Spa Hut Hotel: how to stand out in a highly competitive market
Hotel business in Ukraine is highly competitive. In order to grow, one has to work up a sweat. The founders of Spa Hut recreation complex in Truskavets know how to make their establishment attractive for guests and have a good occupancy rate throughout the year. We asked the spa hotel’s manager Natalia Dudova about the secrets of their business.
Spa Hut received the first guests in 2008. They were impressed by the hotel’s unusual design: a lot of green plants were all over the premise. It seemed like somewhere in the tropics. The interior design used light pastel colors, which add the sense of tranquility and harmony. And the effect is amplified by the variety of spa programs and procedures: for weight loss, for detoxification, massages of various types, cosmetological and aquatic procedures. After all, the complex was named “Spa Hut” for a reason. The hotel’s pricing policy is quite loyal: the accommodation price starts from 1300 hryvnias per room, and procedures from 400 hryvnias.
Seasonality: to be or not to be
Many hotel and recreation complexes feel the effect of seasonality. But Natalia Dudova says that Spa Hut has enough guests throughout the year.
“We provide services that enjoy demand during both warm and cold seasons. Our average occupancy rate is 82%. The biggest influx of guests is, surely, in summertime and in winter, starting from mid-December and until March. Truskavets is located between Bukovel and Lviv, so many people traveling to skiing resorts in winter stop at our place. Moreover, if they travel by car, they can stay at our hotel and drive to Bukovel to ski. Don’t be surprised – our prices are much more loyal than over there,” Spa Hut manager explains.
“We continuously expand the range of our services, introducing new procedures and changing the restaurant’s menu. Our guests can try various dishes of Transcarpathian and Western Ukrainian cuisine. They like this choice. Our team keeps a close eye on the novelties appearing abroad, and when we find something interesting, we begin implementing it at our complex,” Natalia shares their secrets.
About the impact from the pandemic
The hotel business felt the most acute impact from quarantine restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Rooms in Spa Hut remained empty for several months. But that was not the reason for locking the hotel down.
“During the quarantine, when all establishments were closed, we did renovation work, prepared a new menu, analyzed our pricing policy. A part of our team worked online from home, developing and launching advertising campaigns, preparing a new menu for our restaurant, and were delivering ready meals in Truskavets,” Natalia Dudova recalls, being happy that they were able to retain their entire staff of 55 persons. For a hotel business, personnel is the cornerstone.
During the post-quarantine period, the hotel cannot operate “at full speed”. Not because the demand is low, for there is a lot of people who want to go there. But the Health Ministry’s recommendations state that not more than 50% of the total room space can be occupied. The hotel abides by these recommendations.
“Today, our restaurant operates in a normal mode by observing social distancing; there are tables next to it, where our guests can eat. We opened an additional summer terrace to avoid crowding. Because of the number of restrictions, we had to cancel the buffet line and switch to meal complexes,” Spa Hut manager talks about specifics of working in the conditions of pandemic.
Answering the question whether they have an action plan in case the quarantine stays in place for a while, our interlocutor said: “We are continuously working on developing new products depending on the situation. We have something for this case, too. Everything will depend on the situation in our region and on what will be permitted under these conditions. You have to understand that coronavirus affects, first of all, the psychological state of people. Constantly feeling tension and stress, they want to escape from the large city closer to nature, recreate and improve immunity. Therefore, we will work on meeting these needs.
“Describing the situation in the language of numbers, the number of clients since the beginning of summer has declined by 30-40% comparing to the similar period of 2019. We attribute that not to the worsening financial condition of people but to restrictions which were in effect in our region in early summer and which remain in place today. There is demand for recreation and spa procedures, but we often have to decline requests, because we are subjected to restrictions on the occupancy of rooms imposed by the government due to epidemics.”
About promotion
To promote one’s services in a highly competitive market, one has to have a powerful marketing and the maximal automation of processes. In this respect, Spa Hut has succeeded. Regardless of the situation, be it a quarantine or the next crisis, the hotel generates and launches new advertising campaigns. The maximal utilization of Facebook instruments and Google Ads is simply a “must have”.
Recently, they introduced electronic registration of guests, so now, you can complete a standard paper form for check-in at home or on the way to the hotel complex. It accelerates the check-in process and eliminates queues and crowding when several guests arrive at the same time. All that allows to maintain the hotel’s occupancy regardless of season.
In addition, Spa Hut has a platform where all tasks for personnel are recorded and the accomplishment status of these tasks can be checked. It’s very convenient, and it helps optimize the workflow.
Working with the Bank
“We have been working with Raiffeisen Bank Aval for almost twelve years. We consider it one of the safest banks in Ukraine. When we just opened in 2008 and were looking for a financial partner, Raiffeisen Bank Aval offered credit products for our business on very loyal terms. It was an important reason for us at that time. For the time being, to be sure, we are able to grow by investing our own funds, but the understanding that we have an option which we can use at any time adds confidence. When we signed a cooperation agreement with booking.com, only Raiffeisen Bank Aval was able to offer us the service of charging prepayment to guests. The support desk, which works perfectly, is worth separate mentioning. The client-bank is good. The provision of expendable materials, for example, a tape for the cash register, is a pleasant bonus,” Natalia Dudova listed the advantages of working with the bank.
Spa Hut in figures
- 12 years in business
- 55 persons on staff
- 45 rooms
- Room prices start from 1300 UAH
- 12 various procedures
- Prices for spa procedures start from 400 UAH
