Boosting direct bookings is a major challenge for hoteliers. However, if you can follow the right hospitality marketing trends, you can increase your hotel’s revenue and customer retention.
One way to increase direct bookings is by focusing on guest communication and safety measures. This is because hygiene and safety standards are now a factor in customers’ minds when making a booking.
1. Social media
Social media is a powerful tool for hotel marketers to use for their marketing and sales efforts. This is because it provides a unique opportunity to interact with their target audience and gain a competitive advantage.
Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are great for attracting potential guests to your hotel website and increasing direct bookings. But they need to be used effectively.
For example, use hashtags in your posts to drive traffic and encourage users to share their experiences with your hotel. Moreover, create a special hotel-branded hashtag that is related to a current promotion or event for even more reach and interaction with the target audience.
In addition to encouraging people to book directly from your social media channels, offer discounts or other incentives for booking through your own website or via the phone. This will help you increase your direct bookings and reduce your reliance on OTAs.
2. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a great way to increase direct bookings and attract the right kind of customers to your hotel. Influencers can help create a community around your hotel, and their endorsement is often seen as more trustworthy than brand ads.
You can find influencers by searching on social media for people who have a large following and who are relevant to your hotel or brand. Check their engagement level, and look for accounts that have a similar audience to yours (keep location and age in mind).
When working with an influencer, make sure you have clear expectations from them. Set them up with content usage rights, and negotiate a fee for the work they do.
Lastly, make sure you follow up with them once the campaign is over to re-engage their audience and get feedback on what worked and what didn’t. This will help you decide whether to keep using this approach in the future.
Influencers are busy people with other priorities, so it’s normal for them to take a while to respond. It’s OK to send them a follow-up email if you haven’t heard back from them within a few days.
3. Augmented reality
Using augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly important for the hospitality industry, as hotels look to increase their guest engagement and provide a more immersive experience. AR compliments the physical environment in real time by layering digital elements over the physical world, such as 3D objects and sound.
AR is a powerful tool for hotels, as it can improve customer experience and boost bookings in many ways. For example, it can be used to show guests maps of the property before check in and give them information about what services are available around the clock.
It can also be used to display promotional material, such as a poster or magazine ad, in a more engaging way. It can also be used to enhance social media posts.
Hotel marketing is a complex process, and it’s often difficult to predict exactly how consumers will interact with a brand. However, a small amount of research can help you understand how to create and implement an effective augmented reality strategy. Whether it’s through retargeting or other creative methods, this technology can help increase direct bookings.
4. Video marketing
Video marketing is a great way to engage with your target audience. It helps to increase brand awareness and boost direct bookings. It also provides a visual representation of your property and services, helping your customers to gain an understanding of what it offers.
It’s important to choose the right video format for your hotel. For example, videos that focus on information and educational content have high engagement rates.
Creating virtual tours of your property is another effective video marketing practice that has been shown to generate 67% more bookings than traditional advertising. These videos let guests experience the whole of your resort without having to leave their home or office.
Creating video content is an easy and affordable way to promote your products or services. They’re also a good way to engage with your existing customers and show how you value their business.
5. Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a powerful technology that can help hoteliers increase direct bookings. AI can automatically respond to guests’ queries, provide a better customer experience and enhance their loyalty.
AI-powered chatbots allow hotels to answer guest questions on social media, around the clock, and in different languages. This improves communication and ensures that customers have an easy time reaching out to hoteliers, no matter what time or day of the week they are travelling.
In addition, AI helps hoteliers automate tasks like handling FAQs and query support. This allows hotel staff to focus on more important things, such as providing a great customer service.
AI also makes it easier for hotels to create hyper-personalized guest experiences. This includes recognizing their travel habits, preferences, and past purchases. This can be used to suggest relevant activities and services, resulting in higher rates.
6. Text message marketing
SMS marketing is a great way to build brand loyalty and promote unique events and deals. It also helps brands create a connection with customers and increase revenue.
As the number of mobile users increases, hotels need to take advantage of text message marketing. This channel can be used to send booking confirmations, promotions, and reminders to write a guest review.
The key to successful text marketing campaigns is building a strong subscriber list. To achieve this, guests need to opt-in to your SMS marketing program by texting a keyword like “JOIN” or “BYTE.”
Having a solid subscriber list will ensure that you are able to communicate with customers effectively and efficiently. To increase the effectiveness of your text messaging marketing, it is important to create relevant content and personalize messages based on customer data.
7. Pay-per-click advertising
One of the most effective ways to boost direct bookings is to utilize paid advertising. This includes pay-per-click (PPC) ads, sponsored listings, and search engine marketing.
When you run a PPC campaign, you are bidding against your competition on specific keywords that people are using to find the products or services you offer. The more relevant your PPC keywords are to your hotel’s offering, the more likely it is that a potential guest will click on your ads and book a room with you.
A well-optimized pay-per-click campaign can also help you increase your website traffic and conversion rates, making it a cost-effective strategy to implement. However, PPC advertising can take time to yield results, so it’s important to have a budget that you can spend while testing and optimising your campaigns.
Regardless of how much you invest in paid advertising, it’s essential to have a sound, integrated marketing plan for your hotel. This includes a strong understanding of target markets, keywords, and messaging to get results that deliver your revPar goals.
8. Offline marketing
Digital marketing has taken over many traditional forms of advertising, but offline marketing still plays an important role in brand building. Whether it’s billboards, bus stop ads or direct mail, these tactics can help you attract attention from customers in your area who are more likely to respond.
When combined with other hotel marketing techniques, offline marketing can be a powerful way to boost direct bookings. Offline marketing can also be used to build trust and credibility with your audience.
Another offline marketing strategy that hotels can use to increase direct bookings is offering workshops on topics related to your industry. This can be done in a variety of ways, from delivering free seminars to writing a regular column for your local newspaper or magazine.
This kind of marketing is highly effective as it helps hotel owners tailor their ads to the preferences of specific guests. For example, if a guest has a gluten allergy, the hotel can market to them specifically by showing the various gluten-free dishes available on their menu. Moreover, it can even make a hotel’s customer experience more personal.