5 Things you Should be Doing to Maximize Your Busy Season
What are you doing right now to maximize your busy season as a property owner? Don’t let the busy season creep up on you. Come prepared with these simple tasks to help make sure you are maximizing every tool at your disposal.
Maximize your PMS (property management system)
To maximize every potential customer, ensure your property management system is ready for your key season. Your PMS is there to work for you, with everything from adjusting your seasonal rates to setting up your email automation, so put it to good use! Be sure to use our 6-step checklist in making sure your PMS is amped and ready for your busy season.
Refresh your website
Your website should not be a stagnant landing page that hardly gets updated. Your website is your chance to showcase what you are all about. It is the hub where your customers go to get all (well at least most) of their questions answered about your business. So, it is critical to ensure your website is up to date, offers fresh content, and runs smoothly and quickly. And as an additional tool, reference our useful website re-design checklist to help guide you through the process.
Leverage your local market
Maximize your revenue by leveraging your local market. Adjust your room rates to reflect your supply and demand during traffic-driving events in the area. This way you are capitalizing on the already-there traffic your local market is providing. It is also a great opportunity to engage locals by positioning yourself as the ideal “staycation” destination for the local events.
Anticipate staffing needs
A well-trained staff is essential to achieving your revenue goals during the busy season. Evaluate your current team and note who your strongest assets are and who could use additional coaching. And take it a step further and ensure that you are well-staffed during your peak season. Customer satisfaction should be your number one tactic in gaining those repeat customers. Having the right staff is critical in creating excellent customer satisfaction.
Reinforce your policies and procedures
With an anticipated increase in demand, you have the opportunity to toughen up on your property policies and procedures. Tactics such as updating your cancellation policy to at least a 24-hour notice, offering a reduced nightly rate in exchange for paid-in-full, and applying a minimum night stay policy, are all easy ways to capture every dollar. And with the newest enforcement of GDPR, now is a great time to reinforce or adjust your policies and procedures. Be sure to reference our infographic on how this affects your data policy and what changes need to be made.
And because the busy season will come to an end, there are a few things you can do year-round to maximize your business…
- Study your competition and know what it takes to beat the competition.
- Offer season specials and packages.
- Use seasonal/holiday pricing.
For a full list of what you can do year-round to maximize your business, read here.
And to further maximize your revenue by gaining more direct bookings, reference our Road to Direct Bookings Definitive Guide.