Talking shop to clients
This week's hot tip comes from Sally Walker, sales manager of the Briarfell Hotel, in Bayswater, London, who shows how the pulling power of famous shops can help sell short-break packages. She wins £100
When a couple choose a short leisure break, more often it is the woman who makes the final choice of hotel. There are hundreds of hotels to choose from in London, scores will be offering similar short-break packages to ours. So, we needed something a bit different to attract the lady's eye.
Nearly every woman who comes to London for a short break likes to visit some of the special shops. We have devised a good shopping guide for London. It is a simple listing, produced on our own office equipment, of the main shops, their nearest tube stations and a short description of each shop.
We have single-sheet printed flyers that describe the guide and explain how useful it is. The flyer goes out with every enquiry, but we do not send the list out until the booking is confirmed to stop someone using our list but not our hotel.
The list has all the famous stores such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols, but we have got lots of little specialist shops that only Londoners would know about.
We also offer to make up a personalised list if there is something that the client is particularly interested in, such as books, antiques, or a special type of clothing.
It's a simple thing, but guests really appreciate it when they have only a short time in London and want to visit as many shops as possible. We have returning guests who still have their shopping list from the previous year.
We are also in the final stages of putting together a Saturday afternoon sporting fixture list so that if the partner is dreading trudging around Knightsbridge, he or she can go off for a few hours and watch football, rugby, cricket, or anything else we can find for the list.
If you have an idea that has cut costs, raised revenue or simply made life easier, then share it with the industry. We will pay £100 for all the ideas we print. Write to Hot Tips, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.
