Consumer confidence in hospitality needs to be a focus of business in planning to increase footfall and revenue.
Measures being taken to reassure consumers that hospitality providers are providing safe environments in which to enjoy hospitality need to be marketed. One such message has seen significant results.
The introduction of new ‘Sanitised Stays’ safety measures has helped OYO build consumer confidence and boost occupancy and RevPAR significantly at its independently-owned hotels. For the first week of August, OYO’s occupancy rate was more than 60%, up from sub 50% in the second week of July when hotels across the UK were newly re-opened for post-lockdown travel.
OYO and its partners have rolled out stringent hygiene standards and new standard operating procedures that enable social distancing measures, encourage a minimal touch experience and focus on awareness and training for the protection of both staff and guests at OYO hotels.
Hotels that have gone above and beyond to adopt these ‘Sanitised Stays’ measures and have participated in an official audit programme to verify their high level of compliance are being highlighted on OTA channels via their respective labels and tags, boosting consumer confidence in booking and visiting these hotels.
For example, at OYO Townhouse 30 Sussex in Paddington, London, the ADR (average daily rate) of rooms has risen by 42% since its additional safety and sanitation measures were flagged on Booking.com, its largest booking source. As a result, RevPAR has increased by 256% at this hotel.
A guest review left in early August singled out the new measures being taken by the hotel, commenting “…Their following of Covid guidelines was very good, breakfast was given in a takeaway in the morning and there was a good mixture of foods and some juice. The stay was amazing, and we could not fault it.”
The following hotels have also seen an uplift in business since their hygiene processes were verified across online platforms. Data here refers to performance before and after hygiene standards were promoted by OTAs:
- An OYO hotel in London Victoria has seen an occupancy increase of 7% and a RevPar increase of 12%.
- An OYO hotel in Inverclyde, Scotland, has seen an occupancy increase of 13% and a RevPar increase of 44%.
- An OYO hotel in Humberside has seen an occupancy increase of 12% and a RevPar increase of 24%.
“Our ‘Sanitised Stays’ operating procedures offer a sign of reassurance to guests that small, affordable and independently owned hotels take safety concerns just as seriously as the biggest and best known chains,” commented Rishabh Gupta, head of OYO UK & Europe. “We are greatly encouraged by the confidence guests are showing in our hotels and feel sure this will lead to more of our partners completing the stringent audit process to achieve the same results.”
With more hotels reopening their doors across the UK from 1st August, OYO now has well over 3,500 rooms available to sell from the south coast to the Scottish Highlands, and from city centres to small villages. This does not yet reflect the full OYO portfolio – there are still a number of hotels representing several hundred rooms set to reopen in the coming weeks and months.
As occupancy levels continue to improve, the number of room nights booked per day across the portfolio has also doubled from mid-July to the first week of August. Around 40% of bookings now being taken are for stays beginning in the next seven days. This proportion is up from 25% in July, a further indication that Brits are gaining confidence in booking summer staycations and there is still demand to be captured for the remainder of August.
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Building consumer confidence results – 11 Aug 2020 – Building consumer confidence results