8 Tips to increase volume in your agreements

(3 min read)

Growing existing accounts

Growing your existing accounts is a good start in order to increase your revenue at the hotel. It’s often a less expensive sales process and existing customers usually have a lot of potential to increase. However, a normal scenario is that you spend a lot of time in negotiating the contract. When you finally have agreed and the customer have signed the contract, you don’t receive the volume of revenue that you hoped for. This is both frustrating and irritating.

Below you will find some tips and ideas of how you can increase the revenue from your existing agreements.

8 Tips to increase the volume in your contracted rates

1. Select a few customer to focus on - Some of your customer are definitely worth to engage more with. Who of your customers have the most potential and are willing to engage in a more strategic relationship? Can you collaborate in other ways that will increase your relationship and create a win-win situation for both the hotel and the company? This will lead to a more loyal customer.

2. Implement a process - To be successful with growing your accounts it’s important to have a process implemented. No process means that you are leaving it to chance which certainly will lead to lower revenue and lost of opportunities. Don’t stop with the signed agreement, make a process plan both together with the customer and internal to reach the full potential.

3. How is your hotel visible in the companies booking channel - Traditional sales does not have the same effect compared to some years ago since the employees easily can book their own hotel stay online in their booking tool (often provided from a Travel Agent). First of all it’s vital to make sure that the hotel is presented well in the booking channel.

Important questions you need to know (and important to know before you agree on the contract):

• Are your hotel on the top of the page when they search for accomodation in your city? - You should since you have an agreement.
• What parameters decide this?
• Is it possible for the employees to book a hotel outside the preferred program even though your hotel is not fully booked?
• Is it easy for the employee to see that your hotel is in their preferred program?
• Is it possible to have a pop-up window when the employee search for your city to highlight your hotel?

Have a close relationship to the Travel Manager at the company and the companies contact person at their travel agent so you can check these things. Make sure you have the possibility to see “live” in their booking tool how you are presented.

4. Be part in the companies internal newsletter, social channels etc - How can you present your hotel in their internal sources. Give ideas and content that are ready to publish for the customer in order to not “steal” valuable time for them.

5. Show the guest that you know which company they represent at arrival - The most effectful contribution to growing your accounts will always be what level of service the customer receive at the hotel. When you check in the guest - let them know, that you know, which company they work for. Ideally there should also be some sort of company recognition at the hotel room (for instance a welcome message at the TV screen or adapted welcome letter with company logo). Be creative.

6. Valuable benefits just for these companies - Select your top prioritized companies that you want to focus on. Give those guests some added value at the hotel to create an even better experience.

7. Kick-Back - You should always present kick-back when you negotiate a contract. This will increase the company's effort to drive traffic to your hotel. Offer 2 options; 10 % discount or 12 % kick-back on all their bookings. It's a win-win if the company choose 12%  kick-back. The hotel will most likely receive more volume and revenue and the company will save more money.

8. Follow Up Meetings - Plan follow up meetings with your customers (suggestion: 4 times/year) to go through statistic and action plan. Make sure you can provide the customer with a professional report with all the data you need in order to make a professional impression.

Hope you found some useful tips that you can implement in your hotel.

Read how Demand Calendar helps Sales Managers to get more time with the customer