First of all, many are rushing to blame covid-19 for the loss of early bookings. Anyone long enough in the industry can however confirm that “early bookings” were already decreasing the past years. This is mostly related to the fact that there are now many more channels to distribute hotel sales and therefore many sources a guest can choose from when deciding to go for a holiday. Finding a hotel to stay has become easier! Additionally, fast and efficient access to transportation tickets online and larger variety of hotel “kinds” make it possible to plan last-minute successful trips, without worrying. Consequently, a guest feels that there are now more options available and he does not need to secure a room early enough in advance. This may not look good to the hotelier wanting to have a better idea of demand in advance, so what should they do? Well, regardless of the destination demand which is a factor that no one can affect individually, building proper online presence and using a smart sales strategy can ensure that when guests decide to visit your area, they will choose you among your competitors. In the mean-time, a professional sales team can effectively predict whether early booking campaigns will do any good based on target markets, destination demand and potential benefits from such offers.

Reminds hospitality takes care to remind the hotelier what hospitality means – from start to finish

It started its journey in space in 2017, when it undertook a special project in Thessaloniki: the debut The Caravan, consisting of 13 rooms in the center of Thessaloniki. He was called to undertake the Re-branding of the accommodation, the whole process of reservations and sales, while then he took over the management of the accommodation, turning it into a modern 4-key Bed and Breakfast with 17 rooms.

The goal and desire of the team was to make the perfect case study and then to introduce themselves in the Greek market to support more separate and unique Projects. And that’s done. With ingenious moves, very pioneers for the then market of Thessaloniki, they led and are leading The Caravan on uphill paths, ranking this small accommodation first in the Booking rating from 2017 until today with a rating of 9.7, and among the 25 best traditional guesthouses of Greece on Tripadvisor, having reached 3rd place in 2021.

In fact, at the end of 2021 they were distinguished with the silver award in the category “Best Greek Hotel Breakfast” of the Greek Hospitality Awards, launching a unique breakfast and a special selection of Greek recipes in the category Brunch.

“Our goal from the beginning was to present to our customers a complete project that will reflect exactly our philosophy for the tourism industry. So we wanted to work with an accommodation in the beginning and transform it radically – with the consent of the owners of course. The white trust in this unique collaboration, contributes a lot to the implementation of our strategic plan “, emphasizes Haris Papadopoulos, Co Founder and Managing Director.

At Reminds Hospitality we look for and locate the most special projects – hotels / accommodations / villas – in which the people who have built them, have put their love for hospitality and their passion, and thus have transformed them into an authentic product, so that by adding our know-how they reach the maximum financial results. Not only the big hotels are important and dynamic for Reminds but on the contrary, the magic and uniqueness are hidden in the small units, which the traveler visits just to have the most personalized treatment. For us, the philosophy and the appropriate corporate culture are important: to be first in all areas! After all, we have achieved this and we maintain it from 2017 until today. We have stood out and for this very reason we want to bring the best financial result for our partner hotelier or owner, achieving the best experience for the client of his accommodation, “says George Kourtidis, Operational manager of The Caravan and Co-founder and sales Director of Reminds.

Yes, but what does Reminds Hospitality finally offer to a hotelier?

Initially, Reminds’s goal is to achieve the appropriate increase in sales – ie increase the accommodation turnover – with its proper placement in the market, creating the appropriate online / offline presence in all channels. In addition, by “scanning” the entire competitive spectrum of each market, it performs daily dynamic pricing with tremendous accuracy, which usually results in a geometric increase in sales. At the same time, he created and operates a well-organized Reservations department that can manage all this volume of bookings: build a complete outsourcing option of the booking department to a more trusted partner, which saves money, time and effort, so that the hotelier can give more emphasis on the daily experience of his client. It therefore undertakes entirely sales and bookings, and enables small private accommodation to take advantage of the know-how of an entire sector without having to envy large units with more human resources.

Of course, there are other forms of cooperation with Reminds such as overall accommodation management, staff training, concept upgrade, Secret Guest service and other consulting services that aim to support accommodation and of course maximize revenue.

  What makes Reminds special?

One of the most comparative advantages of Reminds Hospitality is the team, which is more important than the unit. After all, the members of the team have different expertise and that is why they all complement each other so successfully the puzzle of hospitality.

David, possessing know-how and experience from San Francisco, brings many pioneering technological tools to the industry, but also Harris, with a long career abroad, having gathered valuable knowledge and experience from large organizations in London and Barcelona, does product placement and creates advance reporting decision tools in practice for the property, putting sales growth in the foreground.

