Insights
If there’s one thing that unites us, it’s that we all love a good bargain. That craving for a deal can be at its strongest around Christmas when we try to save money without compromising on quality. But really it’s an insatiable hunger that remains all year round.
Hotels and restaurants have clocked onto this and more and more are offering miss-it-or-miss-out deals. Whether it’s a bargain stay via Secret Escapes or a ‘50% off mains’ with Groupon, the value looks great based on the price. The problem is that some guests are still left feeling short-changed upon their journey home.
Deal snobbery
Why? Because they’ve been on the receiving end of something known as ‘deal snobbery’.
You won’t find a definition of deal snobbery online, but I think we all know what I’m talking about. Perhaps the voucher-wielding guests are given the ‘boot room’ in the hotel or told that they only have a choice of two options at dinner. Maybe they’re given a noticeably smaller cream tea than a full-paying guest. Either way, they’re treated differently.
Return custom
If you ever want those deal-savvy guests to return in the future, though, you’ve got to treat them exactly as you would a regular customer. Every person who walks through your door counts and there’s no excuse for giving them second-class service.
Yes, you may not be making as much money from them as a full-paying guest, but you as a business have decided to put that deal out – if you’re not making any margin then maybe you haven’t done your sums right! You also need to think of all the times they’ll potentially return in the future, as well as singing your praises to friends and family.
It starts with the training
It’s time to drop the deal snobbery. Like pretty much everything in the world of hospitality, it all starts with training and educating staff. But General Managers must be of this mindset too and practice what they preach – they need to have this enthusiastic, every-customer-counts mentality if they want it to rub off on their team.
Ultimately, staff should be encouraged to go above and beyond for deal-buying guests – for starters, they’re more likely to be new to your hotel or restaurant and ripe for converting into regular visitors.
They’ll also be arriving expecting the bare minimum of service, with the terms and conditions of their voucher adhered to, to the letter. Their expectations are there to be surpassed. Be pleased and proud that, out of the hundreds of deals available online, they chose yours – and make it your mission to genuinely surprise them.
The right mindset
An effective way of getting staff to treat all guests as equals is to remind them that they, too, are partial to a deal. Would they want to be treated any differently for it?
What would they do if they were on the end of a sub-par service – complain about it on social media or TripAdvisor maybe? In the same breath, if they were surprised in a good way, they might be inclined to rave about it on those channels. Guests are no different. And guests who go online on the hunt for a deal tend to be social media savvy, so are more likely to review you after their experience.
Take those expectations and exceed them. After all, vouchers aren’t just helpful for filling up during quiet periods – they are your ticket to more custom all year round.
