We can keep shouting from the rooftops about how hotels need to be customer focused until we’re blue in the face. And it stands to reason; your hotel’s warm and friendly experience will always be top priority. However, you can’t provide warmth or friendship if there’s nobody booked in to experience it.

You’re still running a business, after all… right?

Those doors need to swing open; heads need to hit pillows. Your hotel may have a parade of loyal customers coming back to you every time they’re in the area, but how often do they visit? You still need a comprehensive room rate strategy for your hotel.

Here are a few ideas to get as many guests as possible through your door.

Adopt psychological pricing

This might just be the oldest trick in the book – but still one of the best.

We know there’s no tangible difference between $99 and $100. When you have time to weigh it all up and talk about it, there isn’t a lot of value that can be found in the $1 you’re losing. But when people are comparing prices and looking to book online, $99 looks a lot cheaper.

In fact, it looks almost $10 cheaper!

Keep an eye on the competition

If your hotel’s struggling to get people through the door, there’s a good chance that it might be happening to other hotels in your area, and some of them may have tried to counteract the quiet period by creating a low room rate strategy.

It’s always good to know what your competition’s doing.

By using your PMS, researching OTAs, or by using social listening techniques on Twitter and Facebook, you can keep tabs on them. If a competitor’s basic room price is lower than yours, then combat it. Can you lower your price to match? Can you add something of value to your own room to capture the interest of potential guests?

Offer packages

Is your hotel just a building full of beds? Does it have a restaurant in which you could add a set price for a meal? A free breakfast, perhaps? If your hotel can add value to the customer’s stay, then go ahead and create the ideal package for your guests.

Even if there’s little extra you can offer, you can create great experiences by partnering with other businesses in the area. Between you and the local golf course, for instance, can you work together and create a package with great value? And what about local attractions and museums?

There’s always opportunity to add value to your customers stay, whether you have extra facilities or not.

Implement a length of stay strategy

Is your hotel in a bustling city? Is there a local festival or attraction happening? Could it be that there is so much to do that it might just take more than one night to make the most of the trip?

A convincingly low price on multiple nights might just tempt your guests into elongating their visit. Even if this sounds like you’re losing money on the room, you may just make up for it at the bar and restaurant.

Wrapping up

For some hotels, standard room rates are as much a staple of the hotel as that great big fountain by the entrance. However, some things shouldn’t be quite so immovable. By using real-time data, and creating tantalizing offers you could still attract people through the door.

Look at your room rate strategy often. In fact, look at the OTAs and GDSs on a near daily basis to see what’s happening in the market. With one of these strategies, or perhaps a combination of them, you’ll be filling your hotel in no time!

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InnQuest is a leading technology provider for the hospitality industry. For over 25 years, innQuest has combined hotelier experience with innovative technology to deliver an all-in-one solution that empowers hotels to attract guests, drive customer loyalty, and increase profits. Our flagship Hotel Management System, roomMaster, helps manage over 5,500 properties across 100 countries. InnQuest develops scalable solutions ranging from a Hotel PMS, Cloud PMS, Channel Manager, Hotel CRM and helps properties enable guests to Book Direct. We believe that everyone deserves a great guest experience, whether they’re staying at a small B&B, a thousand-room resort, or anywhere in between.

Call us today at 1.813.288.4900, or email us at sales@innquest.com. We will be happy to walk you through innQuest’s solutions.