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1. Think about your special offers and upcoming events well in advance. Put a plan together for all seasonal events and campaigns for the year ahead to ensure you have enough time to market them adequately. If you are not already sending out email campaigns, start to do so and personalise them. Set up promo codes and use the e-mail templates in your PMS to automate these e-shots easily and effectively. Be sure to manage your rates and advise guests that they can always get the best deal through the hotel directly.
   
   
2. Are you upselling at every opportunity? Always offer an extra or upsell to the room booking. Put together packages and tempting offers to encourage guests to take the higher valued options. Add these upsells in your PMS and online booking module to secure additional revenue when guests are booking.
   
   
3. Interact with your guests! Technology is key but guests still like to interact with people. Make sure your staff have impeccable customer service skills and engage with the guests throughout their stay - ask them how their stay was/is, connect with them and go the extra mile. You will be remembered for it! Use the Guest Profiling option in your PMS to keep a log of guest's personal details and any special requirements they may have so staff are fully aware.
   
   
4. Generate more direct and repeat bookings. Make sure your online booking engine is simple and quick to process to encourage more direct bookings. Always collect customer data whilst guests are at your hotel for future marketing purposes. Send them targeted and incentivised emails to encourage them to re-book direct. Don't forget it costs as much as 5 times more to attract a new guest as it does to secure repeat business from a current one!
   
   
5. Revaluate your current Online Travel Agents. Are they working for you? Are you spending too much on commission? Could you get those bookings via another channel at a smaller cost? Make the most out of your distribution platform so you expose your inventory on the right channels for your property. Make sure you manage your rates and availability accordingly to ensure you're selling down to the last room at the best available rate.
   
   
6. How can you best maximise food and beverage sales? Have you got mobile POS to manage and potentially upsell orders? Lunch outside, afternoon tea on a terrace, pre-dinner drinks in the garden - these are all things you can promote to drive sales and enhance the customers visit. Look into technology that is available to help process these orders quickly and efficiently.
   
   
7. When do you do staff training? Choose a quiet time of year to ensure all staff (especially new starters) are up to scratch on the latest software updates, special offers, upsell opportunities, capturing customer data and general good practice. Your software provider should be able to provide onsite training or staff could attend regional training workshops.
   
   
8. Take some time to cleanse your Property Management System, ensure all outdated offers are removed and new offers are added. For example, Guestline run 'System MOT' training where staff can get acquainted with the latest functionality to maximise efficiency for the year ahead. Implement effective work flows for the front of house team and review current PCI and banking procedures. Knowledge is power!
   
   
9. Get Social! Interact with your guests online and engage via social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. You want to be top of mind when they are making a reservation and for them to come to you direct. You can keep potential guests up to date with what is going on in the area, at the hotel and any special offers you are running. Keep referring the traffic back to your website to capture the guest's booking. Likewise, offer an online booking facility on your Facebook page to capture reservations on this platform.
   
   
10. Invest in your website, make sure your website looks on-brand, professional and trust-worthy. A mobile friendly site is a must have for 2015 and the more visually appealing the better! Ideally you'll be able to edit the content on the Content Management System to keep your site up-to-date, displaying the latest offers and events (like you can with Guestline's digital marketing product). Your website is your connection with future guests, it is their first impression of your property and their potential experience. Ensure the site looks good, safe and secure - as you can be sure that OTAs will be doing just the same!

For more information on Guestline's cloud-based property management systems, distribution solutions, digital marketing services and training workshops, please go to - http://www.guestline.com. Or to discuss any of the above tips to see how technology can help drive efficiencies and improvements in your business, please call 01743 282300.

About Guestline

Guestline (an Access Company) provides the hospitality industry with innovative property management, guest engagement, payment and distribution software.

Founded on cloud technology, Guestline's solutions can equip independent hotels with everything they need to successfully run the business and generate more revenue - from intuitive PMS and booking software to fully unified channel management and payment solutions, ideal for any sized hotel or group.

Guestline provides thousands of hoteliers with the most feature-rich, best-in-breed and award-winning technology platform that includes PMS, CRS, Conference & Banqueting, Channel Manager, EPoS, Internet Booking Engine, GuestPay Payments and GuestStay Guest Experience solutions. With over 500 third-party integrations, Guestline can offer its clients a flexible, cost-effective, multi-functional system that allows them to stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Discover more at guestline.com

Contact
Kate Fuller
Marketing Manager
Phone: +44 1743 282300
Email: kate.fuller@guestline.com

Organization
Guestline Ltd
https://www.guestline.com/
Guestline House, Shrewsbury Business Park
Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury
United Kingdom
Tollfree: 0800 413557
Phone: 44 (0) 1743 282300
Email: sales@guestline.com

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