Interview with Ana Alonso, director and founder of Alma Tourism Consulting
Ana Alonso defines herself as a consultant for hoteliers at heart. Her project is undoubtedly linked to her passion for a type of hospitality and a sensitivity that puts her on the side of the small hotel, a hotel with charm and soul that she bridges the gap between the day-to-day running of its management and a constantly evolving technology.
In this new edition of our series of interviews dedicated to getting to know our partners and collaborators better, we talk to a professional who brings us closer to a type of hotel that often does not have easy access to the latest developments in technology. From here we continue to build bridges between technology and the hotel sector; commercial relationships, learning and collaboration to continue growing both at company and sector level.
What is Alma Tourism Consulting?
They define themselves as "an agency that offers strategic consulting services for charming hotels". Normally, these types of hotels do not have a marketing and distribution department, nor do they have the time and/or knowledge necessary to implement a marketing strategy or implement hotel technology. At alma, they are dedicated to analysing and helping the hotelier to get the most out of their hotel and their time.
What services do you offer from your consultancy?
Advice on marketing and distribution, hotel technology, assistance in the creation of the hotel website that achieves an increase in direct bookings and training are some of the services offered by Ana Alonso from her consultancy. In this sense, she collaborates with companies such as GuestPro for the creation of websites and also for channel manager, PMS or CRM. "We do the consultancy and recommend the technology that best suits the client and once chosen, we accompany the hotelier throughout the implementation and training," she explains.
According to Ana, it is very important for hotels like those of her clients to have good support. In this sense, she emphasises that "when it comes to selling technology, everyone is ready, but when it comes to providing follow-up, things get complicated".
On her Instagram account, Ana offers tutorials on distribution, marketing, hotel technology and tips to make life easier for hoteliers.
What should a small charming hotel take into account to have greater visibility and be competitive?
Ana tells us that it is clear to her that "technology can change a hotel's life", but she also says that she needs help to incorporate this technology. From social media marketing to loyalty through a minimal CRM, Ana has been able to detect the weaknesses of small hotels thanks to her experience as an account manager at the German company Escapio.
Having a good website to increase direct sales, and working on distribution to get the most out of Booking, are some of the keys. "Booking is not your enemy, it gets visibility for your hotel, but you must have strategies so that after discovering you there, they go to your website and book from there". Ana is clear that a small hotel cannot leave aside the big OTAs and that it is only difficult to be victorious.
According to Ana, for this type of hotel it is important to recognise what differentiates it from the rest, from the competition. She stresses how the hospitality and passion of the hotelier in this type of establishment has to be above all else. "They open the doors of their homes, they offer breakfasts with local produce in spectacular surroundings... but then they don't know how to manage the booking efficiently and they have very manual communication with the client.
She helps them to choose which technology is best for their business, as it is essential to improve and even more so when the hotelier has little time and staff to dedicate to some tasks in which technology can simplify their life.
Two types of fundamental support for the hotel
Ana Alonso stresses that the small charming hotel needs two types of support. On the one hand, making the decision of "which technology is going to help me in my business", in other words, choosing the technology partner. And the second is to "give them everything chewed over", to help and accompany them in the implementation process so that it is not so hard for the hotelier. This type of business is behind in digitisation, they don't have the time or qualified staff, and you can train them but they forget about it because it's not part of their day-to-day work. Ana does all this monitoring and implementation and also makes them think about the qualities of their hotel, what their competition is like, how to stand out and not forget how wonderful their project is and how to communicate it to their future guests.
What would your dream charming hotel be?
"I always dreamed of having my own little hotel, a place where travellers would feel especially happy. A hotel with just a few rooms and a view of the Atlantic. I would focus on local products, personalised service, care in all the details, and I would showcase the authenticity of the destination, all with a slow travel approach. Today I don't have that hotel, but I have many others, as I feel that each of the projects I manage is my own".
One of the things that has caused the pandemic is, according to Ana, that people went to the small hotel, avoided the big hotels, "many tried the experience and they are hooked".
Challenges for you and the charming hotels for 2022?
Ana is clear: "Training, that this type of hotelier opens their eyes, that they know where they want to go, which client they want to get, look for the potential of their hotel, make them think and make them think about how to reach their ideal client and implement technological tools with the aim of having more time to dedicate to what they do best: pampering the guest".
And about the latest news: "This could be a good season but we will have to wait as they may have to raise booking costs because of the war".
