The Rise Of The Pop-Up Venue

Australia’s tourism and hospitality industry has certainly taken a hit a result of pandemic related restrictions and social distancing requirements. But many venues have been looking for unique ways to adapt to the new landscape and maintain some form of revenue during periods where normal trade is not possible or is significantly reduced.

Seemingly, pop-up venues are a trend that is taking over the sector as a way to offer consumers a unique experience when their core product is unavailable. With young people spending more money on experiences rather than material goods, this is a great way to draw the interest consumers and establish a new stream of income.

This trend spans across hospitality venues such as bars and restaurants, accommodation venues, and even entertainment providers hosting pop-up gigs, galleries, and more. Whilst the concept is not exactly a new one, the way in which businesses are using them are adapting…

Often pop-up venues can be found in busy public areas, unrented retail space, or at a unique location – but now businesses are partnering with each other to gain mutual benefit from their pop-up ventures. Increasingly, we are seeing brands who want to test out a new concept partnering with venues who are seeing reduced trade due to the pandemic, utilizing each other’s strengths and overcoming their weaknesses.

This often sees retail powerhouses working with hotels and accommodation providers to make use of their otherwise empty spaces. Transforming properties event halls and ballrooms into a short-term venture provides the hotelier with revenue for use of the space and allows the retailer to launch their new concept without committing to a long-term lease or traditional bricks and mortar store.

As well as working with other brands, some hoteliers are taking it upon themselves to develop pop-up venue concepts to make the most of their venue. Whilst travel restrictions may be hurting occupancy levels, there is ample opportunity to create a new and exciting offering to entice locals to book a weekend away.

Rooftop igloos, countryside glamping, and many more unique ideas are popping-up in the accommodation market, and these new ideas allow consumers to try out something a little bit different without travelling to far from home.

So, has your venue considered launching a pop-up experience to help overcome the impact of the pandemic? We expect this trend will flourish in the post-pandemic landscape and continue on for many years to come.

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Why You Should Work With Specialty Hotel Lenders

The Australian lending landscape held steady for many years with the big four banks standing in the most prominent position, generating a profit pool of around $30 million each year. However, over the past 5 years the landscape has begun to adapt as small non-bank lenders step up to compete with these legacy brands.

For consumers, this is a big win, as more competition within the financial services industry often results in a broader range of funding products available and at more competitive terms. In 2019 the statistics reflected this shift away from traditional finance, with a decline of 12.5% in the total loan value across Australian’s major banks. There was a corresponding rise in the loan value among non-bank lenders of 42.4%, suggesting that the role of these alternative lenders is becoming more significant.

As we examine why non-bank lenders are rising in popularity, one standout reason is their tendency to specialize in particular markets. Alternative lenders often service niche markets and develop tailored funding products designed to meet the unique needs of those operating within that industry. This is great news for business owners who don’t necessarily fit the cookie-cutter offerings of traditional lenders but are still seeking funds to establish and grow their business.

For hoteliers, the requirement for constant renovation and refurbishment can be a financial strain. Finding a funding partner that can offer an ongoing solution for this can help ease this burden and give hoteliers confidence that they can continue to undertake projects within their renovation cycle. However, finding the flexibility to achieve this with a traditional lender can be difficult, due to lengthier approval timelines and more stringent collateral requirements.

This is where specialty funders can step in, offering up tailored solutions that take these unique needs into consideration. Non-bank lenders can provide more flexibility in the terms of their funding to meet hoteliers’ circumstances, and often operate under a less risk adverse matrix than traditional lenders.

Along with the more tangible benefits, there is the customer experience to consider. Specialty lenders often operate closely alongside businesses and suppliers within the industry they service, giving them a unique insight. These relationships allow the lenders to better understand the needs and wants of their borrowers and take this into consideration in their lending experience. In fact, an outstanding 90% of SMEs surveyed by Banjo said they preferred their experience with alternative lenders over the banks.

These relationships can also have other benefits, many specialty lenders establish preferred supplier connections within their industry. This can mean the process from picking out your products to obtaining funding is streamlined as there is an established procedure. The same concept can also apply to business owners who are part of a larger chain or franchise, who may have a funding agreement established with one or more lenders.

We encourage accommodation business owners to explore their funding options and take into consideration smaller specialty lenders as well as the big banks. There are a wealth of benefits in working alongside someone who operates exclusively within the accommodation industry. If you are looking for a specialty hotel lender, talk to the team here at Accommodation Finance Australia about our tailored funding solutions.

