Choosing Virtually

by Anand Mittal Seminars, conferences, meetings, get-together, marriages, etc are very important to the business of hospitality. The very existence of hotels depends on them. India is quite in the forefront of convention destinations and is attracting a many large conferences. Prestigious meetings like the one between our prime minister and the Pakistan president in Agra, even changed the face of the city.

Until a few years ago, the hotel industry relied only on printed brochures, advertisements in magazines and newspapers, telemarketing, videos and CDs to attract business. Of late their marketing strategies have shifted to websites. All good hotels have well-designed and maintained websites. These are very comprehensive. The interactivity of this form of marketing is very advantageous in comparison to the others. Hotel websites provide many answers and allow a potential guest a good view of what to expect, should he choose to accept their services. Their panoramic and digital photographs, streaming video, accurate and interactive room diagrams, 3-D modeling of meeting space, make virtual selection a possibility.

The first step before zeroing onto a hotel after having decided the country is choosing the host city. Typical criteria for doing so are cost, convenience, transportation, room and space availability, drawing power of the city itself, climate and overall image of the city. While reviewing these, care should be taken about age range and gender mix of the participants, their experience levels, ethnicity, nationality and the meeting profile.

Finally, browsing through different hotel sites for their pros and cons can do selection of the hotel. The virtual walk through can also be emailed to any customer in the world and any queries be taken care of. Many people depend on selecting virtually rather than physically for want of time. This is evident from the number of reservations they receive through their sites. For these reasons, selecting the hotel virtually is going to be the future.

Counter point

There are some factors that might hinder this from happening though. There definitely is an advantage to viewing a facility on the web or through various applications when one is in the process of narrowing the choices for the meeting. But how truthful or close to reality are organisations in publicising their products and services?

There is much information that can only be gathered only physically, first hand, to ensure success of the meeting, prior to selection.

1. Time taken and traffic from the airport to the hotel

2. Suitability of the transportation facilities

3. View from the hotel, constructions around the property, etc

4. First and subsequent impressions. (Ambience)

5. Parking facilities (availability of valet parking services or suitably lit parking area)

6. Security (in-house and around the hotel), sound proofing, alarm systems, etc

7. Courtesy and professionalism of the employees (for example, do they smile at the guests and among each other?)

8. Hours of operation of the hotel (In some hotels there is hardly any activity between 21:00 to 09:00 hours

9. Nearby restaurants, convenience stores, etc

10. Maintenance and cleanliness of the hotel. (Musty smell means mildew)

11. Lighting and temperature control arrangements in the meeting room

12. Communication facilities and state of the business centre

13. State of the furniture and furnishings

14. Quality of service offered (for example, was your name and room number announced to all within earshot during registration at the front desk?)

15. Physical states of the guest rooms, as all rooms are not alike 16. Accessibility of the meeting room

It is a possibility that today the option of virtually selecting a hotel or any other commodity for that matter may have loopholes. For now, nothing can replace entirely the joy of physically seeing, touching, feeling, smelling and experiencing a facility under consideration for a meeting.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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