Sunday, May 4, 2014

Improving Your Occupancy Rates

By Jansen Wilhelmsen


In the world of hospitality, occupancy is of huge importance and if your hotel or motel consistently suffers from low occupancy, it's time to make a few changes. Simply lowering your rates is not the best strategy because that can seriously impact your bottom line. The best way to improve your occupancy rates would be to evaluate your hotel and decide what changes will lure guests to your special place.

Take a look at the comments left by guests and the online comments. If people tend to mention that their guest rooms weren't very clean or the place looks shabby and needs an update, this can really turn away potential clients. Your motel or hotel needs to look as pristine as possible and guest rooms need to be sparkling clean, whether guests are paying $50 per night or $500.

If your hotel looks great and is very clean, these are fantastic features, but if the hotel staff is not friendly or helpful, guests definitely will be turned off. Not only does your staff need to have a friendly attitude, they also need to be filled with knowledge. They need to know how to help out guests with room problems quickly and efficiently. They also need to have a bit of general knowledge about the area in which you are located. They should be able to offer restaurant suggestions, give directions to a drug store or grocery store or offer information about some of the major local attractions.

While you definitely do not want to simply drop all of your rates in order to lure people, it doesn't hurt to alter the rate structure. Offer the lowest rates for the smallest rooms or the rooms located in less desirable locations. If a room is larger or has special amenities or perhaps a great view, charge more for it. People are willing to pay more for special features or more space. You also should think about varying rates depending on the day of the week or the season. Offering group rates is another good idea that can entice large parties and corporate groups.

People love getting a good deal and when you include special amenities in the rates, this definitely attracts attention. For example, you might offer some level of breakfast service and place coffee makers and mini refrigerators in the room. High quality television is another amenity that guests love, particularly a satellite TV service such as DirecTV which typically offers more channels for less than local cable.

Integra Systems is one company that easily can install and maintain a DirecTV system for your hotel, motel or inn. They also can provide helpful support and instruction for your hotel staff and provide any repair services that are needed. The DirecTV system is easy for guests to use and they will enjoy as many as 128 channels, including premium channels such as HBO, as well as sports channels, local channels, news channels and many of the channels are available in high definition.




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