Magnetize & Energize

Your Guests

How to Increase your Occupancy

Rate

Be a Magnet!
Raj Pal Singh Kharabanda
www.kharabanda.com
 Introduction

In this e-book, I am going to coach you on how to increase your occupancy rate while at
the same time strengthen your brand image. This is probably one of the most sought after
pieces of knowledge in the hotel industry. Each hotel manager encounters this question
and spends a lot of time trying to reach a suitable answer.
Having a decisive solution to this question is necessary to keep your hotel going, increase
your sales and sooner or later expand. I am writing “a solid solution” because there are
many different ways to increase the occupancy rate. The following methods will give you a
wide range of possibilities to reach your goal.

Notice: To make the examples / steps more vivid, I will focus on one single guest that presents the
mass.

Let’s get it on!

Before you execute the strategies to increase your occupancy rate, you need to make sure
that you have a well-designed website online. Your website is your digital business card
and one of your digital magnets! The website does not have to be full of features, many
buttons to click on and fancy tools. In fact, the website has to look appealing to everyone;
and moreover, it has to be very user-friendly. If you are not sure what I mean by user
friendly, then just think about Apple products (iPad, iPhone, iPod, etc.) These products are
beautifully designed and even children know how to use them instantly. It is like playing
with the products instead of using or working with them. The products are providing the
user an enjoyable experience.

Your website has to be transparent / clear by all means. Personally, I love one page
websites. I can start at the top and slowly scroll down to the bottom of the page. I easily
absorb all the important information while moving one finger on my mouse. That is user-
friendly in my eyes.

If you have many different buttons on your website where a user has to click multiple times
to receive more or relevant information, you run into danger of losing the user’s patience. If
the user has to wait too long for another page to open, they will definitely close the page,
simply because it is frustrating and annoying to wait for a page to open up. Having these
issues on your page will automatically decrease the status of your image. So make sure
you don’t have too many buttons on your website to click on and that your website has a
fast page load time. On the following page, you can check your website speed for free.
https://tools.pingdom.com

By the way, I have set up and created all my websites by myself. Thus, I am not a
programer at all! I do not know how to code! I am using simple and very effective
management content systems to establish everything I need to succeed. If I can create a
website that way, then you can do it too. If you start designing your own website, you will
save a lot of money and be able to change your website anytime / anywhere. The need to
contact your website developer will be over. Paying immense prices for changing tiny
things like logos, content, pictures, button, links, call to action buttons, background color,
etc. will have an end. Start saving that money and put it into your extra vacation payment
box. That makes much more sense.

By using WordPress as your content management system, you can create websites in
minutes. It’s that easy. There are many plugins that you can upload as soon as you have
installed your WordPress.
Do you have a hotel website online right now? Then take a moment, look at it, and ask
yourself if you would like to make changes by yourself. You know what to do if your answer
is a big “YES”.

With a new website in place, you will have so many additional features that can be used to
obtain new, potential guests. You will be able to convince visitors to make direct
reservations and make them curious about your services.

I am emphasizing web design topic because I have received a lot of great feedback about
our hotel website. People called us and said that they wanted to book a room just because
they liked our website. It is really amazing what a simple website can do for one business.
In this regard, I need to mention that the pictures uploaded on a website play an immense
role in impressing a visitor. The pictures of your room, for instance, should not be
photoshopped. We have had many guests that have said the pictures available on our
website presented the hotel’s actual condition. Guest comment: “Hey, the room looks the
same as on the picture…cool!”

The story behind this feedback is that there are many hotels that like to modify the pictures
of a room a little to make it look more attractive. Now imagine someone making a
reservation in a hotel based on a picture. Then when they finally enter their room, they are
unsatisfied because they expected something completely different. Therefore, do not
create illusions to receive more reservations because at the end of your guests’ stay they
may be disappointed and even mention it in an online feedback form.

By and large, the pictures that you are presenting on your website have a lot of potential to
transform a website visitor into a hotel guest. Make sure that you choose the right pictures
that are absolutely convincing. Pictures create feelings and a specific characteristic. Use
them wisely and you’ll be able to magnetize the visitor to make the next step on your
website.

