Independent hotels have many attributes, but their unique spirit needs to be showcased appropriately. Some of the unique ways independent and boutique harness the power of their hotel's distinctive charm was discussed during a panel discussion at the Independent Hotel Show in Miami this week.
When hotelier Hillary Folkvord, the owner of two Montana hotels—the Sacajawea Hotel and the RSVP Motel, a converted motor lodge—is competing with the bigger flag hotels, she emphasizes the personalized experience and local flavor. "It's amazing what we can do as independent hotels," she said.
When guests check in to one of Folkvord's properties, the teams offer complimentary champagne and hot scented hand towels. "These are just little value-added items that guests love. They feel pampered after traveling all day," she said. "It doesn't cost as much, but the guests really remember it."
When it comes to unique design and atmosphere, Folkvord believe every hotel should have a signature scent, playlist and color scheme. "I want people to walk in the door and know this place is special."
Folkvord is a sixth-generation Montanan, so her properties are able to curate experiences for guests—itineraries, but they are local itineraries—the hiking spots that not everyone knows about, the restaurants that don't come up on Google and more.
Ryan Aubin, owner of the Mills Park Hotel in Ohio, agreed that the people on the property are the best marketers. "But one of the things that we do that has really paid off in spades for us, is invest in our in our team," he said. "We kind of have the mantra of 'live like a local.' The town where our hotel is located tends to be a little more 'hippie,' and so people kind of expect a unique touch with us, a little more care. So our front desk oftentimes acts more like a concierge desk, where we're curating those individualized experiences with local businesses we've made relationships with."
The amenities that both Aubin and Folkvord offer in their hotel are locally made. "We source them and make sure that they're they're unique to us, and that you can't find them anywhere else but our property," Aubin said.
Aubin's property sources its furniture from local craftsman and Folkvold uses a local coffee roaster for the in-room coffee. The coffee, she said, gives guests "a sense, a feel" of being "in Montana."
Social Media Presence
Hotels need to expand their on-property personality and presence to their social media outlets as well, the panelists suggested. Aubin said his staff is very present on the property's social media—for their on-property life and for their life outside of the hotel. Folkvord believes in the power of video to sell her properties so videos are all over their sites—from the guestrooms to lobby—and guests know what to expect when they step onto the properties.
When Folkvord first opened the Sacajawea, the occupancy was at 40 percent—a number she knew could be much higher.
"We knew we had to make some changes, one of which [was] working with the OTAs, which used to be fighting words for me," she said. "Writing those checks every month is painful but we realized, as an independent hotel, that we didn't have this big marketing spend. We needed to be number one on their pages. While booking direct doesn't always happen, at least we're top of mind for people, and it changed our occupancy tremendously."
TripAdvisor was another change Folkvord made, with QR codes in the rooms to directly ask people to review the hotel. "We're [now] number one on TripAdvisor in Bozeman (Mt.). So those were a couple of campaigns that really helped us boost our occupancy. We went from 40 percent to 60 percent literally overnight, and now we've run out about 80 percent for the year."