Busy season is an exciting time for your property every year — you have the opportunity to welcome new and returning guests with an incredible experience. But how do you make sure you’re prepared? 

By updating your reservation management system with accurate information, gaining insights from previous data reports, and providing your staff with ongoing training, you can ensure you and your team are ready to handle peak season, provide incredible guest experiences, and maximize your revenue. 

Here are three steps you can take to ensure your property is ready for this year’s busy season: 

1. Make Sure Your System Is Up to Date

While you’re preparing for the busy season, there are a number of steps you can take to ensure your system is up to date and your guests have access to accurate information. For example, you can: 

• Optimize your website. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and that the reservation process is seamless no matter what device your guests are using to book.
  
  
  
• Prioritize direct bookings. Since they generate the most revenue for your business, it’s important to make direct bookings your main priority by marketing your property to your target audience through your on-site booking engine.
  
  
  
• Review and update your policies. Now is the time to be certain that your property policies are accurate for the upcoming busy season. This may include cancellation and minimum stay policies, which can help you avoid overbooking and inconveniencing your guests.
  
  
  
• Review and confirm all of your busy season bookings. By communicating with your guests, including sending them a reminder about their upcoming reservations, you can avoid last-minute cancellations.
  
  
  
• Update important information. This is a great time of year to ensure your internal and external-facing information — including phone numbers, email addresses, and office hours — is accurate. By having this information correct in your system, you can make sure communication with vendors, staff, and guests runs smoothly.

With up-to-date and accurate information, you can provide your guests and team with the best experience possible during peak season. 

2. Get Important Insights With Previous Data Reports

This is a great time to take an in-depth look at your previous data reports. When preparing your property for peak season, you can utilize older data as a benchmark for what to expect. 

Review data from past high seasons, such as occupancy, room prices, and revenue to create a pricing strategy based on your anticipated demand. 

Identify your main channels of booking last year and optimize availability based on that information, while ensuring you’re making direct bookings a priority. 

You can also set up recurring reports that you’ll want to see during the busy season. For example, you may want to set up a daily revenue report to ensure you’re on track for your anticipated growth. 

By preparing this data ahead of time, you can stay on top of your property management when you and your staff are busier managing guests in person during the peak season. 

3. Prepare Your Staff With Continuous Training

Your team makes sure the day-to-day operations at your property are running smoothly — but the busy season can become overwhelming. That’s why it’s important to make sure your team is properly trained for the upcoming peak season. 

Once you’ve reviewed and updated your property’s policies, it’s important to review them with your staff. This allows everyone to be on the same page and ensures they can effectively work together to create the best guest experience. 

In addition, you should provide training to your staff on how to personalize guest experiences during peak season. For example, small things like remembering guest preferences and names can go a long way in helping guests feel welcome. 

While many guests will have a positive experience at your property, it’s still important to train your staff on how to properly handle complaints. With a higher volume of people at your property, you may also notice more complaints than your staff is used to the rest of the year.

By providing continuous training to your staff, you can ensure that they are prepared to help create an incredible guest experience for the upcoming peak season. 

4. Strive for Operational Excellence All Year Long

The right reservation and property management system can help you strive towards operational excellence all year long. 

By streamlining multiple properties’ interconnected operations, enabling you to prepare for the busy season ahead, and providing tools to help you create an unforgettable guest experience, your management system can help you improve your property overall. 

Download our guide to Operational Excellence in Hospitality to learn more today!