The easiest market is in front of you

23 August 2001 by
The easiest market is in front of you

The hotel is busy and the roads around the area seem to be full of cars, so we have put the troubles of earlier in the year behind us.

In a small hotel like Eriska, when the house is full, we tend to consider that we are doing our job and, to an extent, we have achieved what we set out to accomplish.

However, life is not as simple as that. Very little of our business is from passing trade. With the main road being more than four miles from our front door, our biggest hurdle is making our potential guests aware of our existence.

This is done by marketing to our potential customers, and widening our market. The easiest market to locate and pursue, yet often neglected, is on our doorstep in the shape of our current guests. Not only do we have the opportunity of them returning but we can, if we do our job correctly, have them spreading the word.

Last night was a typical example of a summer evening: 40% of the guests had been before; 20% came from travel agents who had used us in the past; and, of the remaining 40%, half had been told about Eriska by family or friends.

In today's terms, it is difficult for a small 17-bedroom property to ensure that we not only reach the right market but also touch them with the correct message and impression. To do this within our limited budget is a great challenge.

My father has always maintained that our current guests are the most important customers. Without them, we would simply be out of a job, so their wellbeing is paramount to our survival.

But I would go beyond that, for not only are they the key to our existence but they are also the linchpin of our future. However, a balance must be struck between pandering to their needs and working with them to improve the product and widen our market.

We have in the past year converted to a computerised front office system. It churns out endless information and in varying formats. It stores endless information on guests' likes and preferences but it will not make the breakfast or serve the drinks in the bar - yet.

And it is for this reason that I - and, I hope, many of my colleagues - work in the service industry. Try explaining that to a casual onlooker.

BEPPO BUCHANAN-SMITH is director of the Isle of Eriska, a privately owned hotel on the west coast of Scotland Next diary from Beppo Buchanan-Smith: 27 September

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