Profit both ways - occupancy and rates

At HelpHound we recognise that our hotel clients face a very competitive marketplace: and that there is pressure in two main directions - occupancy and rates.

Occupancy and Rates

Keen rates can help here, but so can a great reputation. Guests will pay a premium for a hotel with a better reputation than its competitors on TripAdvisor and Booking.com. Some clients ask: 'We are happy with our occupancy, so why do we need Dialogue?' 

The answer is twofold: higher rates and lower commission payments. Guests are influenced by rankings on TripAdvisor and scores on Booking.com. A hotel that ranks well on TripAdvisor and scores well on Booking.com will be able to charge a premium over the equivalent hotel with a lower ranking/score. 

This may be self-evident. But we meet hoteliers every week who are struggling to address their rankings and scores, and this is costing them dear. Not just in occupancy (sometimes we are proudly told 'We are full all-year round' by London hotels ranking well into the hundreds) but in rates and discounts.

The web is full of horror-stories from hoteliers, and they often stem from heavily discounted offers: here is one from a Bournemouth hotelier on Quora. So anything that can help you keep rates up without sacrificing occupancy has to be given serious consideration.

Dialogue for rates and occupancy

Dialogue, used effectively, can only benefit your hotel: it can only make your hotel look better on TripAdvisor, Booking.com and all the other OTA sites - and therefore it can only help fill rooms and enable you to discount less or increase rates in line with the improvement in your ranking and scores.