Digital hotel marketing benefits hotel owners by reaching out to people when planning their trips and bringing in more direct bookings. Hotels can build their audience and boost brand loyalty by investing in blog posts, podcasts, online magazine postings, apps, short video content, virtual reality, etc.
Digital marketing for hotels helps visitors choose the best available options. According to a Google report, around 96 percent of travelers search for and book their hotels in advance. Further, the number of searches for “book a flight” queries went up by more than 70 percent in the year 2022. The majority of tourists reserve their accommodation before they arrive at their destination. Travelers now invest in planning their trips in advance more than they used to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Digital marketing tips for hotels are discussed in detail in this blog post, where we have explained the importance of hotel digital marketing, what are the best online platforms for hotels, how to use content(text, images, and video) to grab their attention at various levels of the customer journey, how to list hotels on third-party booking websites, how hotels can run targeted paid advertisement for better conversion rate, and other various other online marketing strategies for hotels.
What is Digital Marketing for Hotels?
Digital marketing for hotels covers all those online platforms and techniques to help you increase brand awareness and booking lists and build relations with new and existing customers. Hotel owners can use social media platforms like Instgram, Facebook, TikTok, X, search engines, Google Ads, and emails to make sure they become the go-to choice for travelers visiting the location you serve.
Why is Digital Marketing Important for Hotels?
Digital marketing is essential for hotels because it offers multiple benefits to grow your business.
Digital marketing for hotels will take your service to the global audience planning their next trip to your location.
Let us see some more benefits of using digital marketing for hotels:
- Your hotel can have a global reach. That means that a person planning his trip to New York from a European country can see your hotel and may even book it in advance.
- You can market your hotel to a specific demographic based on age, interest, place, etc.
- Digital marketing for hotels can help you measure your performance and see what tactics are working and which ones are.
- You can track how many people see your social media posts, visit your website, and book the rooms online.
- It helps to establish your credibility. People can now see your reviews and learn about the experiences of past visitors.
What are the top 9 Digital Marketing Strategies for Hotel?
- Website Development for Hotel
- SEO Strategies for Hotel
- Content Marketing for Hotel
- Influencer Marketing for Hotel
- Email Marketing for Hotel
- Pay Per Click Ad Campaign for Hotel
- Video Marketing for Hotel
- Social Media Optimisation for Hotel
- Listing Hotel on Third-party Bookings
Website Development for Hotel
Website development for hotels extends your reach beyond traditional marketing methods and helps you display your hotel to a global audience searching online. The first way to enter the digital world is by creating a well-themed website for your hotel. People think that having a social media page is enough. But many of your audience will search for your website after engaging with your post. In this case, having a well-themed website will establish your credibility. Let us know how you can create a well-structured website for the hotel.
How to create a well-themed website for a hotel?
- Have a clear idea of your unique selling point(USP) and the vibe of your hotel. Think for yourself: are you a family hotel, luxury hotel, budget-friendly hotel, or couple-friendly hotel?
- Select a theme color for your hotel. The theme color should match your hotel atmosphere and present a welcoming invitation.
- Plan your hotel website structure properly and make sure your website is easily navigable. Visitors should not face any problems while interacting with your website.
- Here are the basic things that you can include on your hotel website:
- Homepage: Your hotel website should have a clean, engaging, and yes attractive homepage with a compelling call-to-action(CTAs).
- Accommodations: You must showcase the accommodation facilities available in your hotel, such as room types, amenities, and pricing.
- Amenities: If you offer any unique features and facilities in your hotel, such as free Wi-Fi, highlight it on your website.
- Gallery: You must also post some high-quality images to give visitors a visual tour of your hotel.
- Special Offers: If you have any feature promotions, discounts, and packages, mention them clearly on your website.
- Contact: Create a dedicated Contact Us page where you will provide contact information, a contact form, and a map.
