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Hotel industry experts: Complete guide and directory for your business

  Posted in Hotel Insights  Last updated 22/02/2022

Hotel experts: Who are they?

An expert possesses an above average amount of skill or knowledge in a particular area. This means they can provide a lot of very valuable hands-on service, information, data, or advice, which is why they are most sought after, particularly in the travel and hotel industries.

The travel market is extremely competitive and gaining an edge for your hotel is like finding gold. Experts can help you achieve it.

This blog will detail everything you need to know about finding and engaging with industry experts.

Table of contents

What kind of hotel expert can my property benefit from?

Whatever your goal may be, there’ll be an expert who specialises in what you need.

Experts might discuss travel trends, operations, revenue management, marketing, websites, reservations, SEO, guest experience, development, branding, asset management, technology acquisition and more.

Examples of experts:

An expert doesn’t just have to be a hotel expert to aid your property; a travel expert can provide data and insight that can be just as helpful. For example, knowing what tourism trends are likely to occur enables you to make strategic decisions around marketing, pricing, and property experiences. The same principle applies to a technology expert understanding how to help you maximise efficiency in your day-to-day operations.

Hotel business consultant benefits

Connecting with a third-party expert can often be prudent when you need a fresh pair of eyes, a new perspective, or a specialised service to improve the success of your hotel business. Once they gain an understanding of your business, they’ll offer advice and recommendations for you to take.

Some of the benefits include:

  • These experts will have an in-depth skill set related to what you’re trying to solve and will generally be better equipped than you or your staff.
  • Often they will have prior experience and first-hand knowledge they can rely on and that they know is successful.
  • Gain an outside perspective that you haven’t considered previously, by virtue of being too ‘close’ to the business. Experts are impartial, which can be very helpful.
  • You can actually save money since the fee paid to a consultant will be less than paying a full-time staff member to do the work.
  • Short-term goals can be quickly achieved and long-term goals can be successfully set.
  • You’ll learn new skills from observing how the experts work and be afforded the luxury of some extra time to yourself to plan.

Hotel management consultant services

Consultants can cover a broad range of services and help your property overcome business challenges. The type of expertise you seek will be dependent on your goal but the types of services you can expect to find include:

  • Project management
  • Revenue management
  • Technology adoption and support
  • Investment services
  • Asset management
  • Digital marketing and SEO skills
  • Branding and rebranding
  • Customer relationship management
  • And more

Some of the challenges you’re faced with could range from needing to increase revenue and profit to wanting to refurbish your property; from finding better ways to manage inventory and distribute your rooms to making sure guests are delighted and expectations are met. Always make sure you have a clear goal set before you start looking to engage with a consultant, otherwise you might not get the specific skills you need.

Hotel booking expert: The importance of a technology consultant

These days every hotel needs a mix of technology to operate effectively and efficiently 24/7. Even smaller properties are now equipped with a range of solutions to make their operations easier and reduce the pressure on staff.

The rapid change taking place within hospitality and technology respectively means hotels are also significantly changing the way they can deliver services.

Choosing the right systems and technologies across all the functions of your hotel is obviously extremely important in terms of effectiveness and budget. You need solutions that will solve for your needs and also help maintain your business’ revenue and profit.

Depending on your requirement, a technology provider can also serve as your consultant and expert when you invest in their product. For example, an online booking engine enables you to sell your rooms online directly from your website and social media pages. Booking engine providers such as SiteMinder are also experts in the online booking space, not just the technology space, so can give you all the tips you need to succeed with an online booking engine.

In other cases it can be prudent to acquire the services of a hotel technology consultant to help you decide which solutions can adequately meet your challenges. Consultants in this area will be equipped with specialist knowledge and guidelines to help you come to conclusions.

Technology consultants cover topics such as:

  • Guest acquisition
  • Guest experience
  • Tech project management
  • Business intelligence
  • Maintenance
  • Compliance
  • I.T support

Hotel operators today have heavy workloads and a lot of responsibility, so offloading some of the effort onto technology experts and tech solutions can make life a lot easier.

Hotel marketing agency

A hotel marketing agency can help your hotel succeed as a brand and a business.

Depending on your goals, an agency may help you:

  • Improve your website traffic and conversion
  • Increase your social media presence and performance
  • Help you build successful campaigns
  • Boost your brand image and reputation
  • Drive more bookings and revenue

A lot of hotels lack the resources to take full advantage of the digital marketing world. To achieve full-scale success you need SEO expertise, graphic design, link building, conversion optimisation, content marketing, social media marketing, creativity, and more. An agency can do the work for you. Often your hotel won’t only be competing with other hotels for a share of voice, but also the online travel agents and other travel operators too, so it’s important to cover all the bases.

The work being done by an agency is integral to the success of your business so it’s vital you make the right choice when choosing who will do the job.

Here are some tips:

  • Ask for detail on some of their proven results, make sure their conversion rates are where you want them
  • Make sure they have a focus on driving organic traffic; the more the better for your budget
  • Ensure they are strong on social media
  • Keep in mind a good agency will ask only what you need to solve, not how to solve it; they should be the ones who build the strategy
  • Look for signs they are interested in your brand and what you offer; if they don’t get to know you how can they help you?
  • Don’t accept a website strategy as an entire strategy; it’s only one piece of the puzzle
  • Get their assurance they’ll provide real-time access and updates on their work

Agencies aren’t without drawbacks either. They can be very expensive (if you want a good one) and it can be hard to find an agency with the specific industry experience you might be looking for. It can also take time for results to come through, since you won’t be the only client.

Where can I find a hotel agency or other hotel experts?

Finding a digital marketing agency or another helpful expert for your hotel could be as simple as performing a Google search but finding the right one is much harder. As we stated above, ideally you want someone with specific hotel industry experience or a proven record working for or with hotels.

To start your journey, consider checking out SiteMinder’s Find an Expert which features digital marketing and website experts, among many others, who can help achieve your goals.

Key Takeaways

  • An expert possesses an above average amount of skill or knowledge in a particular area
  • Experts might discuss travel trends, operations, revenue management, marketing, websites, reservations, seo, guest experience, development, branding, asset management, technology acquisition and more
  • Once they gain an understanding of your business, they’ll offer advice and recommendations for you to take
  • Some of the challenges you’re faced with could range from needing to increase revenue and profit to wanting to refurbish your property; from finding better ways to manage inventory and distribute your rooms to making sure guests are delighted and expectations are met
  • Depending on your requirement, a technology provider can also serve as your consultant and expert when you invest in their product
  • A hotel marketing agency can help your hotel succeed as a brand and a business

By Dean Elphick

Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of SiteMinder, the leading technology provider delivering hoteliers unbeatable revenue results. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at SiteMinder. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance and value for accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations achieve their goals.

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