Do you know your how your hotel is positioned against your competitive set? Have you considered looking at the positioning strategies for your independent hotel lately?
The chances are that you have not.
The reason that this happens is that people in hospitality management are so busy doing everything to keep their property running smoothly. You do everything in your power to be everywhere at once. The fact of the matter is that this can lead to blindness. It could have you thinking that you are the creme de la creme of your competitive set when you are far from it.
How embarrassing!
Maybe that’s why your quarterly sales are declining. Perhaps that is why your negative reviews are killing you.
As much as we may hate reviews/review sites, they can shed some light on what your actual position is in the market. Knowing this, you can figure out some effective positioning strategies for your independent hotel.
You can have the most beautiful architecture on the planet, but if customers complain about “odors,” all the time then you end up being the stinky hotel.
Simply put, if you understand your position in the market then all the branding, marketing, sales, etc. will stem from it.
There is a real competitive edge that you can gain from knowing your position in the market. In a crowded marketplace, having the proper positioning can help you build rapport with customers.
Positioning begins and ends with the customer. It doesn’t matter so much what you sell, but it does matter what the customer thinks that you sell.
Don’t be the “beautiful”, but “stinky” hotel.
In 2015, more than 180 billion U.S. dollars were spent on advertising in the United States. This figure is more than double the amount spent in advertising in China, the second largest ad market in the world. Forecasts show healthy projections for the ad market in the U.S. for 2016, as media advertising spending is expected to reach the 200 billion U.S. dollars mark this year.1
The statistic above illustrates why positioning matters. Customers see so many advertisements today that it’s become so easy to ignore your hotel.
Read rest of the article at eMarketing Associates
