On June 2nd, the day arrived and hotels countrywide opened their doors to welcome back valued guests for their summer getaway. The anticipation of hospitality re-opening has been contagious, as we worked with properties over the past weeks and months to plan for this milestone day.

A focus of the season ahead is that sentiment of enjoying an “Outdoor Summer”. Research shows that outdoor dining is high on the consumer checklist as they take their holiday at home this summer.

We have put together some tips for your al fresco hospitality product which we are delighted to share with you.

• Consider sharing your terrace dining options for the season ahead on your Brand Web. Include lots of nice images of the space and details of newly created menus to whet the consumer appetite for a visit.
• Keep in house guests up to date on al fresco dining options.  Include details on in-house promotional signage and electronic guest information. Bring this information to life with nicely taken images.
• Update your property description on OTA and third party website listings. Include details of your outdoor dinging offering.
• Be it sunny blue skies or soft rainy days, use engaging content to share your terrace dining activities on social media.
• If not already in place, consider the use of restaurant technology. This will deliver a seamless customer journey in reserving outdoor dining.
• We know that there has never been a more important time to support local. Highlight the story of local food and beverage producers who are featured on your menus.
• Innovate your outdoor hospitality product in any way you can. We have seen Food Trucks at various locations around the country, West Cork style street food and we can’t speak of innovation without a mention for D-8TE at the Roe & Co. Cocktail Village. This is a series of summer dining pop ups featuring the most popular world cuisine restaurants in Dublin.

The positivity on our news feeds last week from all of the hospitality re-opening posts was contagious. Stories of happy teams and open doors. If the online buzz is anything to go by, we can imagine how it feels to be in property, welcoming guests.

We hope you all had a fantastic first week back.

Oonagh & Team

Picture courtsey of The Kingsley Hotel, Cork City