|
The
most stunning quote from a former client demonstrated to me the need for
practicing account retrieval on a regular basis.
When I was a VP Sales and Marketing, we had
just acquired a hotel in a new market. I was reviewing the sales files and
discovered a file for a company where the key contact was a friend of mine. I
called and told her that we had acquired the hotel and I discovered her file.
Her response was stunning. She said:
"I used to use your
hotel regularly. One time they couldn't accommodate me so I tried a hotel that
had been calling on me. They took good care of my people at a good rate so I
continued to use them. No one from your hotel ever called to see why I wasn't
using them anymore so I thought my business wasn't important to them. I'm
getting good service from my current hotel and see no reason to change."
OUCH!
Clients choose to switch hotels for a
variety of reasons. Sometimes it's rate, it could be a service problem or, as
above, someone else was calling on them and they decided to give them a try when
we couldn't accommodate them. Hotels not only need to keep their clients close
through regular contact but also practice account
retrieval on a monthly basis.
Most franchise systems have mechanisms that
allow you to build codes for volume and local accounts. These allow the hotel to
see how much volume an account produces on a monthly and year to date basis and
to pare the previous month and year to date numbers. It amazes me that some
hotels never pull these reports or that the sales department does not read and
track from them.
I suspect one of the reasons is that when
we contact a client whose production has dropped or disappeared, we need to ask
the tough questions. We don't ask questions when we aren't sure that we want to
hear the answers.
Some
of these questions are:
 |
Did
the hotel not serve you well? Did you experience a problem that we are not aware
of and how can we better serve you?
|
|
|
Is
it a rate issue? |
|
|
Are
you using another hotel and if so, what can we do to earn back your business?
|
|
These
questions force us to shut up and listen to the answers, however difficult those
answers may be. When a property is having service problems, sales people often
feel that they are getting punchy from the repeated verbal blows of unhappy
clients. It is so important to get this feedback and the client appreciates the
fact that you asked. It is then up to the operation to listen to sales and fix
the problem. If it would help, ask the client to write a letter to the GM.
Now
to get them back! |
|
|
Offer
a complimentary night to the contact or their next guest to demonstrate that the
service issues have been rectified. Solicit feedback as to the quality of their
stay after they have used their p night. |
|
|
You
may not be able to match the rate of your competition if it is a rate issue but
ask them what it would take to get their business back. Sometimes they will be
happy for a small rate concession |
|
|
If
they are using another hotel ask them what they like about that hotel and sell
the benefits of your property. Value add something that is important to their
guests into the rate in an attempt to get them to use you again. |
In addition to the clients you know about,
there may be market segments such as the frequent guest program that are
demonstrating some decline. Most franchises have a database of the members in
these programs. They can pull the list for your hotel around certain parameters.
I often suggest to my clients to pull a list of all these members who used the
property two or more times in the last twelve to eighteen months but who have
not returned in the current year. They then can produce a mailing to retrieve
these guests at a special rate or value added package offer.
In the current economy, it is all about
market share. If you have former clients going to your competitors for whatever
reason, you are losing market share. It is those properties that enjoy healthy
market share penetration that will be positioned to drive rate when the economy
turns around - and it will! |
