Mentoring Matters: We’re Seeking Competitive Distinction For Our Resort Hotel

Dear MasterMinds:

As General Manager of a small luxurious lodge located an isolated location (accessible only by boat) of Central America, I need someone to guide me in the thought process to create a meaningful reason/cause for our eco-lodge (to also help to differentiate and facilitate marketing).

THANK YOU FOR providing us with an opportunity to help support your business objectives. Based on the information provided, our MasterMinding Response has been crafted by Ken Vincent, who’s expert credentials are presented immediately proceeding his insightful commentary below:

I’ve looked into the web sites for your hotel and the primary competitors that you provided as well as doing some preliminary research to familiarize myself with the general area. Your remoteness is both a blessing and a curse. It provides a unique romance and privacy supporting the feeling of exclusivity and luxury. However, that same isolation makes it more difficult to get to the property in both time and money.

Some Upfront Suggestions:

• I didn’t find your hotel well represented on TripAdvisor, Hotel .com, or other booking sites. TripAdvisor is particularly important.
• I would consider doing more in the way of inclusive packages. Packages make it both easy to buy your services and give the impression that the buyer is getting a better financial deal. (Your web site mentions three or four packages but gives no details.) I would see these packages stressing:
• Romance. Honeymoon, anniversary, and a “surprise your spouse” type of package. Perhaps two of different lengths and including different specifics. I noticed one property offers a wedding on the beach package.
• Cooking classes/wine paring. This is becoming more and more popular. In your case they can pick the food, prepare it with the chef, and then dine on their finished product.
• A dolphin/whale watching tour.
• Is your location a site for diving? If so, a dive package is often a big seller.
• A deep sea fishing week or weekend. Another package could be for the bay/gulf fishing for those that don’t want to brave the open sea.
• A more inclusive guided tour of the park with a ranger or local naturalist, maybe with a box lunch.
• More detail on a “build you own” package where a prospective guest can pick and choose among various options to make a vacation unique for them.
• Perhaps a link on your web site to a form they can fill out indicating preferences and you can custom design something unique.

Your small size makes individual attention more feasible than in a larger property. If you can work domestic air fares or discounted air into the packages it would be a major competitive advantage.

Having done all that though it still comes down to reaching the right people in the market place. Obviously with your size budget is limited, so massive advertising programs are not in the cards. The budget that you do have though, I would focus on bride magazines and fishing magazines. (More money is spent on the sport of fishing than any other amateur sport including golf.)

Some Additional Options:

Contact the Sierra Club in NYC. They are very much involved in Eco issues of flora and fauna. Your sister property in the USA may be able to help in reaching out to them. Speaking of the sister property, would it be possible to work out a discount program with guests of that property? Perhaps a credit based on nights spent at that property? I would look into the potential in San Jose for small groups and corporate business. The small groups could be medical specialists, or law firms that use the property for seminar/vacation occasions. Companies often have sales or executive meetings in resorts. Some also give trips to the employee of the year or salesman of the year.

Have you considered a public relations program? Look into doing some press releases featuring your chef, or yourself. Perhaps your farm manager. Anyone on the property that has an interesting/different background. Newspapers/magazines and TV are always interested in human interest stories, often used as fillers.

Is there a local hotel association or travel/tourism association? If not, I would look into forming one. These can be important vehicles to pool resources in attracting business for multiple properties and related amenities such as charter boats. Sometimes car rental agencies and local airlines will participate too. Perhaps the park service could participate.

I hope these initial thoughts will help you as you focus on where the property is going and in charting a path to get there. Certainly all of the ideas won’t all work for a variety of reasons, but often times an idea that isn’t feasible leads to one that is.

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