for homestay operation - mekong tourism · • handicraft making. module 7: low cost marketing esrt...

Hoa Ban Homestay

Address: Tả Van Giáy, Tả Van, Sa Pa, Lào Cai

Telephone: 020 877 xxxx

Services:

• Sleep,

• Leisure,

• Art performance,

• Cooking class,

• Handicraft making.

Module 7: Low cost Marketing

esrt programme

TRAINING FOR

HOMESTAY OPERATION

PAGE

Introduction to low cost marketing

Host familiarization

visits

give a sale call to a local travel agency

Potential business

partnerships

Topic 1 Developing partnerships:

Topic 2 Repeat visitations,

referrals and new markets

Prepare simple marketing

materials

evaluate marketing materials

PAGE

activitiesHand-outs english

• Show participants some pictures of business name cards, guest books ask if they know these stuffs.• Discuss why marketing is important • Invite participants to share their prior experiences of low cost marketing activities in their homestay

• Business card

Partner intermediaries• Business partner• work on a service agreement.

Give a sale call to a local travel agency: • inform their partner travel agencies

about new products and services.

Host familiarization visits: • introduce new products and services

Evaluate marketing materials: • Business cards, guest books or signs.

Prepare simple marketing materials: • Based on provided templates

Introduction to low cost marketing

Time: mInS15

Developing business partnerships

PAGE


• Discussion on who are potential business partners of homestay and what are their roles.• Partner Puzzle: given a set of cards each showing a different tourism business, arrange them in the correct order of how or where they connect to the homestay • Discussion on roles of different partners.• Flash card sequence: put main content of a service agreement in right order. trainer show examples of a service agreement with business partner and explain how it works in practice.

• sample service agreements with travel agencies.

• travel agent• tour operator• Hotel

Potential business partners: • travel agencies • tourist information centres• Local associations such as travel agency/ tour

operator clubs, hotel associations, tour guide clubs, youth union, women union, etc.

• Hotels• neighbouring homestays or villages

1

Developing business partnerships

Roles of the partner:• Promote products and services to traveller

markets• attract tourists• send tourists to homestays

Main content of a service agreement:• representatives of the homestay

and the business partner• Main roles and duties of each parties• implementation of the contract• Place, date and signature/ stamp

of each parties• annex 1: Description of homestay

products and services; Booking and reservation conditions.

• annex 2: Prices and commissions; Payment terms and conditions.

Time: mInS30

Giving a sales call to a travel agency

PAGE


2

• Discussion: How to make sale calls• Demonstration of a sample sale call by the trainer.• Participants observe and practice the telephone conversation.• Trainer feedback and correct it.

sale calls are cheapest and quite effective way of marketing that can be made occasionally or periodically either by homestay operators or the community tourism management board to inform and update partner travel agencies on homestay products and services for sale.

Steps involved:1. Develop a professional greeting 2. introduce yourself and your company 3. express gratitude 4. state the purpose of your call with a question 5. schedule a meeting6. thank them and reconfirm the date, time and location of the appointment 7. give your contact information 8. Follow up

Giving a sales call to a travel agency

Time: mInS30

Hosting familiarization visits

PAGE


• Demonstration of their entire hosting familiarization tour by the trainer (with sample tour activities such as check-in and check-out). explain key points.• Participants observe and practice the same process of hosting the tour.• Hold discussion and formalization at the end.• Trainer feedback and correct it.

the best way of selling “intangible” homestay services is to offer partner travel agencies a chance to experience real homestay services by familiarization tours in which homestay operators would serve staffs of travel agencies like their actual tourists. • welcoming delegates• Provide the actual homestay

products and services• Discussion on products features

and pricing• Formalization of a service agreement

3

• sample service agreement

Hosting familiarization visits

Time: mInS30

Simple and low cost marketing materials

PAGE


• Introduce 3 simple marketing materials • Show the participants sample marketing materials• Discussion on different elements of the marketing materials

• sample marketing materials such as business cards, guestbook, pictures of signs

Simple marketing materials:• Business cards: to distribute to guests

and business partners • guestbook’s: to leave guests’

comments and testimonials when they stay in the homestay as well as their contact details for future sale promotion

• signs: a wooden/ bamboo/ rattan or plastic board with name, contact details and main services of homestay to get attention of walk-in customers. it is normally hung in front of the homestay house or place in a nearby public area/ road junctions to guide visitors to the homestay.

