Leer hoe u uw inkomsten kunt verhogen
In onze nieuwste gids nemen we een kijkje in de keuken en bieden we de belangrijkste informatie die elke onafhankelijke hotelier moet weten over revenue management. Krijg antwoorden op de volgende onderwerpen en meer.
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Revenue Management Essentiële onderdelen voor zelfstandige hotels
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Concurrenten: Wie zijn ze en hoe kunt u hun prijs bepalen?
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Kortingen: Wat aan te bieden en wanneer om inkomsten te maximaliseren
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Forecasting: How to Predict Future Bookings & Price Strategically
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Overboeking: Hoe de bezettingsgraad maximaliseren zonder te verhuizen
of begin hieronder te lezen
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Hotelkamercategorieën: Beschrijvingen, foto's en prijzen die verkopen
Do your hotel’s least expensive rooms often fill quickly, while premium rooms and suites sit empty or are given away as free upgrades? Do guests and staff often get confused about the differences among room types?
Managing room categories is one of the most challenging aspects of hotel revenue management. It’s especially important for small, independent properties because every booking counts. If you’re not optimizing inventory, you’re missing out on revenue opportunities.
To help, here is an introductory guide to managing room descriptions, photos, and pricing to maximize returns on your room inventory.
Assigning Hotel Room Types
One of the first tasks for a new hotel is to assign room categories. This presents a dilemma: How many room types should you have in your inventory? We find that most hotels fall into three main categories.
- Too few room types. Research shows that consumers like to have several pricing tiers to choose from when shopping for a product or service. Today, consumers can select from basic, premium, and deluxe options when purchasing a flight, filling their gas tank, choosing a car wash, or buying concert tickets. The “good-better-best” approach to pricing can also be applied to hotel rooms to boost sales.
- Too many room types. However, if consumers have too many options, they may become confused or paralyzed with indecision and end up dissatisfied with their choice. This is called the Paradox of Choice. From an operational perspective, hotels need the flexibility to juggle room assignments when it’s busy, and that’s more challenging with fewer room types. While guests love upgrades, a downgrade is a fast-track to a bad review.
- Just enough room types. So, what’s the sweet spot? While each hotel may be different, smaller properties will ideally have at least three room types and larger hotels may have as many as ten or more. This allows the hotel to offer an attractive low price for entry-level rooms and higher prices for premium rooms. Of course, there are exceptions. For an historical inn or serviced apartments, every room might be different, and that can be a big selling point.
How to Categorize Room Types?
Room types are usually grouped together based on shared characteristics, such as:
- Size or quality of the room (standard, deluxe, suite, etc.)
- Maximum occupancy or bed configuration (single, king, queen, double, twin, dorm, etc.)
- View (ocean, city, mountain, pool, garden, etc.)
Naming Hotel Room Types
Now, what will you call your room types? This is an important task because names are a form of advertising. They help inform travelers’ decisions and set their expectations.
While it can be fun to come up with creative names, think about your prospective guests. Will it confuse them? How will the names translate into other languages?
Simple and practical is better. Think of each name as a news headline. What will compel the traveler to click to learn more?
Highlight the top criteria travelers use to select rooms, including:
- Bed configuration. First and foremost, guests want to know if the bed configuration will fit their needs, whether traveling alone or with a spouse, friend, or family members.
- View. If the room offers pleasant views of the ocean, lake, mountains, forest, park, pool, city, etc., include it in the name. If not, focus on other selling points.
- Quality. Include words like standard, deluxe, and luxury to distinguish room types and convey the quality of furnishings and amenities.
- Size. If the room is large, use words like spacious and expansive. If it’s small, use cozy, compact, and intimate.
- Amenities. Include any standout features such as a kitchenette, balcony, or fireplace.
- Suites and apartments. Include the number of bedrooms, type of unit (condo, villa, cabin, etc.), and style of suite: junior, executive, family, romance, presidential, etc.
For example, a “Garden View Queen Room with Balcony” is more enticing and informative than a “Standard Room.”
Describing Hotel Rooms
Describing room types can be challenging because every distribution channel has different requirements. While you may have unlimited space on your website, Airbnb has a 500-character maximum, Booking.com automates descriptions based on information provided by properties, and Expedia doesn’t display room descriptions at all.
