Case Study 1: Corporate Property Moving from Chain to Independent

Property

Location:  Inner City Sydney

Type of Accommodation:  Boutique ‘modern corporate’ Accommodation

Number of Rooms:  50

Opportunity

Hotel approached RevenYou in 2021 as they were transitioning from a franchise agreement to becoming an independent property. Their biggest concern as they rebranded was how to market themselves back to their existing corporate client base.  Previously, corporate contracting had been the responsibility of the franchise sales team and the hotel now had to undertake this important role but were unsure of where to start, who to contact and how to contract a rate. 

Actions

• RevenYou appointed a salesperson to complete a full analysis of the property’s current positioning within the corporate market.

•  Developed a sales and marketing strategic plan with the primary objective of targeting local and national corporate clients, harnessing the existing loyalty to the property and

  encouraging more direct bookings.   

• Researched the following source markets to develop a prospecting database:

o   Corporate clients tracked in the PMS.

o   Regular guests.

o   Retail and Corporate Travel Agents tracked in the PMS.

•   Used this prospecting database to undertake the following sales and marketing initiatives:

o   Communicated the key messaging of ‘our name might have changed but the same great customer service remains’ to their corporate clients and travel agents.

o   Discussed each client’s accommodation requirements and contracted those clients that travelled regularly.

o   Ensured all key client information provided was migrated to the PMS and all contracted rates were setup, and bookable, in the PMS, Channel Manager and GDS.

o   Transferred all existing contracts to the new name – providing updated information such as bank details, ABN etc.

• Identified the following new business opportunities that had not previously been contracted by the franchise team.

o   Government business with rates contracted across all key corporate channels.

o   Local infrastructure projects - identifying contractors requiring local accommodation close to these projects.

o   Travel agents with leisure, group and coach business.

o   Professional conference organisers and event planners.

o   Key national clients

• In addition, we undertook:

o   Training with the property’s frontline staff to ensure they were confident and comfortable engaging with prospective corporate clients and were able to gather key information that the sales team could use within their prospecting.

o   Migrate the hotel to a new, non-branded Global Distribution System (GDS) – ensuring all contracted rates were set up and mapped.

o  Added Lanyon and Lanyon Market Leads to identify, and target as much new business opportunities as possible.

o   Optimised the hotel’s listing with identified travel consortia programs.

Outcomes

• As the hotel’s corporate client list grew, and more corporate clients were identified and transitioned to contracted rates, RevenYou’s role evolved to account management – ensuring regular contact with each corporate booker.

• With great client satisfaction and a strong corporate base, the hotel has been able to budget, and forecast, with greater accuracy.

• After making the decision to bring the sales and account relationship role back ‘in-house’, the hotel has steadily increased its number of contracted corporate clients and consolidated the strong relationship with their corporate and travel agent bookers; and, have greater insights into who their clients are.

• Within two years, the property has become the preferred hotel in their location and is trading at an increased profitability.