The marketing challenges that hotels face nowadays are constantly growing. Properties are behind in user engagement, sales and acquisition compared to OTAs. With time, heaps of challenges are piling up and leaving direct bookings in distress. Increased competition is also a matter of concern. Direct booking campaigns are yet to kick off in full swing due to the current pandemic, and many hoteliers are struggling to get cut through. 

Here are a few marketing challenges with solutions that any hotel cannot afford to miss out on. 

If your property is not on social media, it does not exist. The power of social media unfolds many benefits – from reaching out to a diverse audience to communicating with them.  

Instead of haphazardly joining the bandwagon, keep these things in mind: 

• Which social media networking works best for your business and guests? 
• How do you know if the channel is yielding positive results? 
• How do you connect with a wider audience via social media? 
• Be sure to tag your location for travellers.

Post relevant information, genuine story and offers to catch followers’ attention. Show how the property looks every season, go live, publish real photos and videos instead of stock images. 

Use the channel to drive traffic to the brand.com site. 

From personalised guest experiences to reducing travel friction, data is crucial. 

You can do more than observe guest behaviour. Data can predict guest needs and drive engagement. The more RELEVANT data you have, the better strategies you can apply. 

Guests are more loyal to brands that have a thorough understanding of their preferences and priorities. 

With the search engine algorithms constantly changing, you must ensure that you keep up with the changes to continue to track your customers correctly. Visitors now switch between multiple devices and apps before even making the purchase.  Have analytics from Facebook and Google activated so you can track them as a sale. 

83% of millennials are up for allowing brands to track their habits if they can receive more personalised services. 

Better results come along when brands learn from what guests request and inform. Guests now have an expectation for personalised service and when it does not appear the brand is what gets hurt. 

Ask yourself, what am I doing to personalise the experience for my customers from start to finish? 

Perhaps, it’s time to do away with tried and true methods. Are you using the new platforms to get found by your guests? Are you appearing on blogs, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram. Email has worked for years, but it shouldn't be your only solution. Make sure you are optimising to platform and device.