Hoteliers Go Back To Basics During Economic Downturn

April 6, 2009 - PRLog -- Hoteliers are increasingly looking for alternative marketing methods to boost sales during the economic downturn, according to London-based sales and marketing company, Great Hotels Organisation (GHO: http://www.ghorg.com). During this period of financial uncertainty, hoteliers are making more strategic decisions and looking at different ways of making their money go further.

Carly Gotz, Director of business development and marketing at GHO comments: “During this year’s ITB in Berlin, it was clear to see that more decision-makers were attending meetings at our stand rather than sales managers, showing that they really mean business. Applications to join Great Hotels of the World and Special Hotels of the World were up by 36% compared to 2008 which tells us that sales and marketing activities are still at the top of the agenda”.

Sales and marketing is a critical part of a results-driven strategy for any business and hoteliers are investing time and money in exploring a range of techniques to boost sales, with particular focus on sales and marketing alliances.

Global sales and marketing alliances such as Great Hotels of the World (GHOTW: http://www.ghotw.com) and Special Hotels of the World (SHOTW: http://www.shotw.com) can benefit individual hotels in a number of ways, from brand association and increased exposure to increased reservation channels for corporate, leisure and meeting and incentive markets.

Belonging to a sales and marketing alliance allows independent hotels to achieve economies of scale and make their budgets stretch further whilst expanding their reach to a global audience. For many independent hotels, employing sales staff around the world is simply not feasible. By joining a global sales and marketing alliance such as Great Hotels of the World, independent hotels can take advantage of the global sales team infrastructure already in place.  

Great Hotels Organisation offers a range of core sales and marketing activities but also offers an “a la carte” menu of activities which can be tailored towards an individual hotel’s needs.

“We use the analogy of joining a gym”, continues Gotz. “Hotels join our alliance and we offer them a range of services to boost sales. Just like the gym, hotels need to use these services to see greater results.”

For further information on Great Hotels Organisation or to be considered for membership, please contact Carly Gotz, cgotz@ghorg.com +44 (0) 20 7380 8592

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Great Hotels Organisation (GHO) is part of Big Worldwide, a global, privately owned travel, technology and media company headquartered in London. Great Hotels Organisation’s family of brands include Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com), Special Hotels of the World (http://www.shotw.com), Metro Hotels and G-rez (http://www.g-rez.com). GHO provides a range of products, services and innovative technology solutions for over 1,500 hotels worldwide including trade shows, e-marketing, business travel consortia sales, meeting and incentive sales, public relations, Meeting Forums and a private label GDS chain code (GW). G-rez provides bespoke solutions to hotels with the technology to manage GDS, ADS (internet), website and voice reservations easily as well as a booking engine for a hotel’s own website, G-wiz (http://www.g-rez.com/g-wiz.htm).

Further information on Great Hotels Organisation can be found at http://www.ghorg.com.