There are two types of people: those who like to stay in hotels and those who hate. Most hotels often seem more affordable, less sterile and offer unique items that make the place more homey. However, if the hotel is well placed to enter the market, offer a fair price, and treat it like a queen, this decision can easily change.
The challenge of hotel marketing is intense competition. Especially with the increasing popularity of websites like Airbnb, collecting additional bookings from the competition is even more challenging. Although hotel marketers are very familiar with these challenges, their job is to obtain (and exceed expectations) the metrics associated with their frequent bookings.
So what can a struggling hotel marketer do? How can you make sure that people find the hotel beforehand and get so excited that they don’t wait for their stay?
We have put together some major hotel marketing strategies to help you move forward in this competitive industry.
1. Get to know your guests well
When booking a room, it is essential to understand your customers, their needs, and requirements. According to one report, demographics under the age of 35 are the most active market segment after the epidemic.
Knowledge of the target market can help you develop the right hotel marketing strategy to provide the best possible convenience for your guests.
2. Make the hotel website convenient and user friendly
After the epidemic, most guests research hotel security protocols and hygiene standards through their websites and social networking sites. As part of the hotel’s marketing plan, be sure to talk to your guests about covid’s prevention measures.
The hotel website should be designed to get everything they have to offer, easy to use, fast and reliable. You must also be mobile-friendly.
Remember that an intuitive website lowers the credibility of your business, and if you miss it, you will definitely be left behind.
3. Describe the specificity and strength of your property
It is essential to fully understand what attracts your hotel to your guests and how to highlight these unique factors in social media treatments, websites, and marketing campaigns.
4. Win your guests directly by booking
If anyone has more options for OTAs, why go to the hotel website?
Be sure to give your guests enough reason to book directly with you – such as surprise gifts or special services. These types of gestures have a big impact on them and help in building long-term guest relations.
This improves the guest experience and increases the likelihood of recommending a hotel to friends and family or leaving an excellent rating online.
5. Go with your loyal customers
When a guest book back and forth at their hotel and when they arrive at their hotel, they can expect to be recognized for their loyalty. Nothing can be extra – “Welcome Back” emails or small gestures such as posters or free drinks make them special and welcome.
6. Guest experience should take precedence
The guest experience is most important. Without a positive guest experience, whatever your hotel digital marketing campaign is, it is unlikely to yield positive results.
If they are happy with the experience, guests can return to your property. This applies to your accommodation and their experience during booking, arrival, check-in, and check-out.
Happy guests give good reviews and good reviews bring more revenue to your property.
7. The price of hotel rooms should be adjusted for seasonal factors
Setting room rates is a strategic task, and you need to learn. When determining the price of a hotel room, you must consider various factors, such as the weather, the day in question, or the local events occurring at that time.
Keep these busy seasons in mind and increase your hotel marketing efforts during these times to make your hotel more visible and attract tourists.
8. Hotel reviews should be easy for guests
According to TripAdvisor’s survey, 96% of users consider a review to be very important before planning a trip or looking for a hotel, and more than half say they don’t book a hotel that is not reviewed.
When guests are about to check out, be sure to ask them to check into the hotel. Whether on OTA, TripAdvisor, or the hotel website – ask them to share their experiences.
9. Hotel pictures should be attractive
The hotel should ensure that the pictures on the hotel website or the OTA are authentic and attractive. You can also hire a professional photographer for this.
You can also upload these pictures to the social media manager of the hotel to promote direct booking.
10. Recommendations should be personal
Most travelers today prefer an experience-based vacation. Give your guests personal suggestions about the best things or the best attractions in the area to contribute to a great guest experience.
You can request settings manually, or you can run a website with a reference engine to check guest behavior and packages, rooms, sightseeing, and more.
11. Have a dedicated blog
A blog is undoubtedly one of the best hotel marketing strategies. The host needs to make sure that the blog’s content is on the site, is the best in its category, and is of real value. The better the content, the more likely it is that your site will drive traffic directly to the booking.
12. Choose Channel Manager Software
If the property is in more than one OTA list, updating the setup room regularly is not easy. However, if you use the integrated channel controller in the hotel’s PMS, your room set will be updated in real-time, saving significant time and preventing revenue loss.
13. Social media should be used as a marketing strategy
Nowadays, travelers often search the hotel on social media, such as Instagram or Facebook, before booking a room. If you are not already in the social media game, this is the time. Promoting their properties and services for hotels has become essential for social media operators.
14. Lifting matters
Yes, you pay! A few days before arrival, you can ask guests to upgrade their rooms or take advantage of other hotel services, whether it is candlelight dinner or spa service or any other extras service.
15. Get to know your competitors well
Take a close look at your competitors in how they advertise their services. You don’t have to copy it, but it helps you figure out what strategies you’re working on, and you can later modify the ideas and apply them to your advantage.
16. Make it easy to search online!
Let’s face it; technology has taken control. Travel agencies have a long day. Today’s travelers have the right to do their own comparative research without leaving their beds. So if your hotel is not comfortable to find online, then no wonder your booking is low. It should be relevant everywhere online for potential booking so that people can find you in the window when you need to book accommodation.
Most travelers (75%!) Start using a search engine, so stay tuned for your SEO. Use the popular hotel keyword in your site copy, and make sure your site loads very quickly.
But don’t just rely on organic optimization! The SERP (search engine result page) of hotel-related searches earns a lot of revenue, which means that people see your ads for the first time. In the example below, advertisements are captured on full screen.
You need to bid aggressively on Google search and the Display Network (don’t forget the hotel ads!), Social platforms like Bing, Facebook, and Instagram.
You should not be limited to just one social platform, search engine or travel site. While it is not necessary to have a strong presence on every imaginable site, you should delve deeper into site analysis, find out where people usually live and create an attractive and competitive presence on these platforms.
17. Remarketing
Do you know that the hotel cancellation rate is 75%? That’s right; the booking process begins with three out of four people with their experience. Who knows if the pizzeria has interrupted the purchase or suspects they may have a better deal elsewhere. Whatever the reason, it does not mean that you are offering a hotel to a marketer.
Remarketing is an integral part of hotel marketing, as travelers are not only distracted by everyday interruptions (such as pop-up phone notifications and crying babies), but there are hundreds of other options to choose from.
You can use remarketing to reduce bounce rates and entice those who have recently visited ads on your site to remind you that you are there and in the process. He guides them. Instead of competitors, try booking with us and agree on a little extra incentive to make the booking process as easy as possible for them.
Configure your remarketing campaigns with Google ads and social platforms, including Google, ASAP!