of the most crucial elements of promoting a hotel or venue.

Once the customer has walked through the door, hotels and venues have to create an experience that will make them want to bring their event to you. They want the confidence and reassurance that you deliver an amazing event that’s memorable for all the right reasons.

The customer has chosen to visit your venue; therefore, there is the distinct possibility that the show-round will lead to a booking. It’s now or never – what happens in the next 30 minutes or so is crucial, but getting it right is actually fairly straightforward.

These are my top tips to guarantee success:

PreparationI know it has been said many times, but it really is true. Failure to plan is planning to fail. With tools like Google and LinkedIn to hand, there really is no excuse not to be well-prepped in advance.

Know the customer – I’m not condoning stalking, but research a little bit about them. Find out what their job role is, what the company does and see if you can find examples of similar events held in the past. You’ll learn what the competition is all about too.

Nothing is more embarrassing than getting lost or going into occupied meeting rooms (or bedrooms!) so make sure you’ve planned your route. Involve the whole team too, let people know who’s coming in and why. Clients often remark how nice it is to walk around a venue and be met with smiling faces and friendly greetings, and if the general manager or chef

is available, invite them along to the show-round or at least to say hello.

Mis-en-place is also important: make sure rooms are set up as they would be for an event. If the event they’re looking to book is for 300 cabaret, then try and arrange for the room to be set for 300 cabaret. It’s an effort, but this is selling the vision to the customer. Imagine seeing the room set up the way they want for a £100K event rather than a room that looks more like a storage facility with round tables stacked up randomly and dirty glasses everywhere – it really does make a difference.

Having the right tools can help too, such as iPad presentations highlighting various layouts and similar past events which will help sell a visual idea. However, be mindful. The customer is here to see you and the venue, not receive a lesson in Microsoft Powerpoint! Your venue may have invested in Drone Tours, 3D virtual tours or a combination of other tools, but you still need to make sure you’re getting the basics right.

Setting the toneWhere possible, I would always recommend greeting the client at reception to set a good impression from the start. I know of many examples where the customer has arrived and reception has been busy, the team member on reception has no idea this client is coming in or, worse still, has no idea who you are!

If you have car parking, allocate them a personalised space close to the entrance. And on that subject, make sure you get their name right! It sounds simple, but trust me, always double check before they arrive.

We are hospitality professionals, so be hospitable. They may well have had a long or tedious journey, so offer refreshments and sit them down at the start. This

Jade Humphrey, JWH HospitalityWith more than 20 years’

experience within the

hospitality industry gained with

QMH Hotels, Choice Hotels

Europe, Hilton International,

Intercontinental Hotels Group,

De Vere Group and Principal,

Jade Humphrey launched his

own consultancy in 2015, JWH

Hospitality.

Jade has proven success

in delivering sales results,

change management, process

and structure review, project

management (Prince2

Registered Practitioner),

recruitment and development of

sales professionals at all levels,

as well as being a passionate

and insightful coach and mentor.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Show-rounds to conversions

Show-rounds are an essential part of the sales journey for both corporate and private event bookings – but what is the secret to converting that initial interest into a booking? Jade Humphrey shares his top tips and tricks for ensuring a winning show-round every time.

35

MARKETING STRATEGY

may not always appear to be the easiest time, but once you’ve done the site inspection, they may leave abruptly and move on to the next one. Yes, they have seen your venue, but you may not have had the time to truly get to the bottom of their needs.

Once you’ve sat down with the client, ask questions. Find out about the event, what is the purpose of the meeting, where are people coming from, what does success look like, what is the most important element of the event, what is the decision-making process, when do they hope to be making a decision and what prompted them to view your property? After that, then offer them information, tell them what you’ll be showing them today and why.

Timing is everythingSo often, people rush through the process at 100 mph. Don’t dawdle, but at the same time, don’t grab the customer by the scruff of the neck and fly around the venue shouting about all the features.

We all know what the basics are in a room, and there’s no need to point out the obvious. Focus on the ‘wow’ elements that you have; whether tangible or service related. Enthuse as to why your venue will be the best choice. Be proud and passionate about your venue. Would you be inclined to buy from someone who didn’t show passion about what they sell? This is not an administrative task or an inconvenience to your daily routine; this is a fantastic opportunity to excel at your role and convert revenue.

