For most businesses, it has been an incredibly difficult year. Covid-19 has forced them to closely examine what they do and how they can go forward in the ‘new normal’.
For Stocks Hotel in Sark, it’s meant taking a long, hard look at the business and focusing on what’s really important.
Paul Armorgie, the hotel’s marketing and business development director, says it’s given them the opportunity to redefine what they are doing, where they are heading and how they’re going to get there.
Focusing on the USP
And working within the Visit Guernsey campaign of ‘Staycation Club’ which has made the most of the Bailiwick’s closed borders, focusing solely on local visitors, has been enormously successful.
“We have welcomed guests this year who’ve told us they have lived in Guernsey for 30 years but had never visited Sark because they usually go to Barbados at this time of year,” he says.
“The Staycation Club campaign has been the most successful promotion that we’ve ever done. We are extending it through to the 21st December and it’s currently the focus of our marketing.
“We have attracted business that we wouldn’t ordinarily have done and while it’s been frustrating – though totally understandable – why we couldn’t include Jersey, we have welcomed guests from Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and the Isle of Man.
“Tapping into a new market has been really good for us and we will pursue this going forward.”
Paul says that in the past Stocks had ‘tried to be all things to all people’ but they’ve learned this year to really focus on the hotel’s unique selling points.
“Lockdown has taught us that we’re much better if we target our precise market.”
Sark’s unique charm
“Stocks is a luxury four-star hotel in Sark, so that’s what we offer and it’s what our resident guests expect. We will still take prior bookings from non-resident guests, albeit on a controlled basis in order that our resident guests can enjoy the experience that they want and deserve.”
Before you think that they’ve totally ripped up the rule book, Paul says they haven’t changed everything. The future is about taking what is already an excellent product and further refining it.
“Stocks has traditionally been a popular destination for weddings and in future we will accept a limited number of wedding parties who want to book the whole hotel exclusively for two or three days during the shoulder months. This will ensure that our other resident guests are not inconvenienced.
“This works very well for us and for the couples who are getting married. Sark is a very romantic place to get married, it has a wonderful ambience and what we’re doing is offering weddings in a unique and exclusive location.”
He says an important lesson from lockdown is understanding that the demand for what Stocks and Sark have to offer is huge.
“We continually listen to our customers about what they want and what they don’t want. We want to focus less on hosting large corporate events because this is not compatible with what our guests have told us they like about the hotel.
“What they want is to stay in the peace and tranquility of a four-star hotel where they have the exclusive use of our gardens and other facilities.”
Global acclaim
Stocks achieved international industry recognition this year.
“We were also delighted to receive the Travellers Choice award from Trip Advisor, which puts us in the top 10% of hotels worldwide. It is a huge accolade for a small independent hotel, which is what we are. To compete at that level against some much bigger corporate hotel groups is really very special indeed.”
“Stocks is not a corporate hotel; our primary business is to provide a unique luxury leisure experience, and this remains at the core of what we do. We are very proud of this and we’ll do everything we can to keep offering this to our visitors with some fabulous special offers throughout this year and in the future.”
