Don’t worry. We haven’t gone slightly mad and forgotten how to spell. At Umi, we’re all about self-empowerment for independent hospitality establishments, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. There’s no madness behind our plain and simple method; let us break it down for you:
So – Social:
To pave your path to direct booking success is to generate high social awareness, basically get yourself online it costs nothing to set up a Facebook & Twitter account. No one can book with you if they don’t know where or who you are unfortunately we’ve gotten into the habit of ‘Googling’ a business beforehand as we value our time too precious to waste.
Lo – Local:
For a hypothetical situation you’re a restaurant sitting cosily in between a Pizza Express & KFC, you’ve got the prime location but the daily specials is a creative mash-up of ‘Gourmet Fried Chicken Pizza’. Don’t try to fit in with an industry when it’s all about standing out, think of the locals about what they would like and not about what you think it should be.
Mo – Mobile:
Lastly but not least be mobile! We spend more time on our phones than we do actually talking to one another face-to-face, as anti-social as it sounds its very true. The internet quite literally in our hands technology has gone vastly beyond the point, of having a “that’ll do” basic website. If you’ve got one make it mobile a simple conversion will make it clear to your clients that you understand them before even knowing them, as it’s a safe bet that they’re on their iPhone whilst on the dreaded commute.
In summary it’s just about mixing the traditional hospitality values with modern technology, old-school bankers made the jump into the tech world and have never looked back! Change doesn’t have to be scary, embrace the modern craze and see what all the fuss is about for yourself.