The main challenge of entering the hotel marketing industry is the overwhelming competition. Especially with the growth of sites like Booking, Expedia or Airbnb. Being able to sell rooms directly has become a challenge. While hotel marketing experts are familiar with these challenges, there is still much room for improvement.
How does a hotelier get into this fight, and how does he ensure that people can find his hotel in the first place? WordStream, a marketing company and partner of Google Premier, offers ten tips that we at TecnoHotel are going to reproduce in two articles. Stay tuned!
1. Be easy to find
We have to accept it. Technology is everywhere. Gone are the days when travelers went to travel agencies. Today’s travelers are prepared to conduct their own comparative research without having to leave home. So, if your hotel isn’t easy to find, it’s unlikely you’ll have many reservations. You have to be everywhere so that people can find you when they want to travel to your destination.
Most travelers (75%) start by using a search engine to find accommodations. This is mainly Google. So you have to keep your SEO up to date. Use keywords related to the hotels on your site and make sure the loading speed is fast.
But there is much more to organic optimization. SERP (search engine results page) is highly monetized, which means that people will see your ads first. For example, in a mobile search, paid results take the top positions:
hotel search google ads
Therefore, the offer must be aggressive in the Google Display Network, that is, in the set of more than two million websites, apps and videos where Google ads can appear. Because ads are important to be on top. Also, increase your presence on Bing, Facebook, Instagram and on goals like Trivago, Kayak or TripAdvisor.
Don’t limit yourself to one social platform, search engine or meta-search engine. While it is not necessary to have a strong presence on every website imaginable, you should analyze where you are booking more from to create an attractive and competitive presence on those platforms.
2. Remarketing, remarketing, remarketing
Did you know that the dropout rate for hotel reservations is 75%? Yes, a whopping three out of four people start the booking process, get distracted and abandon the experience. There are many reasons for this, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up.
Then remarketing comes into play, one of the most useful tools for hoteliers. Above all, because the customer is often distracted by hundreds of other options to choose from.
With remarketing, the abandonment rate is reduced and you can increase reservations by showing attractive ads to those travelers who would have abandoned the reservation before making it. There you can offer special treatment, alternative offers, experiences… but the click has to lead to an attractive landing page to make the booking process as easy as possible.
So, don’t hesitate: set up remarketing campaigns through Google Ads and social networks, including Facebook!
3. Target the right audience
What kind of hotel do you market and who is your typical client? Knowing this information is more than necessary. Selling a road hotel is not the same as selling a resort in the Caribbean. People who look for these accommodations look differently. That’s why customer revenue targets are important when setting up our SEO.
Even so, there are hotels that have a variety of clients with different income levels, since they can offer different types of rooms. We need to target our campaigns according to our audience type. Even the differences are within the same hotel chain, but with accommodation from different destinations. All these things are fundamental when designing a marketing campaign.
It’s not crazy to divide the campaigns into two, three or even four separate campaigns to make sure we’re sending the right message to the right audience. And don’t hesitate to use tools like the targeting options offered by Facebook. The most important thing is to know your audience in order to create the right message. So, get to work on it.
sniper marketing darts
4. Peak booking seasons
If you have a hotel in the Sierra Nevada or a hotel on the coast of Malaga, the high season will be very different in each case. You may be very clear about your peak booking time, but this should also apply to your advertising budget. It is logical to invest more in the peak season.
This requires advance planning, although platforms such as Google make it very easy to adjust the budget on an ongoing basis. Just make sure you do it.
Another thing you should take advantage of is ad scheduling. When do people usually book their trips? If, for example, you have a hotel focused on the business traveler, you will have to increase your ads during business hours. If you are heading to a leisure sector, it is most likely that they will book at night or during the weekend. Configure your ads so that more budget is invested during the time slots that interest you the most.
5. Provide incentives of interest
Why should I stay at your hotel if it’s further from the beachfront? What if there’s a cheaper hotel in the same area? In short, your hotel must have reasons to make it more attractive than the competition,
If there are no obvious reasons, such as having the lowest price or the best reviews, you will have to offer unique incentives and offers that can attract your potential customers. For example, a 15% discount to all customers who book for the first time. In addition, these incentives are also very interesting if it creates a sense of urgency in who finds your ad. That is, you can offer these offers for a limited time.
For example, this luxury hotel in San Juan (Puerto Rico) offers a full page of its website to promotions. For example, it offers a 30% discount when staying two or more nights, a 15% discount on dinner and access to the gym for 24 hours.
hotel-marketing-special-offers
Don’t miss the second part.