MC Hostel is a hostel situated in midtown, Nashville. The hostel consists of two different businesses: rental apartments and hostel services.
The rental clients are in large part international students, many of which are short term residents. True to its name, the MC Hostel is very popular among the music community.
The problem we were faced with was to find the best way to attract new customers to MC Hostel or other creative ideas to increase revenue.
1) Use former residents to market the hostel and rental services
Former residents can be given commission if they can find / attract new customers. We can create a database to register all former residents.
2) Change the decoration of the hostel
Modernize the hostel to make it more aligned with the musical theme in the name. Some ideas are to buy a fixed phone which looks like a guitar, buy a table which looks like a piano etc. The hostel can also enlist the help of local interior design students to modernize the hotel. The goal of this idea is to make the MC Hostel a must-see in Nashville, which in turn will attract new customers to the hostel. This idea will give the hostel a platform to differentiate from other hostels.
3) Rental of gaming devices
Even though this idea doesn’t attract more customers or even provide a lot of extra revenue, it helps enhance the overall experience of the hostel. This will make current residents more content with their stay, which in turn might create positive images of the hostel.
This is a very hard project as the overall stigma placed on a hostel is bad. IN Europe hostels are viewed as a common means of lodging, but in the US I wasn’t even sure I knew we had them. I think you should look to do things to improve the equity of the hostel brand and educate consumers on what a hostel is and how their benefits. After that, I think the gaming device rental is a really good idea. Perhaps instead of rental the hostel could create a community space that encourages the residents to come together and network and play.
ReplyDeleteAs we have learned in our marketing courses, some of the most effective advertising comes from personal testimonials. For this reason, I think solution #1 is the best way proposed to attract new customers.
ReplyDeleteIf it hasn't already been done, I would also encourage the hostel to contact and forge relationships with the study abroad offices of schools with strong programs.
Hostels are utilized by traditionally transient people, in need of temporary lodging at rock-bottom prices. I think that any idea (#2 or #3) that incurs additional costs would be ill-advised. Instead, focus on #1 and partner with music websites that are geared towards artists that are trying to break into the industry.
ReplyDeleteFocus on Brand Equity...build a social network on Ning that gets people signed up and talking about American Hostels. This will drive tourism in this city because a circuit will be developed. Word of mouth. Angie's List in another I would use.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the previous comment in that #1 is your best idea, it is for different reason. I think that all three ideas are great ideas, but that the most important issue that needs addressing first is the marketing so that more people are aware of this opportunity, and then focus on improving the actual hostel itself.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in seeing what you all decide - good luck!
I hate to be negative but the greatness of hostels is the cheapness of them. Which means you need a cheap way to get to the city where the hostel is located. There isn't a great commuter train network in the US that reaches Nashville (cheaply) so I don't know how travelers who would normally stay in a hostel would get to Nashville. Now, if that was not an issue, I would think the hostel would be a great idea. I would maybe consider not building a hostel but working out a deal with a hotel to make one of their floors like a hostel when its not full occupied (maybe that hotel could get tax credits or somethin for their service?). Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteAll great ideas focused toward client and revenue improvement. It is a good suggestion to start from your target audience - students to promote to other students. Since the hostel is located in the music city, many tourist that come to Nashville use travel agencies like Travelocity, Orbitz etc. to book rooms. Listing “self promoting” hostel’s name on such web sites would be effective way to attract more customers. I think travel agencies charge very little for room reservations ($5-$10 per room).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that former residents recommendation is the way to go, but a 'commission' would be very hard to actually execute (and very easy for MCH to say that they will do it; and then not actually do it). MCH needs very good WOM (I know I sought out certain hostels in Europe based on recs from other guests while traveling). The key to those recs was how much they loved their stay based on cleanliness, service, amenities, extras (laundry, food, community events, connection to local hot spots). Improve the stay, the WOM will improve too. Evening guitar hero challenges in the lobby would be great for nashville
ReplyDeleteAdding on the Gaming device idea, it could offer free bagels and orange juice every morning.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that I have never heard of the Music City Hostel. It sounds like an issue of basic awareness for the business. Radio ads and print ads in local publications like the Nashville Scene would probably be effective.
