BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Developing Tour Business from Motorcoaches
by Peter J. Pantuso

From whale watching to wild mushroom hunting, BC is filled with fun activities. Coupled with the beautiful scenery (which makes for a lovely motorcoach ride) this region of Canada is ideal for motorcoach tours.
Good motorcoach tours require a variety of fun and interactive activities for the group. Today’s travellers not only see things, but want to be engaged with what they see. For example, in BC there are orchards where people can pick peaches, pears, cherries, or apples. Visitors can tour vineyards and become involved in winemaking, take a fine dining tour and learn how to cook a new dish, and watch big black bears.
Travellers need a place to go that has a variety of products and good places to stay. That’s where hoteliers come in.

Promote Your Hotel As Group-Friendly
First of all, you must have enough rooms to accommodate a busload of people. A fully loaded motorcoach means 55 guests, so you’ll need a minimum of 28 rooms. Second, you have to be willing to reserve those rooms at a given rate, well in advance of the trip. Motorcoach and tour operators often plan trips a year ahead. You have to be able to say, “I can give you a certain rate (preferably a discounted group rate) and hold X-number of rooms for you.” Plus, you need to make sure that all the rooms are about the same so that travellers don’t get jealous, or feel as though the person sitting next to them on the coach had a nicer room. You should also plan to accommodate the driver and the escort.

Fast Check-In
Can you quickly check-in a large group and help them get their luggage to the room, or will 55 people showing up at your hotel take hours to process? It’s much better to have a pre-check-in system, where the tour operator gives you a list of guests in advance. That way, guests just walk up to the front desk, tell you their name, and you hand them a room key. Or, you can also set up a separate table or room for guests on this tour to check in quickly. The faster the service is, the more ideal your hotel is in the eyes of a travel and tour operator. Frequently hotels will hold a reception for coach guests upon arrival. While the group is at the reception, hotel staff use that hour to get luggage to their rooms.

Know Your Neighbourhood
Travellers may not want to ride long distances after they have arrived at their general destination, and some prefer to remain in the same hotel for many days. In these instances, the coach company may set up hub and spoke tours from your destination. If you are not the centre of the tour, you may have a destination that travellers visit one day during an extended stay. Travellers also want to stay close to their end destination if they will be there multiple days. For those passengers that are looking for time on their own, do you offer a pool, a spa, a golf course, or other fun activities for guests who want to opt out of the activities and lounge around?

Feed the Masses
Does your hotel have a restaurant that can accommodate a tour group? You might want to make things smoother by handing out meal vouchers so that food can be included in the package rate, and guests don’t have to fumble with cash. One of the most important issues for travellers is having choice. One set meal for everyone may not work the way it did in years past, so you should consider giving menu choices and work with the operator to get the meal selections in advance of the coach’s arrival. If certain meals are not part of the package, consider how you can provide discounts to the group so that they understand how important their business is to you. 
If you don’t have an in-house restaurant, that’s fine. But people have to eat, so be sure to work with other restaurant partners in the area that can easily accommodate groups and may offer discounts as well.

Remember the Company and its Driver
If at all possible, remember the tour company that brought the group to you and how important the driver is to that trip. If you can comp meals or rooms for the driver and tour guide, it’s much appreciated, and can help garner repeat business. The driver may want a quiet room where he or she can see the coach and also should have a quiet room while resting for the next day’s journey.
If attracting tour business is your objective, you should strive to become a property that understands group travel. Your service should meet the needs of 55 passengers arriving at one time, and be so seamless and hassle-free that the tourists think the hotel, tour, and motorcoach operator are part of the same company.

Peter J. Pantuso is President & CEO of the American Bus Association, the trade organization of the intercity bus industry. Visit www.buses.org for more information.