Hotels are desperate for bookings, new special offers spiral the revenue into the grounds whilst competing for new clients. Sounds familiar? In fact, the travel trade as well as direct clients are overwhelmed by special offers on a daily basis. Despite dramatic price decreases, bookings still do not seem to pick up in proportion to the discount.

In a recent marketing case study on a historic luxury hotel in the USA, the hotel decided to change focus. Instead of promoting low rates (which did not have the expected result anymore), they focused on selling their lavish experience. They began using “sensory overload” to describe a stay at their hotel in their email promotions. This resulted in an increased email open rate by 15% and their promotions enjoyed a 30-40% click-through increase. What does that tell us? Surely, today's client is more price-sensitive than ever but more importantly and especially in the luxury travel industry, the client wants more value than ever - maximum value for money and ideally guaranteed value.

To show you that we walk our talk, we put above case study to the test. One of our latest email newsletters for one of our properties highlighted value rather than price and the result is self-explanatory: The opening rate increased by 7%, yet the most wanted click-through rate increased by 33%!

So, are you selling price or value?

By Melanie Floor