How to Recover a Hotel's Demand After a Crisis

Commercial strategy · 6-minute read · By Sareneth Valencia Zepeda, Head of Projects & Market Intelligence

Every crisis tests a hotel's ability to recover: first to get back above break-even and then to return to previous levels. City destinations that had diversified their demand generators —combining business, leisure and conventions— are usually the slowest to regain their pace when that mix is disrupted.

Why does a mature hotel lose competitiveness after a crisis?

Although there is a share of the market loyal to each product, and corporate accounts that are resilient to crises, the product needs to be visible, and for that there must be active marketing and sales strategies.

After a prolonged closure, not all hotels have the vision to execute a real reopening process: beyond cleaning and repairing facilities, you must recruit and train staff and, above all, develop a marketing plan. Assuming that "the brand is doing its part on its own" is a costly mistake many businesses fall into.

Action plan to recover demand

These actions let the investor know whether their efforts are addressing the key points to raise productivity:

• Corporate accounts and RFPs: verify that ALL RFPs are active in the brand's systems and keep effective contact with each account or company accepted in your RFP.
• OTAs and competitive set: confirm your rate is appropriate versus your competitive set and hold at least one monthly meeting with each market leader.
• Central reservations: convey your competitive advantages. We recommend visiting the reservations offices at least twice a year, especially when there are more than 3 hotels of the same brand in one city.
• GDS connectivity: verify the brand's connection to the GDS and visit companies with an In-Plant that book through this channel, ruling out issues of connectivity, inventory, coding or —worse— an inactive RFP.
• Revenue management: mind your rate strategy. When the market is price-sensitive, assess how many customers you lose to increases beyond their real value. Revenue management also helps position the product by price when the facilities are optimal.

In short, you must develop action plans with every stakeholder a hotel relates to: the customer, the brand, the investor and the staff. Tools like JJ Intelligence let you monitor the competitive set, rate and reputation in real time to make these decisions with data.

When it's not enough: look inward and outward

If these efforts aren't enough, it's essential to review the business from the inside with an operational audit, and from the outside with a market positioning analysis. One detects internal leaks; the other, your real position against the competition.