TLRA-Hotels leads luxury boutique hotels into creating a strong brand reputation that justifies pricing, trains staff members how to increase revenues by upselling guests and promoting add-on services, introduces management to advanced revenue management techniques, and vigilantly maintains the online brand reputation of the hotel.

(TRAVPR.COM) USA - September 24th, 2011 - ATLANTA, 26 September 2011: The Lilian Raji Agency, a strategic marketing and public relations agency specialized in building brand preference between luxury buyers and luxury companies, unveils today a new specialty practice, TLRA-Hotels for Luxury Boutique Hotels. A joint partnership with tourism and hospitality firm, Benson Consulting Agency, TLRA-Hotels leads luxury boutique hotels into creating a strong brand reputation that justifies pricing, trains staff members how to increase revenues by upselling guests and promoting add-on services, introduces management to advanced revenue management techniques, and vigilantly maintains the online brand reputation of the hotel.

Through services provided by TLRA-Hotels, each hotel staff member becomes adept at creating a luxury experience that encourages guests to indulge in add-on services. They’re presented with small yet powerful actions that form emotional bonds between guests and the hotel; advised how to subtly encourage positive reviews on such sites as TripAdvisor; and given methods to prevent a negative review by an unhappy guest.

Senior management learn advanced pricing and revenue management techniques that help predict customer response to changes in price, as they are shown how to set the highest possible rates against their competitive set and still maintain the maximum possible occupancy. Future demand is accurately forecasted, inventory is better managed and dependency on OTAs becomes less and less.

Additionally, the hotel is pre-sold in the minds of guests prior to reservations as The Lilian Raji Agency’s public relations division builds relationships on the hotel’s behalf with leading press, bloggers, influencers, and tastemakers. Opportunities are secured to have the most respected authoritative voices in the press and online media world become familiar with the property and encourage positive advocacy on their far reaching podiums, driving traffic directly to the hotel’s website.

And with the increased power of the social online world able to shape impressions of a hotel, vigilant awareness is maintained of discussions being held online about partner hotels, with the team gently stepping in when necessary to correct erroneous information. Reputation management is of foremost importance as the TLRA team works strategically to create brand preference in the minds of luxury travelers before, during and after their stay.

“In my many years in the hotel and tourism industry, public relations was always seen as a separate function from the hotel revenue side of the business”, said Cindy Morris, Managing Principal of Benson Consulting Agency. “In reality, a good public relations program makes it easier to derive the best RevPAR as a solid reputation and excellent reviews help justify pricing and minimizes the use of OTAs. TLRA-Hotels ensures that sales, marketing and public relations are working together so that your hotel can see a healthier bottom line.”

Added Lilian Raji, President of The Lilian Raji Agency: “Far too often, programs are enacted that don’t take into account the needs of other areas. What we’re doing for boutique hotels is ensuring monies invested in PR and marketing show a return on P/L statements. We’re delighted to be working with such an accomplished tourism and hospitality industry veteran as Cindy Morris to offer hotel partners a 360 degree approach that uses Cindy’s extensive background in hotel sales and marketing and our expertise in luxury marketing and public relations to reduce the influence of OTAs, help drive traffic directly to hotel websites, and position hotels to establish the most ideal RevPAR against their competitive set.”

For more information about TLRA-Hotels, please contact The Lilian Raji Agency at (646) 789-4427 or hotels@lmrpr.com or visit www.lilianraji.com/luxuryhotels.

ABOUT BENSON CONSULTING AGENCY
Benson Consulting Agency is a Strategic Marketing Consulting Firm for Tourism and Hospitality organizations founded by Cindy Morris. Cindy’s decade of experience as a top hotel and tourism executive includes luxury hotel operations and sales training at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston; sales leadership at EF Educational Tours that yielded $1.2 million in bookings during her tenure; and senior executive positions at American Express, resulting in 201% YOY increase in her division of the non-covered travel agency market.

Cindy has served as Director of Sales at the Hilton Garden Inn, where her sales incentives programs generated $850,000 and 7,000 room nights in bookings, a 20% increase YOY. She achieved and maintained Platinum Status for the property within White Lodging Services for reaching 128.2% RevPAR index; and was awarded 2008 Most Improved Profitability Award by Apple REIT 7 for increasing house profits by 5.7% YOY and the 2008 Shining Apple Hotel of the Year Award. She’s also served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hotel Indigo West End, where she increased market share by 30% in the first six months as she developed, managed and oversaw business transient relationships with local corporate and national accounts using marketing strategies that enhanced overall brand recognition while highlighting the appeal of the property for special events.

Through Benson Consulting Agency, Cindy continues to bring her focus on luxury and hospitality to drive revenues and enhance the client experience. She partners now with The Lilian Raji Agency to offer luxury boutique hotel clients access to her experience and commitment to service.

ABOUT THE LILIAN RAJI AGENCY
We at The Lilian Raji Agency learned many years ago that selling luxury is far different than selling all other kinds. While many will speak of exclusivity and high prices to justify a luxury brand, we believe what actually sells a luxury product is the emotional connection the luxury buyer has with the brand.

Our obligation to you is to help you fully engage luxury buyers. Our objective is to create an attractive brand image that transforms one time sales into multiple purchases throughout many, many years by a devoted customer.

Because of our origins in luxury retail sales, we know the luxury buyer better than most other agencies, and maintain our knowledge of what is currently motivating luxury buying by speaking often with our friends in luxury sales - the people who work directly with your customers and provide their expertise as part of our Influencer Consortium.

We also understand what your sales team needs in order to do their job well. In fact, we insist on communicating regularly with your sales team to gain their feedback and hear what their accounts are telling them. Some agencies are afraid to connect with the sales department – but we understand our absolute value to you is measured by your P/L statement.

Our expertise lies at the intersection of where sales, marketing and public relations meet. It’s where our insight helps you sell more to luxury buyers. Learn more about us at www.lilianraji.com.

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