- Wi-Fi and working from home.
Following the pandemic many more organisations and businesses are allowing their employees to work from home. The beauty of the internet, zoom meetings and being able to access central files makes this so much easier these days. You even find when people are on holiday, they may just check in with the office to see how things are going.
So, what do you need to do to attract business people to your accommodation?
Firstly, ensure you have good quality (preferably fibre), reliable broadband WiFi. It’s amazing how guests, business or otherwise have come to reply on this. If you are like us at Cornish Holiday we even have the Touch Stay digital guest book, and WiFi controlled heating, meaning that both guests and us as owners are more and more reliant on good quality WiFi.
- Have a dedicated area for working within your property if you can.
A small desk or table, perhaps away from the communal areas of the property so a guest can set up their laptop and spend some time working away from the other guests staying and have some peace and quiet to concentrate or have a zoom call or online meetings without interruption.
A small desk in the corner of the upstairs twin bedroom at Cornish Holiday 100 Hengar Manor
- Location, transport and parking.
Often the location of your holiday home is a key factor for a business traveller as they like it to be close to where they need to be for a meeting or contract, in fact it’s probably the biggest single factor which is why they are considering your accommodation. However, we accept that your property is where it is, and you cannot move it. You probably have it in a wonderful location for holidays, in the countryside or on the beach, this doesn’t mean you can’t attract business travellers, but to help make your accommodation more attractive make sure you advertise transport links and parking. Where is the nearest Train Station, Airport and how close to the property can they park the car. Can you recommend a local taxi company they can work with? All these factors will help you stand out from the crowd.
- Special Rates.
Consider if you are able to offer a special rate for workers, contractors or business people. This may sound strange as you might think that because you are dealing with a company you can put your rates up. That may be true, but equally remember that many companies are struggling with the increase in inflation, wages and overheads as they are all going up.
To give you an example, at Cornish Holiday we have a lovely property at Porthtowan which sleeps 8, it’s just 400m from the beach and has a Hot Tub. We were contacted by a contractor who was travelling down from Scotland to work on a contract for a week in Truro and wanted to know what sort of deal we could offer. It was out of season, so we were probably going to be empty anyway and he obviously didn’t want the Hot Tub just somewhere warm and comfortable to sleep. So, we looked at our pricing, reduced our rate and advised a price if he didn’t require the Hot Tub which he didn’t, made sure we covered our overheads and he booked the week. We saw it as a win, win. He was happy and so were we.
A screen shot of our special discounted rates.
- Short Stays.
Many business people and contractors don’t need to be away for long periods, so make sure you can offer short stays. Some may only want 1 or 2 nights, this is something you need to consider carefully to ensure you are covering any cleaning costs etc and its worth your while. Currently at Cornish Holiday our shortest stay is 3 nights. You may want to go shorter, just make sure you are not trading at a loss for these bookings.
- Marketing.
When marketing your accommodation for business people and contractors, consider the best places to advertise and promote your Holiday Home and how you do this. The audience for a Holiday Home, families looking to get away in the summer for some beach fun are very different to a team of contractors looking for accommodation as they are building a new bypass, or a business person who has important meetings setting up a new distribution centre. There can be spinoffs as a business person or contractor who stays with you and likes it may bring their family back in the summer.
So plan your marketing carefully, be clear what you are trying to achieve and when posting on Facebook and social media consider groups such as ‘Comfy Workers’, ‘Contractor Accommodation UK’, Beds for Builders’ or even ‘Key Worker Accommodation UK’.
As with most social media groups these correspond to website www.comfyworkers.com www.tradestays.co.uk www.bedsforbuilders.co.uk www.wedotherest.com www.booktraderooms.com They are all worth exploring and considering working with, obviously depending on what you are trying to achieve.
- Contacting companies direct.
Another way of reaching business contacts and contractors is to approach companies direct. Consider where your property is, any major works going on in the area or companies that might be bringing people in who could be looking for accommodation. An example for us here at Cornish Holiday is as we write this (July 2022) there is a large section of the A30 road between Chiverton and Carland Cross being changed from single to dual carriageway, this is likely to take in excess of two years to build so it makes sense to contact organisations who we believe may be working on the contract to see if they are looking for accommodation for their contractors and workers.
Hopefully our Comfy workers 7 point guide has been thought provoking and given some ideas on how to fill those out of season months and market your accommodation and holiday homes to a new and potentially lucrative market. It’s all about leaving no stone unturned. Contractors can sometimes have a reputation for being a bit untidy and messy, but that’s not always the case, tapping into this market could be the difference between success and failure.
Reasons that we believe contractors and workers should consider Cornish Holiday accommodation is:-
- Good reliable WiFi included in the price.
- Parking at the property.
- Dedicated desk / working space.
- Our properties are in different locations in Cornwall so can be close to your work location.
- We are happy to negotiate rates.
- Short stays of just 3 nights or more.
Here at Cornish Holiday we are learning all the time like everyone else so if you have any other ideas or any success stories you are happy to share please don’t hesitate to contact us or share via our social media.
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