Every summer we take a road trip. I’ve noticed motel prices going down over the last few years and it seems obvious why they’re doing so – there’s a proliferation of franchise/chain motels everywhere.
In Bozeman, our dog-friendly place sits in the middle of five similar places. Across the highway are five or six “lower-level” motels and in back of our place there’s a development for a two-hotel convention center. The same seems to be true in other places along our route.
So, what’s going on here that we should pay attention to? Here are a few things.
- Saturation – Too many similar businesses means price competition. Doesn’t matter if it’s motels, sandwich shops, oil change places, or something trendy like Curves used to be. Be unique.
- Commodity – No differentiation. If you didn’t see the name you’d have a hard time telling one from another. Again, be unique.
- Low barriers to entry – What’d it take to get into the motel business? Pay your franchise fee, build a building, and away you go. Whether it’s skills, a product, or something else, make it hard for others to duplicate.
- Little competitive advantage – See above about being a commodity. Other than rewards programs what’s the reason to stay at any particular place? Oh, I got it, price is the reason. Make quality and service, i.e. value, your competitive advantage, not price.
Price shopping – Which brings us to how easy it is to compare prices these days with Expedia, Kayak, Hotels.com, etc. Position yourself so competitive pricing and shopping is not an issue.
Bottom line, if it’s easy to duplicate someone will duplicate it. Be unique.
“It’s better to prepare children than repair them.” Jim Zimmerman