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The 8 Commandments of Social Media Marketing for Hotels

1. Find your image, and stick with it

Social media is an extremely visual medium, and users go to great lengths to ensure that their profiles and feeds meet a specific aesthetic. This is the equivalent of creating a brand image and is an approach that should be adopted by any hotel brand’s social media accounts. Many hotel brands will have a carefully cultivated brand image with an accompanying personality and tone, which should be reflected in the property’s social media.

The aim is to create a page that people want to follow, even if they haven’t been a guest. By finding a visual style that appeals to your target audience you can find and attract new visitors from looks alone. It is also important that once you find your aesthetic groove that you stick with it, your followers may become disinterested if your content is inconsistent.

2. Know who you’re talking to

This is vital and underpins any good social media strategy. Before you even publish your first post you should have an in-depth understanding of your target audience. Defining who your current customers are, and who you want to reach, will inform all your social media marketing decisions.

Understand why they are following your page, are they brand loyalists, past guests, or aspiring travellers? Which content to they engage with most, behind the scenes staff photos, professionally taken shots of the property, or unique insights into the local attracts? Knowing all of this will help you get the most value out of your social channels are increase engagement potential among your followers.

3. Create a conversation

It is important to remember that social media is not a one-way channel, and this is an opportunity to create a conversation with your audience. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter are especially great for this and allows followers to ask questions or leave feedback for the hotelier to respond to in a public forum. In saying this it is important that you train whoever will be managing your social media pages on how to best respond to consumer queries. Giving a guide on following your brand tone and addressing negative feedback appropriate will save you from any social media blunders and help maintain a consistent brand image.

4. Optimise, always

An important part of effective social media marketing is to ensure that you are getting the most out of every piece of content you publish. Optimising your content for specific platforms and purposes can help you achieve your goals – working smarter, not harder.

For example, if you want to reach new audience members via Instagram, but don’t have the funds to run a sponsored campaign. Focusing on optimising your content to appear on the explore page can help you reach millions of new accounts daily. The use of strategic hashtags, clever captions, and location tagging can be the difference between a handful of views and a viral post.

5. Video is valuable

Video is becoming the cornerstone of social media content and is a valuable tool for any hotelier. The use of video content can provide a dynamic element to your content and is a highly effective visual medium. In addition to this, video content is proven to generate 10 times more engagement and then other formats. For hoteliers, video content can also be used to give virtual tours of your property and showcase everything you have to offer. This can be used across social channels as well as your hotels website as a selling tool.

6. Involve your guests

User generated content has a wide range of benefits and is an excellent social media strategy for businesses. Involving your guests in your social media channels is an excellent way to increase engagement, please your followers and get new and create content with little time investment.

Encouraging guests to use hashtags in their photos can help your profile gain exposure, and it also lets you look at all the photos and videos of guests enjoying their stay. If there is some great content, be sure to approach the original poster and ask if they would be happy for you to re-share it to the hotels account.

7. Invest in the right platforms

Making data driven decisions is an important part of any social media strategy and can save you from investing time and money in the wrong places. Be sure to use analytics tools to monitor your performance and only choose to invest in paid campaigns on platforms where you will get the best return.

Looking at what platforms you have the biggest following, where your audience engages best, and where there is the most potential for growth are all key considerations if you are looking to proceed with a paid campaign.

8. Utilise remarketing

Remarketing is an amazing tool that can help keep your hotel front of mind for potential guests. People may look at your website, and even begin the booking proceed before abandoning or getting distracted elsewhere. However, there is still an opportunity to capture a booking and this is where remarketing can help.

Remarketing on social media platforms allows you to place sponsored ads in the newsfeeds of website visitors, offering them a reminder about your property. You can even pair this with a discount code or special deal to entice them further.

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5 Hotel Digital Marketing Ideas You Can Do Right Now

Start A Blog

Blogging is the original form of organic digital marketing and is a no-cost strategy that can help your hotels website rank higher in search engine, drawing potential guests to your website. As a hotelier you can start a blog on a range of topics such as what is happening at your property, local events and entertainment, and the best dining in the area. Whilst this strategy is a little more time consuming than others, if you focus on creating quality content it will continue to deliver visitors for years to come.

