3 Easy Hotel Marketing Strategies to Help Increase Direct Bookings
Why did OTA’s become so popular and how to become less dependant on them.
Every hotel wants to drive more direct bookings and be less dependant on OTA booking engines like Expedia, Booking.com, AirBnB, and the many more from recent years. Why is it that these OTA’s have such a strong hold on their hotels? It’s because they understand one major thing: marketing.
They know how to market and package their service offerings in a way that attracts users. They also offer valuable tools, insights and comparisons between so many different options for their end user. But, how can you create a similar experience as these big platforms? It’s tough to play their game — especially if you’re a boutique hotel. You just may not have the marketing dollars and funding they have. This is why you need to play your game and play it extremely well and consistent over a long period of time.
Follow these few easy marketing strategies to help increase direct bookings at your hotel.
#1. Purposeful hotel reviews
Develop a simple program for media journalists and influencers where you curate their experience for purposeful content. Give them specific highlights of your unique property to target, while keeping the autonomy and freedom for them to enjoy the hotel in its most natural state. This way they can really tell their own story, but will incorporate your important brand messaging in an organic way.
Hotel reviews are an extremely low cost way to get:
Editorial Content: During the hotel review, help guide the media/influencer through your unique hotel features. We all know how much they love picturesque nooks and crannies within the property. Give them an experience they can build a story around and try not to bombard them with ALL the information of the hotel. Figure out their specific audience and travel styles to then match your highlighted features to that specific content creator and their audience. For example, if they are known for sharing touristy sightseeing monuments, highlight the unique aspects of your property, such as the history, architecture, or local attractions.
Social Media Content: With hotel reviews, you instantly get high-quality, engaging lifestyle content you can now leverage during to fuel your social media channels. Make sure to build this into your offering and follow usage rights guidelines. Clarify all deliverables from the beginning. This will provide potential guests behind-the-scenes stories, captivating visuals, and authentic user-generated content that showcase authentic experiences — things they can’t see on OTA sites. You can easily use this content to incentivize the journalist/influencer’s audience to book directly with your hotel.
Valuable Feedback: Actively seek feedback from all your influencers and media journalists during their stay and after they check out. Encourage them to be honest about any of the negative feedback, while providing a detailed review on Google that can provide a ton of value to potential searchers. Include this in the deliverables when booking the influencer in. Make sure you have a conversation with them first to address all their concerns before sending them to Google to review.
Service Improvement Strategies: Getting real feedback from different departments and staff perspectives is quite valuable for any hotel. From my own experience reviewing hotels, I provide them with as much feedback as possible from an outsider’s perspective to improve on the things that may be lacking. I also have in-depth discussion with the staff to get their feedback regarding management, hotel ownership, things they would like to see improved, etc.. They often tell me things they wouldn’t normally tell their boss, so it provides genuine, useful critic for management to make improvements, not only focusing on guest experience but also staff experience and retention. Happy staff leads to happy guests!
#2. Host a Media + Influencer dinner:
Organizing a dinner event at your hotel or hotel restaurant with the most relevant media and influencers, is one of the best ways to create a buzz and give content creators a reason to talk about you. This can seem daunting at first, where most hotel marketing directors immediately turn to a PR firm or Influencer agency. Although, it could be worth it in most cases, this drastically increases the cost.
Here are some tips to host the media & influencer dinner in-house:
Media and Influencer Selection: Carefully choose and reach out to media outlets and influencers whose target audience aligns with your hotel's offerings. Most would be happy to attend in exchange for the dinner experience. Research their preferences and interests to ensure a mutually beneficial partnership.
Customized Invitations: Personalize invitations for media and influencers, highlighting what makes your hotel and restaurant special. Offer exclusive experiences or previews of new offerings to pique their interest. Package it nicely and have it delivered in a classy way with some cool items from the hotel. Make sure to gauge interest first before sending any expensive mailers.
Event Planning: Create a memorable event that showcases your hotel/restaurant's culinary expertise and the ambiance of your hotel. Consider thematic dinners, chef collaborations, or wine-tastings that align with current trends.
Content Creation: Encourage attendees to document their experience on social media platforms, but don’t make it mandatory or pigeon hole them with specific deliverables. If you chose the right people, they will WANT to create content on their own. Provide them with unique photo/video opportunities and branded hashtags to maximize the event's online visibility.
Post-Event Engagement: Continue to engage with attendees after the event. Share their content on your social media channels, express gratitude for their participation, and maintain relationships for potential future collaborations. It’s important you track who delivered good value for you and who didn’t. Keep the database and continue to grow it so you always have an army of brand ambassadors you can turn to.
#3. SEO & Google Map Optimization
Increase rankings, get more clicks and calls to your business using local Google Map search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Hotels often overlook their Google Business Profile as a way to generate new bookings. However, there are ways to optimize and manage your Google profile (formerly Google My Business), to rank it higher in search results.
Here are some ways you can increase your hotel’s Google Business Profile SEO:
Local Keyword Optimization: Identify and optimize for relevant local keywords, including location-specific terms such as "luxury hotel in [your city]" or "best boutique hotel near [landmark]."
Google Business Profile: Ensure your GBP (or GMB) profile is complete and up-to-date. Include high-quality images (properly tagged with your keywords), accurate contact information, business hours, and respond promptly to customer reviews.
Local Link Building: Build authoritative backlinks from local businesses, tourism websites, and directories. This will enhance your local SEO presence and improve your rankings on Google Maps.
Mobile Optimization: With the increasing use of mobile devices for travel planning, ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. There is no excuse for this in this day and age. This improves the user experience and can positively impact your Google Map rankings. 3 out 4 Google map searchers visit a business that day.
Local Reviews: Encourage guests to leave reviews on Google Maps and other review platforms. Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction. Getting consistent reviews over time positevly impacts your rankings and although responding doesn’t necessarily have a huge impact on rankings, it does help with conversions when other potential prospects read them.
