Hotel marketing encompasses a wide range of subjects, skills, and tactics that hoteliers like you must be acquainted with — and understand — if you really want to maximize the success of your hotel and acquire as many visitors as possible.
In a hotel business that is becoming more complex and convoluted by the day, how can you get the word out about your hotel? Hotel marketing and hotel online advertising are the answer to your prayers!
No matter what kind of establishments you have, marketing places a big role in the success of a business. It’s never been simple to own and operate a hotel. Although maximizing income, and increasing direct reservations has become even more difficult in the post-pandemic environment, your hotel may take advantage of the anticipated industry recovery by adopting a solid hotel marketing strategy.
It’s easy for hotel marketers to get overloaded with online travel agencies, SEO, CRM, and other responsibilities. However, you understand that without a strong hotel marketing plan, your hotel will struggle to meet its revenue and occupancy targets.
Driving foot traffic is a problem for most hoteliers. The classic adage “location, location, location” helps them drive business. But hotels must be considerably smarter in how they do online advertising for hotels since the number of passers-by ready to buy a room is much smaller for a hotel than for other small businesses. So, how can hotels become more strategic and controllable? Through hotel online advertising.
In need of help and are you on the lookout for marketing strategies for hotels?
You are in luck! We’ll go through a variety of hotel marketing ideas and techniques in this post.
This will help you have a solid grasp of the different hotel marketing options, even if you’re completely new to hotel online marketing.
What are Hotel Marketing Strategies?
A hotel marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how marketing efforts can assist your business to attract visitors, sell rooms, and expand profitably. A strong hotel marketing strategy will connect with particular company objectives, identify high-value visitors, explain why your resort is the ideal location for their next vacation, and prioritize the best methods to reach them.
Your online hotel marketing strategy will specify the “why” and “what” you want to accomplish. A good hotel marketing strategy will take into consideration your money and resources, as well as the specifics of “when” and “where” you’ll act.
But is online advertising for hotels worth it? Yes, and here is why. It’s easy to get caught up at the moment — purchase an internet ad, post on Instagram, launch a campaign – and fail to meet your company objectives. A hotel marketing strategy allows you to focus your time and resources on achieving a specific goal and attracting the appropriate kind of visitor.
Taking the time to establish your strategy through hotel marketing channels, even if you have a lot on your plate, can help you make better in-the-moment choices and, in the end, see your company flourish.
What are Hotel Marketing Channels?
The locations where you may contact and influence guests are the hotel marketing channels. The channels where you do online advertising for hotels include your website, an OTA listing, internet advertising, social media, email, and in-person events.
Indeed, there are so many options that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Fortunately, the 80/20 rule applies: 20% of your outcomes will come from 20% of your channels. We’ve classified prominent hotel marketing strategies and channels for you in this blog.
Before we begin to provide you with excellent hotel marketing strategies, let us look at what Marketing objectives are to better understand the process of hotel marketing and have a better grasp at it.
What are Marketing Objectives?
Marketing objectives give direction for subsequent planning, execution, and measurement. It’s critical not to commit to providing more than you have the resources to accomplish—missing the target is disheartening, and it may endanger your development strategy. Avoid being overworked by limiting your aims to two or three key objectives.
Goals that are precise, quantifiable, attainable, relevant, and time-constrained are another excellent practice. The SMART format is as follows:
- Specific: Describe fully what has to be done.
- Measurable: Decide how you’ll track your progress and outcomes.
- Attainable: Set objectives that are difficult yet attainable given the money and resources available.
- Relevant: Confirm that the objective is in line with other goals and that the timing is appropriate.
- Time-bound: Set a realistic deadline to help you concentrate your attention and efforts.
If you are wondering why you need to create hotel marketing strategies, then read on the find the relevant information.
Why Do You Need Hotel Marketing Strategies?
The overwhelming level of competition in the hotel marketing business is a problem. With the rise in popularity of services like Airbnb and Home Away, it’s become even more difficult to separate out from the crowd and get more reservations. While hotel marketers are all too aware of these difficulties, they are nevertheless expected to meet (and ideally surpass) their targets, which are often linked to reservations.
So, what can a hotel’s online advertising personnel do if he or she is having trouble? How could you ensure that possible customers discover your hotel in the first place and are so enchanted by the hotel, so much so that they can’t wait to book their stay?
