Here's Why Your Hotel Struggles with Venue Sales

Struggling to maintain a full function diary at your hotel? Let's delve into some potential reasons behind this challenge.

Nailing your hotel venue sales process is no easy feat – in fact, realistically speaking, is it ever truly complete? Part of being in the hospitality industry is rolling with waves of change. However, if you’re consistently struggling to get venue sales in the door (or converted to function bookings), there may a few elements at play that you can identify and improve. Let’s take a closer look. 

 
Having a Blanketed Sales Approach 

 
The world of hotel sales is diverse, and it’s likely your sales team will be focused on reaching an overall financial target rather than breaking it down into specific sale types. Alternatively, it may be the responsibility of your events team to balance venue sales with managing events. This lack of time and focus on meeting and event-specific sales can lead to missed opportunities and decreased revenue.  

 
By specialising your sales strategies and assigning dedicated team members to handle venue sales for meetings and events, you can more effectively capitalise on the potential of your spaces. A specialised venue sales team with focused expertise can develop more compelling and tailored sales pitches, crucial for attracting specific clientele. This improves resource allocation, allowing your general sales team to concentrate on other critical areas such as room sales and package deals while elevating customer service with a more personalised approach.  
 

 
Lead Fatigue 

 
It's becoming increasingly common to plan meetings and events on short notice these days. Event planners often find themselves struggling to find the right venue within tight deadlines and specific requirements. To make matters worse, many of them inundate hotels with RFPs hoping to hear back from a few that can host their event. Unfortunately, the stakes can be pretty low and 50% of planners often go with the first hotel that responds. As a result, your venue sales team can be gifted with a tonne of unqualified (and sometimes duplicated) inbound leads.  

 
This creates a logistical nightmare for hotels. Your sales teams have to spend time sorting through unqualified leads, poor-quality data, and repetitive RFPs, rather than focusing on converting the most promising ones. Sadly, this leads to low conversions, low ROI, and staff being bogged down with administrative tasks. It's like filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom - the effort may appear productive but ultimately proves inefficient and unsustainable. A constant influx of low-quality leads drains resources and demoralises your team, as they invest time and energy with little return. 

 
Implementing more stringent filters at the initial stages of your venue sales process can help ensure only the most relevant and promising RFPs reach your sales team. This may involve setting clearer criteria for what constitutes a qualified lead and using automated tools to pre-screen RFPs based on these standards. 

 
Enhancing your venue listing information on directories like iVvy Marketplace can also significantly improve the quality of RFPs received. By providing detailed information on your venue’s capacities, preferred event types, and unique offerings, planners are better equipped to match their needs with what your venue spaces can cater for, resulting in more targeted and actionable enquiries. 

Strategically Approaching Your Hotel Venue Sales 

Revolutionising your hotel's venue sales strategy is all about embracing changes and finding ways to continuously improve it. By fine-tuning your approach to focus on specialised sales teams, embracing technological advancements for automation, and enhancing lead quality through strategic filtering, your hotel can significantly increase its venue sales potential. This strategic shift maximises the potential of your unique venue spaces, aligning with the evolving expectations of event planners and attendees.