Village Bachpan Ki Yaadein

Different Types of Restrictions to Apply on OTAs to maximize Hotel Business It may seem like applying restrictions can decrease hotel business but that is not true always. If you are getting lesser traffic in your hotel then you may avoid restrictions but a hotel where the customer traffic is high, applying restrictions can help in managing the business more smoothly. Following are 2 most commonly used restrictions to apply if you are running good on occupancy: Strict Cancellation Policy - If you are already getting good traffic in your hotel then you should apply a strict cancellation policy in your hotel so that customers who are not sure of staying do not book your hotel in the first place. Most of these customers ultimately end up cancelling their booking one day prior to their check-in date. We had many hotels in our portfolio where the traffic gradually increased to very high levels, which also resulted in high cancellations. Hence we had to apply a 7 day non refundable cancellat...

How to list your hotel on MakeMyTrip and Goibibo? Listing your hotel on OTAs can certainly improve your business. The listing process of your hotel on MakeMyTrip and Goibibo is easy but you need to have proper documentation of your establishment. Step 1. You may reach out to MakeMyTrip Business Development Manager (recommended) or list your hotel on your own as well (time consuming). Step 2. The BDM will forward you the self signup link which you need to fill. It will have all details of your hotel like Name of the Hotel, year built in, address, location, type of rooms, occupancy type, photos of rooms and building, amenities of rooms and hotel, policies of hotels, finance details and finally you will have you upload you hotel documents in the respective fields. Please note that the name and address mentioned in the documents should exactly match the data that you feed in while making a listing. Once you submit the listing request, it goes for a Quality check and if everything is okay,...

Is You Hotel Running in Losses? Have checked on the rent amount ? Simple rule to determine the ideal rent when taking a hotel property on rent to run it as of 2024 is below as per my personal experience (Indian Context). Tier 1 Cities - When you take a property on rent to run a hotel there, just divide the rent by number of rooms in the building. This will give you the rent of a single room per month. If the rent of a room is more than Rs 8,000 per month then you are more likely to incur losses. If it is equal to Rs 8,000 then you would breakeven and if it is less than Rs 8,000 then you are more likely to run the business in profit. As the rent per room reduces, your profit increases. Tier 2 Cities : This value to determine ideal rent per room per month is Rs 6,000 . Tier 3 Towns - The rent should not be more than Rs 3,500 per room per month. Now of course this ideal rent value can not be same for all kinds of properties. I have determined this value for budget properties which can b...

Top Strategies to Boost Hotel Occupancy Making OTA Listing - Every accommodation business owner should do this without fail. Hotel Website - Get a basic, cheap but beautiful looking website to grab direct customer leads and bookings. Ensure that the website is added to GMB Profile. Dynamic Pricing - Is your hotel / homestay located at a leisure destination ? If yes then your default price should be lesser for weekdays. Keep it as low as possible. Even if it covers your monthly fixed and variable expenses then it is okay. Keep an attractive name - Keeping an attractive name in B&Bs to highlight the USP of a property can attract more customers that usual. Some examples of good Listing names can be: Peaceful Abode near Blue Lake, Garden View Homestay near Tech Park, John’s Homestay with Children’s play area. Hotel Thomas near City Bus Stand or Anthony’s Beach Hut -2 min walk to Sea Beach. Rest everything like social media marketing, SEO etc. are secondary. Try these and see your hot...

Effective Revenue Management for Small Hotels / Homestays / BnBs Running an accommodation business be it hotel, homestay, resort or BnB is not an easy task. Like any other business the accommodation business also has some fixed costs and some variable costs. The primary goal of Revenue Management is to ensure optimum use of available inventory (Rooms) to generate maximum revenue. Here are some strategies and tips that all hoteliers can use to maximize their business: Listing Property on OTAs - Check which OTAs are strong in your locality / state / country. Every OTA does not generate equal amount of traffic in all areas, for example in some states Makemytip would be strong and in some states Booking.com or Expedia would be strong. See which OTA generates more business in your area and list your property on the same. Try generating business from Direct Sources : Read here Try Hourly Rooms - If your hotel is near transit places like bus stand, railway station or airport then you can als...

Why do hotels allow check-in only at 12 PM? What can we do if we want to check in in the morning and have booked the hotel through the online apps?   There are two popular check-in and check-out timings in the hotel industry i.e., 24 Hours Check-in Checkout and 12pm - 11 am Check-in Check-out . 24 Hours Check-in Check-out : In these hotels customers can check in at anytime and they can stay in the hotel room for the next 24 Hours. Usually this type of check-in check-out timing is followed in the hotels which are near Transit Places like Bus Stands, Airports and Railway Stations where people keep visiting 24x7. 12 pm - 11 am Check-in Check-out : This type of timing is the mostly followed one. 2 reasons to follow this are : 1. Hotel management can manage customers checking in and checkout more easily as compared to 24 Hours as almost all the customers Check-out at almost the next morning only or before 11 am . Another and the most important reason is that keeping a fixed check-in an...

