Who are your competitors, really? The list of hotels your guests consider booking might surprise you.
When asked about their main competitors, most hospitality companies will rattle off short list of brands. But where does this list of brands come from? Is it an aspirational list, or the set of hotels in the same price category? Neither may be the best way to know where you risk losing customers, or which brand may be the best target for stealing share.
To some extent, everyone shops around these days. Booking sites and online reviews simply make it too easy for travelers to check out their alternatives. If you don't know how you compare to the options your guests consider, you risk missing opportunities to separate yourself from the competition and attract a new guest.
Asking your customers may be the easiest way to find out who you're really competing with, and what they have to offer.
On your guest survey, ask the question, "What other hotels did you consider when making your travel plans?" Or, "Where else have you stayed in the past six months?" Or. "If you are planning a future trip, what other hotels are you considering?" Don't be afraid to mention competition and ask for data from your guests. Your good customers will tell you what you need to hear.
Another option is to analyze some actual traveler behavior from an external resource. Our Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) is one place you can look. We track panel participants by unique ID and measure results for hundreds of brands around the world. We can start with a list of travelers who recently stayed with your brand and determine where they stayed before coming to one of your properties, and where they stayed the next time they traveled. Some will be repeat customers, but others will have chosen other brands. These are competitors you need to be thinking about.
By asking your own guests where else they stay and why, or by analyzing third party data, you can learn a lot about how to keep your guests loyal. By examining your performance on the attributes your guests value most, you can spot gaps in your product and service that will win you more business.
By pulling together data from your internal guest survey and an external data source, you'll have the inputs you need to understand your actual set of competitors. Is this the same list that you named earlier? Your list will evolve as the market and your business evolves. Once you have the mechanisms in place to generate your list, it's a good idea to revisit one to two times a year. Maintaining a solid guest satisfaction program with relevant external benchmarking is the key.
About the author
Bob Fitzpatrick is a senior business consultant with Market Metrix.
Source: Market Metrix