Through comprehensive online advertising for hotels and Hotel marketing strategies.
If you are overwhelmed with the number of options, strategies, and information provided related to hotel marketing and online advertising for hotels.
Have no fear: we’ve compiled a list of 29 sure-fire hotel marketing ideas and marketing strategies for hotels
29 Hotel Marketing Strategies to Succeed Expeditiously
1. Know Your Visitors
It is vital that you understand your clients’ wants and desires when they are seeking to reserve a hotel stay.
Identifying your target market may help you develop the ideal hotel marketing plan for your visitors.
The type of visitors can be broadly categorized into:
I) Business Travelers
With corporate costs covered, business travelers may be less frugal yet prefer convenience. Corporate travelers may be interested in your resort if it is near an airport, has parking, reliable high-speed internet, a restaurant, and/or a fitness facility.
II) Family Vacations
Relaxing parents appreciate convenience and activities for their kids but may be cost-conscious. Families on vacation may be your greatest visitors if your resort provides parking, airport shuttle service, a pool, or garden, and a complimentary breakfast.
III) No-Kid Vacationers
These tourists are usually eager to unwind. On-site golf, tennis, swimming, and spa facilities are expected to be popular. The beach, city, or ski slopes are all good places to be if you want to attract leisure visitors.
Depending on the type of visitors you attract and want to attract, you can make required changes to the hotel as well as Hotel marketing strategies.
2. Make Human Connections
As part of the hotel marketing strategy, it is rudimentary to create a human connection, so prospective visitors know who you really are. This works best by giving a face to your Hotel and connecting to visitors on a personal level.
Every week, feature a staff member on your social media. Create raffles, competitions, polls, and ask for comments from visitors.
Do they want more hotel room photos, travel advice, or restaurant recommendations?
Making your followers feel like a part of the community will increase their loyalty to your property.
Tag your visitors in your photos to encourage them to follow and repost and reposting on-site posts via a visit to the official social media page and do great wonders
3. Customize Your Upselling Methods
Personalization is the new hotel marketing buzzword. A cascade approach separates your marketing demographics before targeting each guest’s preferences. Use analytics and visitor data to identify who is searching for rooms and what they want. You might ask visitors whether they want to go on a work trip, a romantic retreat, or a family vacation. This goes well with the previous mobile app concepts.
4. Customer Care Before, During, And After The Stay
Take care of your visitors before, during, and after their stay. Share promotional material and let visitors personalize their accommodation choices before their arrival. Make check-in simple using online and mobile options. During their stay, make sure your visitors are happy with the facilities and services.
Wait a bit after check-out before submitting a post-stay experience message. Thank each visitor for their visit and ask for honest feedback on their likes, the least favorites, and future plans.
5. Highlight Your Property’s Uniqueness And Strengths
Your hotel’s unique selling points should be emphasized on your social media accounts, website, and marketing efforts.
For example, if your hotel accepts dogs, pictures of visitors with their pets would be excellent to display in your lobby.
6. Be Searchable Online!
Let’s face it, technology has taken control. Travel agencies are no more in control. Today’s tourists can conduct their own price comparison and research hotels to book without leaving their beds.
Most tourists (75%) start their hotel search on a search engine, therefore optimize your SEO. Use popular hotel keywords in your site content and make sure it loads quickly.
Don’t stick to one social media network, search engine, or travel website. Instead, look into your website statistics to see where customers are booking from and build an engaging and competitive presence on those channels.
Be omnipresent, so whenever a traveler searches for a Hotel, your website, or account pops up on the screen.
Make sure to list your business on Google for added benefits.
7. Use Technology to Promote Your Hotel
No matter what kind of property you manage, prospective visitors will search up your hotel online before making a reservation. As a consequence, one of the greatest tactics is to use technology to show off all aspects of your Hotel.
Consider giving visitors a virtual tour of your hotel or rooms, so they can get a better sense of the area and the level of comfort they want. Customers would enjoy the inside scoop, particularly nervous travelers who want to know precisely what they’ll receive before booking.
Opting to use tools such as augmented reality to provide a 360-degree view of the hotel or using keywords that provide search results even via voice search can be great ways to incorporate into hotel marketing strategies.
