EXTENDING A GUEST'S STAY
Combining Work and Play
By Mary White
ll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and we know it’s not healthy to work all the time. With this in mind, are you providing
bleisure opportunities for your guests, and in the process, increasing their average stay? Haven’t a clue what bleisure is? (Hint: it’s a popular trend in hospitality marketing).
Simply put, bleisure is the combination of business travel with leisure time. To meet the needs of both travel itineraries are you doing a good job of educating guests on all that you offer and telling them what they should see and do when they are staying with you? Doing so is always a good practice. How many times has a guest said, “If I had known all there was to do I would have stayed longer?" If these words have been uttered at your inn, you are cleaning rooms more often than you have to. If you educate guests on experiences and activities in the area, you should turn over rooms less frequently when you tempt them to extend their visits an extra day or two.
If you find one takeaway from this column I hope it’s a commitment to work on increasing your average stay. According to multiple reports, more than half of all respondents add personal travel days to their business travel “every trip” or to “most trips." Having Local Attractions or Itineraries on your website is an easy way to start to communicate options and activities for vacationers and business travelers. Blogging about these activities is another. When checking room availability on the phone train staff to find out the reason for the visit and make suggestions, letting guests know when they won’t have enough time to do everything. These things seem obvious, but in the busy course of running an inn, sometimes the obvious is overlooked.
Offering a special is a no fail way to tempt guests. A good example is L'Auberge Provencale’s More Is Special package: The Longer You Stay, The More You Save! Guests are encouraged to extend their stays and enjoy midweek savings at this French inspired inn. The longer guests stay, the more they save. And the longer they stay, the more unique Virginia Wine Country experiences they’ll get to have!
Increasing the average length of your guests’ stays brings multiple positive results to your bottom line. Not only do you turn over less rooms and lower your housekeeping efforts and expenses; the longer guests stay the more connected they feel, thus increasing the likelihood that they will be repeat guests and or refer others to your inn.
Maximizing revenue on an existing reservation while making for a better guest experience is a win-win every day!
Mary White is the Founder and CEO of BnBFinder.com, a top rated bed and breakfast online directory. White is also the author of Running a Bed and Breakfast For Dummies. As an authoritative voice on B&B travel, White is a go-to source in the bed & breakfast industry for opinions and advice.
A noted expert on bed & breakfasts, she has been involved in promoting and marketing B&Bs on the Web for more than a decade. She has appeared in dozens of media outlets. Her site, BnBFinder.com, is hailed by professionals and consumers alike as one of the most informative B&B sites on the Web.
Follow her on Twitter at @Mary_White.
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Simply put, bleisure is the combination of business travel with leisure time.