Press
How Curator Helped Six Noble House Properties Set Themselves Apart From The Competition With Weather Protection
Jul 16, 2024
With travelers increasingly seeking outdoor experiences and many vacation destination decisions being made based on an expectation of favorable weather, hotel operators are looking for ways to enhance their offerings and increase guest satisfaction, even when factors such as weather fall short of expectations.
Curator Hotel & Resort Collection, a collection of unique independent properties where travelers come to delight in the details, has been one of the industry leaders in anticipating and testing new technologies and innovations that can help hotels meet evolving guests' needs. Hotel members benefit from the power of scale tapping into the industry expertise of the Curator team and leveraging negotiated terms with preferred vendors like Sensible Weather focused on increasing profitability, enhancing operational efficiencies, and driving revenue opportunities.
Curator is among the first to understand the key role weather plays in a guest's experience—particularly, how it discourages advance bookings and encourages cancellations. With Sensible Weather, Curator members can now test the impact this guest offer has on boosting advanced direct bookings, driving incremental revenue, and increasing guest satisfaction.
"We are constantly looking for new and innovative products to bring to our member hotels and resorts," said Brent Hayhurst, Vice President of Program Development at Curator. “Weather has always impacted guest enjoyment and satisfaction with a hotel stay but until Sensible Weather, there wasn't any tangible solution or way to measure it.”
A founding member of Curator, Noble House Hotels & Resorts also recognized the opportunity and signed on as an early adopter, identifying six of their boutique resort properties to implement the Weather Guarantee. And thanks to the upfront integration work Curator initiated with their web-based booking engine partner, RevRaise, these hotels were able to easily add Sensible Weather's Guarantees to their booking flows with limited burden on resources and without integration expenses.
But first, what are Weather Guarantees?
With this perk, guests can pay a fee when booking to protect their stay against inclement weather. Sensible automatically reimburse up to their daily stay costs if the day-of forecast indicates rain any day of their trip.
Sensible covers this reimbursement in full. Hotels don't pay anything to use the service and even earn a revenue share from each Guarantee sold.
These six hotels are based in three locations—San Diego, Seattle, and Fort Lauderdale—with different climates that influence traveler expectations. Even so, all of the properties were impacted by the same two travel trends:
Travelers are increasingly seeking outdoor experiences, as Conde Nast's 2024 travel trends roundup shows. Thirty-five percent of the recommendations areoutdoor activities.
Weather is becoming more extreme and unpredictable across all regions.
TLDR—travelers want to be outside, but volatile weather puts their outdoor trips at risk.
"Guests were coming to our member hotels with plans to explore local surroundings or lounge by the pool, but their experiences are diminished by conditions such as rain or high heat and hotels are faced with the challenge as to how to deliver on an unforgettable stay," said Hayhurst.
An easy lay-up for Noble House Hotels & Resorts
Always looking for tech that enhances the guest experience, Curator enabled their member hotels to add weather protection to their booking engine. Now, hotels can turn on the Weather Guarantee feature in just a few minutes.
"We wanted to position the decision to add weather protection as an easy-to-implement solution to help our hotels meet and exceed guest expectations, even in the face of changing weather patterns," said Hayhurst.
Since implementing Weather Guarantees, the six Noble House properties have seen a notable increase in direct bookings, and a measurable 2% increase in booking conversion.
In addition to driving bookings, Weather Guarantees have generated extra revenue for the hotels and resorts through Sensible's revenue share model.
So far, the Noble House property teams are beyond happy with the results of this guest perk.
"Activating Sensible's Weather Guarantee in our RevRaise booking flow was a quick and easy way to enhance our guest experience and open a new ancillary revenue stream for our hotels," says George Allen, Area Director of Sales and Marketing at Noble House Hotels. "It's an easy lay-up for any hotel and can be flipped on in a single day."
Curator empowers hotels to compete with innovative tech
Curator's team believes every hotel, not just massive hospitality corporations, should use innovative tech to meet guests' needs. The company is constantly sourcing new hospitality solutions like Sensible’s Weather Guarantee to help their members stand out and gain more trust with guests.
"Offering Weather Guarantees showcases our innovative approach to hospitality as a South Florida resort property,” says TJ Pierri, General Manager at Pelican Grand Beach Resort. “We provide peace of mind that extends beyond sunny days, effectively ‘hurricane-proofing’ our guests’ experiences. This initiative not only boosts revenue and guest satisfaction by proactively addressing their needs but also ensures a seamless stay despite unpredictable weather.”
Media Inquiries:
Melanie Neff 305-677-3904 x23 (curatorpr@ciicpr.com)
For independent lifestyle owners and operators interested in joining Curator:
Jennifer Barnwell 240-507-1338 (jbarnwell@curatorhotelsandresorts.com)
Jenn Parks 240-660-9483 (jparks@curatorhotelsandresorts.com)
For companies and service providers interested in partnering with Curator:
Brent Hayhurst 240-660-9485 (bhayhurst@curatorhotelsandresorts.com)