Even within the hospitality industry, it is important to reach out to other companies and suppliers and find ways to work together and help each other grow.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can increase your brand equity, increase sales volume and revenue, and add value to your guest offering.

Partnerships are a great way to position your hotel in the market and deliver the message you want to, such as luxury boutique, dog-friendly, or sustainable – this can be further expressed through the other brands that you decide to work with.

Ways to Deliver Partnerships

• Photoshoots and Filming – by allowing a company to use your premises for photo and video shoots, you are portraying a connection with that brand and their values. This can work well if the partner aligns with your message, and can provide you with valuable marketing assets in the form of images and video footage.

• Pop-Up Events –  host pop up events at the hotel for your brand partnerships. Joint events can be a great way to not just add a new revenue stream, but also attract a new audience to the hotel and show off your facilities. 

• Joint Competitions – 3^rd parties are always on the lookout for compelling competition prizes, and a weekend getaway at your hotel is just the ticket. But what do you get out of this? You get added exposure alongside a desirable brand, as well as the benefit of data collection and a new audience to market to.

• Team up with Local Events and Attractions to Offer Packages – Offer exclusive packages to those guests that attend nearby events and attractions, for example partner with a local festival and offer a ticket package that includes accommodation. This could help to increase capacity at quieter times of the year and add extra revenue streams.

• Utilise Local Suppliers – This is probably the most commonly used partnership for many hotels, seeking out local, quality food and beverage suppliers to showcase across your restaurants and bars.

Questions to Consider

When evaluating a partnership, there are some questions that need to be considered before you go ahead.

• Is it mutually beneficial? Partnerships only work if the pay-off is equal for both parties, this can only be done when the values of each company align. Are you a luxury establishment? Make sure your partner is held in the same esteem to ensure your partnership is beneficial.

• Partnerships are always worth testing first. Start off small and see the results you get from your partner activity; – so make sure you can measure the success of the partnership to evaluate and improve the offering/return moving forward.

• Are you able to reach the right audience? It is all well and good setting up a partnership with an exciting brand, but if their audience has no relevance to your business, then you may be wasting time and money on a partnership that isn’t beneficial. Especially in cases of data collection, where this data may not be valuable.

• Are you able to reach an untapped audience? One of the key benefits of partnerships is being able to reach an audience that was previously inaccessible, so one of the main considerations that should be made is the potential audience you could interact with as part of the partnership.

Consider your assets and think beyond the boundaries of your own hotel. By supporting the local community, empowering others, and reaching beyond your threshold, you too can bring in additional business and acknowledgement of wider brand values.