Use pregnant pauses: these can be powerful tools. Don’t be afraid of silence, give your customer time to absorb what you are saying and showing. Allow them space to visualise their event in your venue. Show

genuine interest in them, and their business. Remember, this is a two-way process. Ensure you

have understood and made reference to the customer’s needs and expectations. Similarly, ask the customer if there is anything else they would like to see or ask; what they like about the site inspection and what, if any, are their concerns?

Lastly, ask for the business: Sounds obvious, right? However, the important questions are often missed. Will they contract today? What would stop them choosing your venue? You may have already encountered some objections, and you may encounter more or repeated ones at this juncture too. Where possible, try and sit down with the customer to discuss further. Experience shows that face-to-face discussion around objections is more effective than an exhaustive exchange of email. Don’t be afraid to trade with the customer. They may seek certain concessions which is fine, prepare to ask for some yourself.

Next Steps Agree the next steps and follow up. Follow up is crucial! Do it when you say you will and make yourself and the venue stand out from the crowd.

Send a thank you email later that day to coincide with their return to the office. Provide any additional information requested – not many will want a sack full of hard copy bedtime reading such as brochures and menus etc. However, emailed soft copies of brochures, floor plans, fact sheets and relevant images may well be appropriate.

JWH Hospitality can create bespoke training for your teams to deliver for show-rounds that convert – for more information visit www.jwhhospitalitysolutions.com


In our internet-enabled world, a hotel’s website is the best way to reach potential guests wherever they are

and whenever they feel inclined to search for a bedroom, meeting space, wedding venue, spa or restaurant table.

Yet, often in the quest to promote all strands of the business and provide the information guests seek, hotel websites can become confusing places, which can lead time-pressed users to abandon them if they can’t locate what they want quickly and easily.

As Jim Cockell, owner of The Old Stocks Inn in Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds, says, a hotel’s website is a key part of the booking journey, irrespective of whether the guest books direct or via a third party, so content needs to be clear and relevant.

“Customers like to check and balance the images and content they see on sales tools such as TripAdvisor with the real hotel site to make sure the look and feel matches,” he says.

Imagery, recommendations and showcasing team members are all included on The Old Stocks Inn’s website, but for Cockell it was vital that the ability to book a room or table in the restaurant was front and central on the homepage.

“We also link from the home page to a few key sales tools such as our virtual tour, gift vouchers and ‘why book direct’ messaging,” he adds.

Like many hotels, Barton Grange Hotel in Preston, Lancashire, provides more than just bedrooms. Its Walled Garden Restaurant is a popular haunt of local foodies as well as hotel residents, while its large event spaces and landscaped gardens make it an attractive venue for couples planning to wed. The property can also host corporate meetings and events and has treatment rooms run by a local beauty business.

While all parts of the business are physically under one roof, general manager Daniel Rich felt that presenting them under one virtual roof would have little benefit to the hotel or its guests, so took the decision to create three websites for his business – one for the main hotel, one for weddings and one for the Walled Garden Restaurant.

“We have three different customer bases, so we wanted to be able to reach them all and provide them with the information they’d all be needing,” he explains. “Wedding customers take more time on the site – they want to look at brochures, budget and suppliers – while

Emma Eversham

INSIGHT

The world wise web: How hotels are making it easy for guests to find what they want onlineHotel websites may often lose out to online travel agents (OTAs), but for those managing to attract potential guests directly, how do you make it easy for them to access the information they want on your site, and crucially, convert browsing into booking?

37

hotel guests are more transactional. They want to find a room, book and go.”

The three websites are all hosted by the same company and share the same branding, but have a very different look and feel to reflect the parts of the business they are representing, says Rich.

Crucially, they allow all relevant information to appear in one place so customers aren’t forced to trawl the site to find what they want. The weddings website includes package details and a handy calculator to allow couples to see how far their budget can stretch, while the restaurant website includes menus, deals, details of up-coming food-related events, information on suppliers and an online booking tool.

Having a direct bookings tool visible

on the site with simple functionality is the number one way to

convert browsing into booking.

INSIGHT

Since launching the sites, footfall in the restaurant is up by 8% and average spend has increased. Rich believes one of the reasons is diners are more informed before they visit.

“People are looking for more of an experience and see that we can provide that,” he says.

Having separate websites has also made Barton Grange Hotel more visible on the web. Visits to all the websites have risen by 20% compared to when the hotel had one website, because Google algorithms prefer targeted content.

“We now come first and second for a search for ‘weddings in Lancashire’ and when you search for restaurants in Lancashire the Walled Garden Restaurant comes third and fourth,” enthuses Rich.