NEXT STEP

Let’s say that we have an astonishing website online and we are certain that the page is
luring new guests. The next step to increase your occupancy rate has to do with TAKING
ACTION !

For instance, our hotel is located 15 minutes away from the city center. The train / bus
station is 5 minutes away by walk. Public transportation has been and is one of our keys to
attractiveness and success. Thus, we emphasize these things to each person that
contacts us and shows interest in staying in our hotel.

Short advice: If you have a person on the phone enquiring about your hotel and its
features, take out your “Pro Sheet” where all the benefits of staying in your hotel are listed
to convince the caller to make a reservation. When talking to them, make sure you wait for
the right moment to mention some or all of the “Pro Points”. Many people that call us aren’t
aware that we have fantastic public transportation close to the hotel and that we offer free
parking. As soon as I mention those, I can hear in their voice that they are more excited
than before and that their interest has increased. So have a “Pro Sheet” nearby each time
somebody calls. The “Pro Sheet” is quite useful and is one tool to obtain more
reservations.
It’s advantageous that our hotel is close to the city center, airport and highway. We are
currently using these advantages extremely well for our online promotions.

So each day we are having guests; some of them regulars and some of them first timers.
Due to the fact that we established ourselves as a business hotel, we have many guests in
our hotel that are working for big companies. These guests have come from all over the
world. However, the majority of them are from Germany. One tactic we have employed to
draw attention to our hotel has been calling big companies that are located far away and
sometimes close. We used to call companies each single day and explored our hotel
services and benefits. We made a list of companies located in Germany and called them
every day. On the phone, we asked for the right person to talk to and provided all the
necessary information to ignite their interest in us. We did not read any sales letters or use
the same words over and over. No, not at all. We talked to the person in charge as we
would talk to a friend. First of all, we asked if there were any need for the company to have
a hotel contact in Frankfurt am Main. If so, we proceeded with talking about our services
and benefits. Of course, we asked many questions as well: how many times their
employees travelled to Frankfurt am Main; how long they usually stayed in the city; if they
had a fixed schedule or if the hotel reservations had to be flexible. The more you let the
other person talk about their needs and desires, the better. (Read How to win friends and
influence people by Dale Carnegie, or you may listen to it).

If a person answered (right at the beginning of the conversation) that there was no need
for a hotel partnership in Frankfurt am Main, we kindly ended the call. It doesn’t make
sense to tell a person who is in charge for the company’s hotel bookings about one’s
services if there is no need and no interest. So do not be pushy and just continue on with
your next call. There are still enough fish to catch.

To attract new company clients we did not just call the companies but sent them our
InfoMap too. The first contact had been our call and the second contact had been through
our information material. That is a powerful combination to create one’s image and make
the right impression to gain new clients / guests.

Have in mind that it is not always necessary to look for companies that are far away. The
solution to your success and increase in your booking rate may be around the corner. For
instance, we have many companies around our hotel that hold seminars for their
employees from time to time. These companies look for nice accommodation for their
employees, and so our place is a perfect fit for them.

Of course, the competitors do not sleep. If that is the point, how do we still convince
various companies to book us instead of other hotels? It has to do with the approach and
attitude towards the desired goal. If you are eager to succeed and gain as many guests as
possible, then be motivated to do what is necessary. We are committed to our goals and
so we do what is necessary. The actions that we take regularly are personal visits to
potential new and existing company clients / guests. We are continuously building upon
our established trust while creating new ones. Personal attitude and personal presence is
what makes the difference. It is important to be more than a hotel with a nice logo on the
website and a nice voice on the phone. You need to be more than usual. Be present and
differentiate yourself through your personality. Be creative in attracting new potential
clients through your communication skills and presence. You may believe that it is not
common to visit guests that stayed at your hotel, but exactly that is the way to more
success. Passing by at a guest’s company and leaving small gifts for everyone who
recently stayed in your hotel and of course for the secretary who made the reservations,
will make an immense impression. That impression made on your existing guest will then
automatically be referred to the colleagues. Eventually, the CEO will hear of that
uncommon happening, too. With one small gift, you will have stunned a couple new
potential employees, of the same company, who maybe sooner or later stay at your hotel
as well. If you start with this strategy to strengthen your existing guest-relationships and
establish new ones, you will most likely increase your reservation rate.