Importance of Online Reputation Management for Hotels There are lot of hotels which are blessed in terms of their location and have very high demand for rooms. Usually such hotels are located near transit points like Railway Station of Bus Stand or some other place where flow of travelers is very high. Even though they have a very good number of walk-ins still they are listed online on OTAs. Wonder why ? Benefits of having online presence and maintaining online reputation of a hotel are: Guest Trust & Credibility : Hotels which maintain good online reviews are trusted by new customers hence increasing the customer base of the hotel. Increased customer base results in high repeat rate of customers . Managing and maintaining good online reputation helps a hotel standout from its competitors specially in crowded markets. Positive reviews and good online reputation helps a hotel to gain pricing power and achieve higher ARR and RevPARs. Having online presence helps a hotel receive ti...

Offering Hourly Rooms Booking Can Boost Your Hotel Revenues Recently the concept of Short Stays has become popular in many countries. In India too this concept has grabbed eyeballs of tourists. Lets discuss how selling Hourly Rooms can help our hotel business. Hotel near Transit Places : Case 1 - If your hotel or homestay is near a transit place like Bus Stand, Railway Station and Airport then you can sell your consider selling your rooms on 3 Hourly, 6 Hourly and 12 Hourly basis. There are many occasions when the hotel customers check-out on the same day late evening, in such cases you can open 3, 6 or 12 hour slots for sale online and sell the same room again (with proper cleaning). Case 2 - Suppose your hotel’s Check-in and Check-out time is 1200–1100 then offering rooms for 3 or 6 hours can help you sell your hotel room during odd hours too. Usually customers checking-in early in the morning just expect a basic with facility to freshen up, that’s all. You can capitalize on custo...

Maximize Your Hotel Revenues by Using Minimum Length of Stay (MLOS) feature of OTAs Suppose you are anticipating high demand for a long weekend i.e., Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Usually hotel rooms get booked for Saturday night but in the case of long weekend we we all wish to get bookings for Fridays as well. But what if all rooms of your property get filled for Saturdays already and now you can not take bookings for customers who wish to stay for Friday check-in and Sunday Checkout or Friday check-in and Monday Checkout. In this case you will have to turn away lots of bookings as you will not be able to accommodate them and also will incur opportunity loss of selling rooms on Friday as well as Sunday. To avoid this you can use feature of MLOS (Minimum Length of Stay). You can restrict people booking your hotel for 1 night and the number room nights that you wish to be booked instead. All you need to do is just apply an MLOS of 2 nights starting from Friday to Sunday, this way your ...

How To Maximize Direct Booking for Your Hotel Why Is It Important ? Answer is simple, to save on commissions charged by OTAs (Online Travel Agencies). How to get more direct bookings for your hotel ? Google My Business Page (GMB) - Almost every customer now a days checked GMB Profiles of every hotel before making a booking. Ensure that your hotel has a GMB Profile with updated phone number. Many customers just call up the hotel to know if they can get any discounts if booked directly. Hotels Basic Website (Linked to GMB) - You also should have a very basic but good looking website for your hotel and if you can link the same to GMB Profile then nothing like it. Why I am asking to have a website ? Because you own the information that you publish on your website which means you can change, add or delete it whenever you want. Sometimes you will not be able to edit contact information on your GMB Page (because Google takes time to approve each edit). But you can easily change or edit your...

Things to Do in Negril Jamaica : Explore Negril Hey, gorgeous! 🌴 It’s Jessica here, and I just returned from an incredible trip to Negril, Jamaica, and I can't wait to share my experience with you! Known for its stunning beaches and vibrant culture, Negril is truly a slice of paradise. Here’s everything you need to know about this beautiful destination! Things to Do in Negril, Jamaica One of the highlights of my trip was Seven Mile Beach . This stunning stretch of white sand is perfect for sunbathing, swimming, and just soaking up the Caribbean vibes. Don’t forget your sunscreen! I spent hours here, sipping coconut water and enjoying the picturesque views. Another must-do is visiting the Negril Cliffs . The breathtaking cliffs offer spectacular sunsets and are a great spot for cliff diving if you’re feeling adventurous! I captured some amazing photos there that I can't wait to share. For a taste of local culture, be sure to check out the Local Markets . I loved exploring t...