While he has one website, Cockell agrees that hoteliers need to get the content right to drive customers to the correct pages when they search for certain requirements.

“Content really is the key to having a strongly ranked and converting website,” he says. “We have also introduced a few clever data collection enquiry forms that allow customers to have a much richer experience

when enquiring about function and dining spaces.”If separate websites aren’t possible, there are some

simple ways to improve the usability of your hotel’s website.

Chris Petty, managing director of property management system NewBook, recommends installing chatbots on websites to ensure guest engagement 24/7 and to answer questions instantly when staff are busy or not on duty.

“We have launched NEW.B.I.E. which is any artificial intelligence bot that can help guests in a number of ways from booking accommodation, finding directions to the hotel or getting any general information from the hotel,” he said.

Having a direct bookings tool visible on the site with simple functionality is the number one way to convert browsing into booking, however.

“We have seen a significant shift in direct bookings since introducing ‘book direct’ messaging and virtual tours in the region of 10% channel shift,” says Cockell. “Restaurant bookings online have doubled each year since we put the booking system live on the website and our gift voucher revenue now makes up 4% of our annual revenue.”

Petty has one cautionary note to add to the direct bookings point – avoid ‘dead ends’ in the bookings process.

“When a guest is booking you want there to always be another alternative for them to book if you can’t accommodate their exact search requirements,” he says.

“It’s reasons like this as to why the large OTAs do so well and dominate the online bookings. If a guest searches for dates to stay with you, they don’t want to be told that you have no availability and for no alternative to be offered. Instead, they should be offering alternative dates or accommodation categories where appropriate and making it simple to convert the search to those dates.”


The Chinese wedding market is most definitely making its presence felt in the UK with an

explosion of interest, in particular targeted toward grand ‘English’ settings.

Increasingly wealthy Chinese Millennial/Generation Z couples are embracing fusion weddings which mix the traditional Chinese elements of their culture with an extravagant western showcase to celebrate their nuptials.

The British royal weddings in 2018 put Britain firmly centre stage for grand western-style celebrations, with Chinese couples now looking to be ‘inspired by’ the nuptials of Meghan Markel and Princess Eugenie.

Suitably elegant, stylish and historic venues across the country, particularly castles, stately homes, ultra-chic restaurants and anywhere boasting connections to the Royal Family, are in a prime position to take advantage of a potentially huge new revenue stream.

Chinese weddings – a lucrative marketAccording to a report by China specialists Daxue Consulting, the modern wedding is considered “a testimony to the eyes of society, culture and Chinese

tradition. Therefore, the Chinese are ready to spend a huge amount of money for the wedding of their dreams.”

The Chinese wedding market is now considered to be worth in excess of £24 billion per year and is expected to rise a further 4% per year with around 10 million couples marrying annually (figures supplied by China’s Committee of Wedding Service Industries).

The average spend is three times the annual average annual salary in China, with many couples spending considerably more.

The infamous ‘one child policy’ has resulted in a hugely focused and competitive marriage market with not only the couple, but both sets of parents and all four sets of grandparents often contributing to the marriage celebrations, with a major European marriage ‘event’ favoured in addition to a more traditional banquet at home.

Traditional Chinese weddings do not include a ceremonial exchange of vows, this is done at a government office, with the celebration taking the form of a banquet including many courses.

So what are the advantages for a UK venue in

MARKETS AND TRENDS

Wedding venues – are you China-Ready?We’ve all heard buzz about being ‘China-Ready’, but it’s often tricky to pin down exactly what that means. The phrase suggests there’s a specific time that China is coming, and that it’s something that will have a game-changing impact – but when it comes to weddings, is China already here?

Caroline Donaldson-SinclairCaroline Donaldson-Sinclair

has 20 years’ experience in

the travel trade marketing and

tourism public relations sectors

representing international

airlines, cruise ships, tour

operators, tourism boards,

hotels, attractions and global

retail giants looking to the

leisure tourism sector.

39

MARKETS AND TRENDS

seeking to host Chinese wedding couples, and how can they attract this particular market?

To begin with, the events are often opulent in the extreme. Chinese couples are most likely to choose an auspicious date rather than a day of the week, meaning that they are just as likely to marry on a quiet Monday as a heaving Saturday.

Chinese couples looking to marry in the UK are typically highly educated and generally considered to have excellent taste. They tend to be very romantic and seek a very personalised expression of their love. The more creative the venue’s offer, and the more able to produce a bespoke event, the more likely the venue is to secure the business.

