The Baker Hotel is a 28-room boutique hotel located in Cranbrook, BC, Canada. It is a historic building, having operated as a hotel for over 100 years now. Located in the downtown core of Cranbrook, it is the only hotel to be that close to all the main businesses, restaurants, and shopping in the small city.
The owner of The Baker Hotel reached out to me December 2023 looking for assistance with the property. They had purchased it a few years prior with the plan to renovate it and operate it for long-term stays. Recovering from the pandemic, they started offering a few units on Airbnb to experiment with short-term rentals. In 2022, they started operating as a nightly hotel and made their presence known in the community. It was becoming better known, but the revenues weren’t quite at the level to produce an income.
Four Sides Hospitality Consulting was contacted to help with improving the marketing of the hotel, assist with the front desk operations, and oversee the revenue management.
Summary
Consulting engagement with a 28-room boutique hotel in a small market. Started working in January 2024.
- Projected to increase annual revenue by 20% in the first year of working with Four Sides Hospitality Consulting.
- Implemented revenue management strategies that increased RevPAR by 24.4%.
- Improved TripAdvisor ranking from #17 to #6 in the local market.
- Manage all aspects of rate strategy, including corporate, government, and group contracts.
- Oversee front desk operations, including training staff on procedures and assisting with guest relations.
- Lead marketing initiatives, including website updates, online channel management, and advertising campaigns.
Revenue Management
This was the first area to look at. The hotel is using Cloudbeds as a PMS and was connected to a revenue management software that adjusted the rates automatically. I noticed that the rates were well below the market prices on several days, which meant rooms sold on platforms like Booking.com did not generate any income after factoring in the commissions and costs involved with cleaning/maintenance. I did a market analysis and worked with the owner to position the boutique hotel into the middle of the market, away from the motels and closer to the flagged hotels in the market.
I oversaw the revenue management directly and eliminated the costly 3rd party service to save some money. Besides adjusting the room rates, the other simple change I made was highlighting the beautiful suites first with the regular rooms below when scanning for a room. The signature suite, the Banker Suite, is a stunning remodel with a separate room with brick walls, and a modern bathroom with sitting area in the other room. Featuring that suite generated a lot more bookings of it, which also led to more guest reviews as they raved about the suite. The other suites were booked as well, which helped push the ADR much higher than the previous year.
The results started to appear within a few months as the ADR and RevPAR started to grow. The summer months were exceptional with over 15% growth in RevPAR from May through September, with nearly 30% growth in some months. The first year is projected to be around 20% ahead of last year.
Marketing
On the marketing front, there was a multi-prong approach. The best form of marketing for a place like The Baker Hotel is by word-of-mouth. The number of reviews the hotel had been receiving was quite low. I implemented the change in the checkout process to make sure every guest received a post-stay email encouraging them to leave a review on TripAdvisor or Google. I also started responding to the reviews promptly, which hadn’t been done. The effect this little thing had was dramatic, as the hotel climbed from the bottom of the market on TripAdvisor to #6 for traveller-ranked, and #3 for best value. The hotel should be receiving a TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice Award for the amount of five-star reviews it is receiving.
The other approach taken was being more active on social media and try to grow the audience through give-aways and marketing other promotions. I coordinated with a few local golf courses to create a Golf & Stay Package at the hotel and did a giveaway on social media. We sponsored a local concert and gave away tickets to some locals. Plus the usual more regular posting on Instagram and Facebook.
The hotel made two significant distribution improvements: listing in the Canadian Government Accommodation Directory and connecting to the Global Distribution System (GDS) via Hotel-Net, a Cloudbeds partner. While the directory listing is a longer-term investment given our small hotel market, it promises steady returns. The GDS connection through Hotel-Net proved immediately profitable, recovering its costs within the first month. Hotel-Net’s commission structure efficiently covers both GDS fees and travel agent commissions, eliminating the hassle of managing agent payments separately.
A part of the marketing effort was updating the photos of all the rooms. Cloudbeds allows you to select an individual room, which is great in the case of The Baker Hotel since all the rooms are slightly different. There weren’t any photos attached to the individual rooms, however, which meant people were choosing blindly. When I visited the property at the beginning of the year, I made sure to take photos of all the rooms and update them on Cloudbeds. It is a beautiful property and worth showing off more.
Gallery
Overall, the first year has been a great success with vast improvements in the revenues and positioning in the market. The guest reviews have predominantly been 5-star reviews on all the review sites. The operation will slow down a bit over winter and then gather steam again in the new year for another large growth in revenues.
Learn more about working with Four Sides Hospitality Consulting: