What is Hotel Marketing?

Hotel marketing is an umbrella term, which refers to the various marketing strategies and
techniques that hotels use, in order to promote their business and make a positive impression on
customers. Essentially, it is about making a hotel as appealing as possible, in order to attract as many
guests as possible.

George Restaurant
Casual Dining Cost for two: ₹800

East Street, Pune

Store Timings: gray arrow

star icon 3.9

939 visits

Taking care of hunger pangs till as late as 11:30PM, George Restaurant is a casual dining restaurant
serving a variety of delicious preparations. A great place in East Street, it is praised for its
stylishpresentation and is a nice joint to visit when one is looking to satiate hunger pangs with tasty,
hygienic food at nominal prices.

In the digital age, hotel marketing occurs online, as well as in-person, and hotel brands need to
maximise their presence through website traffic, social media, email and a variety of other channels.
MENU IN George Restaurant

Why is Hotel Marketing Important?

Within the hotel and hospitality industry, competition is one of the single biggest challenges for
individual hotels to contend with. Hotel marketing is essential, as it is the way hotels are able to
promote their property, highlight its unique features, ensure it stands out from rivals, and establish
the benefits of staying there.

Ultimately, keeping up with the latest hotel marketing trends and engaging customers through
marketing can help hotel owners to maximise the number of bookings they generate, and the
revenue they bring in.
18 General and Specific COVID Hotel Marketing Trends

Below, you will be able to find a breakdown of some of the key trends associated with hotel
marketing. For your convenience, these trends have been divided into a list of general trends and a
list of the trends that are directly connected to coronavirus and the associated changes in consumer
behaviour.
6 Hotel Marketing Trends Associated With COVID

The COVID outbreak has had a major impact on the hotel industry, as hotels are forced to contend
with new legal requirements, changing customer habits and behaviours, global travel restrictions
and the economic fallout. Here, you can find out more about some of the main hotel marketing
trends linked to the pandemic.

1. Highlight Safety in Hotel Marketing & Guest Communication

One of the biggest trends within hotel marketing is linked to the increased need to highlight safety
measures and hygiene within your marketing content and guest communications. After all, travellers
need reassurances that you take the threat of COVID seriously and are taking steps to keep them as
safe as possible.

Hygiene measures and safety policies are at the very forefront of customers’ minds when making
booking decisions and how well you communicate the steps you have taken can easily be the
difference between generating sales and failing to do so. Your efforts need to be communicated on
your website, on third-party platforms, in emails and elsewhere.

Take a look at “Hygiene is the New Marketing Message for Hotels” for further insights.

2. Ramp Up the Focus on Leisure Trips

Some hotels focus much of their marketing efforts on business travellers, but the combination of
travel restrictions, work from home policies, restrictions on mass gatherings and general uncertainty
has meant many business events are being cancelled and overall business travel has been
significantly reduced.

However, the pandemic has taken a toll on people and many are crying out for a break. For this
reason, while travellers may be more reluctant to travel than in the past, demand for leisure breaks
is still there. With this in mind, those in the hotel management may be wise to consider ramping up
the focus on leisure-based marketing communication.
Depending on your location and facilities, you can target different groups here, including couples,
families, small groups of friends, or even a combination. You may also wish to consider changing
some of the channels you use, and creating package deals that are aimed at leisure travellers, in
order to encourage more bookings.

3. Shift From International to Local Travellers

Another hotel trend to be aware of is an increased focus on local guests, as opposed to international
ones. This has been primarily influenced by travel restrictions during the COVID situation, which has
either prevented travel or enforced quarantine requirements on travellers to and from certain
countries.

Many hotels have responded by switching their marketing efforts to target local customers, or at
least customers from neighbouring countries. This may mean highlighting different aspects of your
hotel, such as gym facilities, wi-fi access and the ability to carry out remote work from your hotel
rooms or from dedicated work areas.

Some hotels have also explored services like food delivery and you could potentially make your hotel
stand out here by delivering a dining experience to people’s doors through additional services, like
QR code Spotify playlists.

4. Value and the Role of Flexible Cancellations

Due to the economic realities arising from the coronavirus pandemic, many hotels find themselves in
a position where they are unable to compete purely on price of hotel rooms. However, you can
potentially compete based on value. After all, customers are usually happy to pay more for excellent
facilities and high-quality customer service.

Adding value to your proposition can take many forms. You could, for instance, create packages that
add room service breakfasts, longer stays or extra services, such as massages or vehicle hire.

With regards to customer service, one of the important things those in the hotel industry need to
keep in mind is that COVID has created a lot of uncertainty. Customers could easily face the sudden
imposition of new restrictions, or even test positive for the virus. Demonstrating an understanding
through a flexible cancellations policy can go a long way towards encouraging bookings in the first
place and can also help you to avoid negative press.

5. Analyse Data to Find New Hotel Marketing Trends Due to COVID

While the pandemic has caused upheaval, some of the basic concepts remain as true as ever. It is
still important to use the information you have available to make informed decisions, so take the
time to analyse website data and information from your property management system, and use this
to inform your hotel marketing efforts.

