The Hotel Sales Managers Steps To Detailing a Bus Tour
There are many types of bus tours groups. They all have similar needs and requests. To break them down into segments it would include:
Student Groups, Senior Citizen Groups, Family Reunions, Religious, Entertainment and more.
A lot of the Tour Operators are wholesalers and family or privately owned. Some have a series of continuous groups coming through during peak seasons. These are the Accounts that every Sales Manager wants to close. Others may sell packages and there volume of business would depend on how well they sell the package.
These wholesalers are looking for the best hotel facility, services, convenient location at the best room rate. Bus parking is extremely important and it’s best when the parking is free.
These groups are an easy sell at the right price for an early breakfast prior to departure unless your property includes the breakfast in the room rate. It is more attractive to the Operator if the breakfast is included.
At times the Sales Person can work out a deal for dinner upon arrival. They will need to either stop and eat or eat at your hotel providing that you have the facility to do that such as a restaurant or banquet space on the property.
Steps on qualifying and detailing the Bus Tour:
1. From the moment of the inquiry or solicitation call it is important for the Sales Person to bond with the Operator. Find out how often they are stopping in your area, why, when and what is competition. It could be a one time deal or a continuous package that comes though more than one time. If you identify a Series then you may need to learn more about who they are using and get some rate information before blurting out a rate.
2. Make sure you have them sign a booking agreement/contract and provide a deposit or at least a credit card authorization. Don’t make the deal a definite until you receive this information.
3. A Tour Series may want to establish direct billing. It is not recommended to establish direct billing with any tour company unless they are a volume revenue producer or over $10,000 in rooms revenue. Base your decision based upon your companies policies.
4. The Sales Person or Sales Coordinator will need to set traces for – returning of the signed contract and method of payment, collecting the rooming list and confirming estimated times of arrival and departure. This information is very important and the Sales Manager should be sure to communicate all valuable information to the right Managers.
5. Find out if they need portage or baggage service. The going rate in the Philadelphia market is $4.00 per person round trip. If they need this service get the staff members lined up and brief them on how it will be performed. Don’t just assume that if you have a strong employee member that they could do a better job then a weaker or smaller employee. These bags are usually heavy and even heavier if they have a return trip.
6. Pre-block the rooms in the same area of the hotel. Since you already have your full payment or credit card authorization you can pre-register these guests in advance prior to the buses arrival. Block the rooms, check them in, make their key packets and charge the card. When the bus arrives, have the Tour Escort sign on one registration card and hand them the key packets and a copy of their rooming list including room numbers. It’s a piece of cake.
7. Get the Tour Escort’s name in advance and their cell number if you can just in case you need to reach them.
8. The Sales Manager or MOD should welcome the Tour Escort and guests upon arrival.
9. Make sure that you have the master room folio ready by the Night Audit. This allows the Tour Escort an easy process in checking out along with having the room receipt that he will have to turn in.
10. Send a Thank you along with a receipt to the Tour Contact. Trace them out for future business and provide hotel information or just a letter to remind them that your property is there at least quarterly. Once a Sales Manager establishes the relationship the Wholesalers will be very loyal to them.
If you need some more ideas then log onto www.hotelsalesmanager.com. The site is awesome and has been very helpful.
Good Luck!
Pure Energy
