In the era of digitalization, it has become important for, especially service-based businesses, to leverage the internet and digital platforms to exist and thrive in the marketplace. Digital marketing strategies for hotels can help them stand out from the competition. These strategies help a hotel tell its story showcase its property in creative ways and monetize on the same.
This blog thus lists down digital marketing strategies for hotels to create brand awareness and encourage direct bookings.
What is hotel digital marketing?
Digital marketing for hotels refers to the practice of building, maintaining, and expanding the online presence of the hotel. It helps a hotel to reach out and attract potential guests through online channels and platforms. These platforms include hotel websites, OTAs, social media platforms, search engines, etc.
Digital marketing strategies for hotels help them to make more bookings, and sales and hence, earn more revenue. Furthermore, these strategies help with online reputation management for hotels and help them earn more loyal guests.
Discovery through online platforms is critical to a hotel’s success.
Why is Digital Marketing important?
In a world of tech-savvy travelers and digital nomads, it is highly recommended that hotels be present online and appear at the top of search engine results. Research suggests that 57% of hotel bookings take place online.
As per the latest trends, a guest’s journey starts with the online discovery of modes of travel, accommodation, etc. Guest search for say hotels on metasearch engines such as Trivago, TripAdvisor, etc., social media platforms, and organic search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. Thus, visibility on these channels fetches hotels a lot of results and hence, business.
Furthermore, a relevant and visually appealing website with pictures that do justice to the beauty of your property, is also a must for any hotel seeking to grow. Additionally, the website should be search engine optimized (SEO) for maximum results, which is a hotel digital marketing strategy we are going to learn about in this blog.
Digital marketing strategies for hotels to maximize direct bookings Below we will look at different hotel digital marketing strategies that would increase direct bookings and boost revenues:
1. Build responsive and engaging websites
Hotels need to build websites that are compatible with mobile phones. More than half of online searches are done through smartphones; therefore, it is important to build responsive websites. These websites adapt to different device screens and resolutions, thereby making the user journey smooth and pleasant. Thus, to boost direct bookings, a hotel must have a mobile-friendly website.
Furthermore, the hotel website should be aesthetically pleasing and must offer relevant information to the visitors. It should showcase high-quality images of the property, services, and amenities, highlighting the best features of the hotel. Furthermore, video content makes websites more visually appealing and mentally engaging.
A website is an important tool that helps with digital marketing for hotels and thus should be built by investing a significant amount of time and resources.
2. Invest in SEO
Hotels or any customer-centric business should worship the concept of SEO. It is what helps them never fade away, at least from the search engines, if done right. SEO or search engine optimization keeps the content fresh and relevant and helps hotels rank at the top on search engines such as Google.
SEO, as a hotel digital marketing technique, helps a hotel to generate more leads and boost the number of direct bookings. SEO is usually done by adding relevant keywords to the content, optimizing it for readability, and updating it from time to time.
The three pillars of SEO are:
● On-page SEO: This is like content marketing. Adding relevant and engaging content such as blogs, vlogs, etc., draws the targeted audience better to the website.
● Off-page SEO: This pillar refers to building the domain authority of the website and enhancing its reputation and reliability. It includes tasks such as link building, PR, Influencer marketing, events, reviews, etc.
● Technical SEO: This is concerned with the structure of the website and the interlinking, the better these two are, the easier it is for Google to crawl it.
A hotel should keep in mind these three SEO principles and build and run a website around them. SEO for hotels is an essential task.
3. Leverage Billboard effect for OTAs
The importance of OTAs or online travel agencies for hotels cannot be underestimated. These OTAs offer hotels much-needed visibility and engagement online.
Furthermore, OTAs create the billboard effect. This effect allows hotels listed on an OTA to enjoy more traffic on the property’s website. More than 50% of travelers who make use of OTAs as a discovery tool for accommodation later on visit the properties’ websites.
4. Incentivize direct bookings
Incentivizing direct bookings means offering rewards to guests who book through the hotel’s website. Rewarding guests for direct hotel bookings on the website, instead of booking through a third-party site or an online travel agent, would help hotels to save the commission that goes to OTAs.
This might get multiplied as the guests might share the code to this reward with their close ones and boost your direct bookings.
5. The ‘Book now’ button should be easily visible
The hotel website should have the ‘book now’ button at a place that is visible and appealing to visitors. With an attention span of 8 seconds, if a user would have to find the booking button, he will certainly bounce back. Thus, a hotel website should have all the important CTAs or ‘Call to Action’ buttons at visibly accessible places on the website pages. These buttons should catch the eye and attention of the visitor for maximum conversions.
Furthermore, hotels should also consider making use of the pricing widgets to compare their rates to OTAs, emphasizing the special offers made to visitors who book hotels directly with them.
6. Follow up on incomplete bookings
A hotel should create remarketing campaigns for users who abandoned their bookings or left them incomplete or just visited the website and did not make any bookings. This would allow hotels to convert visitors into leads and eventually bookings.
This includes displaying ads to potential guests who visited the website but have yet to make a booking. This strategy is just used to remind potential guests to complete what they left in between and offering some discount would be a bit of a nudge or final encouragement to them.
7. Be active on social media
Social media transcends boundaries and borders. Active participation on these platforms is a must for any growing hotel business. Engage with users on your social media accounts and post the link to your website in your stories, creatives, and posts. This would boost the hotel’s direct bookings and optimize your hotel’s digital marketing strategies or efforts.
Social media marketing and interactions with existing and potential guests are important aspects of hotel digital marketing strategies.
8. Email and WhatsApp marketing
New digital platforms might have taken over, but email marketing for hotels still holds its old-world charm and remains a powerful marketing tool. Similarly, WhatsApp is a contemporary channel that many people prefer due to its ease of use and accessibility.
A hotel can send out its marketing campaigns through email or WhatsApp with a link to the website or CTAs. This would redirect interested users to the website and boost direct bookings.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a boon for all contemporary businesses. Digital marketing for hotels is especially important as there is a paradigm shift in the travel planning and booking process. It has become more digital in the present tech-driven times. Therefore, to grow with the evolving times, a hotel has to offer guests online platforms where bookings can be made.
And the best way to leverage digital marketing to boost direct bookings is through a website. Create a website that’s welcoming, engaging, and easy to navigate.
Offer additional discounts or services or amenities to encourage guests to book from the website directly, rather than third-party sites or OTAs. However, this does not mean that OTA presence is not important. It helps a hotel gain additional online visibility, and also helps in boosting direct bookings.