This can help you to identify which demographics are still interested in visiting your hotel, as well as
which market segments have become less likely to travel. Once you have done this, you can pinpoint
opportunities for growth, focus your efforts on appealing to those demographics, and adopt the
most relevant hotel marketing trends.

This could mean geo-targeting your marketing efforts, or even turning to new marketing channels. It
may also result in you turning to different hotel marketing trends than you otherwise would.

6. Let Potential Guests Experience Your Hotel From Afar

As stated, COVID has created a new uncertainty among travel visitors, but what if there was a hotel
technology you could turn to in order to alleviate some of these concerns? The good news is, virtual
reality tours offer precisely this. Using VR technology, potential guests and B2B clients can actually
experience your hotel from afar.

This can be particularly effective during the booking process, which is why VR tours are increasingly
being integrated within booking engines. With those interested in your business or event options, VR
means they can also see your wedding, event or dinner facilities and book without requiring an in-
person inspection first.
12 General Hotel Marketing Trends

The following are examples of some general marketing trends. These trends are applicable
throughout the hotel industry, regardless of location or customer base, and keeping pace can be
essential for optimising revenue.

1. Customer Experience Marketing

Customer experience marketing refers to a collection of hotel marketing strategies that are based
around the experience customers actually have when staying at a hotel, or interacting with a
business. It is based on the idea that hotel customers do not really pay for products or services; they
pay for experiences.

Hotels can improve the customer experience in a number of ways, such as through delivering
excellent customer service, offering unique features in hotel rooms and providing a superior range of
facilities for guests. By focusing on marketing efforts on the experience, hotels can really tap into the
reasons people stay in hotels in the first place.

Video: Customer Experience in the Hospitality Industry

Find more detailed information about customer experience in the hotel industry in the article “4 Use
Cases of Facial Recognition in The Hospitality Industry”.

2. Voice Search

In recent years, voice search has emerged as one of the most important hotel marketing trends and
there are several hotel marketing strategies that can take advantage of this. For instance, using
smart home devices, it is now possible for customers to book hotels entirely through voice
commands and hotels should capitalise on this.
Additionally, voice search possibilities can also be implemented within hotel rooms and then
promoted as a way of attracting customers. This can be achieved by including smart speakers or
smart hubs in hotel rooms, allowing guests to use them to obtain the latest tourist information, or to
book hotel services from the comfort of their room.

Video: Book Travel Products via Voice Search

Find more detailed information and examples about how voice search can benefit your business in
the article “How Can Voice Control Benefit the Hospitality Industry?”.

3. Improve Guest Experience & Satisfaction Through Chatbots

Customers tend to have high expectations when it comes to online customer service, anticipating
swift replies to questions, and this is where chatbots can be of great value. A chatbot can be set up
to answer common questions, push your key marketing messages, increase direct bookings and even
guide customers through bookings.

Some of the main benefits associated with chatbots include the ability to respond to customers even
when staff are unavailable, as well as automatic language detection and communication in multiple
languages. Chatbots can continue to communicate with guests throughout the customer journey
too, including in the follow-up phase.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Customer service interactions form a major part of the modern hotel marketing mix, and artificial
intelligence can play an important role here. For example, AI-powered chatbots are one of the best
ways to ensure customers receive quick responses via live chat functions on hotel websites, 24-
hours a day, eliminating slow response times.

However, the use of artificial intelligence within the hospitality sector extends far beyond this. For
example, AI can help hotels to segregate customers more effectively, assisting with personalisation
marketing efforts. It can also speed up data analytics, while AI-driven customer service robots can be
deployed in hotels.
5. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing refers to the practice of reaching out to individuals who have a significant
online presence, and using their influence to get marketing messages out to a particular audience.
Influencers tend to have established audiences, which may consist of a specific demographic, and
their audience will usually respect their views.

In some ways, influencer marketing is similar to the way celebrity endorsements work, with the
audience trusting a business or brand, because of its association with someone else they trust or
admire. Hotels might partner with influences to create video content, social media posts, written
content, or other forms of online marketing.

Video: How Instagram Influencers are Driving Tourism

6. User-Generated Content

In relation to the hotel industry, user-generated content refers to online content that is created and
shared by customers. Examples of this range from customer reviews and video blogs, through to
hotel photos or holiday snaps. User-generated content is most commonly shared on social media, or
via personal blogs.

This kind of content has the benefit of coming from real customers, rather than from a brand,
increasing audience trust. For hotel marketing strategies to truly harness the power of user-
generated content, they must provide opportunities for it to be easily created and shared, with
digital photo booths being one such example.
7. Personalisation Marketing

The idea behind personalisation marketing is to deliver more targeted promotional content to
individual users. It is a technique that relies heavily on the collection of user data, and the primary
advantage of personalisation marketing is that the promotional content that is seen by customers is
more relevant to them as individuals.