Use Chatbots
Chatbots are gaining popularity in the hotel sector. They may assist with conversions as well as your brand’s reputation. This builds trust and engagement with potential visitors. Use chatbots to assist your visitors.
A chatbot can also reconnect with visitors who have abandoned their reservations and enhance communication. Try using chatbots on your website to boost reservations and visitor happiness.
8. Intuitive And User-Friendly Hotel Website
If your website isn’t clean and appealing, why should your store be?
The website is typically a guest’s first impression of your hotel, therefore it must be beautiful and functional. That means users (on any device) may easily locate information and make reservations.
- The hotel’s website should be simple to browse, quick, and trustworthy. It must also be responsive.
- Remember, a user-friendly website builds company credibility, and a lack thereof puts you at a disadvantage.
- When redesigning your website, keep the design and navigation basic yet breathtaking.
- Make sure your hotel photos are high-resolution and in the right formats and ratios for desktop and mobile.
- To prevent mid-booking desertion, keep the wording basic and straightforward. Videos also perform well since they display your area in a more detailed and interesting way. Videos encourage engagement, increase time on page, and are more likely to be shared and go viral, so include them in your budget.
As a result of the epidemic, most visitors are investigating hotel safety and hygiene requirements online. As part of your hotel marketing strategy, inform your visitors about your COVID-19 prevention efforts and always stay flexible in the context of what is happening around the globe to create a better Hotel marketing strategy.
Read Also: 10 Ways to Improve the User Experience on Your E-commerce Website
9. Have a Dedicated Blog
Blogs are undeniably effective hotel marketing tools. Hoteliers must guarantee that the blogs are accurate, best-in-class, and valuable. The better the content, the more likely website visitors and direct reservations.
10. The SEO Staples
A website is useless if prospective consumers can’t discover it through their chosen search engine. Make sure your content is rich and relevant, with strong keywords and keyword combinations that offer your website the greatest chance of getting clicked. Be sure to mix your primary keywords with powerful secondary keywords like the name of the local area or district when designing your hotel marketing SEO efforts.
Read Also: How SEO Can Increase Your Online Sales
11. Reward Direct Booking Guests
Why should someone book on your hotel’s website when they can book on an OTA?
Give your visitors an incentive to book directly with you, such as surprise presents or unique services. These sorts of actions can help you build long-term visitor relationships.
As a result, more guests will suggest your hotel to friends and family, and leave positive online reviews.
12. Vanity Website
A vanity website is a separate hotel website that you may run based on your own tastes, apart from your listing. You can help attract traffic to your hotel and promote direct reservations by using your own vanity website, which will help you optimize your income. This hotel marketing approach improves your property’s searchability by paying close attention to SEO. It attracts the attention of interested tourists without requiring extra promotion.
13. OTA
If you’ve ever booked travel online, you’ve probably used one of the major OTAs. OTAs are marketplaces where you may promote your hotel to millions of prospective visitors.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of other hotel booking sites on the web, ranging from broad to specialized niche. Including various distribution channels, particularly localized sites, is a fantastic approach to increase online exposure.
The OTA industry is constantly evolving, particularly with Airbnb’s entrance, so be informed, and changing according to the latest trends is essential.
14. Channel Management Software
Hotel marketing strategies should include channel managers, as they are complete game-changers. Period.
It is indeed difficult to keep track of room inventory when your hotel is featured on several OTAs. With a channel manager connected with your hotel PMS, your room inventory is updated in real-time, saving you time and money.
15. Metasearch and Paid Ads
To attract visitors and promote direct reservations, hotels may utilize digital advertising techniques and platforms such as metasearch.
So, what is metasearch? It is a platform where travelers can quickly compare prices across Expedia, Booking.com, and direct sites using metasearch sites like Kayak and Trivago.
A good remarketing approach is crucial to securing direct reservations when potential visitors click through hundreds of windows. If a traveler has already visited your website, retargeting advertising may encourage them to return to finalize their booking.
16. GDS (Global Distribution System)
Though OTAs, metasearch, and retargeting put your hotel in front of visitors, the GDS is a popular B2B platform. Travel agencies, airlines, and tour operators utilize the GDS to make reservations for their customers, thus hotels looking to extend their reach or decrease dependence on OTAs may benefit and generate revenues by selling rooms on the GDS.
