Hurricane Ian Resources
For those many properties facing challenges with the development of Hurricane Ian, please take note of Choice Hotels assistance as outlined in their e-mail from earlier this week. Access here.
Updating your Emergency Contact information in Choice Central is a great step to ensure direct assistance when time is of the essence, both ahead of and after events.
Your Area Manager team is also engaged so please don’t hesitate to reach out to them as needed for assistance.
New ChoiceMAX Rate and Revenue Management Tool is Now Available
Choice Hotels has completed Phase I of the new ChoiceMAX rate and revenue management tool, and is available for use by all properties in the Choice Hotels system.
ChoiceMAX is a more dynamic and thorough replacement for the SmartRates tool, allowing for more frequent competitive rate analysis throughout the day, and more dynamism and targeting when it comes to optimizing your property’s rates.
One critical key with successfully implementing this type of rate management tool lies in accepting that oftentimes guests are more ready, willing, and able to pay more for room nights than we may expect. ChoiceMAX helps better target these rate thresholds, and the data that it utilizes to help drive higher ADR is now more current and up-to-the-minute than ever.
If your property was already utilizing SmartRates then you will have automatically been switched over to the ChoiceMAX system. If your property was not already utilizing SmartRates, and roughly half of Econo Lodges were not with this program, we urge you to connect with your Area Manager today and study its tools, features, and the potential positive impact it may have on your property and your ability to maximize not only rate, but overall revenue alongside.
You can find out more about the ChoiceMAX program and its features here.
Housekeeping Upon Request (HKUR) Guest Communication
Choice Hotels has produced guest-facing publications and collateral to better help relay your property’s HKUR program and schedule in an effort to help manage guest satisfaction feedback and property scoring.
Please take a minute to visit the Econo Lodge HKUR Resource Page in Choice Central for links to materials and descriptions that you can put to work at your property.
New Opaque OTA Pricing Strategies
Choice Hotels is implementing new opaque rate plans for Hotwire and Priceline business, in addition to the existing LOPQ plan. These new tiers open up the advance booking windows for your property.
Please visit the Opaque Pricing Strategy FAQ Page in Choice Central for more detailed information and actions you can take to best manage available inventory for these plans, or to opt out entirely. Opaque OTA business is not right for every property, so be sure that you are maximizing or minimizing these according to your property’s specific booking needs.
Commitment to Clean Program –
Choice Hotels has been actively promoting this Commitment to Clean status to both the general public and its array of corporate business sales, much of which benefits our Econo Lodge brand. Please ensure that your property has taken the necessary steps to comply with this critical program, as the message is going over very favorably with guests and potential guests.
Please follow this link to the Choice Commitment to Clean Hub to access the training module. You must have an active Choice University student account, and be logged in to that account, to access and complete the training module. With QAR inspections underway, this is a critical area being monitored, so be sure your property is fully up to date with all necessary certifications and components in place.
