There is not a shortage of hotels or bed & breakfast guest houses at the moment so if you want good occupancy rates without having to cut your prices to the bone, you need to think about hotel differentiation.
Quite simply people need a reason why they should choose one of your rooms over the hotel next door or just down the road.
There are plenty of reasons which can differentiate one hotel from another but as someone who loves holidays and likes looking at hotels, these differences are either not recognised or not communicated in the marketing.
As a specialist in differentiation, I've written a long article about differentiating a hotel on my Differentiate Your Business blog.
To read it please click on the link to How To Differentiate A Small Hotel or B&B.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
As a regular hotel guest in France, Germany and the UK, I always look for hotel differentiation. This is mostly out of necessity but also out of interest. Apart from dates, there are perhaps 20 differentiating factors that cost the hotel no more than £5 on the cost of a £70 to £120 per night stay. Yet, their perceived value on the punter can be a whopping £50 per night. Swapping a single bed for double or 2 twins in the same room is one example. Putting a tray with a kettle or a hair dryer is another. Promoting rooms without street noise or without a view of a mouldy brick wall are other examples.
Posted by: Russell Davison | 26 July 2011 at 03:46 PM
Thanks Russell for your comment.
I think we're all looking for that special experience when we stay away although sometimes just doing the basics really well and consistently can be a lovely surprise.
Certainly noise reduction is important since we need hotel rooms to get a good night's sleep.
Posted by: Paul Simister | 26 July 2011 at 03:59 PM
Differentiating hotels also involves the look and feel of the hotel. For lovers, they always book for the hotel with a romantic touch while businessmen will surely choose one that has a business-like atmosphere.
Posted by: Phil Grahm Salt | 28 July 2011 at 05:29 AM
Phil I agree with you. In fact I think the look and feel is one of the biggest ways to differentiate an hotel.
If you've read the main article I link to on my Differentiating Your Business blog then you'll see that I have an approach based around 7 big questions.
These are interlinked so if you're very clear on who your guests will be e.g. romantic couples, then you can line everything else up to provide consistency.
That way one element strengthens another.
Posted by: Paul Simister | 28 July 2011 at 08:28 AM