Marketing for hotels – how to boost your reach?

The rising cancellation rates have forced many hotels to revise their marketing strategy, focusing more on increasing direct bookings and developing their brand rather than working with OTAs. How can hotels offset losses caused by cancelled bookings?

How can hotels reach new clients?

Creating a brand identity around your hotel can be your main growth-driving factor. Let your guests know who you are and what you stand for, as well as what they can expect from a stay at your hotel. For these reasons, social media marketing has become an incredibly popular marketing strategy for hotels.

Through social media, you can reach new and returning customers and provide them with high-quality content that directly drives high-quality traffic and sales. Moreover, many social media platforms like Facebook offer additional functionalities which allow guests to book a stay directly from the hotels social media page, without having to redirect them to your website!

Can marketing lower cancellation rates?

Yes! Marketing efforts that lead to increasing your direct bookings can lower your cancellation rates – most cancelled reservations come from OTA bookings, since they often offer guest-first cancellation policies that ultimately end up generating losses for the hotels. Through direct bookings, you can enforce your own, more sensible cancellation policy.

Hotel web marketing is an extremely promising strategy, allowing hoteliers to grow their reach and searchability using social media and content marketing, as well as improving website SEO to gather more internet traffic.

Keep ahead of the latest marketing trends for hotels

In 2022 and leading into 2023, new hotel marketing trends have emerged that guests seem to be into. Safety and cleanliness are now one of the leading factors that guests take into consideration when booking a stay – make sure you highlight that your hotel is safe, both by implementing actual hygienic measures and safety policies, and by communicating it through digital media.

Travel restrictions and popularisation of remote working have severely reduced hotels’ earnings from business travellers, and caused many hoteliers to re-focus on leisure travellers instead. The pandemic has been a tough time for most of us, with many people demanding a break – opening up outreach possibilities for hotels.