Do your Room Names work in 2021?

Review your Room Types

Do your room types work for you in 2021? If not, then now is the perfect time to review and update. Your hotel is quiet, and you run no risk of overbooking. You aren’t caught up in all the other day to day tasks that pull us away from our desks so let’s get going. 

It is time to lose the Executive Suite. It is time to remove the Deluxe Room. It is time to move the USP to the room type name and get those rooms selling. 

Where to start?

1.      Create a simple excel sheet of room numbers and then start adding in what features and facilities each room has. I recommend going for a walk and viewing every single room to make sure you have accurate information. Use this walk as a time to check for items in need of repair.

2.      Review the features of each room. Create yourself a simple list of what people are prepared to pay for and what people ignore. Chat to your housekeeping team as they will know exactly what they clean and how often eg: when did a guest last use the spa?

Remember trends change so what was exciting ten years ago may not be relevant today.

·       Items people will pay for: Views, Balconies, Kitchens, Laundries, King Beds, Additional Bathrooms

·       Items people won’t pay for: Spas, Coffee Machines, Small room size variances, Couch v Chair

·       Items that people will pay for occasionally if they need it: Sofabed, Cot

·       Items that are expected as standard: Air-conditioning, Heating, Wifi

3.      Go back to the list from your room audit and start grouping rooms together according to their features and facilities. This is not an exact science, look for similarities.

·       Ignore: slight variance in size, couch v chair, sofabed,

·       Note: big ticket items that cannot be changed easily like a laundry or kitchen

·       Question: toiletries or robes as you can easily change which room numbers these are put in

4.      Once you have your rooms grouped, sense check. A good rule of thumb is that you want the least number of room types possible. I aim for 3 or 4 per property unless there are stark differences such as family rooms and views. If you are worried about a 1sqm difference in size, take a moment to consider who travels with a tape measure and is it noticeable? A couch versus a chair: if friends are in rooms next door to each other, will there be something specific they could complain about. Will the statement “they got a better room than me” have justification? Sofabeds are additional items you will charge for and yes, you want a note of which room numbers have these for allocating but you won’t set this up as a room type. 

Please note that sometimes you will need to create a different room type due to physical differences in the room, but you will not be charging additional for this room as it has the same bed type, is the same size as and offers the same facilities as another room type. For example: Accessible Room v Queen Room

5.      Name your rooms. Create a short list of names according to what you think will work and will be easy to sell. Prospective guests like to look at the name and get a clear understanding of what is in the room. Eg: 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment v deluxe apartment. Standard room v king room. Which would attract your attention?

6.      Before you become attached to your room type names, go onto Booking.com and Expedia and see if these will translate? These guys spend a lot of money researching what will make a customer buy so look at what they say works for a room type name.   

7.      Shop around, look at your competitor set and see what they use. Have a look at similar properties outside your geographical competitor set and see what they use. 

8.      Once you have decided on your list, you will need a plan of action for changing the names. You will need to organise the following:

a.      Property Management System

b.      Channel Manager

c.      Booking Engine

d.      Online Travel Agents

e.      Your website

f.       Wholesalers

g.      Corporate contracts

I recommend chatting to each of the above and having a clear understanding of what needs to happen and in what order. Once you are ready to go, talk to all parties involved, tell them which day you will be doing the change and make sure they are on standby to help. Do not attempt this over a weekend or on a Friday as you will want to be able to call support if anything goes wrong. 

Before starting, print your availability for the coming year. 

After you finish, reprint your availability and ensure it balances. This is a good check to make sure you have changed all future reservations.

Do test bookings to ensure that your mapping is correct.  Book on each channel you use to check that reservations are dropping into your PMS successfully. 

9.      Schedule a time and date in your diary in 2-3 months to review. Have booking levels gone up or down? What is the feedback in person or on review sites from your guests and what are regular guests saying once they get over the change?

10.  Amend according to feedback.

Should you need any assistance with this project, please don’t hesitate to ask. We at RevenYou have extensive experience in reviewing and implementing new room type names. This project can be completed onsite or remotely. We are here to help.