Wealthy Chinese couples are renowned for expecting the very height of service. A venue serious about securing Chinese business should have a Mandarin speaker on call as a minimum requirement, and an understanding of the community’s wedding customs is essential.

Understanding Chinese customsThe bride is likely to require a dressing room to make several outfit changes, from the more traditional Qipao to a white western-style bridal gown. There may be a requirement for a traditional tea ceremony and often the younger members of the bridal party will play several ‘tricks’ on each other ahead of the formal ceremony.

For example, the groom may wish to ‘collect’ the bride, but the bridesmaids will have to be ‘bribed’ before they will hand her over. Hongbao will be gifted by guests; these are red envelopes of cash given rather than presents.

Staff should absolutely not wear red as this is the colour of the bride. White and dark colours such as black and grey should also be avoided. However, gold and red décor will be considered highly auspicious.

Lilies are a popular choice of flower for Chinese weddings, as the Chinese word for lily, ‘bǎi hé’, is phonetically similar to ‘Bǎinián hǎo hé’ which means ‘100 years of happy union’. They are also thought to be the flower that represents the bringing of sons. Orchids are very popular too, as they represent love, wealth and good fortune.

Marketing your venueIf you are looking to market your venue to the Chinese community, consider a plan that reaches out to some of the luxury specialist Asian wedding planners establishing themselves in the UK, and particularly in London.

Also consider contacting Chinese wedding photographers. The trend for young Chinese couples to have a pre-wedding photoshoot has exploded, along with their income.

No longer are they satisfied with hiring several outfits for a studio shoot of backdrops from around the world, now they want to actually travel to them for a

more ‘genuine’ shot. These shoots can last several days and cost between £1,500 and £10,000.

These photoshoots are likely to take place some considerable time before the wedding itself so that the album can be presented to guests at the event. Venues can take advantage of this growing trend by taking part in these shoots, which may then inspire couples and their photographers to recommend the venue to other Chinese brides and grooms.

A Chinese wedding is an extravagant, luxurious and potentially complex affair with, depending on the degree of tradition required, a significant number of elements to be timetabled and cultural needs embraced. However, it is also an event filled with romance, good will and humour.

For the well-organised and creative event planner, a Chinese wedding should be seen as an opportunity to shine; to create a new revenue stream and to showcase the very finest taste and elegance in wedding style.


Mark McCullochMark McCulloch is the founder

of @SpectacularMark, The

Spectacular Marketing

Podcast and founding partner

and chairman of WE ARE

Spectacular. Mark has 20

years’ experience in brand,

marketing, digital, social and

PR. After working both for

agencies and client-side, Mark

wanted to create a new-wave

agency solely made up of

senior experts called WE ARE

Spectacular which focuses on

branding, marketing, digital

and social. In late 2018, Mark

started @SpectacularMark

to offer brand, marketing,

digital, social and employee

engagement consulting.

Such a small percentage of people in hospitality truly understand the power of digital, social and

influencers. They are not willing to learn something new or take the risk on digital, instead either doing no marketing or spending their budgets in the places where they feel safe but where the customer’s eyes and attention is not.

I don’t get how so many people we speak to stopped learning at email/CRM, leave social and digital to untrained under 25s and take their social insight from their teenage kid and bring it into the boardroom. It is rather ridiculous.

Hotels are in danger of ignoring constant contact and relevancy in the places where people are looking on average 220 minutes per day – their phone screen. This is where you need to market, build your brand and get your stories across.

My tip is to sit down and look at your total sales/marketing spend (everything, and I mean everything) and work with someone to plan the budget against digital (80% to 90%).

Here are 8 reasons why you need to shift focus, mindset, skillset and budget to digital marketing.

Hot opportunities for hotels in 2019

1. Creating constant content – Would it not be amazing to see the moment where The Ritz first opened its doors or Jeff Bezos at Amazon’s first year working all of the hours, packing books and shaping what became Amazon? Hire a videographer and start documenting everything. Make TV-style shows and put them out daily on YouTube and your social media channels.

2. Facebook advertising – The backend of Facebook is still largely untapped by hospitality. Get to know it well and sell more events by targeting friends of friends who have big birthdays, or constantly target your competitors’ customers to get their business over to you.

3. Being ‘grammable’ – Horrible word, but it is true. How can your venue create a stage for people to perform on (i.e. take photos to share on their channels as part of their own personal brand). When someone posts about you, interact with them immediately. Also keep an eye out for microinfluencers (10k + followers with good post engagement) and be especially engaging with them.