When starting your blog, ensure that you are using best practice techniques regarding SEO to get the most out of your posts. Using the correct heading tags, hashtags, keywords and backlinks will make all the difference!

Be Active on Socials

We know you have probably heard this time and time again, but we cannot stress the importance of socials enough. Social media should be at the heart of your consumer outreach strategy and offers a wealth of platforms to deliver creative and engaging content to potential guests. If you are not already, building up a social media presence is a great way to get your brand name out there are reach new audiences. It also is a way to continue engagement with past guests to encourage re-booking.

Social media can be done organically, or you can invest in paid campaigns. Depending on what your goals are paid campaigns may be the best option and are relatively low cost compared to other digital marketing initiatives. Creating and publishing text, photo and video content which is unique to your brand can help you develop a personality, whilst showcasing everything your property has to offer.

Make Yourself Mobile Friendly

Google announced that the number of queries they have on mobile has surpassed those completed on computers, indicating that mobile integration is more important than ever. Starting with your hotel’s website, make yourself accessible by ensuring your website is mobile responsible and provides a good user experience.

Features such as adaptable font sizes for different screens, limiting pop-ups, making sure the menu and search bar are easily accessible and ensuring information such as phone numbers are linked with click-to-call functionality. Further, ensuring that you have search engine features such as Google My Business set-up, so that when guests search for you online all your contact information is readily available.

Set Up A Remarketing Campaign

Hotel bookings have an alarmingly high abandonment rate, meaning that many consumers get to the booking stage but do not follow through. This doesn’t mean that they’re not interested anymore but could have gotten distracted or wanted to discuss with their travel partner!

Remarketing is a great way to get these consumers back on board, by reminding about your property through display ads across websites and social media. This strategy can decrease abandonment rate and increase bookings and keeps your brand front of mind. Remarketing campaigns can be run on search engines using tools such as Google AdWords, or via social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Get Creative with Video

Video as a marketing medium is quickly growing in popularity. This is especially true in industries where consumers are focusing on the visual aspect of an offering, which definitely applies to the accommodation industry. Research shows that people are 10 more likely to engage with video content, meaning that one video post can achieve a much broader reach than a simple text or image post.

Further, for hoteliers’ video offers a platform to offer a unique insight into their properties offering. Video tours are a great asset to have available on your hotel’s website and findings show that bookings are 67% more likely as a result.

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Far North Queensland Leading The Way In Regional Travel Recovery

Traditionally Queensland’s Far North has been a tourism hot spot, with the region worth a whopping $2.5 billion annually. The draw of sites such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Islands and the World Heritage Rainforests bring a flock of tourists each year, however the impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions have devastated the area.

The Far North reportedly lost more than $200 million in bookings when the pandemic took hold of Australia in March. The extent of the economic impact to the region is still unknown, as interstate and international travel restrictions continue to constrain the tourism destinations potential earnings.

However, as restrictions begin to ease intrastate travel is becoming a popular choice for those who would have otherwise spent their holiday funds on an international trip. With the limitations on venues such as hotels, restaurants and pubs being lifted in the sunshine state, and tourism operators able to conduct group activities once again, Far North Queensland is set to be one of the first regions to recover.

Colliers research found that Cairns saw a spike in hotel bookings in June, an indicator that Queensland locals are eager to explore their states regional destinations. The government is throwing their weight being the region as well, dishing out an $11.3 million support plan titled the ‘Far North Queensland Tourism Industry Economic Recovery Package’.

The package aims to bolster the events industry, support commercial tourism operators, accommodation providers and food & beverage outlets. The funds will also be utilised to kickstart the construction of four pending infrastructure projects which are set to enhance the regions offerings.

As well as this overarching package, there are several smaller government support and rebate schemes put in place to help specific service providers get up and running again. The COVID-19 Marine Tourism Rebate will provide $2 million in support to marine based tourism operators in the North Queensland region, with a focus on those located in Douglas and Whitsunday. In this same space, whale watching tour operators will have their commercial fee waived for the 2020 season.

Whilst much of the support is centred on helping the business owners located within Far North Queensland, the state government has kept in mind that getting tourists to the regional centre is an important part of the destination’s recovery. The Queensland government will be investing $5 million in a plan to create new routes to 15 regional airports across the state. In addition to this, Jetstar will be upping the number of fights from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast to Cairns in an effort to encourage local travel.

