Why is it that most General Manager' are aware of the Food and Beverage cost of sales but very few are aware of the cost of a reservation in each of their key distribution channels? Is your hotel getting a return on investment from all of your marketing and GDS partnerships?

It is very interesting, and ultimately depressing, for a consultant to see how hotels waste money on partnerships. Hotels and hotel companies pay a large joining fee, followed by monthly fees but do not read the contract to fully understand the product and services they have bought into. The hotel may not have fully identified what they require from the partnership -- e.g. general room night production, specific segment production, geographical revenues, overall market awareness and/or a return on the investment.

Whether it is Leading Hotels of the World, Preferred Hotels, Design Hotels or Utell the principle is the same. It should not be just an owner's or General Manager's decision as to which company to partner with. All key departments must be involved - Revenue Management/Distribution, Front Office, Sales and Marketing and Finance - so that the whole team is in board as to which company is used and for what reasons. Only with such an approach is the hotel team more likely to then take ownership and manage each of their aspects of the relationship.

So how do you go about choosing your marketing and distribution partner? I suggest that in the first place, the Sales and marketing team should obtain full information packs that set out benefits and costs from at least three companies that are to be considered for the partnership. An internal analysis of these proposals should be made and then the analysis should be reviewed as a whole so that the team debates the pros and cons for each company's proposition.

A meeting should then be arranged with a representative of each company with the hotel team to discuss all aspects of the contract, comparing fees and marketing opportunities taking into account the following:

  • Terms and conditions
  • Contract period and renewal period conditions
  • Joining fees, monthly fees, commissions per GDS, OTA and mileage programme fees
  • Marketing - partner opportunities
  • Promotions - free and fee based
  • Responsibilities defined
  • Revenue Management / Reservations - loading rates and availability.
  • Sales and Marketing - Marketing and partner opportunities
  • Communication procedures -- account manager personal visits and telephone call with actions, updates and opportunities
  • Extranet site - access codes, passwords and usability for hotel team
  • Monthly Reports -- How are these received and can they be downloaded and when; what information do they contain; when can they be down loaded; what information is given -- GDS by channel, geographical source, rate plans, room nights, occupancy, revenue; list of travel agents and OTA's that produce business
  • Property Performance Plan -- when is this available
  • Hotel marketing pages, images and content
  • RFP's -- how do the partners introduce hotels to consortia, corporates and travel management companies
  • New hotel awareness promotions
  • Partner -- data base usage
  • Public Relations
  • Escorted sales trips
  • Presentations to partner reservation agents
  • Familarisation trips
  • Airline partners

Once a preferred partner has been identified and a decision in their favour made, a copy of the contract together with marketing and promotional collateral should be given to the Sales and Marketing Director to create and subsequently implement a Standard Operating Procedure on how manage the relationship with the partner and how the partner can be managed to improve bottom line performance delivery by each of Revenue Management, Reservations and Sales and Marketing.

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Doreen Boulding
Associate
+442084888141
The Hotel Solutions Partnership