Following up from the first installment titled “I quiz Hotel Lamunu on marketing during the recession…” published last week about how the recession has affected most hotels, today am proud to introduce the General Manager of Upper Eastside Hotel, Francois Steyn who shares with us how his hotel is coping under the current economic climate.
Should you wish to also have your hotel featured, please provide answers to the same questions below and email them back to me for consideration…enjoy the quiz:
1. Can you share with Travelwires.com readers, how has your occupancy rate been affected since the recession?
The Upper Eastside Hotel opened in the midst of the global recession in June 2010. We have certainly felt the effect it has had on our position as a luxury four star business and conference hotel, we have not seen a growth in the demand for hotel rooms. Unfortunately the issue has been made worse with the opening of 13 more hotels in Cape Town which has subsequently seen everyone’s share of the total pool decreased. I predict that the industry will continue to struggle for another three years.
Upper Eastside Hotel, General Manager (Francois Steyn)
2. What changes have you introduced to cut down costs and still remain profitable?
Staff is often the biggest expense in a hotel, so we have subsequently kept staff compliment as small as possible while still maintaining our superior service.
We have cut unnecessary expenditure on consumables such as paper, we re-use paper, electricity…changed to long-life light bulbs.
We now purchase amenities in bigger packaging and dispensers thereby reducing costs per room night.
We have also negotiated long-term deals with suppliers and service-providers in order to source the best price possible.
3. Have you retrenched staff and if so, how many?
Yes – ten.
4. Has your hotel marketing strategy changed, if so how?
Our focus is online rather than print and on personal relationships with clients, we meet them more often to ensure that we know what their needs are. We have also introduced our “Brownie campaign” which entails weekly visits to clients in the vicinity where we deliver chocolate brownies and loyalty cards to ensure top-of-mind awareness.
5. So much has been written about social media, does your hotel use YouTube for marketing purposes?
We use Twitter and Facebook and have hosted some social media loyalty campaigns via FB. We are working on producing YouTube material.
6. Cell-c employed the services of a comedian (Trevor Noah) to rebrand, would you ever consider non-traditional marketing strategies for your hotel(s)?
As a non-traditional business hotel we’d definitely look at ways to distinguish ourselves from our competitors. We’ve been bold in our marketing, our strap-line is ‘Welcome to what you really need’ utilizing, branded vehicles and in emphasizing our affordability.
7. The domestic market is the bread and butter for hotels, what marketing campaigns are you employing to retain this market?
We have a huge focus on return guests, we maintain contact with past guests via email and personal visits, offering long-term contracts with consistently low rates and incentivize early and regular bookings.
8. Does your hotel outsource or use in-house PR services?
In-house sales and marketing, out-sourced PR services (aldente pr)
9. What marketing campaign has worked best for your hotel and how did you measure the results.
In response to the rise of online booking portals and online consumer reviews us we email past guest and request them to rate our hotel on Tripadvisor and Booking.com. We’ve also had a fantastic response to our loyalty programme which incentivises via upgrades and value-added services.
- Visit Upper Eastside Hotel for bookings.
Blogger Muzi Mohale
I’m Muzi Mohale, based in Roodepoort (South Africa). Blogger with www.travelwires.com. Love Travelwires.com since I get to travel our beautiful country through blogging and get first hand tourism experience.
