As a hotel owner, you must be looking out for ways to attract new guests to your property, although not be sure where to start from! If you haven’t already designed the pipeline for an effective marketing strategy to attract more guests, we are listing a few of them for you.
1. ‘Search friendly’ content strategy
If your hotel website is not optimised, your content won’t amount to much. The need of the hour is the adoption of right SEO practices, the content on the website should be keyword optimised, informative and engaging. Very few hoteliers adopt good content strategy, such as posting a blog regularly in the resource section. This is a great way to provide travellers the information they need the most such as local sightseeing places, art and cuisine while also improving organic search results. Hotel owners who have adopted SEO optimisation can see it yielding good conversions.
2. ‘User friendly’ website
While SEO and content plays a major role in digital marketing strategies for hotels, the website should be user-friendly too. Navigation must be simple (loading pages should take less than 3 seconds) and design should be elegant. Video testimonials of guests, images of your property, and other sources can make your hotel website popular and can be a great way to connect with guests. So keep in mind these factors while designing your hotel’s website.
3. Social media
It goes without saying that social media is one of the most important channels for marketing for many segments. Social media is a way to create dialogue with especially millennials who love to share news about themselves online. Some of the top social media platforms are Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Hoteliers can engage with their target audience on any of these, especially Facebook, as it is a two-way communication channel. Many hotels chains have accounts/ pages on social channels where the guests can post videos and travel pictures with ‘Best moment at the Hotel’. This will make sure that hotel owners are engaging enough with their guests. With a good experience and service that the guest gets at the hotel, they build sort of affinity with the brand. Social media is an incredible way to encourage interaction with past, current and future visitors. More so, it is a tool that helps humanize your business so that you can easily relate to your customers, their likes, dislikes and pain points.
4. ‘Mobile friendly’ website
Today most of the travellers are using smartphones to make hotel reservations. In the last one decade, smartphone usage has grown at a phenomenal rate globally. Hoteliers should leverage on this opportunity and provide a mobile optimised website that aligns with Google’s standards (meets the like of organic search). It is a definite ‘no’ to include features that are not compatible with a mobile device. Content should be readable even without zooming in. Also do not use horizontal scroll and make sure the links are easily clickable. To drive profitability and enhance guest experience, mobile app is one of the most preferred channels. It connects with guests on a personal level by giving them discounts and exclusive promotion.
5. OTAs as the right distribution channel
It is vital more than ever for hotel owners to stay on top of distribution channel. People book their stay through a diverse range of online demand generators. More than just the price, it is the attractive package, seasonal deals displayed on OTAs that can drive better occupancy rate. Being a hotelier, it is important to understand what your guest is looking for and deliver it across all online distribution channels. Hence marketing to the right segment becomes crucial to maximize the ROI. Segment your target audience and start marketing accordingly. For instance, do not promote a honeymoon deal on a site that is driving maximum bookings from business travellers.
6. Leverage on Metasearch
Metasearch platforms such as Tripconnect (TripAdvisor) and Google Hotel Finder have gained momentum in last couple of years as customers find this an easy option to compare existing rates. An important marketing channel, it will help hoteliers improve their rankings on these websites and drive better revenue.
Turn these marketing ideas into an advantage for your hotel!
Let us know what tips you have found most useful for attracting guests and boost your hotel revenue.
This blog was originally published on eHotelier
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