T H E R E C O V E R Y PAT H

COVID-19

2020 YEAR

W: www.hmsukandireland.com | E: info@hmsireland.com

T: +44 7720419459 - Ann Donaghy - Director T: +44 7795272243 - Kathleen Lavery Boulouha - Director

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CONTENTSI ntroduc t ion to Recover y Path

Revenue Management

Top 10 addit ions to websites

Sales - Group Business

Corporate sa les

Leisure sa les

Air l ines

Vir tual sa les

Market ing

The Changes

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Hospitality and Tourism post COVID-19 Recovery Path

We are living in uncertain times where Hospitality and Tourism have been plunged into the great unknown. Previous economic downturns have had the benefit of history to formulate a Recovery programme. The ability to review and to learn from such events have always assisted and ensured growth and confidence in the way back.

This pandemic has had no similar moment in time to review or learn from. Now more than ever we require leadership, confidence and thinking outside the norm to re-imagine our industries.

Our hospitality and tourism industries will recover. We need to pave a way back. We also know when we start on the journey back, momentum will grow across all our industry segments; confidence will be reinstated and YES, we will enter a new normal.

Our new norm will require patience and an understanding of how behaviours have changed. That which worked before will be relegated to the pages of history. As we get to know and understand our new normal, we will create new opportunities helping on the way back from the brink.

We accept all businesses are different, the road back will have twists and turns. The one given is there is always a model or process outlining that journey.

Revenue Management

ReservationsIt will become increasingly important to manage the narrative on all future reservations. If the narrative is controlled by creating flexible options and where possible add value, the greater the potential to postpone the reservation rather than cancel.

Refunds and CancellationsCurrently many are wavering cancellation fees and refunding prepaid deposits. This has impacted heavily on cashflows; explore opportunities to carry over deposits and extend the use of Gift Vouchers. For compliance please check CMA guidelines.

RatesWe will be tempted to reduce rate as cash flows

What will our way back look like? are challenged and the lifeline to our business. HMS UK & Ireland recommend you hold on to your rate for as long as possible. Lowering you rate is a short-term strategy with long term implications on your performance. We understand business is operating in a new norm which also means we fight to capture limited demand in the short term.

What will drive customer demand?Rates will be determined by demand, driven by market confidence. That confidence will be determined by how we can demonstrate levels of hygiene.

If we can gain confidence with levels of hygiene practices, it is predictable we could see an increase in demand from our domestic markets.

DemandThird party websites or OTA’s are equally exposed to the changes as hotels are. With imposed restrictions and conditions overnight, OTA’s have crashed. The change in behaviours create opportunities for hotels to have direct engagement particularly with those customers who would have been loyal to brand. Now is the time we can gain guests for life, through best practice, confidence in our hygiene regimes and use of local suppliers. These practices will ensure longevity with guests and dividends in the future.

Your free top 10 additions to websites1. Engage and communicate with guests from

when they are on your landing page2. Ensure your website is easy and quick to

navigate to make a reservation or enquiry3. Ensure content is reassuring, relevant

and new. Guests require reassurance, information must be clear and informative

4. Highlight the changes in place from COVID- 19, the precautions and measures that have been put in place and you are open for business

5. Highlight safety as a priority and ensure you can demonstrate how you are doing this

6. Modify reservations pre and post emails7. Create compelling offers for now and the

future8. Incorporate reasons to book:9. Best rate guarantee, encourage joining your

mailing list to obtain benefits; complimentary upgrades, special offers, loyalty programmes and secret deals

10. Use social media platforms to distribute your blog, vlog, newsletter, ensuring they are linked back to your website

Ask for help if this is not your area of expertise.

SalesGroup Business

Hotels have been handling cancellations for all group business. Be the first to reactivate your contact with those groups to discuss options for future business.

Maintain contact with group bookings who remain on your books. They will have been included in your forecasting. Knowing the mindset of your client will be important in estimating the impact on future bookings and if they should remain on your books.

Demand will be lower than usual for transient business. Strategy shifts on demand need to be assessed quickly such as domestic versus international.

Create new offerings and add value to help cancelled bookings to bring business back. Competition will intensify in the domestic market.

Corporate salesManage relationshipsBusinesses are mainly working from home. The pursuit of business sales is unwise. It is important to manage and maintain relationships. Checking in to see how the client and the business are doing will keep you at the forefront when they start booking again.

Review how you could add value when business travel resumes.

RFP Season will soon be with us. It is important to respond to RFP’s. Be respectful of any delays and where possible try to accommodate. RFP’s still have relevance.

Leisure sales Be proactiveContact future bookings which have not cancelled, offer opportunity to re-book at a future date with incentive to do so. If you are proactive you have an increased chance of preserving the reservation rather than a cancellation.

Post lock down: You can collaborate with experience, attraction, activity and foodie tour based cluster members to create programs for multigenerational families and friends to reunite or create special occasions.

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AirlinesFocus on where flights are coming from. While flights will be limited and open to change in the months ahead, it is important to know this information as it will assist in where best to focus sales in those early recovery stages.

Virtual salesHave your sales teams host and join webinars. Use this time to create virtual fam trips using photography and video.

Create vivid descriptions of your hotel listing interesting property details.

Review your website through the lens of a consumer taking into account how consumer trends have and will change

Generally, send a very strong sales message: postpone, don’t cancel.

Work on building and strengthening relationships with organisations, companies and your local community - they could become your clients. Remember, anything you do for your community will be remembered and may return as business to you.

MarketingThe new normalPeople are suffering from cabin fever; this creates a huge opportunity for hospitality and tourism. Be creative in developing campaigns and try to understand what the new behaviour will require.

Be your customerThink as if you were a customer; what would be important? Assess your competitors, is it your location or your level of cleanliness which will help win guests back?

LearnIn Northern Ireland we are very fortunate to have clear and regularly updated information from Tourism NI, Local councils, Hospitality Ulster and NIHF. Global trends are updated daily giving insight to where we are on the pandemic curve. This information can help us understand customer behaviour. The behaviour of the customer post pandemic will be very different to that of previous.

The ChangesLockdown has seen a slower pace of life, increased family time, a greater sense of community and a real interest in cooking from basics. Many of these were lost, challenged by the fast pace of life and being time poor. It is predicable the future will not be business as usual, with phased openings, anticipated permanent closures of businesses who were already struggling, expected redundancies resulting from government guidelines coupled with a lack of confidence. In the short-and medium-term, business will be altered.

What will we need to survive in hotels?Without doubt a focus on cleanliness. There will be a greater awareness of bacteria and infections on how they are transferred. Guests will require hotels to reassure and validate cleaning processes throughout all departments. Bookings will require an overview on a footnote. Reassurance may be sought through a kitemark or accreditation from our councils or statutory organisations. This may or may not become a legal requirement.

Sustainability will play an important role, we have been advised of the environmental benefits, air pollution reduced due to decrease in air traffic and cars. Thus, sustainable travel will become an increased market. Increased domestic breaks with a focus on activities and experiences will be our biggest market in the short and medium term. How we sell our story to local community and tell our story to the domestic market will create the purpose we visit. How we deliver our product will sustain our businesses.

The selling and telling our story will in the short term creates a unique opportunity for our guests to book direct. There will be an opportunity to capitalise on customers need for reassurance.

Guests will require hotels to reassure

and validate cleaning processes throughout all

departments.

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