Melbourne was in lockdown for over 100 days and this has led to a complete disruption to the dynamics of the accommodation market. As we emerge from this period, it is now time to move forward and get your businesses back on track.
Traditional market performance from years gone by has turned on its head. As demand gradually starts to build for hotels again, many of us will be trying to put together the pieces of what we think the customer segmentation puzzle will look like.
Hotels that would have otherwise previously hinged their performance on the strength of the corporate market and thriving demand from international travellers and major events, will now need to develop strategies to replace this business in order to yield the best possible return from rebounding domestic tourism.
Whilst forecasts are looking down across all cities and regions compared to pre-covid-19 trading conditions, hoteliers must remember that regardless of total rooms available in the market at any given time, they only need to worry about their own inventory. Just because the market is down, it doesn’t mean that you have to be a subject of these conditions. Whether your property has 50, 100 or 200+ rooms, you have the ability to write your own success story. The key is to understand your competitive edge and develop new and unique ways to market your hotel offering so you can lead the fight for the customer and outperform your competitors.
Understanding how demand has changed and how you can leverage your data and customer feedback to gain new insights, will be critical. In an era where our existing booking segmentation is no longer valid, perhaps it’s time to dissect your leisure and corporate segmentation. Also important will be developing new strategies to target the evolving nature of guest behaviour and the key messages your business needs to communicate to address health and safety.
The canvas is blank so it’s important to have the expertise available to help paint the new picture.