Important Note:

Your guest / company client is not just purchasing a room with a bed, desk, TV, bathroom,
etc. for a night. Your guest is buying the whole package that belongs to a hotel. The whole
package is filled with extraordinarily friendly staff, a perfectly cleaned room, WiFi, an
unforgettable experience, and other services. However, the biggest part of the package
takes up the personal flair. The communication between the guest and the hotel. Your
hotel can be a five star hotel, but if your staff are unfriendly and do not care about your
guests, then all the valuable features in your room and gorgeous facilities in your hotel are
useless and invisible to a guest.

After you contacted new potential guests and sent them some interesting info-material,
you could make an appointment to introduce yourself personally, or you could ask if a
special offer is of interest. Certainly, a personal visit is completely different and much more
convincing than a special offer. However, I know that most hotel managers / people in
charge do not have enough time to make personal visits to increase the occupancy rate.
Let me just say so much: an authority that has to choose between companies will more
likely go for the company that they have had personal contact with than with a company
that sent a special offer. Personal visits ensure trust, convenience and decrease the
chance of making a wrong decision. By and large, personal visits are giving a face to the
whole process.

In regard to the special offer, I need to mention that there is an ordinary way of providing
an offer, and there is a very unusual way as well. The ordinary way of sending an offer is
really straight forward. You prepare the email, attach a PDF where the special prices are
emphasized and all the services listed, then you send it to the recipient. Having done that,
you wait for a couple of days, and if you do not receive an answer, you call and start
investigating. That is it.

I am sure you will agree that this is the ordinary way of sending an offer. Let me show you
another, impressive way that 95% of your recipients have not yet witnessed. Although, you
may have no time to visit your new potential guest in person, you still can introduce
yourself personally in a digital way. I am talking about a video of you, only created for one
specific recipient. Imagine what the recipient will think if they see you in a video that you’d
created just for them. They will be amazed and thankful. They will see that you are putting
in a lot of effort to make a great impression. By saying the recipient’s name right at the
beginning of the video, the viewer will realize that you made this video just for them and
not anyone else. That is really special. Going the extra mile makes the difference. After the
recipient has watched your video, they will have a much better idea who you are. With this
video, they can now put a face with expressions to your voice. It completes the
introduction process of your hotel.

Now ask yourself: if a person puts in a lot of effort to introduce themselves by creating a
video, what is this person going to do when you start doing business with them? The
audience does not take this video for granted. The creation of the video itself has as much
value as the message. Everyone knows that it takes courage, a lot of time, concentration,
the right mood and a lot of energy to produce a convincing video for the audience. These
values are immediately transmitted to your recipient as soon as the video starts to play.

If you really want to differentiate yourself from your competitors, and you aim to increase
your occupancy rate, then start creating personal videos for your new potential guests. I
know it has nothing to do with daily tasks. Probably, it is an activity that you have never
done before. It might cost you quite an effort, but think outside of the box! What about the
results? What is the worst that can happen to you? What is the best that can happen to
you? How many new guests will you lure to your hotel with such an activity? Take your
time and ponder about it. You do not need to make a decision now. It is in your mind right
now and there it might grow to make you move.

Hint: if you are giving someone a special rate, you need to let him know about the original
rate as well. It is not enough to say: I am going to give you the room for $ XYZ per night. If
the guest knows that the ordinary price is much higher than the rate you are offering him,
he will appreciate it much more. You even can tell him that he will save more than $ XY per
night and for his whole stay he will save $ XYZ .

If you do not mention how much he saved just because you gave him a special rate, he
will not even realize it. He will take it for granted, and the offer will not be special. So make
sure you let the guest know what you are actually discounting for him. It is obvious if you
do not tell him he will never know.

