We have already talked about the importance of pet-friendly places especially when it comes to hotels. Now, as expected, with the arrival of summer holidays, hotels will have a large influx of families with children on board. So even if your target audience isn’t families, it is a good idea to take advantage of the season and prepare to receive the smaller members of your clientele.
When it comes to vacationing for parents with children, the choice of hotel becomes very important, so here are some ideas you can use at your hotel to make a family experience more enjoyable and entertaining.
- Security. This is one of the main characteristics parents take into account when booking a hotel for their family. Some areas where you can improve the safety of your hotel and make it childproof, could possibly be a lifeguard in the pool if you have one as well as secured windows and protected outlets.
- Wifi. Always at the top of the must-have lists for hotels. Fast and reliable wifi is very important for teenagers.
- Family activities. Sometimes parents are left without ideas about what to do with their children during the holidays, so offer family activities such as excursions, picnics, trekking if your hotel is in the countryside or perhaps other entertainment like an outdoor cinema.
- Sports or games. Preferably something that children can do for themselves without needing supervision such as ping pong tables, table football or bikes. In this way parents can enjoy some «free time» as well.
- Friendliness. The attitude of the staff is very important when it comes to families. It is important that your personnel is trained to serve the smallest guests since these require special type of attention.
- Back to basics. Provide toys for all ages, board games or even video games designed for families.
- Added value. If your hotel is small and you don’t have much space to offer family activities, be creative and make agreements with sites of local interest such as water parks, theme parks, interactive museums, bike rentals, so you can offer extra services to your guests. Other types of services that are in great demand for this type of traveller is breakfast included, free wifi, free parking, early check-in or late check-out, among others.
If your hotel is already identified as Child Friendly you can request to join http://children-friendly.com, a platform dedicated to grouping and certifying the accommodations worldwide that are part of this category, and make it easier for the client to find the right accommodation for their family, while at the same time you as a hotelier will enjoy greater exposure to your target audience.
Also keep in mind that it is not necessary to use a large part of your budget. By implementing only some of these suggested small changes in your facilities and services you will be prepared for Summer Family Holidays.