Personalisation marketing can take a number of forms, including intelligent product

recommendations delivered over the internet, or personalised email marketing campaigns. Content
can be tailored by obtaining personal contact details, but can also be targeted towards specific users
based on their web browsing habits and social media activity.
8. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is somewhat similar to virtual reality technology, but rather than entirely altering
a user’s surroundings, it works by overlaying information onto real-world environments – usually
through a smartphone or tablet. The technology itself became mainstream through popular apps like
Pokemon Go.

Today, augmented reality marketing is one of the most significant hotel marketing trends. In
particular, promoting AR features can help a hotel to stand out from rivals. An example of its uses
would be the inclusion of interactive wall maps in rooms, which can provide users with tourist
information when they aim a smartphone at them.
9. Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the most powerful hotel marketing strategies, helping to target marketing
messages towards potential customers in a way that is convenient to them. Video content is
especially popular on social media platforms, and it has the ability to combine visual and audio
elements.

The range of options available to marketers is almost endless, from live streams of hotel activities, to
promotional videos highlighting hotel features, and interviews with customers, sharing their
experiences. The growing prevalence of 360-degree video also opens up greater opportunities to
fully immerse audiences.
10. Remarketing

Finally, remarketing is a way for those in hotel management to reach out to users who have already
visited their hotel website, or interacted with their brand on social media. It can be especially
beneficial to hotels, because research indicates a large number of people begin to make a hotel
booking, before stopping. This could be because they have become distracted, or because they want
to carry out further research.

Remarketing allows these users to be targeted with specific marketing messages, such as an image
of the exact hotel room they were booking, reminding them of their interaction. A major advantage
of remarketing over other forms of digital advertising is that hotels already know these users have
shown some degree of interest.

11. Metaverse: An Innovative Hotel Marketing Trend

The metaverse provides several unique hotel marketing opportunities and can help to bring offerings
into the modern age. Firstly, hotels have the option to provide a virtual or digital space, in which
people can interact freely, without all needing to be in the same location. This may be especially
useful for business customers hosting online meetings.

However, the metaverse can also be used in fun and creative ways that allow the customer
experience to be improved more generally. For instance, interactive virtual tours of hotels can make
it easier for customers to make booking decisions, while metaverse offerings can allow younger
guests to experience AR and VR elements within the hotel itself.

For more information about metaverse opportunities for hotels, read “How Can the Hotel Industry
Take Advantage of the Metaverse?”

12. Non-Fungible Tokens as an Extension of Digital Hotel Marketing

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are one of the most exciting hotel marketing options because there
are so many potential uses. Essentially, NFTs are unique cryptographic assets, unable to be
replicated, which prove ownership of an individual digital item, and this could be artwork, an audio
file, or even a digital membership card.

On a basic level, hotel marketers can partner with local artists or content creators and sell or give
away NFTs to generate publicity. However, going further, NFT technology could also be used to
prove membership or store customer loyalty information. Beyond this, NFTs can be offered within
the metaverse, allowing for exciting new digital opportunities, such as the selling of digital assets
within a virtual space.

The hotel industry is incredibly competitive, which is why hotel marketing is so crucial. Using the 10
hotel marketing trends listed in this article, hotels can reach customers in different ways, with a
diverse range of marketing messages, maximising their chances of securing bookings and achieving
revenue targets.

Want to Learn More About Hotel Marketing Strategies?

Marketing plays a crucial role in helping businesses to maximise bookings and revenue. It is the main
way in which those in the hotel industry are able to reach out to potential customers, conveying
their unique selling proposition and brand values. In the following articles you find more essential
marketing strategies to boost your revenue:

Essential Hotel Marketing Strategies

7 Social Media Marketing Tips to Promote Your Hotel

The Most Important Online Distribution Channels for Hotels

9 Tips to Manage Online Hotel Reviews

Hotel Advertisement; 10 Effective Hotel Advertising Strategies

Hotel App: Optimise Your Guest Communication & Experience

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our
insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and
improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue
Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and
Software.

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5 Comments

Mina June 30, 2019 at 11:33 am - Reply

This is very useful and inspiring information. Thanks you for sharing!
Richard Adams July 12, 2019 at 1:35 pm - Reply

Great article! Video marketing and Instagram pictures have become highly powerful tools for
marketing in hotel industry. As new technologies, like aerial drones emerge, people’s expectations
regarding the quality of pictures of properties are also increasing. Also notable, is how data science
is being used to attract millennials. Voice-assisted room controls and facial recognition check-in
processes are only just the beginning of what the hotel industry is looking towards.

Fernandez Frank Joshua May 28, 2021 at 6:21 am - Reply

Hotel marketing has a key role to play in helping you to attract bookings and optimise revenue. For
the most part, your marketing messages are how customers will become aware of your hotel and
also how they will understand your values and unique selling proposition. Of course, to optimise
your marketing, you need to be aware of the latest trends. However, hotel marketing trends have
also changed as a result of the outbreak of COVID. In this article, you can learn about both the more
general trends within hotel marketing, as well as those that are influenced by a coronavirus.

Janarthanan Ramalingam December 2, 2021 at 2:53 pm - Reply

Good hotel marketing information for business starters within the hotel industry.

Arpit March 30, 2022 at 8:58 am - Reply

Very good information about hotel marketing! tnx

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