5. Your website should have a quick loading speed and be mobile responsive.
SEO Strategies for Hotel
Using SEO strategies for hotels, you can improve your organic search visibility, attract more qualified leads, and ultimately increase bookings through your website. Competing with already-established hotels or third-party booking websites is hard, but you can still reach the top of SERP. You just need to follow the best SEO strategies for hotels.
How can I do SEO optimization for my website?
- Conduct keyword research and choose only those keywords that have low keyword difficulty.
- Ensure that all the images and videos on your website have well-optimized alt text containing your target keyword.
- Include your targeted keyword in your title and meta tag.
- Post good quality content( we will see more of it under the Content marketing section)
- Local SEO for hotels is essential because it helps potential guests or travelers in your area find your hotel online when they are searching for accommodation.
- Create your Google Hotel Packs profile and make sure it is fully optimized for search engines. This means that your description should include your targeted keywords.
- Include local keywords and phrases in your website content. For example, if you have a luxury hotel in Miami, you can include related search terms, such as “Miami” and its famous tourist attractions.
- Establish local connections, as this will help in your word-of-mouth marketing.
Content Marketing for Hotel
Content marketing for hotels is one of the best methods of communication with your customers. It is the way through which you can persuade them to click on that” Book the Rooms ‘button on their website or call you for any queries. That is how powerful hotel content marketing is. Let us see how we can do it.
How do you do content marketing for hotels?
- Write a blog and include long tail keywords with high search volume but low competition. Doing this is one of the best strategies to engage with your audience and get high ROI.
- Understand your customer journey and create content for it. For example, if your customers are searching for “best water activities to do in Hawaii ”, they are looking for informative content, not the facilities of your hotel located in Hawaii. On the other hand, if they are searching for “best hotel in Hawaii,” they might consider seeing the facilities of your hotel.
Here are some of the content topic ideas for the hotel:
- Business events
- Attractions
- Travel tips
- Behind the scenes
- Food and drink
- Hotel news
- Area trivia
- FAQs
- Positive media about the destination
- Special offers
- Announce a new menu release
- Blog posts
- Celebrate your business
- Celebrate your guests
- Contests and giveaways
- Hotel amenities
- List posts
- Photography
- Photos
- Polls
- Specialty travel tips for event attendees
- Things to do guides
- Weddings in your hotel
Influencer Marketing for Hotel
Influencer marketing for hotels has become an effective marketing strategy to reach new audiences, build brand awareness, and increase bookings. Collaborating with influencers for hotel marketing can help you share your unique amenities, get positive reviews, and connect with potential guests authentically.
How do you do influencer marketing for hotels?
- Research the influencers who align with your hotel’s brand and target audience. You can give priority to travel, lifestyle, and hospitality influencers such as:
- Sorelle Amore
- Backpacking Bananas
- Best Ever Food Review Show
- CaseyNeistat
- Davidsbeenhere
- Delightful Travelers
2. You must also analyze their engagement rates, authenticity, and content relevance. For this, you can check out their comments and likes.
3. You must have a clear idea of what you want to achieve from influencer collaboration for a hotel:
- Brand awareness
- Drive bookings
- Showcase specific amenities.
4. Set a target budget and communicate that effectively with your influencer partner. Be transparent in all your dealings and establish trust with your partners.
5. You can also make collaborative content that will be shared in your and the partnered influencer’s accounts.
Email Marketing for Hotel
Email marketing for hotels is one of the most popular digital marketing strategies to help you engage with current, past, and potential customers. Here is how you can use emails to boost your hotel business revenue.
How to run an email campaign for a hotel?
- Upload an email sign-up form on your website. You must include it on your homepage, booking, and landing pages.
- Create an email list of all your interested audience and divide the list based on demographics such as age, location, and interests.
- Create a personalized email and build a relationship with your audience.
- Remember to add high-quality pictures to make your email more attractive and engaging.
