Go Back to School!

This past weekend was UCONN’s open house; in October we will have parents visiting weekend. These events got me thinking about back-to-school time and why it's so often feared.

For some parents, college represents the scary fact that children are leaving home to go off their own. For some students, the notion of stepping foot on campus makes stomachs turn. For our industry however, it’s exactly the opposite. As a general rule of thumb, there are over 100 different events that occur yearly at state and local, 2- and 4-year colleges. What kinds of events take place? Well, let’s take sports for instance. Did you know that there are over 40 different NCAA sports for men and women around the country taking place all year long? Although some events might be more attractive than others (i.e. football), each sport taking place still includes students and that means there are moms and dads nationwide who want to see their kids in action. Even if it’s a Badminton tournament, parents will travel to get there. In addition, teams will be coming in from other colleges, and they need to stay somewhere too. So not only is college not something to be feared in our industry, it is something to be embraced. It is our lifeline; it is REVENUE!

What can we do to obtain this revenue? We can negotiate rates for all local colleges build strong relationships with the admissions offices and event coordinator offices to promote the hotel to anyone calling. We can get links on college websites under the "community" tab and have sales people regularly visit campuses to post fliers or rack cards. We can follow the academic and events calendars from each college and focus sales efforts around those times. The revenue opportunities are abundant, but we can’t expect it to find us. We have to pursue it.

Let’s break it down by season shall we. (Remember, most events are for both men and women.) In the fall, there are cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, women’s volleyball and men’s water polo. Winter brings basketball, bowling, fencing, gymnastics, ice hockey, rifle, skiing, swimming, indoor track, and wrestling. In the spring, there are baseball, golf, lacrosse, rowing, softball, tennis, outdoor track, volleyball, and water polo. Yes, I am even sure there is Badminton somewhere, it’s just not NCAA ranked. These events are just those associated with sports. Imagine the calendar of opportunities available when we factor in music, conferences, celebrations, and all the other events that take place on college campuses. Imagine the revenue.

So, GO back to school! I did!

What is marketing?

Blogging kind of fell to the wayside for a while, but it just takes one good thought to get me thinking and writing again. This week a college student asked me, as part of an assignment, to tell him how I describe marketing. My initial answer was one simple phrase, “Increasing Awareness.”

People will not buy a product or service that they don’t know about, so marketing is getting the product or service in front of them, hopefully in a manner that showcases how the product or service would benefit the customer. I believe that our “product,” our employee owned hotels, and those hotels managed by our employee-owned company, have a lot to offer guests traveling to our markets. If only we could make them aware of who we are and the great hotels we run.

Our company has spent millions of dollars renovating our hotels in this down economy. That strategy has provided jobs for many while taking advantage of a period of declining occupancy to get into our rooms and make improvements. Now we need to work toward a return on our investment and get the word out that we are refreshed and more ready than ever to impress guests.

We have contemporary wall and window coverings, new carpets, refreshed bedding and some sharp looking bathrooms. Many guests found rooms elsewhere when we were under construction, and we need them to return. We have to find ways to make them aware of all of the improvements made in the last few months.

Let’s put our heads together and come up with some great marketing ideas that will help our business bounce back. I know that if guests were aware of all we have to offer, they would choose to stay in a Tharaldson hotel. Let’s get out there and increase awareness!