How to Increase Hotel Bookings: 5 Tactics
An increase in hotel bookings means a boost in revenue. Learn 5 marketing tactics to support a successful hotel advertising strategy. Read more.
In the ever-evolving world of hospitality, increasing hotel bookings is essential for the growth and sustainability of any establishment. Whether you run a boutique inn or a sprawling resort, attracting guests and retaining their loyalty is crucial.
Join us as we explore effective tactics to boost hotel bookings, drawing insights from TEGNA’s insightful e-book, “Understanding Today’s Leisure Traveler.”
Why Is Increasing Hotel Bookings Essential?
Headed for a staycation or going abroad, Americans collectively view vacation as the year’s best highlight. Whether traveling to relax or catch up with family and friends, they’re pursuing happiness despite economic challenges, and your hotel has an opportunity to offer them a memorable experience and make them loyal visitors who stay with you time and time again.
Hotel bookings are also the lifeblood of the hospitality industry, essential for your brand’s financial health and sustainability. It enables revenue generation, profitability, competitive advantage, and the ability to provide quality services to guests.
What Tools Support Increased Hotel Bookings?
Successful hospitality brands often employ marketing strategies, pricing tactics, and customer service excellence to increase hotel bookings to attract and retain guests. It’s also essential to leverage various tools and channels to harness the power of online bookings. Let’s take a brief look at some of these:
Video
Our travel survey found that 83% of consumers watch travel content, making video travel essential when unpacking your marketing and advertising strategy. Additionally, 79% find travel video entertaining, 66% say it helps them when planning vacations, and 60% feel it keeps them informed on the latest travel trends.
Consider creating visually appealing video content to showcase your hotel’s amenities, rooms, and overall experience. High-quality visuals and videos can create a strong impression on viewers and entice them to consider your hotel for their stay. After all, they can imagine themselves in that setting if they see, hear, and feel what the experience will be like.
Television
The perfect platform to leverage video content, TV advertising is still an effective way to reach a broader audience and establish brand recognition. On a local level, tourists and travelers rely on local news stations to educate and inform them of nearby tourist activities and the latest travel trends. There’s a halo effect that also comes with local TV advertising, and, given an increase in the number of Americans going on staycations, hotel brands would be wise to incorporate TV into their media plan.
Streaming
Like broadcast TV, streaming effectively reaches a broad audience, including cord-cutters and cord-nevers. Hospital brands can expand their reach with streaming, utilizing highly targeted advertising based on user demographics, interests, and viewing habits to reach audiences more likely to be interested in vacationing. Streaming TV platforms provide detailed analytics with a tool like TEGNA Attribution – impressions, click-through, and conversion rates – to help measure and optimize the effectiveness of a campaign.
- Many local channels are also streaming if you want to align with local TV news stations and build on the halo effect. Click here to learn more about TEGNA’s Local Streaming News apps.
Digital
Your hotel’s online presence is paramount. Not only will a well-designed website with easy booking options significantly enhance your bookings, but you’ll want to consider incorporating several tactics into your digital strategy to further expand reach, including first-party data audience targeting, digital and banner ads, pre-roll video, native and contextual ads, PPC, SEO, and social media platforms.
Cross-Channel
The best way to reach today’s travelers is to be where they are and grab their attention. They’re all across the country and consume advertising on several different platforms, often simultaneously. Hospitality brands looking to grow business and increase bookings must deploy a cross-channel marketing strategy combining the power of several channels, such as linear TV, streaming media, and digital elements, to reach the masses.
5 Marketing Tactics for Increasing Hotel Bookings
Marketing tactics are specific actions and strategies businesses use to achieve their goals and objectives. These tactics are the practical, hands-on methods employed within a broader marketing strategy to promote products or services, connect with target audiences, and drive desired outcomes. Marketing tactics are essential because they provide a structured approach to executing the overall marketing strategy and achieving specific results. Now, let’s delve into the specific marketing tactics you can employ to increase hotel bookings:
1. Know Your Audience
Brands that know their audience through data and creating persona profiles can provide products, services, and relevant content to their target demographic to gain attention and interest. Here are a few insights that our study uncovered:
- Millennials and Gen Z are most likely to visit trendy locations
- Older generations tend to travel to check places off a bucket list
- Younger generations are driven by experiences that contribute to their overall identity
- Relaxation is a priority for Americans and the top motivator when planning a vacation
- Millennials/Gen Z is +9% more likely to prioritize spending on experiences, like traveling, over goods
- Audiences resonate with a few creative elements showcased in travel ads: cinematic escapism, realism, and details to spark planning ideas.
2. Invest in Video
Travel video content is undeniably popular, and visual content is king with its power to provoke feelings of wanderlust, influence travel planning, and drive up purchase intent. Consider:
- Create captivating videos showcasing your property and amenities to entice potential guests.
- Partner with local news organizations that have earned the trust of their viewers to amplify your message at scale with linear TV and benefit from the halo effect.
- Sales-friendly lifestyle programming can elevate your message with opportunities for on-location or long-form segments.
- Precisely target desired audiences with first-party digital solutions and streaming TV.
3. Focus on the Customer Experience
Offering top-notch customer service and cleanliness are cornerstones of the travel and tourism industry. More than ever, travel intenders rely on reviews to drive their decision-making. By utilizing real reviews and testimonials in messaging, your brand can showcase specific ways you exceed expectations, assuaging concerns around declining service levels. Also, consider addressing staffing challenges to ensure a high level of service, as negative reviews can deter potential guests.
4. Offer Deals & Special Offers
Offering exclusive deals and incentives can be a game-changer. Tourist attractions that typically cater to out-of-town visitors can attract locals, hometown tourists, and staycationers by promoting special exclusive discounts for residents. Additionally, reconnecting with friends and family will motivate more Americans to travel in the coming year. If your brand offers group discounts and/or spaces for large gatherings, messaging around these kinds of accommodations is recommended.
5. Tailor Messaging to Focus on Relaxation & Reunions
Americans are traveling for wellness: to reduce stress, relax, and improve their mood. Hospitality brands would be wise to highlight how stress-free their experience is and highlight a serene atmosphere and opportunities for relaxation as many travelers seek a break from their hectic lives.
Help Travelers Get Away with TEGNA
TEGNA’s e-book, “Understanding Today’s Leisure Traveler,” offers valuable insights and solutions to meet the challenges of the ever-evolving hospitality landscape. Our ultimate goal is to equip brands with data and insights to inform and develop creative, then amplify those messages with cross-platform campaigns, including linear, streaming, and digital elements. With 64 broadcast stations in 51 markets nationwide, our unique content opportunities will connect your business to the audiences that matter most and deliver proven results. Let’s get in touch to see how we can help your brand implement these tactics effectively and stay ahead of the competition.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I attract customers to my resort?
Successful hospitality brands often employ cross-channel marketing strategies that combine video, TV, streaming, and digital elements and effective visual messaging that creates emotional connections with the audience, tells a compelling story, includes incentives and promotions, and shows off a stress-free experience.
How do I increase my hotel occupancy rate?
Implementing strategies like special deals, loyalty programs, and targeted, cross-channel marketing campaigns that include video, linear TV, streaming, and digital channels can help increase your hotel’s occupancy rate.
How do I encourage hotel bookings?
Make booking convenient through your website, engage with potential guests on social media, and focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences to encourage hotel bookings.
