TORONTO—When Peter Yesawich took the stage during the opening session of the 2010 Hotel Association of Canada’s Annual Conference, his first slide was as accurate a reflection of the overall mood of attendees as any number or data point. The projection screen showed a tumultuous, storm-filled sky—a gloomy reminder of the state of the industry.

“Here’s the bottom line,” the chairman and CEO of Ypartnership would later go on to say. “You are in a zero-sum game. Demand is really not growing. So as supply continues to grow a little bit, what happens is that one hotel’s gain in occupancy will be at the expense of another. So that puts incredible pressure on pricing. And where it really becomes complicated is where the pricing becomes transparent.”

Peter Yesawich of Ypartnership discussed the importance of personalization in this era of transparency.

A 2009 Ypartnership survey revealed that the ability to find the best price was survey respondents’ most sought after feature of hotel-related Web sites.

“People are trying to find the best price,” Yesawich said. “ … There’s no pricing power in the market. The only way that’s going to change in the long run is if demand starts to grow.”

But demand growth, like overall economic recovery, will be a long road back, so what are hoteliers supposed to do?

“That way out … is when you allow people to get exactly what they want,” Yesawich said.

In a time when the importance of brands is declining—only 44 percent of households surveyed by Ypartnership in 2009 said brand name was very important in choosing a hotel—personalizing your product could be the key to differentiating your property as well as driving higher revenues and profit.

“There’s an urgency for brand clarity,” he said. “You have to stand for something that’s meaningful for the consumer.”

So how can you make a stay at your property a more personal experience for guests? The process should be conducted online, where guests can pick and choose what they want during their visit. Examples might include allowing them to choose their type of room, room view, type of food delivered upon arrival, temperature settings, types of pillows provided, pre-set wake-up calls, brand of bottled water provided—“use your imagination,” Yesawich said.

“You give people exactly what they want, and when you give them exactly what they want, they will pay you more.”

Marketing in Canada

As if reaching out to guests in a zero-sum game wasn’t tough enough, Canadian hoteliers are facing additional challenges when reaching out to their primary source of tourism.

Historically, the country’s tourism industry has relied heavily on the influx of U.S. dollars making their way north across the border—marketing itself as an inexpensive, drive-to destination for its American neighbors. But as the economic reshuffling of the past 18 months has created greater parity between the Canadian and American currencies, the “True North” has been left without a pitch to stand on.

“So where do you go from there? It boils down to market presence,” Yesawich said.

Only by continuously marketing itself will Canada as a tourist destination enter the consciousness of American travelers, he said.

But even then, it must be a desirable destination. The country should mean more than a geographic place, Yesawich explained. It must represent a lifestyle, an opportunity and an adventure that’s appealing to both millennials and baby boomers alike.

For the most part, the country’s tourism department has done a good job in refining that image, according to Yesawich. But it must be a continuous process that could take roughly five years before it reaches a sticking point with American travelers.

“The destination entirely has to continually reinvent itself along the dimensions and experiences that are motivational to the next generation of travelers.”