The impending opening of the 500 room Royalton in St. Lucia can be utilized by other hotels and resorts on the island to their own benefit.
Some predictions:
- Additional carrier capacity will be added and since the Royalton is such a strong brand in Canada you’ll likely see the seats come from that region.
- You can safely assume that the Royalton St. Lucia will be promoting their new property to their market at low / at cost rates during opening.
- You can safely assume that summer specials will be a popular promotional angle for the Royalton to target the family segment.
What you should do about it: Tag along!
For mid-sized and boutique resorts without the marketing budget of mega-resorts, the Royalton advertising in a market that you currently don’t market in isn’t detrimental to you. The marketing of St. Lucia by Royalton in Canada will increase interest in the island as a whole, which is an indirect benefit to everyone else there.
Take a look at your competitive set and see if they’ve made inroads into the Canadian market. Consider making inroads yourself based on your unique selling points and consider marketing to Canadians so that once, if my predictions are correct, demand for St. Lucia from Canada increases and the airlines follow suit, you’ll have a part of that market share.
Get in touch here or at hello@coralrange.com.
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