Hotel Digital Marketing: The Essential Guide
How can hotels use digital marketing to drive more traffic and bookings?
A thorough understanding of all the different online channels;
How they can be used in conjunction with one another;
And how will it help you build and implement an effective hotel digital marketing strategy that will grow your business?
Here are some tips on digital marketing for hotels to get you started.
How to Start the Journey?
Hotel digital marketing doesn’t just happen.
It’s a process and an investment in your brand that will continue to reap benefits well into the future.
That said if you want to build a successful online marketing strategy from scratch, follow these steps: first, create or update your website.
That sounds obvious enough, but it can be one of the most difficult steps for many hoteliers.
Remember when your phone’s only job was to make and receive calls?
These days, it’s practically an extension of your right hand.
Consider creating a hotel digital marketing plan to get more bang for your buck.
Like any digital strategy, its primary goal is engagement.
How can you keep people coming back to your website?
Start by getting them there in a memorable way with
Best Hotel Digital Marketing Tips
#1 Personalize your check-in process
Guests are becoming increasingly used to personalized experiences.
They can expect to see something different on their mobile devices, like knowing what they see when they walk into your lobby.
Keep them engaged by creating a unique experience for them from start to finish.
They won’t even notice that there isn’t a real person checking them in!
Try using self-service check-in kiosks or tablets at check-in and encourage online bookings so guests can search availability, make reservations, pay bills, and more without speaking with staff members.
Guests will feel as though they were cared for every step of their stay, which means you care about their business!
Also, remember that your website should be mobile responsive and designed with customers in mind first.
#2 Capture mobile traffic through hotel apps
Keeping your website’s mobile presence up to date is a good digital marketing strategy, but why not go one step further?
Take it one step further and create a compelling mobile app that guests can use during their stay.
Hotel apps have steadily gained popularity as they are a great way to provide instant information to your guests on-site.
If you don’t have an app yet, don’t worry—you can always hire a hotel digital marketing agency to create one for you!
Even if you do already have an app, it may be time for an update or even an upgrade (e.g., creating native apps rather than web-based ones).
Your goal with your hotel app should be clear communication with your customers—not more complexity.
Some hotels have social media ready for their guests, but many do not.
Social media is a great way to interact with guests before they even enter your hotel, so you can ensure that you provide them with what they want as soon as they need it.
For example, if your hotel is hosting a conference, having some pre-posted information about what events are happening and at what times will help ensure people know exactly where to go during those times.
It also ensures that any information or questions posed by guests will get an immediate response from your hotel’s management team.
#4 Show you care about reviews
Reviews and online reputation management are powerful tools to drive your hotel’s digital marketing initiatives.
Encourage guests to leave reviews by running contests and providing discounts or other incentives.
You can also improve your ability to get high ratings on review sites by making it easy for people to review you on third-party websites, like TripAdvisor and Google+.
These third-party sites allow you to collect information about who’s leaving reviews in order to personalize future communications with that guest.
For example, if they left an email address or phone number, you could send them a special discount on their next stay as a thank you for taking time out of their day to write a review.
#5 Use Your Online Reviews Strategically
Hotel online marketing tactics should not be an end-all-be-all approach.
You must take into account everything from your restaurant to your check-in process and everything in between.
Remember that your guests spend most of their time on third-party sites, like TripAdvisor or Google Reviews.
Make sure you’re set up on these review sites as well as our own website, which is where you can give positive feedback about all aspects of a guest’s stay, especially when they leave it.
Hotel digital marketing tips can sometimes be controversial. Still, one thing that always works is giving guests a sense of security during their stay by giving them positive reviews and asking for reviews in return.
How to Market Your Hotel with Small Business Web Solutions?
Hotel online marketing strategies are not as complicated as they sound.
While you may think that hotels, with their large property size and large amounts of staff, would have an advantage over smaller businesses, that’s not necessarily true.
For example, small businesses can take advantage of new digital media to reach customers in a way that more prominent brands cannot.
Even though you may have little experience marketing your hotel online, some great tools and strategies can help you get started right away.
It All Depends On Guest Engagement, Keeping Customers Close and Happy
How you can turn your customers into brand advocates and keep them coming back for more is a significant part of digital marketing in hotels.
Guest engagement helps improve customer loyalty, both online and off, so when it comes to digital marketing for hotels, there is no shortage of ways you can interact with guests and keep them coming back for more.
Conclusion
Businesses need to keep up with the times, which is particularly true for hotel digital marketing strategies.
Suppose you’re not staying on top of the latest online trends. In that case, you could be missing out on massive opportunities for growth and revenue.
Both of which are vital to maintaining your competitive edge in today’s world.
A hotel’s online presence can make or break the level of exposure they receive.
So it’s important to understand how hotel SEO services work and how you can take advantage of them.
This guide covers the basics of online marketing and helps you craft an effective digital marketing strategy for your hotel.
Following the given tips above will bring in new customers, lead to increased revenue, and grow your business.
