We all need a little help to keep our goals on track

We all need a little help to keep our goats on track. This is especially true for the owners and managers of small inns and hotels who have so many varied operational duties. Often there is little time left to keep pulse on the market, review promotional opportunities, keep tabs on social media, or develop a plan for a new niche market.
The purpose of this blog is to share bite sized nuggets of information for my friends and associates working in and for hotels throughout the Out Islands of The Bahamas. Just hit the subscribe button, and stop in when a post piques your interest.
Sunny regards - Eliz

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Increase Your Holiday Business

Have you noticed the holidays creeping into to television you watch, the magazines you read, the web sites your frequent?  We are all being nudged to loosen up the purse strings and get on with our holiday spending.  And the incentives are there, too: shop early and get discounts, lay-away now, free delivery when you buy on line.


So what's the holiday sales plan for your hotel?  If you have one that's great, hopefully you are already rolling it out.  If you don't have a plan, start building one now.  A few steps today can help you create some buzz and give you a foundation to build on for future holiday business.
Write blog posts.  Tell your unique holiday story, why you and your guests enjoy spending the holidays together, your property's holiday traditions, and make a compelling offer.  Your offer can be an early booking bonus, an easy holiday 'lay-away' plan, even gift cards, or value added extras.  And make it actionable - give the reader a way to make their reservation now, a way to read reviews or testimonials and make their reservation now, a way to call or write to you and get an immediate response so that they may make their reservation now.
Use your Specials page on your web site, or create one.  You want a landing page so that any promotion you do can link directly to a place where questions can be answered and reservations made.  Make sure to include details on what is included, and what is required to take advantage of your offers.
Target your e-mail list.  And target your e-mails, customize your message so that your news is what your reader wants.  This is easy to accomplish if you have segmented your list so that you can target your message to past guests, or the prospective guests you met at the last fishing trade show, or the readers of the scuba diving magazine asking for your information.
Look at your social media sites.  Do you have a fun holiday event you can add to your Facebook page?  How about making sure that your blog posts are shared?  Tweak your Twitter searches to keywords that merge what you are selling to the holiday - and - join the conversation with appropriate links to your special offers. "All I want for Christmas is a week on a tropical island!"  Add holiday images and/or video to your presence on the web.

Now sit back and think about your holiday menus and parties.  And you'll have something more to blog about :)

Happy Holidays - Elizabeth

Monday, October 24, 2011

Photo Book



Photos are a great way to tell your story.  These books from Shutterfly are a great way to share special events with your guests.

You'll love Shutterflys award-winning photo books. Try it today.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Content and SEO

Are you thinking content?  Here is an article from Brafton on content and search engine optimization.

Brafton's Infographic: Why Content for SEO?

Friday, October 14, 2011

We can keep you going in the right direction

We all need a little help to keep our goats on track. This is especially true for the owners and managers of small inns and hotels who have so many varied operational duties. Often there is little time left to keep pulse on the market, review promotional opportunities, keep tabs on social media, or develop a plan for a new niche market.
The purpose of this blog is to share bite sized nuggets of information for my friends and associates working in and for hotels throughout the Out Islands of The Bahamas. Just hit the subscribe button, and stop in when a post piques your interest.
Sunny regards - Eliz