Take Care of the Nickels and Dimes…and the Dollars will look after themselves

So says Peter Wagener, owner of the prestigious 20 room Hotel Parisi, located in La Jolla, CA, 10 minutes north of San Diego on California’s majestic Pacific Coast. Since joining Small Luxury Hotels in 2005, his sales philosophy has been simplified…partner with the best, and give them the space to let them do what they need to do. However…demand results!

“Our guest services team is great at fulfilling the ultimate guest experience. We built a great product, have a great location, and have assembled a great team to run the operations. We also have very happy guests who return whenever they come to the greater San Diego area” says Wagener. At issue, is that a small hotel does not have a lot of money, time, energy, or expertise dedicated to “selling” the hotel. “In today’s world, there are a myriad of distribution options and disparate technology to support sales. That why we chose to partner with Small Luxury Hotels in 2005, and that’s why we expanded that line of thinking by selecting OZone Strategic Marketing to develop and implement our sales strategy”.

OZone is a small, independent team, much like ours. They help us to focus on sales, distribution and pricing…24/7, day in and day out. My team focuses on the guest, and OZone handles the rest!

We first learned of OZone at the November 2004 SLH Marketing for the Americas meeting in New York. They did a short and compelling presentation on Revenue Management that just made sense to me as an owner / operator. It forced me to think about how our team was managing this ultimately important sales task, not as “strategic sales thinkers”, but as operational folks filling in when we could spare the time. We clearly needed to change, and OZone presented a very simple approach that outlined exactly how we could grab the bull, and run. We spoke on and off through 2005, and I decided to give them a shot at helping us to grow our business in January 2006. I knew what I wanted done, but I was not comfortable that my people had the time to dedicate every single day.

As it has turned out, my decision to partner with OZone, has engineered a substantial gain in my revenues in just three short months…much more than I thought was possible, particularly in that period of time. It proves to me that they carry the experience to be able to read the marketplace and set us up quickly on a strategic direction that produces immediate results. Why would I keep them otherwise?

OZone has produced a 10:1 payback on my marketing dollar, despite the market re-bound, which has more than paid for their services. We are growing in leaps and bounds ahead of the local market, and as a result I have increased my profit expectations substantially for this fiscal year. I now have a partner who I know can drive my revenues to achieve what I always believed was possible with this product in this location.

Our focus now with the team in place at the hotel is the guest…just as it should be. My managers are on the floor, talking, greeting, servicing. They are no longer stuck in their office, plugging away at a computer terminal to update availability and pricing. We have a quick conference call each morning with the OZone team who have already analyzed yesterday’s sales, updated all of our distribution systems with any new or revised strategies, and they walk through exactly what they did and why. I have a revised forecast for both operational planning and finance and they outline to me what is expected in the local markets and why we should be pushing here or there. It’s a perfect fit for me and my team!

OZone Strategic Marketing Background

OZone Strategic Marketing, LLC is a results driven independent consulting firm with expertise in the fields of Hospitality Sales and Marketing, Distribution, Revenue and Pricing Management. In 2005, OZone created and captured over $30,000,000 in incremental revenue for its distinguished client base of over 30 Hotels representing close to 10,000 Rooms. Through extensive market research and planning, sales re-engineering, advanced revenue management and pricing tactics, OZone has been able to introduce new business processes that have added immediate value. Each term project is designed to continue providing value to the hotel and survive long after each engagement has been completed.

Jeffrey Osborne - OZone's Managing Director, has a wealth of global experience with both large and small hotels. He has been instrumental in developing full scale revenue growth strategies for large companies like Disneyland Paris (7 Hotels - 7,000 Rooms), Loews Hotels (17 Hotels, 5,500 Rooms), Millennium Hotels and Resorts (17 US based Hotels, 8,000 Rooms).

OZone has been just as adept at smaller independent hotels and resorts including the 326 room Langham Hotel in Boston, MA, the 43 room Relais & Chateaux Morrison House in Alexandria, VA, and the 139 room Wall Street District Hotel in downtown New York City. In 2004-2005, OZone helped re-position the world famous 199 room Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, CA and their sister hotels, Casa del Mar, and the newly opened Hotel Andalucia in Santa Barbara.

OZone now brings their wealth of expertise to bear in association with Small Luxury Hotels as a preferred marketing service. Ed Donaldson, VP Marketing and Sales for SLH in the America’s, says, “I have known Jeff for more than 6 years, and had the pleasure of closely working together in the past on hotels in the London, UK market. The work that he performed for Blackstone Real Estate on behalf of their 5 Savoy branded hotels was short of astonishing. In the matter of 6-8 months, Jeff’s re-positioning and revenue management savvy changed the direction of that group of hotels at a time when the London hotel scene was literally falling down.

I asked Jeff to bring his talents to present at our Americas Meeting in Nov 2004, and also had him placed on the preliminary schedule for the Annual Global Meeting in London this past November 2005. We will continue to collaborate with OZone on any and all Revenue Management matters, and I would strongly urge our hotels to listen to what Jeff has to say. I’m confident in his professionalism, expertise and experience and I highly recommend his organization to our affiliate hotels as a cost effective solution to augment their sales strategies.

For more information on OZone Strategic Marketing, LLC And the exclusive offer to SLH Hotels
OZone Offer to SLH Hotels

Please call 203.348.3022
or e-mail:
info@ozonemarketing.com