President's Dinner at Carton House

A sincere thanks to all who attended the dinner honoring our 29th President Brian Bowler on the 27th of April It was a truly exceptional evening delivered by the incredible team at Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel.

The dinner took place at the luxurious Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel. Attendees started their evening sipping cocktails of Boatyard Distillery Double Gin & The London Essence Company Indian Tonic water and Boatyard Vodka & London Essence Soda water Boatyard Vodka & Hana Lemon & Yuzu Craft Soda in the stunning Gold Salon.

A very big thanks to The Boatyard Distillery for providing their delicious cocktails

A sincere thanks to all who attended the dinner honouring our 29th President Br It was a truly exceptional evening with a five-course menu perfectly paired Donohoe, Head Wines at Classic Drinks

We hope all enjoyed the evening

PRICE OR LOYALTY? UNDERSTAND HOW GUESTS DECIDE WHICH HOTEL TO BOOK

IDeaS Revenue Solutions explores how hotels can tailor their approach to win business from both new and repeat guests.

Competition to secure ‘heads in beds’ is fierce. Hotels and B&Bs are battling short-stay rentals and alternative accommodation providers to capture their share of the tourism market.

In the heat of the battle, retaining an understanding of how guests select their accommodation is key. Is the market purely driven by price? Or does loyalty shape booking behaviors?

Price

Despite price being at the center of the public’s consciousness, not every traveler is ruled by their bank balance The importance of price in decision making varies depending on different target markets and consumer segments

For luxury holiday makers, cost is often less of a consideration to select their accommodation, preferring location or amenities. This sentiment is echoed by travelers visiting a ‘bucket list’ destination.

For most travelers, value for money is a key deciding factor when booking and in driving loyalty. Properties priced higher than the market are likely to be overlooked in favor of one that offers value alongside exceptional customer service and location benefits.

Loyalty

Loyalty programs help reduce the cost of customer acquisition, improve customer engagement, and drive occupancy during quieter periods

In Ireland, 754% of adults are members of at least one loyalty program - the fourth highest rate in Europe The country also has the most engaged loyalty audience (Mando-Connect, 2023)

Big hotel brands with established loyalty programs successfully drive repeat bookings: four in five bookings on hotel websites are made by loyalty members (Phocuswright, 2017) But even global brands are battling the dominance of OTAs in capturing new travelers.

The share of rooms occupied by loyalty club members has remained relatively flat, hovering around 47%, from 2018 to 2023 (CBRE, April 2023) Deloitte argues the “traditional customer loyalty scheme has become a ‘tired’ concept that needs to be reinvented”, focusing on the customer experience as much as points or financial rewards

How hotels can capture the dynamic market

Establishing a revenue strategy solely around price or loyalty is not sustainable - hotels risk sinking in a race to the bottom from which their rates may never recover, or creating a stagnant loyalty scheme that travelers no longer value.

For hotels to succeed, a balance between price and value is needed, complemented by personalized loyalty schemes

How technology can improve hotel business

A revenue management system (RMS) helps align pricing strategies with reward programs, ensuring members and non-members receive value for money amidst even the most dynamic of markets.

With insights around competitor rates, past and present booking trends, and intelligent decision making based on artificial intelligence and a hotel’s revenue strategy, a modern, automated RMS sells the right product to the right customer at the right time - with the right pricing and via the right sales channel!

Right Customer

An RMS helps answer pivotal questions about your target customers - who are they? What personas or behaviors can segment them? How do loyal customers differ from more first-time bookers? With those insights, hotels can start to pinpoint their optimal selling price

Right Price

Should you be offering rewards - such as free nights or discounts - or deliver personalized experiences to loyalty members? The more successful loyalty programs focus on benefits instead of discounts, building loyalty through service and trust instead of cheap or discounted rates This means moving beyond a regimented pricing structure to create a framework which guides clients towards more memorable experiences.

Right Product

Scale back promotions and analyze what actually performs Is there a specific room category which repeat customers prefer? Review your competition - what advantages or disadvantages do they have? Identify service and product failures and rectify them as a priority; improving them enables you to offer more personalized itineraries for guests.

Right Channel

Review customer data across different channels, ranking them in terms of KPIs such as bookings by loyal customers, first-time bookers, or Sunday night stays

Understand where you are being talked about - are guests posting on review sites such as TripAdvisor, or social media? Encourage interactions - particularly directly between you and your guests - to create a deeper emotional bond. An RMS can analyze market sentiments to price a hotel according to its reputation, adjusting as your reviews are published.

Right Timing

Timing is crucial when it comes to revenue management and customer satisfaction

Personalized interactions and offers strengthen connections with your guests and lead to future revenue opportunities. Humanizing the guest experience alongside dynamic pricing strategies is key in creating a bond with your guests.

Deciding where to stay is often tricky for consumers, but the researching and booking phases of a customer journey offer hotels several opportunities to convert a browser into a booker, and a booker into a loyal customer - regardless of whether they booked direct or via a third party, at a discount or a premium rate

Machine-learning technology and AI found in an RMS organize and analyze data to automatically deploy business decisions based. From there, the hotelier validates the actions of the RMS and notifies it of factors it might not predict. By having the RMS take care of the tedious analysis, hoteliers gain more time and energy to strategize for the future instead of working on data entry, historical reporting, or rate distribution.

The guest experience is tied to digital marketplaces For a hotel to succeed, an automated efficiency of an RMS combined with the hotelier’s instinctive ‘art of hospitality’ is needed. RMS technology help hotels create dynamic and prosperous marketing and revenue management strategies, allowing pricing and loyalty to work together for the best possible outcomes both for the hotel and its guests.

Discover how hotels can break down silos and increase guest value with ‘The Ultimate Revenue Management Buyer’s Guide’ from IDeaS