Insight #37 - Using The Competition To Get Better. This Is What You Should Be Doing.
1. Set up your competitive set. The most common approach includes a combination of location, level of service, price band.
Location is the most obvious one. If you are a business hotel in Gurgaon, then this works very well. If a business traveller has a meeting in Gurgaon, she is not going to be looking at hotels in Noida.
To some extent, this works for resorts too, though, at the high end - uber-luxury, your competitive set could be halfway across the world.
Level of service
Most hotels categorise themselves into a star rating model from 1 - 5. Once they identify themselves in a particular "star" category, that pretty much becomes the filter for competition. +- 1 is also considered. So a very good 4-star hotel could compete with a badly managed/run 5-star hotel.
Airbnb and other platforms changed the game. The star category was thrown out of the window and replaced with visuals that appeal. If the customer/guest felt something looked amazing, it was 5 stars.
Another change was the 'guest review' mechanism on social media/platforms. google review, TripAdvisor etc. These use the same 5 point scale, but the stars mean very different things from the categorisation based on amenities. Suddenly you could have a stand-alone, no brand property, with no pool, no speciality restaurant, no-frills ranked higher than a full-service hotel. 5- star rating, has replaced, 5- the star category.
Price
or price band since almost all hotels have dynamic revenue management now. If there is another hotel in your catchment area/vicinity that matches your rates (even if it is their low and your high or vice versa), the hotel is in your competitive set.
Start with these. You can always get creative and add size, banquet spaces, food & beverage etc.
In some areas/cities, due to the nature of your business (property), you might land up with a lot of competition. I suggest you trim it down to 7. Be ruthless at this stage. You will not be able to keep track if you keep your competitive set too large.
2. Set up what you would like to track
ARR or REVPARs are the most commonly tracked metric. Some savvy operators track costs (like HR from keeping a track of salaries etc, or info from suppliers). It makes sense, this is what bosses want to see, can be exchanged easily and understood. Quantity Of business, measured. You can also use this information to see if you have positive market penetration. If you are not doing this right now, I suggest you talk to the leadership at your competitive set and start sharing this information.
If, for myriad reasons, this is not possible, then have someone check rates on your preferred travel website and use that as a proxy.
Quality Of Business, however, is another story. Some intelligence is gathered, like company accounts, events hosted etc. This might give you an indication if you are getting the same 'quality' of clients as your competition. If the VPs are being put up in your competition and you are getting all the interns/entry-level, even if the rate is the same, you are playing second fiddle.
Make sure your sales team feeds you market intelligence. This should be part of their KRAs.
What To Do:
Track websites of your competitive set. Apart from the design, look, feel, keep a track of special promotions, events, announcements etc. Join their mailing list.
Follow & track social media accounts. This is just a wealth of information.
Track reviews of your competitive set ruthlessly. I added ruthlessly. Here is an example:
What I like about the reviewer, is that he still gave the location a 3.
If this is your competition, your sales team needs to be carrying this review to all pitches.
Don't use reviews only for a sales advantage. Use them to improve your processes and services. This is your TG. If the guests of your competitive set are unhappy about something at the hotel they currently use, you could improve your processes to focus on the issues that are highlighted. You can also run a targeted social media campaign talking about how you offer the services/amenities.
You can add services or create new processes to solve/address these unmet needs. here is an example:
As a competing hotel, you should ensure that at Check-In the guest can see enough staff around.
Get your teams to experience the competition. It is an expense that will pay rich dividends. See this review for example:
source - First, when was the last time a guest booked for 6 days and stayed for 21 at your hotel? Now, Imagine sending your Front Office team to stay a night and experience the legendary hospitality of Ajay & Mukesh as mentioned by the guest. Maybe personalised service is what keeps guests coming to this hotel and staying there. Do your people get named in reviews?
Think of these are mystery audits, but for your competition. Let your people use elaborate checklists, take lots of photos, videos, interact with staff, but more importantly let them come back and present/share the details with the entire team.
PROTIP - Ensure they share the good and great before they go into everything that was wrong and reinforce we-are-amazing. We want to learn and improve.
Bonus Ideas on defining the competitive set
If your sales team keeps running into the sales team from another hotel at client offices, they are a competition!
Ask your bookers/agents, what hotel they would use if you were sold out. The answers are your competition.
Ask your guests, what hotels they would use if you were unavailable. The answers are your competition.
--END OF INSIGHT--
### How do I get more reviews on Google?
While I have some ideas of my own, here is something from Google https://support.google.com/hotelprices/answer/7219055?hl=en
Create and share a link guest can use to leave a review.
When guests check out, invite them to leave a review on Google. Consider creating a short link or Quick Response (QR) code that makes it easy for users to get to your review page.
After check out, follow up with guests and send a reminder in any of your post-stay communications.
As always, I am on p.bedi@eclathospitality.com. Reach out and we can discuss your competitive set, what you should track and how to get more and better reviews from guests.