George with his many years of experience in the operation of hospitality and rebranding, contributes to the optimization of the image of the accommodation, with the aim of maximizing revenue, the smooth operation of the unit and customer satisfaction, in turn contributing to the increase of sales.

Efi, after several years of experience as a Reservations Manager of multi-property hotels in Mykonos and Santorini, is a capital for the proper operation of the departments that take off a hotel, while at the same time performing sales, releasing man-hours from the existing hotel staff.

Finally, Vassilis with his energy and many years of experience in Business Development, brings to the table the carefully selected project options with the aim of concluding the appropriate collaborations and the development of the company in the right direction.

Nowadays, the technological challenges in the tourism industry are increasing exponentially, making it often impossible for the hotelier to follow the changes in the market methods. The solution is said to be able to provide a long-established business method: outsourcing, ie synergy with specialized professionals who can take care of targeted parts of the business, thus relieving the entrepreneur from the burden of certain processes. So the most demanding and complicated part – that of sales and reservations, can now be easily transferred to safe hands and thus leave time to the hotelier for practical and everyday issues.

George adds:

“Because it is precisely the quality that matters to us, not the quantity, Reminds has set the ideal number of collaborations per year, so that it can always provide the best possible services and offer its partners the best of itself. We are happy that from the beginning of this year it seems that the available places will soon be filled! ”

This may be because Reminds goes against the usual path of its kind: it chooses not to step forward to get accommodation on its umbrella, but to stand behind its partners to push them on their own unique path to the top.

Source : https://news.gtp.gr/2022/02/25/reminds-hospitality-embistos-sinergatis-ksenodohou-poliseis-kai-kratiseis/

When the reservations department receives a request and the only way possible to accommodate the guest is by splitting a reservation into different room types, the person in charge should vet the room plan carefully and make a decision based on the possible income from that booking. 

If for example a guest is asking for a 7-nights stay in a room that is unavailable for just 1 day within that period, you might consider freeing that room for the blocked night in order to book in the new guest, by upgrading someone for that 1 specific night. By doing this upgrade you manage to: 1. have a happy guest that has received a gift (upgrade) and 2. receive a 7-night booking that would otherwise be impossible or too inconvenient for the guest (more than 1 room changes would be required). 

For sure, many factors affect this procedure and thus what you need is a professional reservations team that knows the drill and a well-trained receptionist or guest relations employee to deliver the news in the right way. Using this technique will eventually increase your hotel’s income.

For example, a proper welcome letter with helpful information on the weather, arrival services and other useful tips will make a great first impression on the guest. Treating your customers as if they were friends who you care about will only do good for your business and income, as well as play a great part in managing an unexpected crisis later on! If a guest is already feeling welcomed and taken care of before her/his arrival, there will be much less of a fuzz if something goes wrong after the check in! Messaging them the right way – not too much, aligning with your general concept, always in a professional and kind manner – may resolve issues in advance and result in a great overall experience that will translate into good reviews and profit.

Hiring a proper Reservations professional has now proven to be more challenging than ever, as we can see that people tend to stay in departments like reception, guest relations etc for years and won’t usually express any interest in moving up the chain to the back office. We must admit that on many occasions, these posts pay better and require much less effort. So, what will happen to those job openings? 

Taking this subject a step further, even finding and training an employee to handle reservations successfully still carries risks, like what happens when you need to replace that person, how can you know how efficiently this person works, what happens if that person needs time off etc. Out of the many hotel departments, reservations and sales is the only one that can be outsourced and as the scenery changes, it probably should. When it comes to a single property, the person in charge of the reservations may not be properly supported, supervised and educated. Additionally, he or she may need longer brakes, may have special needs or agendas.

On the contrary, hiring a company to act as your reservations department means full clarity, regular updates and access to all data 24/7, higher performance rate and consequently faster business growth. An expert will always evolve and adapt faster to the industry’s needs, while the hotelier’s interests will be more secure since the company will share the same. Finding the right partners may be tricky but after you do and eventually establish a trusting relationship with them, you will most likely see growth rate increasing!

Furthermore, a professional reservations team needs to know how prepared the cleaning staff is to treat arrivals and departures of a large group, as it would be quite a challenge compared to regular housekeeping days. One must never bargain the hotel’s service level for more profit, as this will only result in bad guest experiences and problems that will hurt the hotel’s reputation. On the other hand, many group bookings may bring overall profit to a hotel with more departments such as restaurants, bars, spas etc, since group guests may be better spenders than regular guests – mostly depending on the guests’ visit purpose.