Proactive and Positive attitude is resulting in business opporunities for hotels and client loyalty…. The Team at FindaConferenceVenue.com have conducted a survey of over 200 hotels in Ireland, asking them – have they? Will they? And where have they passed on the new 9% VAT rate?
Number of Hotels Surveyed – 216 Number responded – 77
How was the survey conducted? – online and on the phone. We called 125 hotels, sent 216 General Managers an email 52 responded on the phone, 25 online at – http://findaconferencevenue.polldaddy.com/s/EAEFE109CB6B06BB?p=1
The majority who participated in the survey have passed on the savings in the area of Food, Beverage and the Guestroom rate. The cost of a cup of tea or coffee is the main area that the reduction is not immediately being passed on in by some hotels (to Conference Groups for example); as for the sake of 11cent, (based on a price of €2.75) they have to reprint all their menus. This will be more gradually introduced.
Trend from the survey – What is most interesting to me is that the hotels attitude to the issue is key in determining what extra business can be generated from the reduction. For example – those that were the most willing to answer our questions and were taking a proactive approach to the issue, have generated good will with their customers and have generated extra business already.
Spotlight on Hotels Passing it on.. The Marriott Druids Glen, the Fitzgerald Woodlands Hotel Adare and the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel are the hotels that stand out and are managing the issue and turning it into a sales opportunity. Aileen Strachan – Director of Sales at the Marriott Druids Glen told us they contacted all their clients last month and let them know they are reducing the rates they had booked. Clients were very impressed with this proactive approach and it created such good will that it has resulted in more business for the hotel. The Woodlands House Hotel in Adare have given the VAT reduction top priority with one of the owners handling the project herself – Elaina Fitzgerald, has spent days contacting clients letting them know the good news. They believe it is a very positive move for the Irish Hotel Industry and it is up to each hotel to generate the business presented by the VAT reduction.
My husband is in the building industry and his comment was he would love the VAT rate to be reduced for his industry to help his rates be even more competitive.
The hotels that were not willing to participate in the survey or who were complaining about the extra work it has put on them, are the most negative and don’t believe it will help to generate more business. It just shows if you put a positive spin on everything, opportunities are made. Some hotels are taking each piece of business on a case by case basis to see if they can pass on the reduction – some are incorporating extra value for money in packages offered instead.
Advice from an expert on Hotels and Venues – Ciara Feely of FindaConferenceVenue.com – if you have an event booked, check with your hotel to ensure the reduction is being passed on. We are doing this on behalf of all our clients who have used our Venue Finding Service. The 5 questions we asked are below —
| Breakdown of answers to questions on the new VAT rate survey-77 respondants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | No | On a case by case basis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you reduced the VAT rate? | 77 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you passed the VAT reduction on to your customers in the area of food? | 73 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you passed the VAT reductions on to your customers in the area of guestrooms? | 66 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you passed the VAT on to your customers in the area of beverages (tea/coffee)? | 58 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Are you applying these reductions to business already booked? | 60 | 7 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you answered no -Do you plan to reduce the rates in the next month? | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Do you see the VAT reduction making a difference to business generated? | 47 | 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hotels who are passing it on that we spoke to……. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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