- You can run emails for these updates:
- Welcome email
- Blog update
- Special offers, discounts, or events
- Contest and giveaways
- Booking confirmation email
Pay-Per-Click ad campaign for Hotel
Running a successful PPC or Pay-Per-Click ad campaign for hotels can boost website traffic and bookings. Using the right platform and carefully creating your campaigns, you can use a PPC advertisement strategy to attract new guests and achieve your hotel’s marketing goals.
How do you run a successful Pay-Per-Click ad campaign for a hotel?
- Know the goal behind running a successful PPC or Pay-Per-Click ad campaign.
- Research the targeted keyword in which you want to get the traffic from.
- Once you finish the strategies mentioned above, you must create a compelling ad copy.
- Make your landing page with compelling CTAs such as “Book the slot Now,” etc.
- Run your ads in the specific geographic locations you want. This will ensure you reach potential guests interested in planning a trip to your location.
Video Marketing for Hotel
Video marketing for hotels is an effective strategy in the travel industry. People want to see your property and get a glimpse of your services before they visit your hotel. Your potential customers want to take a virtual tour of the room and the hotel before they are convinced enough to book their slots online.
How to do video marketing for hotels?
- Post videos about your hotel facilities and take your audience on a digital property tour.
- You can also create informative shorts and post about the attractive spots near your hostel address.
- Learn YouTube and use it to its full potential for your hotel’s online marketing.
Social Media Optimization for Hotel
Social media optimization for hotels is essential for the promotion of your property. This enhances your online presence, helps you engage with your potential guests, and thus gives you more bookings.
The first step towards social media optimization for hotels is choosing the right platform for your promotion. Focusing on Instagram and Facebook would be an excellent option for a hotel business. On the other hand, if you offer accommodation for business travelers, using a professional platform such as Linkedin is a good option.
How does social media optimization work for hotels?
1. Post high-quality profile pictures and cover photos. Plus, you must also add clear and compelling bio descriptions.
2. Use a consistent brand theme across all social media.
3. Create shareable and engaging content and use a mix of content types, such as
- Images
- Videos
- Blog posts
- User-generated content.
4. Using storytelling in your social media post will be an excellent option to build engagement.
5. You can also share the experiences of your visitors through reels.
Listing Hotel on the third-party booking website
Listing hotels on third-party booking websites is another best strategy for hotel digital marketing. These websites are also known as online travel agencies (OTAs). There are popular ways to reach a wide range of audiences and increase your bookings instantly.
How to take full advantage of listing a hotel on a third-party booking website?
- Research the popular third-party booking website based on your target audience, region, and property type.
- Create your account and complete all the necessary steps to create a fully optimized profile.
- Give accurate details about your hotel. This includes your amenities, type of room, accommodation policies, and pricing details.
- Set your hotel room pricing strategically and mention your rates, discounts, and special offers.
- Many third-party booking websites offer tools that might help you boost your visibility and join a partner program. You can use them smartly.
- Remember to optimize your profile for search engines by including your targeted keywords. Ask happy and satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on your hotel listing.
Case Study for Hotel Digital Marketing
Hotel Name: Easy Hotel
The hotel is located in Miami, United States, and offers millions of hotels and homes worldwide.
Organic Traffic Growth: 394.64%
Hotel Name: Econo Lodge
The hotel is in Alabama, United States,s and offers sightseeing, recreation, dining, and getting around activities.
Organic Traffic Growth: 542.76%
Hotel Name: Blue Little Heaven
The hotel is located in Miami, US, and offers good communication, a shared kitchen, a billiards table, a relaxing area, etc.
Organic Traffic Growth: 694.14%
Get the best digital marketing consultancy for hotels.
About WebKey Digital: The Best Digital Marketing Agency for Hotel
Webkey Digital is an award-winning digital marketing agency for hotels that has helped over 50+ hoteliers, such as Easy Hotel, Blue Little Havana, etc., to bring their online presence in front of the right audience. We create custom digital marketing strategies that consider your needs and expectations and offer goal-oriented solutions.
Contact us now and get the best digital marketing consultancy for hotels.