Hotels are not just for tourists. Is that so crazy?

This summer has been a wild ride. In hospitality, everything seems to have been turned on its head. So much so, hotels are now beginning to turn their focus away from guests and towards local residents. Crazy? Not as much as it seems at the first glance. 

With international tourism down by 76% YoY and more than 40% of hotel staff on some form of furlough this is no time for the faint-hearted. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary people and some pretty bold moves. 

Obviously, the idea of attracting guests from the internal or national market is not new. But what we're seeing now goes a step further. Hotels are waking up to the fact they are not just for tourists. And shifting their efforts to attracting more day-visitors, typically local residents, to pop in and enjoy a day experience like a pool day pass, spa treatment or a tasting menu... 

An absolutely stellar example of this came from Fairmont Rey Juan Carlos I. A campaign led by Angelo Vassallo on the F&B Ops side and Chloe Brandalac on marketing resulted in over 2000 Barcelonians buying and enjoying outdoor pool day passes at the hotel over the past 10 weeks.

All sold effortlessly via a beautifully branded online gift voucher shop created by Hotel Treats: https://fairmontbarcelona.hoteltreats.com 

There is much more to this than cashflow in tough times. There are brilliant long term effects too. Local residents may never end up staying at the hotel. But, having enjoyed their time there, they will become much more likely to choose it for their wedding, or hold a conference sometime in the future. Plus organic social media buzz... What's not to like? 

This is exactly how we imagined it years ago, getting ready to launch Hotel Treats. We believe each hotel should be an axis of its local community. Experiences created for guests should be easily accessible to people who live around them. 

If you share this notion, get in touch with us to have your hotel gift voucher shop created in no time. Read more about how we can help here, or request a demo.