Everyone in the travel and tourism business knows a paradigm shift has taken place in the industry since the digital transformation. Hotel directors and owners have been coming to grips with these new trends for a few years now. Even so, not every hospitality operation is up to speed. Here’s a candid look at a Cyprus hotel working to lead rather than follow.
In a recent interview I read, Cyprus’ Cavo Zoe Seaside Hotel Director General George Motsios discussed this shift. The veteran hotelier discussed exactly these rapid changes and the tools and strategies he’s turned to for solutions. As Motsios points out, digital operations are now as important as offline sales funnel strategies.
In the interview, he brings to the forefront a system we’ve featured before. Revenue management company RevitUp is a holistic product Cavo Zoe Seaside Hotel put in place this year. Motsios told InBusiness that RevitUp became integral to a comprehensive sales strategy that ultimately proved highly successful.
Ultimately, Cavo Zoe Seaside Hotel turned to RevitUp as a complete suite for not just revenue but for sales, marketing, branding, and promotion. A key element he and other successful RevitUp partners mention was “team integration.” In the past, this has been a major problem for hospitality businesses.
If you look closely, you’ll find successful hotel operations practicing from a holistic standpoint that welds traditional and digital marketing and operations. The best hotel experiences, from a client perspective, are now the stays associated with properties that went the next step. A great hotel has a great Instagram. A great hotel has a wonderfully optimized revenue system. A great hotel can be as flexible as necessary to meet guest expectations or create a dynamic business climate.
“The sale of a room is direct, whereas the Marketing and branding are long term. In the context of the design of this (annual) strategy protects the cooperation of all stakeholders by strengthening existing partnerships with tour operators. This, in turn, eventually strengthens the Brand.”
There are lots of cutting-edge tools out there, countless solutions, really, but complete systems are a rarity. This is why so many hotels still try to hire and train in-house teams. It’s an archaic idea considering all the possibilities. However, it’s understandable why the majority of the industry still prefers having people in their employ on location. Cohesive teams. This is a key facet RevitUp has tackled successfully.
Another key aspect one few small or mid-sized operations address is the marketing/branding component. Very few hotels these days do an adequate job in these areas. What used to be a public relations function is often deemed too expensive and time-sensitive. For RevitUp, and for managers like George Motsiothe term, “holistic” is more than a buzzword. Successful promotional and branding activities are now rolled into the best solutions for hotels. A nice Instagram, Facebook, or even advertising piece, is almost always tied to a business at the leading edge. It’s emblematic.
Looking at RevitUp, it is a leading company in Europe that is powered not just by data but by the people who can leverage the data. One thing we learned when this company started was that even the most sophisticated technologies are useless without the right experts (case handlers) standing behind them. I was a bit surprised to learn it takes multiple-person teams to service each individual account. This betrays the perception with regard to industry dogma concerning digital. But, it also explains why RevitUp is so successful. It’s a best of both worlds solution. A comment by RevitUp Co-founder Minas Liapakis pins it:
“We focus on the profitability of direct bookings. Working the right distribution channels, and with the best promotion, and taking better decisions are key for us. Timely reports, and scheduled meetings (which are made with video calls for immediacy and convenience), prove valuable in our cooperations.”
Finally, as an expert in hospitality media, PR, and marketing myself, it’s pretty easy to distinguish between cookie-cutter hotel efforts and highly successful ones. For some years my teams were among the most successful SEO and SEM experts in Europe. Looking at the Cavo Zoe Seaside Hotel SEO score of 94/100, is a key indicator that somebody bent on direct bookings is optimizing search engine visibility from behind. I can tell you this, such a high score is a rarity for mid-sized hotels.
From winning a 2021 BIGSEE Architecture award to taking optimal advantage of location for hosting stunning weddings, an informed observer can go down a long list of advisories this hotel has checked off. In the coming weeks, I’ll try and interview George Motsios, and also focus on presenting more stunningly successful marketing and branding efforts here. In the meantime, it’s always good to see businesses that are not mired in dinosaur practices. And trust me, here in Greece, there are more stegosauruses than you can shake a stick at.
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