Which of these profiles sounds like your independent hotel?
- From Monday through Thursday, lots of business people can be seen quickly wheeling briefcases and luggage through the lobby on their way to their rooms, meetings or the airport to catch their next flight. But on weekends, the excitement of guests moving around the hotel comes nowhere near matching the weekdays.
- From Friday through Sunday, families buzz around the lobby, pool and other areas as they share meals, enjoy amenities and prepare to explore local attractions. However, during the week, it’s challenging to keep rooms full enough to sustain average daily rates (ADR), occupancy and revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth.
- From Monday through Sunday, a steady mix of business and leisure travelers come and go, keeping occupancy high and allowing ADR and RevPAR goals to be met on a consistent basis.
If Profile C best matches your property, then congratulations on winning the independent hoteliers’ jackpot! However, if your hotel resembles Profile A or B, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Over the past year, hotels in business-heavy markets, including Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Denver, experienced higher ADRs and occupancy during weekdays than weekends. However, other business destination cities, such as Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas, also achieved higher weekday ADR, but occupancy rates took the lead during weekends. The city that achieved the most consistent weekday versus weekend occupancy rates was New York City at 87.1% vs. 87.3%, respectively.
As the data shows, even in the largest and busiest U.S. markets, it’s challenging to manage the flow, timing and type of guests who walk into your hotel. Business and leisure guests travel at different times, have different spending habits and varying needs. And when you factor in conditions like weather, school vacations, major events and local attractions, independent hoteliers must put serious thought into determining who they are targeting, how high to set daily rates and how to maximize revenue from each booking on a daily basis, which is the ultimate balancing act.
Checking Out
In a business where competition for guests is high and opportunities to drive profits to the bottom line must be capitalized upon immediately, it’s critical that independent hoteliers have the best tools and technology at their fingertips.
innRoad’s all-inclusive hotel management software is your solution for simplifying the complex world of independent hotel operations. Our cloud-based software provides you with four operations-enhancing hotel management technologies:
- All-in-one property management system
- Direct booking engine
- Global distribution
- Hotel revenue manager
Easy-to-use and quickly assessable, you have the power to adjust daily rates as the market dictates, monitor performance in real-time and, most importantly, position your hotel for long-term sustainability and success as you navigate the fluctuating peaks and valleys that occur daily in the hospitality business.
