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We bring you a series of columns Hotel in 13 stories author Domagoj Grgić, a hospitality manager who will explain through 13 short stories from his point of view pictorial representation of the hotel and hotel business.
Domagoj Grgić He has built his career in tourism at Le Meridien Lav 5 * (Grand Casino Lav and Club Lav), Martinis - Marchi 5 *, multi-award winning Marina Frapa Resort Rogoznica and Hotel Imperial, and is currently engaged in Ireland as an ambitious and experienced manager. in Monart Spa Destination 5 * (ranked among the top 1 percent of hotels in the world by Tripadvisor for 2020).
After the first story, Destination - the key to success, now we bring you a new story from the series - Hotel selection - arranged marriage
We encounter many taboo topics in life, and one of the taboo topics is certainly arranged marriage. Unlike a love marriage, an arranged marriage is a marriage entered into with the intention of deriving maximum benefit from the spouses, but also all those involved in the whole process starting from relatives, registrars, restaurants, florists, singers and everyone else. .
Equally, the hotel selection process is underway. When choosing a hotel, the benefit is primarily expected by guests and hosts (hotel), sales intermediaries, agencies, booking.com etc.), hotel suppliers and the local community that makes the destination indigenous and enriches it with local offerings.
In this article, we will try to get as close as possible to how the hotel selection process takes place and what influences the selection the most.
Based on his experience in tourism, I believe that people primarily have different preferences according to the type of tourism so some prefer, for example, health, festivals, sports, and some, for example, want to enjoy clean and untouched nature, so we popularly call them Robinson Crusoe tourists.
After choosing the type of vacation, you move on to choosing a destination. If we ignore the current restrictions and guidelines regarding Covid19, I believe that the image of the destination, ie the way the destination is branded, influences the choice the most, while financial competitiveness and transport connectivity greatly influences the choice.
After choosing a destination, depending on the sales channel through which the guest wants to book a hotel, the selection process within the destination begins.
If the guest wants to book a hotel through booking.com and similar online sales channels, ratings and the way the hotel is presented (descriptions, pictures, response to comments) as well as the money invested in positioning the ad itself play a key role. A great influence on the choice also belongs to the hotel belonging to one of the world's famous chains, which guarantees the guest the same service anywhere in the world in the hotel within the chain (Radisson, Hilton, etc.). Belonging to a hotel chain also brings certain costs, which is certainly the reason why not all hotels are part of a world-famous chain.
If the guest wants to book a hotel through a travel agency, the key “opinion maker” is an employee of a travel agency, primarily because he has contracts with different hotels (with different commissions) and it is a matter of pure economic logic to prefer a hotel where he has a higher commission. Weddings, excursions, retirement and union trips, MICE tourism, various sports and music events also come most often to the hotel by various agencies.
If the guest wants to contact the hotel directly, it is a sign of a job well done by the hotel. Namely, either the guest was already in the mentioned hotel or someone orally shared with him the experience of staying in that hotel. There is also the possibility of perfectly done hotel advertising, which today is mostly focused on Google advertising and advertising on social networks (not negligible is advertising at trade fairs, TV, specialty magazines and outdoor advertising). Contacting the hotel directly is a win-win situation both for the hotelier who does not pay the brokerage commission and for the guest who can get a special discount or special conditions when booking.
So called. “Walk in” guests are guests who come to the reception without a reservation, and the most common reasons are due to overbooking, late return from a night out or simply refusing any kind of pre-arranged commitment.
In my opinion, the key elements that generally and currently most influence the choice of hotel depend on the purchasing power of guests which means that low budget guests will always choose a cheaper hotel while richer guests will choose a higher quality or more expensive hotel.
Today's standards such as spacious and functional accommodation (room, apartment), FnB outlets, spa and wellness center, sports center, animation program, guarded parking and additional facilities such as casino, marina and excursions and facilities outside the hotel are needed for basic competitiveness while what actually makes the difference is the level of service and experience the hotel delivers to its guests.
It is important to note that there are always trend standards that absolutely need to be followed, and currently the most important standard is the one concerning safety in relation to COVID19. It is an absolute priority over priorities to protect guests as well as hotel staff.
I would also state and the growing popularity of "adults only" destinations, and the importance of environmental trends regarding renewable energy sources, waste recycling and charging for electric vehicles.
From all the above, it can be concluded that there is a long way to go from choosing the type of vacation, destination, sales channel, hotel within the destination and only then arriving at the reception.
It turns out, unfortunately, that it is much easier to enter into an arranged marriage than to have only one, additional night.
Author Domagoj Grgić
Photos: Albert Vincent Wu / IIustration: HrTurizam
