USA, Arlington, Virginia. May 25, 2021

Knowland, the leader in AI-powered group business data for hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, conference centers and other meeting venues, announced today the release of a new guide entitled " The Essential 2021 Sales Playbook for Hotels, Steps to Rebuild Group Revenue and Avoid Being Left Behind. " Specifically designed to help hoteliers recapture meeting and events business lost during COVID, the guide provides information on how to adjust strategy for the new competitive landscape, apply the right tools and training, and prospect smarter. The Essential 2021 Sales Playbook is available here.

Hotel group sales has changed. It takes more than experience and insight to identify the right prospects. Group business is returning and continues to be a key driver for profitability in hospitality. The Playbook was developed to provide essential steps to ensure hotels are prepared with the tools and strategies to outperform their competition.

• Strategic guidance for rebuilding group sales - In-person meetings and events are returning faster than expected. With smaller staffs and shorter booking windows, sales teams have to adjust to keep up. Staying ahead of demand by formulating a strategy to find and win group business, and ensure profitability through deep market and account intelligence, will be a high value skill for hoteliers in the coming year.
• Getting back to the basics of selling - Knowing what to look for, where the opportunities are, and who's mostly likely to book and when, will position hotels ahead of the competition. The guide helps hotel sales leaders understand how to assess, re-engage, and train sales teams to increase productivity and drive revenue growth for the new competitive landscape.
• Knowland's dashboard powered by SmartSeach® delivers instant deep-market intelligence - Knowland has developed the industry's first database search engine tool designed exclusively for the hospitality industry. Fueled by its proprietary algorithm, SmartSearch reveals prospects that match a property's criteria and provides insight that enables concise, targeted outreach in minutes. Its intelligent technology delivers smarter matches with predictive insights to improve sales performance and drive higher group revenue.
  

Patricia Shea, VP of Sales and Customer Success, Knowland said: "Every day I talk to hoteliers looking for advice on how to prioritize their sales efforts and most importantly, how to make sure their teams are spending time on the most profitable deals. If you are not using intelligence and machine learning today to improve your prospecting results, you're going to be left behind. We developed this Playbook to provide sales leaders with the tools and insight they need to make smarter selling decisions that will help expedite sales growth and profitability into and beyond recovery."