Will 2019 finally be the year hotels get social?

MARKETING STRATEGY

41

PROFILE

4. Having food that is good enough to tweet – Is your food really fit for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? Look at your presentation, plates, cutlery, staging. Small changes mean that you could be shared to millions, not just two diners.

5. Having a voice strategy – Speech is taking over touch. What are you going to do to change ordering, booking room service and how you are found online, in line with the world’s move to speech via Siri, Alexa and more?

6. Making delivery work for you – Work with Deliveroo and Just Eat to get a slice of that delivery market and make it work for you. Either allowing guests to order in and making it easy for them, or delivering your amazing food out to others in the area. Limited menus and strong packaging will work well. If even Toby Carvery can do it, you can too.

MARKETING STRATEGY

7. Facebook groups – Find, at a local level, the main Facebook groups/communities where people share information. Give them special offers and insider info to bring them to your venue and make you feel like part of the community.

8. Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger groups for VIPs – If you add these two messaging platforms together, they have more monthly active users than Facebook itself. There is a huge opportunity for you to make this a loyalty platform where you create groups and market to them as VIPs, giving them reasons to constantly come back and see you. Forget plastic loyalty cards, and points, this is a new age way of making your audience feel valued and special.

Please do at least one of these things in the next 90 days and ask for professional help to do so. It will work if you put the effort in and learn all about the possibilities of social. There are so many videos on YouTube on this for a start, and great help sections on all social channels – so there’s no excuse not to give it a go.


Adam RowledgeAs GM of Georgian House,

one of the top 30 Best Places

to Work in Hospitality, Adam

Rowledge knows a thing

or two about building an

employer brand and positive

culture.

While the industry battles with

the stagnation of recruitment

and hesitates in anticipation

for the outcome of Brexit,

Adam joins other hoteliers in

striving to build a brand that

employees want to work for

and that creates a customer

orientated vision to benefit the

hotel guest.

PROFILE

It’s true, we are getting busier trying to drive new business and investing in training and developing

our staff. Collectively as hoteliers, our focus is on pushing

forward, conquering new markets and building a business that is sustainable, ethical and profitable – but we don’t spend enough time pausing to reflect on our internal brand, our employer brand. Employer branding is no different than your external/consumer branding and you should give providing an outstanding employee experience as much focus as your guest experience.

For independent hotels, the brand has to come from within and GMs or owners need to stand back and analyse who they are and what they are, what are their values and what is their culture. Without being able to answer these questions, it’s impossible to drive business effectively and to create loyalty in employees. Equally important is the need to be authentic and live your brand promise every day; failure to do so will lead to disengaged team members.

Segmentation is something that is also important. When we look at our guests we know that we can’t be all things to all people and so we choose to target

certain segments in specific ways and the same should be applied to both current and prospective employees. This is about what you’re offering, who might that suit and what might they want from their experience with you. Ultimately, the same as with external consumers, all of the promotion, PR and branding in the world can’t really help you if your product is poor – it’s key to ensure that your value proposition is strong and delivered with consistency.

Of course, what is key is recognising that whatever we think we are or whatever we think we do, it has to match what the customer wants. As a marketing-orientated industry, we have to satisfy the needs of the guest, but more importantly the needs of our employees. If we do that and deliver on all of the above then your team will become your brand ambassadors and add further weight to your employer brand.

For me, it’s about working with purpose, getting up every day and recognising there is a vision to realise and a team to inspire. You have to fill your hotel with the right people, great attitude, great opportunity and great belief, but you can kill all of that if you don’t lead by example.

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Over the last 25 years, we have represented an independently assessed group of character filled properties, which range from grand stately homes to village inns, and from city townhouses to rural country retreats.

For further details, or to be considered to join Best Loved Hotels please email us at [email protected]

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ISSUE 2 Winter 2019ISSUE 2 Winter 2019ISSUE 2 Winter 2019

intelligence, innovation & inspiration for the hospitality marketer

Inside:We find out about the latest trends in luxury solo travel and how hotels can tap into this growing marketThe rise of voice technology means big changes for marketers – Curious digs deeper into voice for search

Marketing like a pro: How to manage measurement and return on investment

ISSUE 2 W

inter 2019in

telligence, in

novation

& in

spiration

for the h

ospitality

mark

eter

inside - amazon s3 · issue 2 winter 2019 intelligence, innovation & inspiration for the...

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