A list of company branches we have contacted on a daily basis:

- Banks
- Construction companies
- Car rental companies
- Airlines
- The Airport
- Public transportation companies
- IT Services
- Mobile Phone companies
- Owners of wedding halls
- Small Car Sale companies
- Hospitals
- Sport Clubs
- Soccer Clubs
- Basketball Clubs
- Football Clubs
- Sport Events
- Cultural Events
- City Events
- Skydiving companies
——————--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Contact local restaurants
- Find seminar classes for any topic
- Find continuing education programs
- Find centres for different teachings - for example, a Buddhist, yoga, Hindu centre,
Ashram, etc.
- Become friends with your neighbours
For instance, the Buddhist centre nearby our hotel recommends us to their students
regularly. The classes last for one whole month, so the students stay for at least one
month in our hotel.

You can see that there is a large number of companies that you can contact and introduce
yourself to. Having a small percentage of these companies as your new guests will
increase your incoming bookings per week, and you may gain regular guests.

Another effective way to welcome new guests to your hotel, increase your brand
awareness, and strengthen your guest relationship, is through social media. The way you
use social media has a huge impact on your whole business. Before you start doing social
media, or if you are in the middle of it, make sure that you have enough time for it. Social
media is time-consuming and if you want to use it professionally—to become more
successful—you need time. Of course, you can employ an agency to do it for you, but then
it will never be as personal as it could be. Have a look at my Social Media Online Course

How do you start? What are your goals? What is your message? What do you want to
achieve after a period of time? To be more precise, I will talk about Facebook. Social
media is not only about posting any content. It has become much more than that. There
are companies and entrepreneurs that give their Facebook page much more value than
their own website. On a Facebook page, you can provide all the necessary information to
present yourself to the public. Everything is in one spot. Your audience does not have to
leave Facebook anymore to find everything that they want to know about you / your
business.

Using Facebook seems to be very easy, and actually, it is. However, using Facebook to
become really successful and reach your aimed goal takes much more than posting
content every once in awhile. Why?

Facebook is a sophisticated marketing machine for your business. Used wisely, you can
gain many potential guests. Therefore, you need to plan your strategy. Before you start
posting your first message on Facebook, you should have all your posts ready for the next
6 months. If you finish your posts before you start, you will have no pressure to keep up
posting. If you start posting on your new Facebook page without having enough prepared
content to post, you will sooner or later begin to worry. You will ask yourself questions
about the headline, picture, content, link and so on until you believe there is nothing new
that you can give to your fans; that is the time you feel stuck. Being stuck is unproductive
and creates content that does not have value for the reader.

The value of the post plays a big role. Nobody wants to invest time in reading an article
without gaining any new knowledge or being entertained. When you provide content to
your readers, followers, fans, always ask the question, “What is in it for the reader?” What
does the reader gain through my post? How is this post going to change them? How do
they look at the mentioned topic before they read the article and how do they look at the
topic after they read it? (Before and after state).

If you are writing posts that are filled with value, the readers’ minds will be expanded,
which shows you are definitely on the right track. Your fans are going to love you more and
be more eager to share your message. The more value you provide, the more you will
become an authority in your niche. In regard to the hotel business, we need to select
topics that are interesting and beneficial for the guest. Here are some topics that will
probably grab the attention of the reader.
- Special rates for a specific date
- Special rates that are only available for a few hours - creating time pressure - reader
needs to act now or it will be too late
- New services for the same price
- New implemented technology in your hotel
- Completed renovation
- New facilities
- Shuttle Service available
- Announcing partnerships with local restaurants
- Announcing partnerships with car rental services, airlines
- Informing about city events
- Informing about new employees
- New dress code / uniform
- Providing an online survey on Facebook to the guest - what are you really looking for?
- New dishes in your restaurant

If a reader is reacting to your posts, you need to reply and be visible online. The reader
has to see that you are a real person and that you (your hotel) are not shy to get in touch
with them. It is an honor for the reader to receive a direct reply from the person
responsible for the hotel post or even from the hotel manager. The reader who is in touch
with an amazing hotel on a social media channel will be proud of it. Communicating with a
successful hotel is unique.