• welcome to XYZ Homestay• address• telephone number

4

Simple and low cost marketing materials

Time: mInS15

Elements of good marketing materials

Logical layout

Well-space content, not overcrowded

Easy to read fonts

Matching colour

Do not write in capital letters

PAGE


• Presentation: trainer gives presentation on low cost marketing techniques • trainer explains elements of good marketing materials and compare with their evaluation• Group exercise: 4 group critically look at marketing brochures and materials from a range of different tourism products and compare them. Present what they think is the best one, and why• Brainstorm on how best to customize the sample marketing materials in the local context

• sample marketing materials such as business cards, guestbook, pictures of signs

5

Tips for good quality marketing materials: • Homestay name but be emphasised• Do not write in capital letters as it is hard to read• the font must be clear and easy to read and a good size• Background of business card should be in white colour• Printing must be good quality and clear• stick to no more than three colours of business card• avoid clip art• Provide all contact details • only use relevant pictures of your own homestay

and local areas.• Use clear pictures of good quality (high resolution)• keep the information clear and simple• all information must be true and accurate• Make sure that local printers can copy or print

them easily

Elements of good marketing materials

Hoa Ban Homestay



Services:

• Sleep,

• Leisure,


• Cooking class,


Time: mInS30

Preparing simple marketing material

Hoa Ban Homestay



Services:

• Sleep,

• Leisure,


• Cooking class,


PAGE


• Presentation: trainer explains different features of sample marketing materials on the learner page, the templates and steps to make it.• Group exercise: Participants work in group of 3 – 5 to prepare the marketing materials based on the provided templates.

• sample templates of business card, guestbook and signage

• guest comment Book• name• Dos• Don’ts• number• telephone• address

6

Prepare the business card: • customize the logo and name of the homestay• add name of the contact person• add contact details• on the backside, list all provided services

Prepare the guestbook:• customize cover page “guest comment Book”• customize the logo and name of the homestay

on the front cover• customize the cover letter • create spaces/ boxes for writing comments/

testimonials on the inside pages• add boxes for writing name and the contact

details of the guest • Provide a little background on the homestay,

the village, culture, etc. • inform the guest about a few of the rules

of the house.

Prepare the signs:• Prepare the wooden board

• Develop and draw a logo and name of the homestay on the board

• add the address, telephone number, email

• Hang up the signage

Remember: keep participants informed about the time as it is not likely to be enough. they can finish their work at home.

Preparing simple marketing material

Time: mInS60

ĐónG GóPTài liệu này được xuất bản với sự phối hợp giữa Chương trình Đào tạo kỹ năng du lịch có tác động cao cho khối lao động phổ thông (HITT) do Liên Minh Châu Âu tài trợ, Chương trình Phát triển năng lực du lịch có trách nhiệm với môi trường và xã hội (Dự án EU) do Liên minh Châu Âu tài trợ và Tổ chức Lao động Quốc tế (ILO) tại Việt Nam.

Các Dự án và tổ chức trên đã đóng góp vào việc xây dựng và phổ biến tài liệu này và sẽ sử dụng các tài liệu đào tạo để giúp đào tạo kỹ năng du lịch có tác động cao cho các nhóm hưởng lợi mục tiêu.

Tài liệu này được sản xuất với sự hỗ trợ tài chính của Liên minh Châu Âu. Chương trình HITT và ESRT hoàn toàn chịu trách nhiệm về nội dung của tài liệu này và nội dung đó không thể hiện quan điểm của Liên minh Châu Âu. Để biết thêm thông tin về sự hỗ trợ của Liên minh Châu Âu (EuropeAid), xin vui lòng truy cập http://ec.europa.er/europeaid/

Tài liệu được cấp quyền theo giấy phép Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (tham khảo http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US).

ConTrIBuTIonSThis series of materials has been produced in collaboration between the High Impact Tourism Training for Jobs and Income Programme (HITT) funded by the European Union, the European Union funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme (ESRT), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Vietnam.

These programmes and organisations contributed to the development and printing of this material and will be using these training materials to deliver High Impact Tourism Training to their respective target beneficiaries.

This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of the projects HITT and ESRT and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. For more information on EuropeAid, please visit http://ec.europa.er/europeaid/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US).

for homestay operation - mekong tourism · • handicraft making. module 7: low cost marketing esrt...

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