Far North Queensland is not unique in this situation either, with other regional destinations such as Darwin are also seeing a spike in interest from Australian travelers. Colliers recent studies have led them to state that Australia’s tourism industry will rebound, and quickly, with the domestic leisure segment leading the way.

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Hotel Hygiene: Instilling Confidence

During COVID-19 it is more important than ever that accommodation providers implement thorough cleaning procedures to ensure the safety of their guests. Further, making sure that guests are aware of the efforts being taken to safeguard their health is an essential step in instilling confidence in travelers.

When it comes to property’s needs step up their health and safety precautions, guests will find reassurance from visible signs. This may mean that guests are examining their rooms a little more closely. Putting in place visual cues can ease guests concerns, this can include paper seals across toilet seats after cleaning and notes from housekeeping with the time of their visit. Going the extra mile with in-room amenities will also show guests you are keeping hygiene front of mind, including hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes allows guests to clean items as they see fit.

Many hotels are opting to introduce new techniques such as the use of ultraviolet light to test the quality of cleans, antibacterial fogging of guest rooms, and air sanitisers. In shared spaces the installation of hand sanitiser dispensers and social distancing markings has become commonplace, as well as the use of masks and gloves by staff members.

Utilising technology across all areas of the business can also help implement social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Swapping out guest compendiums for a link to access the information via their mobile or hotel app reduces the need for shared items among guests. Offering a contact free check-in also reduces the need for face-to-face interaction, with some hotels taking this one step further and introducing concierge screens or tablets to handle common queries and services.

In restaurants and dining spaces, it may be essential for guests to make bookings to ensure they can dine at their preferred time. With social distancing guidelines in place the capacity of dining areas may be reduced, limiting the portion of guests that can be served at one time. This will be particularly important for properties which offer a self-serve buffet style breakfast. Hoteliers may have to consider adapting the buffet to a traditional table service dining experience to avoid issues surrounding open-air food displays and shared utensils. In this instance, guests may be encouraged to have breakfast delivered through room service or book a table ahead of time.

No matter what practices are put in place, it is essential that accommodation providers communicate their commitment to health and safety to their guests. Ensuring that people feel it is safe to travel and that their hygiene concerns are being addresses will create confidence among travelers.

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Sustainability In A Health-Conscious Landscape

The accommodation industry across Australia is still feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and with many interstate borders still closed and international travel far on the horizon, many hoteliers are looking for ways to be productive during this tourism lull. A common trend is hotel owners taking this time to refresh their rooms and communal spaces or undertake refurbishments while occupancy rates are low. Others are preparing their staff for a new way of operating in a more health conscious world, because in a post COVID-19 world guests’ priorities may look a little different, and this is something that hoteliers should be taking into consideration.

Travelers will likely be prioritising health and wellbeing above all else and will be looking closely at how accommodation providers are tackling this before booking. Although research suggests that guests do not want to see this incorporated at the cost of sustainability. Hoteliers will need to find a balance between addressing the health concerns of their guests with their desire to see properties adapt to more environmentally conscious processes. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the focus over the last few months, however as things return to normal the looming threat of climate change will return as a high priority for consumers.

While taking into consideration how social distancing requirements and increased hygiene standards will impact hotel processes, one thing that is made clear is the additional strain it will put on resources. Limiting the number of people that can travel in lifts, increasing the frequency and depth of room cleaning, and changes surrounding the use of shared facilities will all dramatically change the behind the scenes of hotel operations. With impacts ranging from increased energy consumption, higher use of single-use products and more generous staffing to assist with these new measures, accommodation providers must consider ways to offset the financial impact of these changes.

So despite the fact it may seem difficult for hoteliers to balance sustainability within our new health-conscious landscape, the reality is that these changes can be implemented in a collaborative sense. The savings that properties can achieve by installing energy efficient lightbulbs and air-conditioning can offset the cost of increased lift usage, changing to ecologically conscious cleaning products can mitigate the environmental impact of more frequent cleaning, and higher staff levels are an opportunity to provide a more enriching guest experience.

We urge accommodation providers to see these changes as a positive chance to revamp the way their property operates. Whilst in the past sustainability initiatives have been viewed as a necessary but costly undertaking, there is now an opportunity to find synergy between environmental consciousness and the health concerns of consumers. Both of these issues are important to guests and incorporating sustainable practices into new hygiene and social distancing processes is a simple way to meet the expectations of guests in a post-pandemic landscape while addressing consumer concerns around climate change.

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