Hotels get social media savvy.
Social media is turning out to be a game changer for independent hotels facilitating competitive marketing and driving direct bookings. To compete for direct bookings with big brands with loyalty programs, boutique hotels are turning to social media. They are creating hospitality experiences that guests talk about on various platforms. Once considered a dance-trend app for teenagers, Tik-Tok is now going viral among millions of potential guests with trending hashtags like #smallluxuryhotels, #hoteldesign, and #besthotel, according to this article by Carley Thornell from Skift.
Recommendation: Leverage enhanced guest data to create compelling messaging and marketing plans. Akia helps hoteliers to gain a deeper understanding of guests through data enrichment. With better guest insights, it becomes more accessible to segment profiles based on shared preferences which can be utilized for target marketing.
Bleisure travel, the future and the challenge.
Unlike domestic leisure, business travel hasn't bounced back to the pre-pandemic levels. Experts, however, are observing an uptick in blended business and leisure travel trends and say it is here to stay. Travel Edge Network reported a 25% increase in leisure trips compared to recent years. With the trips combined, hotels find it challenging to predict what guests want and when. To serve these dual needs, hoteliers must get creative and diversify - from providing an inside scoop of the place to utilizing technology to personalizing each stay. Tony Capuano, CEO of Marriot shares, here and here, how the chain is keeping up with merging consumer demands.
Recommendation - Akia's Mini Apps and booklets are a great way to personalize guest journeys while saving staff time. To help build itineraries and create more meaningful experiences, hotels utilize Mini Apps to share what's new and upcoming in the local area and list exciting activities and events.
Get everyone up to speed.
Before implementing Akia, Napili Surf Beach Resort relied heavily on manually importing data from their PMS - rezStream - to communicate with guests. However, hand-holding every guest and physically keeping track of every reservation was time-consuming and cumbersome. With emails having low open rates, the staff also faced great difficulties reaching groups of guests simultaneously.
Administering Akia and leveraging its seamless integration with rezStream elevated the Napili Surf Beach Resort staff, freeing up much of their time. Akia's ability to automatically pull accurate and necessary data was a game changer for the front desk team. In addition, implementing Akia's broadcast into their daily operations yielded positive impacts, saving Napili Surf Beach Resort staff a tremendous amount of time.