ReplyDeleteDoes MCH do anything to plug visitors into the city and events? I'm guessing that when people travel to Nashville and stay at MCH they are going to remember more about the experiences they have here and less about the room they stay in. Maybe MCH should focus on how to get its visitors plugged in with CURRENT Nashvillians to ensure that have a great time while they are here. That way, when they return home they will tell their friends stories about the awesome time they had in Nashville...and, oh by the way, the great hostel they found.
ReplyDeleteI have never even heard of the Music City Hostel - who knew?! I think the one thing you have to do is increase the awareness that this place even exists!! With that, I think you could find very cheap means of doing this - adding to Pat's list, you could also list it with local apartment agencies so that they could list it as an available residence.
ReplyDeleteSince these are so cheap to implement, I would also recommend thematizing it with things that say Musis City. Music should be playing in the lobby and a piano should be there as well. Perhaps you could get some of the local bands to come and play there on a regular night of the week (if it would not disturb the residents).
One other idea: place advertisements in the restroom of many of the local playing spots. Again, it is usually fairly cheap and it does get great exposure.
This is an interesting concept. You are on to something with number 2, but you may want to think of something that is more helpful to the patrons. What about a special room for the visiting bands to practice. Maybe they could sell band accessories/equipment for visiting bands. Also, you may want to think of a viral campaign by taking advantage of Eventful or a targeted music social networking website. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThey need to lose the name Hostel! All I can think of is kids being killed down in a dungeon.
ReplyDeleteChanging the decoration to support the "music" theme is interesting, but instead of guitar shaped phones and piano shaped tables, make music part of the experience! For example, some hotels have ipod docks in the rooms, which would be a logical point of interest for your target consumers. Could also create a lounge area to actually host live music performances. You could bring in revenue from the food/beverages at the lounge, plus a small cover charge. Get enough buzz around the new independent artists who are playing there, and Nashville may come...
ReplyDeleteInteresting client - I've never heard of this place despite 10 years in Nashville. Looks pretty cool (too bad its so close to "Prison Ave" ;)
ReplyDeleteI like your idea #1. It seems to already go pretty far in this direction as it posts people's pictures (and even ID #s in some cases). http://www.musiccityhostel.com/testimonials.html
It seems that your #2 and #3 presume that the hostel is not attracting new people because of it's decor or amenities. I would agree if this were a hotel, but you have a more fundamental constraint in that this is a hostel. Said differently: Is RonL losing customers once they come by and don't see the games or guitar-phone that might close the deal for them? Or is it the problem that they are not getting enough people interested in the first place ((because they don't understand (or like) what a hostel represents)). This would be fairly easy to test with data that RonL probably has.
(While your are talking to Ron, tell him that posting people's full names is bad form!) But since he has done so you can probably email some of them to do research on them. Get their sense of why they chose the hotel, how they found out about it, and what they did or didn't like.
Given the small size (at least as I judge it from the web) the place doesn't look like it can handle a whole lot of traffic. What's the capacity constraint? Be sure you don't create a bigger problem for RonL (if suddenly 500 people traveled here assuming they could stay there).
Finally, be sure to consider the quality of the clientelle that you may be attracting with your efforts. What makes hostel a great place is that it is diverse yet safe. If it is too high on the radar of the general riff-raff it may lose some of its identity as a place from where you can gain safe entry into a foreign environment.
Anyway, Just my 2 cents! Good work and good luck!!
Given that many of the hostel's clientele are musicians, perhaps they would do well to cater to their specific needs. For instance, maybe there is a garage space that could be offered to their guests as a practice facility. I would guess that their long-term apartment rentals often go to musicians who come to Nashville looking to play in the local bars and break in to the music business. The hostel could market to these customers by promoting themselves among the bars and record companies who would then provide referrals.
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