“Marketing is not about the stuff you make; it’s about the stories you tell”- Seth Godin.
Some names now seem as old as time itself in the world of hoteliers, like the Hiltons, the Marriotts, the Hyatts, etc. But never have we wondered how and why they are so known across the globe. However, if you are entering their arenas and want to achieve those heights, you might be on the other side of the coin.
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Are you wondering what kind of hotel marketing strategies they employ and trying to find every bit of it? That is a challenge in and of itself. One of the critical pieces of the puzzle is figuring out which part of their strategy you will pick up for your own hotel marketing strategy.
Before you start figuring out the hotel marketing strategy for your very own resort, some essential checkpoints should be ironed out first. Ranging from orientation, targeting the right kind of customer to growing the hotel into a chain, everything falls under the hotel marketing strategy that you will draw out. Here are some of the best ways to create a winning strategy and come out on top.
Top Hotel Marketing Strategies for Hotel and Resorts
1. Understand what the traveler cares about
Every traveler has a few sets of requirements that they look for in a hotel before booking. It could be just a place to crash for the night, to a full-blown presidential suite experience. Know customer’s journey what they want from your hotel. Step into their shoes, dive into the nitty-gritty details and then nail the elements to impress from the get-go.
2. Build an attractive website that highlights the USPs of your hotel
In today’s world, what is not online hardly has a chance to survive. To get the word out, word-to-mouth comes second, online viral(ism) is first. Try to build an experience into your website. Let the customer engage every aspect of the hotel via a 360-degree view of the room or the hotel itself. Highlight your standout features or amenities, and more importantly, the price differences if possible.
3. Increase online presence via third party listings
According to many websites, listing and selling your commodities or goods via a third-party online marketplaces system is actually more beneficial. This is because you don’t have to carve out space on the internet. Instead, you are just using the existing vendor’s market presence and feel to further your stance. This way, you can even have lucrative deals running and have more chances of showing up in search results, i.e., more bookings.
4. Target the right audience
In the world of online marketing, the audience is essential. Like Bill Gates said, “Content is king.” Knowing what kind of customer would want to book your hotel is everything in creating a winning hotel marketing strategy. Take into account the prices you are asking for, the services and amenities you are providing, and then use the inferences from step 1 to see if the plan is feasible. If not, go back to the drawing board. If yes, then it’s time to fire up some adverts.
5. Make a dedicated marketing team (if possible)
Once you have done some preliminary work, it’s time to get some dedicated guys on the job for implementing your hotel marketing strategy. Getting a team together is also beneficial if you are looking to grow and evolve since they can have ideas that you might not. However, make sure you do this only if you need it. Unnecessarily putting too many heads on it can also spoil even the best-laid strategies.
6. Take reviews and incorporate the changes to improve the guest experience
When you have had some initial customers and have started to gain some traction, it’s time to shake things up. User reviews are the best shot of providing new bookings and a perfect chance to highlight your strengths. A well-laid hotel marketing strategy incorporates most users’ changes and uses good reviews to their benefit and increases hotel guest experience.
Furthermore, seeing positive reviews inspires a new user to create a booking and help grow the business. It is one of the best hotel room sales strategies to work on with your team.
7. Have a loyalty/rewards program
If someone is investing their money repeatedly, it boils down to you to offer them some incentives. A good hotel provides loyalty benefits or rewards to its patrons. This helps keep their interests vested and makes them known that they are an essential part of your business. Furthermore, this opens the gates for more bookings since a happy customer will automatically do some word-of-mouth marketing for you.
8. Offer personalized programs or incentives
One of the best marketing tips for hotels and resorts is to garner the business or grow it via personalized marketing. A hotel marketing strategy that has room for personalized marketing can incorporate new business ideas as well. In this kind of marketing, you can offer corporate discounts, joint offers, or some types of benefits for large bookings.
You can even tie-up with some brand or company and offer them some kind of incentive that sweetens the deal for them without losing a lot of money. Furthermore, this way, your market presence will expand automatically.
9. Up the ante for the competition
As a general rule of business, competition analysis is vital. If you have sized up your competition correctly, you will know how to bring yourself to the limelight quickly. Ensure that you are really upping the ante concerning everything when you make your brand public. Every potential customer should come to know what is it that sets you apart and what is it that makes you better at the game.
10. Retarget marketing
A lot of times, a potential customer might visit your site or your listing, browse it, and leave. In this case, the best way is subtle retarget marketing. This helps in re-emphasizing what their task on that page was and rebranding yourself in their mind. And basically, you are bringing them back from the distraction they had.
Instead of bombarding them with tons of emails and offers, keep your retarget marketing crisp and precise. Like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said aptly, “Less is More.” Use the right kind of call signs, and you can get customers pouring in.
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As the business grows, the marketing needs will also develop and evolve. So, the best way is to go with the flow, analyze, and be adaptable. To reach the highs of hoteliers, a hotel marketing strategy goes a long way to establishing the brand identity. So, make sure to follow these steps, and you will be well on your way to turning your newfound hotel into a chain in no time.
Did you like our hotel marketing strategies? Did we miss anything? Comment us on any ideas to share!
Jahnavi Vekaria is a Senior Content Writer at an E-commerce company, that has offices in India and the USA.
With a savvy understanding of language and search, Jahnavi grew her love of the IT and SaaS industry’s technical side, gravitating towards learning about SEO, audits, crawls, and other aspects of digital marketing.
