Is your hotel digital marketing strategy on track in the new year? SkyTouch Technology has compiled the following simple, yet powerful, resolutions that can be used to drive hotel bookings and RevPAR:
Be Mobile. Get in sync with the habits of your device-driven guests! One-quarter of travelers are already booking their hotel stays via their mobile devices and this figure is set to steadily increase. A mobile-optimized website is key to attracting guests and turning online traction into direct bookings.
Get Social. Adapt a strategic social media campaign to engage with potential guests and keep your brand top-of-mind, long before or after guests even set foot on your property. Continually assess social media metric to assess what has been effective and what you can build on to be more effective. Most importantly, ensure that the content you post is relevant, engaging, and shareable to help build your audience and online brand exposure. Keep in mind that social media followers can be your hotel’s biggest brand ambassadors!
Manage your Reputation. Recognize that online reviews are a significant deciding factor when it comes to how hotel customers make their booking choices. Each online review can potentially make or break your hotel property’s reputation. Ensure that your hotel is monitoring review boards and responding promptly to address both positive and negative posts.
Personalize! Don’t risk boring or offending your diverse guest base. Hotels who practice dynamic content personalization can match content and offers to each guest segment by delivering unique content to site visitors based on their demographics, history, and preferences. Take the time and make the investment in segment analysis and personalization in order to yield higher conversions and incremental revenues.
Recognize Loyalty. This one’s a no-brainer. Loyal customers are more likely to book directly through your website, instead of going the OTA route, more likely to share positive reviews of your property on social media, and more likely to serve as online brand ambassadors. Keep money in your hotel’s pocket by giving them specialized loyalty programs, VIP offers, and incentives.
Move to the Cloud. Implement a cloud-based hotel PMS (property management system) that gives you the ability to monitor operations and respond to market conditions in real-time. The SkyTouch Hotel OS is a solution that gives hoteliers this capability. It also utilizes a BAR (best available rate) pricing strategy to help hotels ensure they are offering the most competitive pricing to drive daily revenue.
Be proactive in keeping the above digital marketing resolutions top-of-mind for a successful 2015!
