Where’s your dream vacation destination?
Accommodation makes up a lot of the travel experience, so vacationers are always looking for a good place to stay. For hotel owners, this means that marketing is a crucial way to generate leads and bring in bookings. And with more people now using the internet to plan their travels, you’ll need to boost your hotel’s online presence through digital marketing.
What strategies can you utilize for online hotel marketing, though? Let’s talk about why digital marketing for hotels is essential, and tactics to enhance your online presence to drive leads, bookings, and revenue.
No Buts: Your Hotel Should Be Online
Hotels accounted for 37% of travel online bookings in the U.S. in 2022. Meanwhile, ⅔ of the total revenue in the global travel and tourism market came from online channels. There’s no ifs and buts about it: your hotel should have an online presence.
A large percentage of travelers use the internet to search for travel plans, including places to visit, stay, eat, and tour all over the world. So with all this competition – not to mention Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and other alternatives – it’s more important than ever to market your hotel on the internet.
That digital presence starts with your website, which should be easy to navigate and have a clear booking page. But it also extends to reviews on third-party sites, social media posts, and user-generated content. Prospective travellers will be looking at all these elements to decide whether or not they want to book a room with your business.
Additionally, hotel owners should ensure all the information about their hotels available online is up to date and accurate. Optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) and ensure social media accounts have the correct location and contact details. This lets potential guests know how to reach you and where to find you should they require further information.
Benefits of Digital Marketing for Hotels
There are many reasons to leverage digital marketing for your business, whether you own a boutique hotel or a chain of locations. It can benefit your hotel in several ways.
Diversified customer acquisition
Taking your marketing online gives you a chance to reach travellers and customers who may have otherwise not heard of your hotel. You can reach people further than your local region or state – even people in other countries. And the more eyes you can get on your ads, posts, and website, the more leads you generate. More leads could mean more conversions – and more revenue.
Improved customer engagement
Going on social media and managing your online reputation allows you more touchpoints to engage and interact with your customers. When you respond to comments, original posts, and reviews, customers become more interested in your business. They learn that you see them, and acknowledge them, and that makes them more likely to return or make a new booking.
Your hotel can even go the extra mile and provide personalized recommendations or use personalized responses to customer inquiries and concerns. It proves to guests that you care about their experience with your business, which prompts higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Increased awareness
Even if people don’t make bookings with your hotel, having an online presence increases their awareness of your business. Especially in the off-season, you’ll want to market your hotel online to potential guests so they can keep you in mind as an accommodation option. Even if they don’t become conversions now, they’re still viable leads who can convert in the future.
How to Boost Your Hotel’s Online Presence
Social media strategies are an excellent and effective way to raise awareness of your hotel and location. But your online presence goes beyond Facebook and Instagram – it’s everything relevant to your business that’s on the internet. Here are 7 ways to boost your hotel’s online presence.
#1 — Optimize your landing pages
When people are Googling “best hotels in X place,” you absolutely want your website to come up in the search results. And you can achieve this by optimizing your website – especially the landing pages. Your site text and elements should contain target keywords that your market will be searching for, including location-specific keywords and seasonal keywords.
With at least 70% of travellers saying online content influences their accommodation choices, your website layout and optimization are crucial. If you’re not searchable, then you’re losing out on customers.
#2 — Have responsive website design
More and more travellers are using their mobile devices to search for travel-related information and plans. Sometimes they’re simply looking things up on a whim while out and about, while other times they’re trying to look for concrete details. Regardless of purpose, your website should adapt to mobile screens.
Images should resize to smaller screen sizes, and shouldn’t take up too much space. Text sizes should be readable even on mobile phones, with the potential to zoom in. Booking and inquiry forms should be mobile-friendly and easy to type in. And of course, navigation should be simple (and ideally, easy to click one-handed).
#3 — Leverage short-form video content
This falls under social media strategies, especially on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Many social media sites reward short-form videos and boost them on their algorithms. You can use these video posts to showcase your hotel’s rooms, restaurants, and other amenities, but also things like:
- Staff features
- Local activities
- Holiday highlights
- Back-of-the-house processes
- Hotel or local events
The idea is to show what makes your hotel unique, and what guests can experience when they stay with you. Travellers can get a “feel” of your location and what level of service they can expect.
#4 — Manage your online reputation
This goes double for boutique hotels and smaller businesses, but any hotel will benefit from managing your online reputation. Respond to reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook, and other outlets – both positive and negative. The way your business handles reviews will tell potential customers much about your management and whether they want to book with you.
81% of travellers always or frequently read reviews before booking a place to stay. Moreover, 79% of them are more likely to book a hotel with a higher rating between two otherwise identical properties. Your hotel’s online reputation is critical to gaining new customers – and even for negative reviews, if they see a professional response, they may be swayed in your favour.
#5 — Utilize PPC advertising
Tools like Google Performance Max for Travel Goals allow you to leverage pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to reach more people searching for hotels that match yours. If your budget allows it, make use of PPC advertising strategies to boost your website and hotel onto search engines, social media platforms, and other outlets.
In addition to this, see if you can track the visibility and performance of your competitors. Check what they’re doing right and where they might be lacking, so you can take advantage and revise your own strategies.
#6 — Partner with local businesses
Promote a more unique experience by partnering with local businesses and taking advantage of their online presence. You can offer discounts at local restaurants, bars, and cafés, or travel packages involving local sightseeing spots and activities. They can then feature those promotions on their website or social media platforms, and link back or tag your own accounts.
#7 — Retarget and remarket
Some research shows that up to 81% of users abandon their online travel bookings – often because of:
- Too-high cost
- Further research and comparisons
- Complicated booking processes
- Payment processing issues
However, those same people would return to their booking option within a week. It’s therefore important to target potential guests who’ve already shown interest in booking, since there’s a high chance that they convert into customers. Send an automated email with a personalized discount or promotion, or optimize your PPC campaigns to display retargeted ads in audience searches.
Market More Than the Hotel
With all these strategies, it’s essential that you remember you need to market more than the hotel. You’re marketing the entire experience – including transportation, location, amenities, and service. So while you should emphasize your hotel rooms, lobby, and even pool, you should also market everything that goes with the structure.
Vacationers and travellers consider more than just your facilities when booking. They look at location, and why that location is desirable to visit. Vacation trips are a big deal for many people, and they want to make the most of the experience. Show these prospective guests that your hotel is worth it – and that you’ll make their stay a highlight of their trip.
Your Hotel’s Online Presence Matters
If you aren’t boosting your hotel’s online presence and reach, you’re missing out on potential guests and revenue. And even if you’re promoting yourself on social media or search engines, if you’re not actively using other strategies, you may not be maximizing your results. Leverage these tactics to improve marketing reach, generate leads, and drive bookings – and then, of course, make the marketing match up with real life.
Need help to boost your hotel’s online presence? Kika’s digital marketing services can improve your online exposure and optimize your visibility. From strategy to launch, Kika crafts marketing solutions tailored to your business that deliver real results.
Contact us for a free consultation today!
