A Hotel Marketing Strategy Post COVID to Attract & Convert Prospective Guests
Many international hospitality brands and hotels that have started opening up again are refining their hospitality marketing strategy to engage and book guests during this time. For hotels and hospitality brands, small and large, the general tactics and tools to re-engage prospective guests and instill confidence and trust in your new safety protocols is generally the same. While larger brands with bigger marketing budgets will be able to have the dynamic ability for additional A/B split testing on campaigns, AI-driven pricing, more dynamic programmatic ads and incentive offerings than their smaller counterparts, understanding and implementing the following hotel reopening strategies will provide your brand with the competitive edge it needs to gain a solid market share in your region.
As a hotel marketing agency, we have had to continuously adapt and refine our strategies for performance, making the ROAS for our clients go farther. Thus, we have created the following video and recommendations for those in this industry to better understand and create a strategic marketing plan that they can start to implement themselves. The objective across these strategies is to instill trust with travelers, leverage existing assets and increase revenue without sacrificing value in exchange. Recognizing this is an industry effort to build consumer confidence until the end of the pandemic and when there is a joint effort, we all win. SoCap feels it is our responsibility to share these strategies to give our audience the ability to have their marketing budget be more effective.
+ Emphasize Sanitization Practices & be sure to “Walk the Talk” – Creating videos and SOP’s of your new and enhanced cleaning protocols will not be sufficient in reassuring consumers of your cleanliness. Actually having hand sanitizing stations, your staff cleaning common areas thoroughly and routinely, available masks and sprayers is now the bare minimum. Not following through on these practices puts your hotel and/or brand at risk for consumers, not only complaining but potentially impeding your reputation and sharing via social medias your lack or nonchalant attitude towards these initiatives. It’s worth the time and energy to continue to reaffirm that trust!
+ Fully Leverage Existing Assets & Network (email databases, social media, partnerships) – Do more with what you currently have! Max-out without exhausting your existing social media and email database. It costs less to re-engage an existing client base than it does to convert or try to create a new one. Without sacrificing value, explore ways to enhance experiences, duration of stay and flexible booking times for an audience you already have established trust and experience with.
+ Explore Integrating Remote Working Spaces & Amenities – The global workforce is now just that. With the Internet connecting us across the world we now have the flexibility to work wherever we would like. Consider adjusting common areas and other meeting rooms to serve your guests that look for the new remote working and even co-living lifestyle. Additionally, recognize the demand for high-speed Internet and extenders out to the pool and beach area, going beyond your immediate property to enable guests to work anywhere.
+ Increase the Number of Guests Traveling & their Duration of Stay – While this concept of the remote worker is certainly getting traction, many aren’t familiar with how to achieve this. Educate, enable and incentivize longer durations of stay and how to best live out the new life-work lifestyle. Beyond the visa programs,, explore how else you can boost the duration of stays and number of guests. Make booking multiple rooms easy for larger groups and inform on price discounts for two weeks, a month and beyond to open a conversation with your sales office to do the negotiating on your behalf. Recognize that food and beverage, as well as wellness activities, are just the start here. Social media will create a lot of curiosity for these individuals and is likely to instill trust in their network to come out and visit for longer durations like a week or two and beyond as well.
+ Provide Important “Know Before You Go” Info about your Hotel & Destination’s Procedures & Travel Policies – Invest in converting the intellectual property and knowledge you have of your hotel and destination into digestible collateral your prospects can view easily. Whether it be how to get there from the airport, local trends, medical, activities, food, etc.,take the time to translate these often overlooked but very valuable insights to guests that have never been there before. Clearly presenting these in digestible PDFs that they can share will continue to build trust and transparency while extending your guest services beyond the front gate.
+ Add Value for Guests instead of Providing Limited Offers & Discounts – Airlines were one of the first to recognize they didn’t need to slash prices and consumer demand will return. Many hotels are standing their ground and recognizing the value they have to prospective travelers and the encouragement is to continue to explore where you can add value and make their trip even more seamless. Review our article and recommendations on how to do this here.
+ Market to Your Most Profitable Customer to Drive Bookings & Loyalty – Undoubtedly, we have a bell curve of customers that come to any property. Taking the time to understand WHO your most profitable guests are and WHERE to engage and convert them will be extremely beneficial for smaller brands with meeker margins. However, all brands understanding the power of their niche and reputation to this audience will drive longer-term sustainable marketing practices and build a reputation amongst this network.
+ Collaborate with your Destination to Showcase the Activities & Area – Consumers are now seeking experiences beyond adjusting the hotel itself. Tomorrow’s travelers will be seeking out destinations based on the activities like golf, scuba diving, sightseeing, cultural excursions, etc. more than before. Leverage the insights and reputation of your destination for further marketing purposes to intersect these guests and position your brand as a viable option for a ‘home base’ for their activities.
At Social Capital Agency, we are driven by conversion-oriented marketing and recognize the value of enabling your marketing budget to go farther and the implications that these have on your guests, staff and investors, alike. For assistance in navigating fees, tactics and strategies through the rebound and reopening, reach out to SoCap for an initial discovery Conversation to explore how and where we can support and serve you.