17. Remarket, Remarket, Remarket
Did you realize that 75% of internet hotel bookings fail? That’s correct, 34% of individuals start the booking process, become sidetracked, and abandon it. Who knows whether it was the craving for a brownie or a hunch that they might get a better bargain elsewhere. Whatever the cause, you should not surrender as a hotel marketing.
Travelers are distracted not just by daily distractions (such as pop-up phone alerts and screaming infants), but also by the hundreds of different choices available to them.
Remarketing allows you to present attractive display advertisements to individuals who have previously visited your site, reminding them of your presence and guiding them through the booking process. Make the booking procedure as simple as possible and offer them a discount to entice them to book with you instead of your rivals.
18. Partner with Local establishments
It is Unlikely that your hotel is in the midst of a desert, instead, you’re certainly surrounded by local companies. Get to know your neighbors, whether they are famous restaurants, stores, or yoga studios. When promoting a boutique hotel, rather than a chain, making friends with local business owners is an excellent approach to form alliances and co-promote.
To improve the visitor experience, the hotel sector may collaborate with local companies. In hotel marketing, partnering with a local restaurant or small company pays off. Promoting a special deal for hotel stays encourages customers to book with you and helps the company you’ve associated with making money. Providing nearby eateries with delivery services or discounts may help them promote your property.
In addition to this, you can run a contest that provides free coffee at the partner’s café or a romantic brunch at a nearby restaurant.
Read Also: How Local SEO Affects Your Search Engine Rankings in 2021
19. Participate in DMO Initiatives
Opt for DMO initiates to promote tourism and travel in your area. To reach travelers in the research phase, advertise in DMO magazines, websites, and email campaigns.
When visitors book via the DMO ad, provide an incentive, such as complimentary parking or breakfast.
20. Mobile App
A hotel’s mobile app can let customers book rooms, purchase services, rate hotels, and even exchange photos. A mobile app would not only assist boost direct reservations but also repeat visitors.
While many hotels may not see the immediate advantage, social media is a proven method to boost income. Setting realistic objectives and engaging with your visitors can help you increase brand recognition and tailor your message to people interested in your hotel. Post discounts or bargains for local events, or promote unique facilities or dedicated employees. The more you can attract tourists’ attention, the more likely you are to convert.
Contact here for Mobile App Development
21. Social Media
Aside from customer service, social media is a great place to promote hotels and other services. The goal is to develop a mix of text-based hotel advertising, online content, video content, and other promotional material.
These include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Advertising on one platform may not work on another, therefore it must be customized. Paid Facebook advertising may also help target certain demographics.
Read Also: Social Media for Business: A Marketer’s Guide
Social Media Channel Strategies for Different Social Media Platforms
- With Instagram and Facebook now merged, you can build sponsored ads and promote them across both platforms.
- Post interior and exterior photos, articles, live videos, and promotions on Facebook. Encourage visitors to use location tags or to tag you in pictures and videos in return for a prize. Run competitions to keep visitors engaged.
LinkedIn is a fantastic place to share professional and industry information. Why use LinkedIn? Well, because that’s where the pros are. It may be used to advertise special events and conferences. You may also connect with companies to establish collaborations.
- TripAdvisor
Your approach must include TripAdvisor. The website gets 463 million unique visits each month and has a large following, making it a powerful marketing tool. Bookings lead to reviews, so it’s a fantastic method to naturally promote word of mouth.
- Instagram is undeniably a vital platform nowadays.
- Instagrammers are continuously engaged, making it a fantastic tool for brand engagement.
- You may use it to answer questions, repost, update your hotel, and promote specials, offers, polls, and other behind-the-scenes films.
- Create a hashtag for your hotel since it is an essential tool for pre-trip preparation. Create a business account to reach a bigger audience.
- YouTube
YouTube has 2 billion monthly viewers and is second only to Google in search. No social media marketing campaign is complete without a YouTube strategy. Posting video tours, testimonials, time-lapse videos, or even a specific hotel music mix is a great idea
22. Influencers Have a Lot of Power
- Influencers have become an important part of marketing. Identify local influencers who can move your target audience and approach them.
- Make a strategy before inviting them to stay at your home.
- First, consider your budget to determine the kind of influencer you can pay. Micro-influencers may be ready to exchange services, while macro-influencers want cash.