Here are a few tips to consider:
- Be clear and concise. Online travel agencies (OTAs) translate listings into dozens of languages, and you don’t want any ambiguity. For example, provide the exact room size. To avoid confusion, maintain consistent descriptions across platforms.
- Highlight key features. Describe the bed configuration, the size and layout of the room, maximum occupants, the view, and the bathroom (shower only, bathtub, shared bathroom, etc.). Is the room smoking or nonsmoking? Are pets allowed?
- Say what’s special. Why should travelers book this room? What do guests rave about? Include important features like a sitting area, accessibility, quality of bedding and linens, and connecting rooms.
- Be realistic. Resist the urge to exaggerate. It’s better to exceed expectations than to fail to meet expectations and risk receiving complaints and bad reviews.
- Describe the style. Is the room décor modern and urban or cozy and rustic? Is the setting secluded, tranquil, or vibrant? Try to avoid cliches like a hidden gem, haven, escape, and exclusive, which don’t provide much helpful information.
- List amenities. This is especially important because travelers often filter accommodations on OTAs by their preferred amenities. Be thorough, providing information about everything from wi-fi (specify if free or paid), TV, and technology to air conditioning, kitchen, and laundry facilities.
Photographing Hotel Rooms
Travelers interact with photos more than any other part of property listings, according to Expedia. Here are a few ways to maximize the impact.
- Ensure the room is immaculate. When photographing rooms, the lighting should be bright (ideally daylight), the space tidy, and the angles flattering. Even small wrinkles in bedding or curtains can ruin the shot. Don’t over-clutter the room with props.
- Highlight key differences. Properties that use unique photos for each room type average up to 11% higher conversion rates, Expedia says. Even showing a different bed configuration or angle will help travelers distinguish between room types.
- Show what’s special. For premium rooms and suites, justify the extra costs by showcasing unique features like the view, kitchen, balcony, fireplace, hot tub, or a luxurious bathroom.
- Provide perspective. An artsy close-up of an ornate bedpost is nice, but travelers really want to see the room layout. Avoid cliches like rose petals on the bed and couples clinking champagne glasses. And don’t try to make the room look larger than it is.
- Include lots of high-quality images. A high quantity of quality photos can improve the visibility and rankings of hotel listings on OTAs. Photos should be at least 2048 x 1080 pixels in resolution. Landscape orientation is preferred over portrait.
- Select a primary image. Decide which photo best represents each room type and use it as the primary image – the photo travelers see when scrolling listings.
- Tag each photo. Provide the room type name, bed configuration, and other keywords to optimize photos for searchability.
- Hire a professional photographer. It will be worth the investment. Featuring models in photos can bring a room to life, but that can be expensive, and it’s not always easy to get the right look. An empty room is just fine.
Pricing Hotel Rooms
We have entire guides dedicated to room pricing, so we’ll share just a few tips here.
- Know your value. In addition to charging extra for rooms with more space and better views, consider other in-demand features like a king bed, patio, or large workspace.
- Price room types dynamically. Use percentages rather than fixed pricing increments between room categories so that prices increase or decrease proportionately with changes in demand.
- Oversell room types. If travelers are price sensitive, consider overselling entry-level rooms once they sell out rather than risk losing sales. If demand is strong, however, try closing out entry-level rooms to force sales of higher categories.
Monitor and improve. Over time, track the sales performance of each room type and tweak descriptions or pricing as necessary. For example, if suites often go unsold, consider reducing pricing increments to boost sales.
Boost Sales of All Room Types with Automated Pricing
With an automated pricing solution, managing room rates is easy. The hotel simply configures minimum and maximum rates and desired pricing increments for each room type, and the solution handles the day-to-day pricing based on demand patterns.
Rates are automatically updated in the PMS or channel manager several times a day to capture the maximum value from every booking. Independent hotels that use an automated pricing solution earn an average of 22 percent more revenue year over year.
Hoe kun je meer te weten komen?
To learn more about hotel revenue management, room pricing, and other ways to drive more revenue, check out our free guides in RoomPriceGenie’s new Inhoud Bibliotheek.
Over RoomPriceGenie
RoomPriceGenie is the easiest way to ensure that your rooms are priced right, every night. Purpose-built for the independent hotelier, RoomPriceGenie is fast to implement, intuitive to use and simple to understand. In an uncertain world, it’s revenue that you can count on. To find out more about automated pricing, start your free trial today.