Replying to a reader’s comment is necessary to build a guest relationship. The guest

should feel at home as soon as they are in your hotel. That is the goal of each hotel
manager.

GO FURTHER!

Make the guests be your extraordinary friends on a social media channel. Still, treat them
as a guest, but start interacting with them on topics that have to do with your hotel. For
instance, let’s say a gust booked a room in your hotel in Paris for today. As you know, the
guest is from Spain and arrives in Paris today. If you see a post on his Facebook page
where he wrote, “I just arrived to Paris, and I am hitting to my hotel”, then you can reply
“Bonjour Monsieur. XYZ, we are eager to welcome you in a couple of minutes, a surprise
is waiting in your room for you ;-) As soon as the guest will read this reply, he will be
amazed and speechless. All of his friends will see the post, and they will be staggered as
well. Actually, you are not impressing just your guest with your phenomenal action, you are
impressing all of his friends who read the post, too. One reply can have a huge impact on
your future booking rate. (By the way - that is a true story and the success of the hotel
increased since then).

Guest - Video - Feedback

Facebook is the perfect place to upload a guest video feedback. Guest video feedbacks
are pretty powerful to convince potential new guests to make a reservation at your hotel. A
video is authentic and the audience can easily tell if the guest is satisfied with the hotel
services or not. A guest video feedback is like the final push for an undecided person to
make a reservation. Personally, I love guest video feedbacks because they are fun to do.
The essence and the value of a guest video feedback is not the interview itself; actually,
after you made an interview with one of your guests, you will probably win them as a new
regular guest. That is the desired result of this process. Certainly, the guest will tell their
family, friends and colleges about the interview. In fact, they will do word-of-mouth
marketing for you. That is all you need. This is a proven strategy and leads to results.
(Post these videos on your website and youtube).

While you are in the process of shooting videos, I want to mention that a video of you and
your staff is nice to have. People who can not decide to make a reservation in a specific
hotel are curious and are looking for clues why they should do it. Therefore, a video of you
and your staff could be the last missing jigsaw to complete the puzzle.

However, I am not saying that a video of you and your staff will always be perceived
positively. If the video is not well done and there are some scenes that seem to be
strange / weird, it could easily be an indication for a NO GO! If you are 100% confident
about your video, then go for it. Otherwise, reshoot it and make it better until it is
convincing.

The same problem exists with pictures of your hotel room compared to a video of your
hotel room. A picture is worth 1000 words, but if you only have specific pictures of your
hotel available online, the viewer will not have an idea of your whole hotel. The pictures
keep specific areas of your hotel secret until guests have a look by themselves. The
viewer wants to know how the rest of the hotel looks like.

A well done video of a hotel room discloses much more than a few pictures. The video
does not give the viewer the possibility to imagine what they have not seen already. The
curiosity will ease up slightly.

To find out if a video or pictures are better to present your hotel, I suggest you make a
survey. As soon as you have a well done video ready to present, ask your guests: What
makes a better impression?

The following advice will definitely pimp your website. If your hotel is really close to a bus /
train / taxi station then make a video while you are walking to these stations. Make them
available on your website. These videos will provide your website visitors a lot of value.
They will love to see the way from your hotel to the public station. A video is a big
difference to a google map. It shows the environment, and the viewer will be able to
recognize the location as soon as they arrive at your hotel for the first time.

Another promising way to let your website visitors know that you are a leader in the hotel
business is by inserting pictures of you and your guests on your Facebook page and
website. This is impressive, and shows that your guests are satisfied. These pictures also
demonstrate that your hotel is well booked too.

Some content that can be put on your Facebook page and your website are information of
events that are taking place in your city. Inform your followers and fans what is going on in
your great city and how much fun it could be to attend them. Make it as interesting as
possible. Moreover, offer a special discount (a coupon code) if someone books a room
while an event is happening. Many people who see this special offer on Facebook will like
it and share it with their friends.

