It’s not easy to stand out in a sea of hotel and lodging options, especially if you are an independent or small hotel. There is an abundance of booking websites that bring convenience and price efficiency to travelers. However, the convenience this brings to the guest leads to higher competition for the hotels and a higher chance of your hotel going unnoticed.
Here are 6 tips to make sure your hotel stands out:
1. Understand Your Audience
Only through research will you truly understand what types of customers you have, what they need, and what will lead to positive experiences. You certainly don’t want to waste time and money offering products or services that are not going to give you a positive return. If you do not strategize properly, not only won't you be reaching your target customer, you also won't be offering the value needed to be different.
2. Define Your Goals
Clearly defining an end result for your marketing not only allows for better strategy, but it also allows you to better measure how successful you were in your endeavours. There is no one perfect marketing strategy for all goals, or for that matter all hotels. If you are a new hotel, your goals and strategy will be quite different from an established lodging. Make sure you clearly define goals with deadlines that are measurable.
3. Tell a Consistent Story
Design all elements of your virtual site and presence to be interlinked and present a unified image. For example, if you have a hotel geared towards adventure tourists, emphasis on the business centre would not be prominently displayed. Consistently communicating the same message about your hotel will add emphasis and build trust regarding your image.
4. Use SEO Tools
The search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of tools and techniques used to position your website at the top of results in search engines, such as Google. For example, if a user searches 'Hotels in Moyobamba' and your website is well optimized, it will appear at the very top of the results listed. Optimizing your search engine marketing (SEM) is crucial in increasing the number of visitors to your website.
“Independent hotels rank SEM as the most effective online method for increasing brand awareness and generating leads.”– Source: PhocusWright, The U.S. Hotel Advertising Marketplace Industry Sizing and Trends 2015
5. Update All Information
Few things are more annoying to a potential client than receiving outdated or inconsistent information. This is a crucial detail when opening up lines of communications with customers. Information such as room price, resort fees, or more importantly availability of rooms must be corrected and updated frequently. Consistently update your website and information on different computers and browsers to ensure all information is being reflected properly.
6. Invest in Quality Presentation
Just like you want the best presentation for your lobby and rooms, do not neglect your image online. Written content should be impeccable, and photos and videos posted must function correctly. Investing in the quality of these details is crucial because errors and oversights in your online presence will reflect poor attention to detail and/or convey the idea your business provides low value.
