If we combine all the tools offered by the Internet to ensure the development of the business of a hotel, and in general of any activity related to the tourism sector, we are in the field of tourism web marketing.
Digital marketing for hotels has the ultimate goal of selling the services of the hotel, but it also has related objectives:
- create a good online reputation
- retain people who have stayed or who would like to stay in our hotel
- strengthen the identity of the hotel and communicate its strengths and how we differentiate ourselves from others
In practice we have to communicate effectively on the web, present our structure, make the future customer understand what the experiences and the atmosphere will be that will make his holiday unforgettable.
To achieve this goal it is necessary to prepare a strategy to be implemented through the coordinated use of the tools that the Internet makes available to us:
- a functional, fast, complete, captivating website, which communicates in the languages of our desired target, and which allows direct booking;
- the presence in one or more social media, chosen by importance, in a number compatible with our budget
- an ongoing SEO activity, to achieve and maintain the best positions in search engines
- the optimization of information about our hotel, visible in Google My Business
- the creation and management of a newsletter for the loyalty of our customers and prospects
The choice of these tools depends on the business objectives we intend to achieve and the budget we have available for digital communication. Graduality is a solution that can be spent in most cases, not everything immediately, but a program of coordinated interventions scaled over time.
How to incentivize bookings
Once potential customers have landed on the hotel website, the goal is to turn visits into bookings. And this is achieved with a site designed to create trust in the visitor, present the structure in a professional way, push the customer towards direct booking through the booking engine, that is the booking engine that must be simple and functional.
Although it is almost always advantageous to use OTA portals as well, it is important to combine these channels with direct and disintermediated sales.
In fact, web users often use portals such as Booking.com or Expedia to search for the hotel of their interest and then book directly on the hotel website, to check if there are more advantageous rates or other benefits. If the user finds them, and also finds an intuitive booking system similar to OTAs, it is very likely that they will make the booking directly in the booking engine.