Online Travel Agency Make The Difference

Without the connection to an OTA, our hotel would not be as successful as it is today. I
remember our first “sale / hotel reservation” as if it were yesterday. Even before we
opened our hotel, we had guaranteed reservations coming in. That was extremely exciting.
It was only possible because we connected our hospitality software to HRS and Booking.
These OTAs promoted our hotel enormously and within a very short time being available
on OTA portals, we had many guaranteed reservations coming in. The percentages these
OTAs are charging for each reservation are absolutely legitimate. As a new hotel on the
market, we enjoyed some priorities on the OTAs. OTAs love to promote new hotels on their
portals. OTAs emphasize new hotels in many different newsletters, push the hotels to the
top of their search engine on their page and, in addition, design special pages on the OTA
website itself. That is a lot of promotion free of charge, and this strategy is very powerful
and lucrative for all parties involved.

As a hotel owner / manager, you know how important—or let’s say—how necessary it is to
be connected to a couple of OTAs. The majority of people that are traveling are using
OTAs to look for a hotel. As soon as a person finds a hotel on an OTA, he starts reading
the feedback and looks at the pictures. If the person is interested in booking a room in the
hotel, he immediately continues on the OTA page, or he looks for the website of the hotel.
For some people, it is more convenient to book on the OTA page rather than on the hotel’s
website. It has to do with one’s habits / laziness of inserting all their data and worries about
the security of the hotel’s website.

By and large, nowadays, it is fatal not to be listed on any OTA at all for a hotel. Being listed
gives a hotel more exposure and makes it much easier to be found on the net.
Actually, it should be a must for each hotel to be listed on at least one OTA. I read through
so many articles and experiences where managers have said “as soon as they connected
to an OTA their occupancy rate increased enormously in a very short time.” It is like a turbo
to receive more reservations and attention.

If you are confident that you are providing your guest a great service and that you will
receive awesome feedback, then do not hesitate to connect to an OTA. If you are already
connected to 1-3 OTAs, and you are still not satisfied with your occupancy rate, then
connect to two more OTAs. The more you are connected to OTAs the more reservations
you will obtain. Being connected to many different OTAs will lure more guests to your
hotel. However, you need to take care of over-bookings. Make sure that you are connected
to a reliable channel manager that handles reservations promptly.

Managing over-bookings are stressful and annoying. In one of my tutorial videos I am

going through the essence of a channel manager. I am explaining how we are using this
great tool to save a lot of time, money and attract new guests.

Offer Special Discounts on OTAs

When you are using any OTA service, you will have access to your own extranet. On the
extranet, you can insert and change all the data of your hotel that is available on the OTA
website. Furthermore, some OTAs have striking tools to create discounts/ deals. A hotel
that is offering special deals and discounts on an OTA website is much more interesting
than a similar hotel without any deals. With deals and discounts, you are differentiating
yourself. Not just through the lower price, but through the appearance on the OTA as well.
As you can see the appearances of the rates are different. Some show Flex, Hot and
Business Tarif. The design makes a difference, and it is eye-catching. Some people look
for Business Tarif, others for Hot deals and others for flexible reservation options. There
are more options you can create as soon as you are using the extranet. Here I will show
you some features of one of our extranets.

You have a variety of discounts to choose from:

Corporate D. - is pretty effective if you are a business hotel. The person in charge for
booking hotel rooms for the employees is always looking for a good deal and if the hotel is
offering a corporate discount. Put yourself in a secretary's position if you want to know how
they choose the hotel for their colleagues.
I guess the criteria from the secretary’s point of view have to be:
1. It should not be too expensive, or my boss will be mad at me.
2. The hotel has to be nice, or my colleagues will be mad at me.
3. It has to be in the middle of everything, but if it has more to offer and is still in my
budget, the better it is for everyone.

Advice: if you receive a secretary’s query, try to create a business relationship right away
—secretaries are very powerful. They can be very helpful for you. Usually, they have a lot
of influence on a boss. Now and then, you can even send them a nice gift to show your
appreciation of choosing your hotel instead of another one.

