In 2005, hotels in America generated $100 billion in profits, mostly from the food services sector. Luxury hotels also did brisk business, and smaller hotels too brought in additional revenues through value added services. Since the hospitality industry is booming, it is a good time for vendors to cash in on this boom and market themselves to the industry representatives.
Hotel Planners:
If you are planning to display your products and services to the hospitality industry, you need to approach hotel planners. There are over 70,000 hotel planners in the US, and their ideas and initiatives have generated $44 billion in revenue for the hotel industry. In order to market your services to the hospitality industry, you need to meet the planners and executives of hotels.
How to Market to Hospitality Industry:
In order to sell your services to the hospitality industry, you need to reach the planners and hotel managers. However, it is not easy to reach them, as they place a great value on their time, and have probably been approached by dozens of vendors before you.
1) Identify industry sectors where your products are going to be most useful. If the planners think that your products are of use, they will definitely want to know more.
2) Plan your marketing strategy before you approach people in the hospitality business.
3) Internet, emails, direct mailing, print media are all good mediums of getting your message across to people in the hospitality business.
4) Become a member of any association of vendors or related sector in the hospitality industry. This will lead to higher exposure of your services to people in the hospitality industry.
5) Provide hotel planners with information regarding your products, and cut down on the sales talk. Planners are hard pressed for time; and they will not be too happy if they take time out to listen to you, only to discover that you have nothing much to tell them.
6) Use innovative marketing strategies to get the attention of planners. Schedule calendars, calculators, software for charts etc. are always in demand within the hospitality industry, so you can demonstrate the use of such innovative tools to hotel executives and planners.
Hospitality Industry: Sectors of Growth.
High growth areas of the hospitality industry include food and beverages, and full service hotels. Food and Beverage departments of major hotels have been given more autonomy, so you can approach the department manager directly for marketing purposes. Vendors and suppliers of food items, drinks, kitchen devices, cutlery, table linen and furniture can benefit a lot from this.
With so many opportunities for vendors to take advantage of, it is no wonder that they want to cater to the hospitality industry. With proper planning and the right marketing strategies, you should be able to get ahead of your competitors and bag lucrative deals from hotels.
