How to attract family members?

Get the free childhood design guide

Have you heard of the Law of Attraction? It’s something that I intuitively connect to and practice in my life. I find the law of attraction helps me reach my goals easier and faster, and maybe it will work for you too!

When I refer to the law of attraction, what I mean is basically that we create our realities with our thoughts. The main idea is to focus on what you DO want, not on what you DON’T. It’s really that simple. People dress it up in lots of spiritual-talk – but ultimately, this idea makes a ton of sense even without all that jazz.

When you focus on the things you want, your brain becomes primed to find more evidence for, and more opportunities for, the things you want more of.

You stop fixating on everything that’s going wrong and start obsessing over the blessings in your life.

Whether it “works” or not, it’s a more pleasant way to go through life!

Here’s how I use the law of attraction to create a life that I love, and I invite you to do the same!

Two people can live in the exact same life, but because of their focus, they see it completely different from one another. If you have the choice, why not choose to make the supreme focus of your life one of gratitude, joy, pleasure, trust, compassion, empathy and belief in yourself and in the world as an overall good place?

• Plan quality time. Consider quality vs.
• Prioritize family dinners.
• Organize game night.
• Make chores a family activity.
• Make room for alone time.
• Get exposure to other families.
• Make sure all family members are heard.

We recently blogged about how to attract more guests to your hotel in general, but there are some specifics strategies geared toward families. Don’t worry if you don’t have a water slide or themed guest rooms; there’s a lot you can do to attract families and boost their experiences when they stay with you to keep them coming back.

Here are our top 10 ideas for attracting more families to your hotel:

The most important thing in attracting families to your property is to focus on your website as it is your storefront window to the world. If you want to attract families, make sure your family-friendly amenities are on display. In today’s online world, most guests plan their trips online so this is very important.

Identify what it is that you have that families may find attractive and call attention to it. Don’t overlook the details as it is the details that can make you stand out from the competition. This is a lot easier if you have a kids’ club or a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on site – but it’s not essential. It’s more about how you can implement small changes and use the amenities you already have to leverage yourself as family friendly. Then, put these factors on your website (see point #1).

Wow-ful ideas:

Form partnerships with local attractions, CVB and restaurants in order to offer coupons and value-added packages. Value-added packages can also boost occupancy by attracting families on a budget.

Using a property management system is a great way to streamline your front- and back-end operations. WebRezPro offers a helpful guest folio feature that allows you to collect and store information from your guests at the time of booking. Finding out the age of children in advance can prepare you for making suggestions on where to visit or to equip them with age-appropriate activity packs upon arrival. The guest folio is also the perfect place to record essential information about families with special requests or allergies and pop-up alarms can be set to display upon check-in.

As a hotelier, it is no news to you that in the hospitality business, customer service is key. It’s important to remember this when it comes to attracting families and there are several instances where it particularly plays a role:

It’s important to check in with your guests before, during and after their stay. Send pre-stay emails to welcome your guests, talk to your guests during their stay to ensure they are having a pleasant experience, and send post-stay emails to receive valuable feedback. WebRezPro directly integrates with online reputation management solutions to automatically send post-stay surveys to find out what families really think. In this way, you can find out what factors are really important to families visiting your region.

Encourage your guests to share their positive experiences via online hotel reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, which are hugely influential to potential guests. This can be mentioned in person or in post-stay emails whereby you can include links to where you can be found on popular review sites. Speaking of review sites, take the opportunity to highlight your property as a family-friendly one, as kindly suggested by TripAdvisor. And don’t forget to use social media tools to track what is being said about you online and then respond appropriately.

We recently blogged about offering personalized stays for guest retention and this comes into play when marketing yourself toward families as well. A recent trend involves offering kid-centric activities, for example: the Four Seasons Hotel Boston invites guests’ children to raid the kitchen fridge on Saturday nights; Inn of the Anasazi Santa Fe offers kid cooking classes; and the Fairmont Lake Louise has a Pajama Party that includes a movie, crafts and rock climbing. These are all activities that can be implemented without major investments. While it is great to offer kid-centric activities, don’t forget the moms and dads as packages and activities that include fun for the whole family are also popular.

WebRezPro offers a group bookings feature that makes it easy to book multiple rooms at once on one reservation. Why is this important in attracting families? Consider families traveling with multiple generations that want to stay in separate rooms but want to book together. Properties with special event space may also want to market themselves to the family reunion sector.