Mobile Special D. - these deals are only available on mobile devices. That is why they are
so cool. When I activated this discount, I did not believe that many people will make a
guaranteed reservation through their mobile phone. I always thought it seemed too
dangerous. Well, I was wrong. There are a lot of people that are booking through their
mobile phone without any hesitation. Thus, this feature has to be recommended.
Last-minute D. - here you can choose a discount percentage and a time when the deal
should come into action. Have a look at the screenshot.

On the picture, you can see that there are many different options to choose from. Most of
them are for xx:xx am on the same day. It makes a lot of sense to use this deal for the
same day instead for 7 days before arrival. By choosing the same day, this deal becomes
unique and people realize that this deal is time sensitive. Choosing this strategy creates
scarcity, and this is what you need to increase your sales / reservations.

Early-booking D. - This feature is easy to use, and it provides you reservations that are a
few months or even years away. You can easily insert a discount percentage and a
specific time when the discount becomes active.

This discount is pretty attractive for people who know where they want to be in five days or
so. If you have the possibility to use this feature with your OTA, then activate it
immediately. It will make you smile!

Extended-stay D. - if you want to have long stay guests in your hotel, then this discount
feature is for you. Give a certain percentage for guests who stay 7 nights at your hotel.
Give a higher percentage for guests that stay 14 nights and so on. Of course, you can
insert your own preferred nights too. You can start with at least two nights as well. If you
have pantry-kitchens in your hotel rooms, then this discount deal is perfect for your long
stay guests. This deal emphasizes your top qualities and services.
Senior-citizen D. - with this discount you can attract people that have a certain age. If you
want to have more guests in your hotel that are over 45, then you have to answer this age
and add a certain percentage. That’s it.

Double-rooms-for-single occupancy - this is a feature that we are using throughout the

year. There are many people who want to use a double room for themselves. Activating
this feature gives the person who is looking for a double room a specific discount off the
regular price. That makes a double room which is usually higher priced than a single room
much more attractive.

Free nights - use this feature to increase long stay guests in your hotel. Offer a free night
as soon as the guest paid for a specific number of nights. For instance, the guest booked
for 7 nights but only pays for 6 nights. Well, this is what you have to insert here. Certainly,
this feature will increase your occupancy rate, but you need to make sure that you benefit
from this feature.
There are many more different special discount features on other OTAs. However, these
are the ones that are really effective and eye-catching. I suggest you use a couple of these
features to increase your occupancy rate in general and especially in low seasons.

Extend the open hours - be longer available on the OTAs

If you are a hotel that does not yet offer a 24/7 reception, and you want to increase your
occupancy rate by any means, then extending your reception open hours is another way to
increase your occupancy rate. Extending your reception open hours increases your
employee's salary. It is crucial that you make necessary calculations before you decide to
extend or not. Ask yourself if it will make sense to be longer available on OTAs or not.

Google My Business

Besides of being present on the most famous social media platforms, you should insert
your hotel on Google My Business. Of course, there are many people that go first to
google and enter, for example, “the best hotel in New York”. If your hotel is registered in
Google My Business, you have a higher probability to be found on google. Google My
Business will send you Performance Reports regularly. These reports are very useful. If
you analyse a report correctly, you will realize what people are looking for, what your hotel
is missing, which information you have to add, and what you have to do to convince more
people to make a reservation in your hotel. Certainly, some of your guests will rate your
hotel on Google My Business as well. The better ratings you have, the more often your
hotel will appear on the search engine.

The following marketing strategy is one of my favourites. This strategy is like having an
ace up your sleeve. Using the following tool will secure you regular guests and definitely
increase your occupancy rate enormously.

There are many famous hotel chains that have honours / points programs. To implement
these programs and systems is pretty expensive. If you have such tools in your hotel, you
need to be certain that they are functioning correctly. If it breaks down and you do not have
a backup, you will be stuck. Your guests will not be amused at all and bad feedback /
ratings will pour in on a daily basis. Having such programs is time-consuming, and you
need to have staff that know how to deal with it. On the other hand, it makes your hotel
very unique, and you somehow bind your guests. You have the possibility to partner with
many other hotel chains / airlines / shops / etc. and slowly but surely walk up the ladder.