- After deciding on a budget, determine your goals.
23. Remember Email Marketing
Email is a strong hotel marketing tool. Encourage visitors to write reviews after their stay by reaching out to them after their stay. Guests may readily discover recent reviews while investigating your hotel. Many visitors read reviews to evaluate what previous guests have experienced while visiting your resort.
You’ll need a hotel CRM system to store and monitor data about your visitors before you can use email marketing. As a result, you can design more relevant email marketing tactics.
Every email you send should be engaging and compliant with the Data Protection Act. Before you click “send,” review the laws and regulations governing digital data and marketing.
If your hotel has a rewards program, you may use email marketing to inform visitors about forthcoming events or specials. In addition to this, you can provide special discounts via email marketing to motivate travelers to visit the hotel
24. Market the Location, Not Just The Hotel
Many prospective vacationers are still undecided about where they want to spend their hard-earned PTO. That’s why you shouldn’t simply concentrate on your hotel’s facilities. As essential as promoting your excellent room service, an infinity pool is promoting your location. What attracts visitors to your city or town? Visitors want to know.
25. Provide Incentives to Get People Interested
The hotel down the street is more convenient and cheaper, so why should I choose you? Your hotel must have an advantage over the competition.
Aside from obvious reasons like lowest pricing or top ratings, think of unique incentives and offers you may provide prospects. You might, for example, give all new visitors a 15% discount. In addition to this, you can add an element of surprises like contests, unique aesthetics, or other methods to stand out in the market.
The end result is to stay ahead of all the other hotels in the neighborhood and create a unique image among visitors and travelers.
26. Reputation Management
Regardless of where you get your reservations, visitors need to trust they’ll get a decent deal and a pleasant time. By publicizing your hotel’s star ratings or regularly replying to guest reviews on sites like TripAdvisor and Google, you may actively build trust.
27. Create a Loyalty Program
If previous customers had a good experience before, why wouldn’t they want to return?
Loyalty programs are a great method to keep consumers coming back. Why? These programs reward repeat customers with substantial savings and unique benefits. Maybe your program allows visitors to earn points and levels each year (Gold, Platinum, etc.).
28. Go a Little Overboard With Loyal Customers
When a visitor returns to your hotel, they may expect you to thank them for their business. A simple ‘Welcome Back’ email, a cute little card, or a free beverage would make them feel unique and welcomed.
Having loyal customers will benefit you in a long run, as these customers are more inclined to suggest your Hotel to friends and family, who can further suggest it to others. Word of mouth is always the best hotel online advertising strategy when it comes to hotel marketing.
29. Keep An Eye on Reviews And Ratings.
A positive review may bring in new clients. A bad review costs you hundreds. Engaging prior visitors after check-out may help improve their ratings and recommendations. It’s possible that your hotel may appear on review websites dozens, if not hundreds, of times. The best way to engage unhappy visitors is to actively monitor reviews on major sites. Avoid negative feedback.
Conclusion: Marketing Strategies For Hotels
Whether you own a one-of-a-kind hotel or have decades of experience overseeing big hotel chains, there’s never a bad moment to take a step back and rethink your hospitality marketing approach.
Every industry demands changes on a regular basis, and new hospitality marketing services and solutions are often developed to assist company owners in meeting those needs. In the aftermath of any crisis, hotel and resort marketing tactics take a blow, leaving hoteliers unsure of the best course of action.
Before developing an online hotel marketing strategy for a profitable company, keep the following points in mind:
- It is critical to stay connected through different means, including social media and the official website.
- Ensure to have pages or accounts of at least a few social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
- Create videos since they have a higher retention rate in the minds of customers. Also, ensure to post high-quality and appealing pictures of rooms and the interior of your Hotel.
- Apps will still be important in 2021, but expectations for app performance have risen. Create a glitch-free and clean app for your Hotel with new tech-related features such as chatbots, augmented reality, and so on.
- Make the most of social media marketing for hotels, since it is one of the most effective methods for driving visitors to your website. Use it to establish a personal connection with your visitors and to engage with them on a regular basis.
Whether you select a single message to utilize across all platforms or several messages for each channel, the most important thing to remember is to employ high-quality content to increase brand awareness, boost reservations. Also, keep visitors engaging with your brand throughout the customer journey.