SALES & MARKETING
“ We continued the traditional methods like AAA and paid search , but we just laid a new element on it ,” says Michael Wylie , senior vice president of e-commerce for Aimbridge . “ For the short booking windows , it ’ s just a great opportunity . With Waze , you can actually see that the person drove up into the parking lot .”
Another successful tool in the company ’ s “ rebound toolkit ,” Wylie says , was to market towards real estate agents . With so many people selling their homes and in need of interim places to stay , hotels ’ sales teams could sell the idea of an extended-stay hotel for the realtors ’ clients .
“ We ’ re just really thinking differently and partnering differently with the hotels ,” Wylie adds .
For Millennium Hotels , finding new ways to reach new demand meant increasing digital marketing spend , investing in precise data tracking and gathering expansive market intelligence for more of a “ sniper approach ” to targeting potential businesses .
“ We have implemented simple tracking systems to measure the demand across all channels : CRO ( Conversion Rate Optimisation ), Groups , Online , and we monitor it closely to gauge the increase in demand ,” says Alex De Carvalho , Millennium ’ s vice president of sales and marketing for The Americas . “ This way we increase our sales resources in line with increasing interest and demand . We also subscribe to some hospitality market intelligence to keep an eye on the entire market , and not just our own data .”
Paul Er , vice president of sales for Millennium ’ s Asia division , says
NOW WE ’ RE CHASING VERY DIFFERENT KINDS OF GROUPS AND WE ARE HYPER AWARE OF WHERE THE DEMAND IS COMING FROM , AND HOW DO WE MAKE SURE WE CAPTURE THAT ?
his team continuously monitors the “ shifting sands of consumer demand ” through technology .
“ We keep an insights heatmap on how the mix of consumer demand is likely to evolve and which pandemic-induced behavioral changes are likely to ‘ stick ,’” Er says . Additionally , Er ’ s division has provided virtual training and mentoring for its sales teams to
– ANDREW JORDAN
address capability gaps as demand shifts online .
Kaaren Hamilton , vice president of global sales for RLH Corp . and a member of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International , says the company started bringing back sales team members in the third quarter of 2020 , a sign that business is indeed rebounding . Yet the focus on understanding the
106 hotelsmag . com September / October 2021