Open Air Business August/September 2018

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GLAMPSITES more and more people are using social media as a customer service hotline and they expect responses straight away. They used to say that every missed phone call is a missed opportunity and the same now applies to social media. If you are able to get back to someone with an answer quickly then they will likely book with you and not move on to a competitor. KEEPING AN EYE ON REVIEWS One of the downsides of social media is that, thanks to sites like TripAdvisor, everyone is a critic The first thing to keep in mind is that everyone’s expectations and standards are different. The second is that people like to talk. Word of mouth marketing is such a powerful tool and can make or break your reputation. One visitor might be perfectly happy with their experience and leave a five star review, while another who has an identical stay might have been expecting the toilets to be closer and only give you three. Again, it comes down to knowing your audience, pre-empting their expectations, communicating properly with them and ensuring they know exactly what they are going to get when they book. I’ll talk a bit more about that later in this article. My advice when it comes to managing your PR is to keep on top of reviews on sites such as Google, TripAdvisor and Facebook and respond as quickly as you can – not just to the bad ones, but to the good ones as well. Address the issue (if there is one) and aim to take the conversation offline. Ask the customer to email you with any further queries and, once the issue is resolved, politely ask them if they will take their review down. If you leave it too long to respond then it puts more wind in their sails and gives them extra time to tell people about their negative experiences with you. COLLABORATING WITH OTHER LOCAL BUSINESSES Collaborations are a brilliant way of expanding your reach, creating a newsworthy story and increasing your visitor experience. By teaming up with other local businesses, you are not only tapping into their market and helping to promote their services, you are supporting the local economy and offering something that your competitors might not be. A great way of collaborating is by working with a nearby pub that you know does great food. Ask them if they will offer a discount to visitors staying with you if you promote them in your welcome pack. You could extend the idea to local attractions as well. Alternatively, if you put together a gift basket for your visitors or have a small shop on site, stock products from local producers such as bottles of ale, meats and cakes, and ask the producers if they will stock a few of your leaflets in their shops. Working with the local community is something that is often overlooked but it is just as important that local business owners and residents know what you do – you never know when they might need to recommend a place to stay nearby. Collaborating with other local businesses and supporting each other creates a wonderful community spirit - something that will come across to visitors. CREATING A FIRST-CLASS VISITOR EXPERIENCE I have left visitor experience to last as it incorporates all the points above. The tourism industry is growing at a phenomenal rate and it is not always enough to just provide a field and some accommodation. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Megan Allen is the founder of Rural Roots Media and specialises in rural tourism PR. She runs an online course for small business owners who would like to manage their own PR. For more information visit www.rural-roots. co.uk or find her at the Glamping Show – stand 107. People’s expectations of what glamping is has evolved as the industry has grown, and with the popularity of social media it is now the sites with the best visitor experiences that are steaming ahead. As discussed above, PR is about building and maintaining a reputation and most of that is done through word of mouth and recommendations from other people. People buy from people, so by creating a unique experience that your visitors will tell their friends about, you are onto a winner. Think back to those emotive images. They are all based around creating a great experience – whether it is a fun environment for families, a cosy space for couples or simply a brilliant welcome pack that has lots of great information and offers in it. At the end of the day, you want your visitors to be sharing photos and videos with their friends and leaving you excellent reviews because they are your biggest PR asset and the way to do that is to offer everything that they expect of you and more. Again, you can do this by pre-empting their expectations. Try recommending the accommodation closest to the toilets for families with small children or people with disabilities. As I mentioned above, it is the little things that can make all the difference. 52 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
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Page 5 and 6: Holiday Park Moves into Glamping TH
Page 7 and 8: PRODUCT United Nations Project Paki
Page 9 and 10: CampPlus Merges with Finkota CAMPPL
Page 11 and 12: Glampsite Specific Booking System S
Page 13 and 14: INDUSTRY NEWS Festival & Outdoor Ev
Page 16 and 17: NEW TO THE UK Come and meet us at t
Page 18 and 19: INDUSTRY NEWS The Showman’s Show
Page 20 and 21: Avoid a messy situation with Metro
Page 22 and 23: FUNCTION VENUES caterers that we ha
Page 24 and 25: FUNCTION VENUES asking questions to
Page 26 and 27: 7 & 8 NOV 2018 NEC BIRMINGHAM COUNT
Page 28 and 29: FUNCTION VENUES 3 Refresh your visu
Page 30 and 31: Silent Power for every event and of
Page 32 and 33: FUNCTION VENUES Getting to the buye
Page 34 and 35: FUNCTION VENUES PRODUCT IN FOCUS Fl
Page 37 and 38: GLAMPSITES CASE STUDY Atlantic Surf
Page 39 and 40: GLAMPSITES We chose to make our own
Page 41 and 42: WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 41
Page 43 and 44: GLAMPSITES OUT & ABOUT with Kate Mo
Page 45 and 46: ZERO MAINTENANCE WHY CHOOSE OUR CAM
Page 47 and 48: GLAMPSITES TreeHOUSES Real life exa
Page 49 and 50: Creative Partners Alternative Build
Page 51: GLAMPSITES GETTY IMAGES DIY PR How
Page 56 and 57: Timbertipi a natural choice to inve
Page 58 and 59: 95 Watermill Description: 95 Waterm
Page 60 and 61: GLAMPSITES The West Field Glamping
Page 62 and 63: TRADITION SINCE 1896 WE MANUFACTURE
Page 64 and 65: Carefully designed 100% cotton canv
Page 66 and 67: EVENTS How does the relationship wo
Page 68 and 69: EVENTS What challenges have you fac
Page 70 and 71: EVENTS CSR Strategy In the final pa
Page 72 and 73: EVENTS GETTY IMAGES Event Sponsorsh
Page 74 and 75: EVENTS Getting it Right Manage your
Page 76 and 77: Sandown Park 26 - 27 September 2018
Page 78 and 79: Spot light A roundup of products fo
Page 80 and 81: Classified Directory BARKER Marquee
Page 82 and 83: DAY IN THE LIFE 24 Hours with… Le

Open Air Business August/September 2018

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