By and large, such a system is great to have if you have the capacity for it. If you do not
have the necessary capital to install such a system, but you are crazy about it, then I have
a decent low-budget solution for you. That is ready to use in minutes.

I created a “Guest Come Back Card” that we are giving to our new guests when they are
checking out. If they stay five nights in our hotel (at any time during a year) then they will
receive a 10% discount on their sixth night. Of course, you can change the percentages,
the amount of days or the whole deal. However, with this card, you will gain regular guests
automatically. You do not need any software or program. The only thing you need is the
printed card that looks like a business card and a unique stamp or a unique signature.
Have a look at our “Guest Come Back Card” that is exciting our new guests over and
over again.

Increase your attractiveness and gain more guests

Most people are looking for nice hotels that are not too expensive. To stand out from the
crowd, you can offer your normal hotel room rate but with free parking (if you are not doing
it already). Offering free parking has a huge impact on your occupancy rate, and it
provides you regular guests. Free parking is a bonus that you are giving your guests, and
they appreciate it a lot. All guests know that having a free parking spot in a city has a lot of
value. In general, hotels are charging €5-20 for a parking spot per night. In my opinion,
that is a lot of money. If guests stays for 4 nights, they need to pay more or less an
additional €80. Having a free parking spot and saving €80 is a good reason for a person
to choose your hotel instead of one that is better located. The expenses for a person make
a difference. Many guests have smiled when I’ve told them the parking spot is free of
charge. While we were offering free parking spots, we gained many regular guests.
Therefore, we don’t gain extra money through parking fees, but through recommendations
and long stays.
 Shuttle Service

Many well-known hotels offer a shuttle service from the main airport to the hotel. In the
United States, that is more or less a standard. In other countries, that is an exception. If
you offer a shuttle service from the airport to your hotel or from your hotel to the exhibition,
your hotel is very unique. Offering a regular shuttle service that has a schedule is easy to
manage. However, a shuttle service that has a schedule could become costly if it is empty
most of the time.

Offering a personal shuttle service is much more economical, but tougher to manage. The
guests do not always show up on time, and that makes it difficult for the driver to be
punctual. Often guests that are on time have to wait for other guests that take more time.
That can be frustrating and sometimes a reason for receiving a bad rating. Altogether, it is
good to have a shuttle service because it makes your hotel more attractive. If you have a
personal shuttle service, you need to be strict with your guests and emphasize that the bus
is always leaving on time with no exceptions. If you start making exceptions, your personal
shuttle service will be chaotic.

Investing in Advertisement To Increase Your Occupancy Rate

As soon as you have implemented most of the above-described strategies, improvements,

tools, procedures, tasks, and you have the feeling that the increased occupancy rate is still
not enough, then it is time to dig deeper. With the following advertisements, you will gain
more reservations that will surely increase your popularity. Nevertheless, it is not free of
charge. You need to invest money.
I am talking about Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Pinterest Ads, Instagram Ads,
TripAdvisor Ads and Ads on your OTAs. These are the platforms where you have the
ability to reach your target group. Advertising on social media platforms is a whole new
subject I am covering in another online course. Personally, I love Facebook ads, and I will
show you why. If you know some tricks and the right tools to use, you will recover your
Facebook investment within a short period of time and increase your business success.
Facebook ads are super effective if you know what you need to say in an ad and where
you have to send your users after they click on the ad link. Due to the fact that investing in
advertisement is a whole new topic, I’m not going to talk on that right now. By and large, if
you invest in advertisement on different platforms, you can increase your occupancy rate
and gain more attention, but only if you are using the right tools / pictures / headlines /
links / offers / convincing strategies.

As you know, I am always eager to read your comments and suggestions. Please do not
hesitate to leave me your comments about this ebook. I really appreciate your time and
effort. It means a lot to me to see your engagement.

If you are interested in personal development, fitness and nutrition, then have a look at my
website www.kharabanda.com.