A passion for providing excellent hospitality in the form of running a Hotel can create some incredibly rewarding ventures.
Opening Hotels and receiving glowing customer feedback in the process can make the strenuous process of renovating and starting up the business in the first place all worth it. However, to get those glowing reviews, you will need to make sure that people are aware of your Hotel in the first place, and that it is easy to find.
Here a few methods to consider to promote your stylish new premises.
Plenty of pictures
Hopefully, you feel that every room on your premises is worthy of a five-star review, and it’s vital that you show this on your website. Plenty of pictures of your premises and the dining facilities prove to guests that you are proud of the service you offer and that you’re happy to showcase your premises.
Guests will also want to know that the description and picture of the room they’re staying in matches the reality of the Hotel. While you might be proud of your master suite, you shouldn’t just put up photos of your finest and most well-presented rooms. Visitors will want to know that a single bedroom looks just as comfortable and appealing as the biggest and most expensive room.
A reward scheme
While some guests may only be passing through your Hotel as a one-time visitor, there may be plenty who will enjoy the experience enough to come back time and time again on their holidays or if they have regular business in your geographic location.
It’s therefore wise to reward those who come back to your hotel time and time again out of loyalty. Offering a rewards scheme for regular visitors will show your frequent guests that you appreciate and value their customs and devotion.
It’s also worth noting that word of mouth can be extremely beneficial to your business. Encouraging regular customers to recommend your Hotel to friends and family will help give that much-needed word-of-mouth, which will also help to bring a few more check-ins to your Hotel. A good way to encourage this is also by rewarding them; give them a percentage off their next stay – as well as the people they recommend – to show their positive reviews were valued.
Give your Hotel a theme or specialism
Some people may recoil at the idea of giving their Hotel a theme; however, giving it a uniform look needn’t be tasteless. Of course, those on the coast would pull off a nautical theme without it being too tacky, and a hotel in the countryside would look effortlessly chic with a hunter or rustic wooden aesthetic.
Giving your Hotel a theme in terms of price point and design can attract an entirely new customer base who are looking for a particular type of hotel. For example, someone might be looking for a boutique hotel in your area, or luxury-travelers may be looking for a high-end experience during their stay.
A mobile-friendly website
Nowadays, the majority of people spend their time on the web using their phones, which means that chances are they might also be booking their accommodation using their phone. People who are looking to book a room for a business trip or getaway quickly will be incredibly frustrated if they can’t access the website for a hotel, or are struggling to efficiently book a room without having to zoom in and frequently re-load the page.
Using a website designer that will follow the principles of good web design will help make your booking and information pages far more accessible to everyone who could be potentially booking with you.
Local Listings
Just think about how you go about searching for a Hotel: probably via Google, using the location name. For example, if you’re based in Portland, you want to be on the local listings for that particular search. Registering your business with Google’s local listing is a great way to generate organic reach, and your Hotel might also pop up as a result for local business in the area that people are searching for.
Email marketing
As we’ve mentioned before, you might be lucky enough to start generating loyal visitors who come to your Hotel time and time again for the customer service and comfort you offer them. Rewarding these visitors is vital, as is keeping in touch with them. Encouraging guests to join your mailing list is one way of securing regular visitors, as ideally, your newsletter will include promotions and offers at your hotel.
For instance, you might offer a two-for-one breakfast deal, or you might have a themed evening at your restaurant, which might also attract local visitors as well as ones from afar. Email marketing also gives you plenty of insights on your demographic, and who is likely to be staying at your Hotel in the first place, meaning you can tailor your campaign to clientele.
Social media and feedback
To showcase that all-important feedback, it’s wise to make sure that you are readily available on social media. Use Instagram to display pictures of your rooms and events, use Twitter to take advantage of hashtags and keywords, and use Facebook as a way of keeping positive reviews at the top of your page. All of these platforms are a way of encouraging positive comments and feedback, and motivating community discussion.
As mentioned before, recommendations will be invaluable to you as it means that people can tag and share in the virtual realm as well as face-to-face.
The key to promoting your Hotel is to leave no stone unturned. To earn positive customer feedback and recommendations, you will have to have a visually appealing and slick marketing campaign behind you. Appearing professional to the outside world online will encourage people to trust the quality of service you offer and give your accommodation a try.
Above all, remember that on top of every online marketing avenue, customer service is also what will keep people coming back time and time again. There’s nothing that does wonders more than a smile and ‘Thank you for staying with us.’
We are in this together!
I need to let you all know that we are in on this together. If you need to vent, talk, cry, or just have some to talk with then I am here listening. Since I am working part-time at the local Kroger, I will to the best of my ability to work it out around my schedule.
But you can reach me here:
Email: hotelblogger@aremorch.com
Also, join us at our Facebook Group – Hotel Social Media Community
We will get through this unprecedented event together! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
For any specific information on COVID-19, I recommend go to CDC, WHO, AHLA, AAHOA, and HSMAI. Also, follow information from your local authorities.
NOTE
We are starting to reopen some hotels again (Yay!!!). Make sure you follow their guidelines and say THANK YOU to those that now show a unique spirit to serve, and helps us all get through this!! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
About Are Morch
Hi, I am Are Morch. Your Digital Marketing Coach and Customer Experience Expert specializes in creating effective digital customer experience offer for hotels while growing and scale customer acquisition and revenue.
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