Hotel Industry Trends in 2018

Quick Guide to Key Factors Throughout 2018

Reaching consumers across devices is essential for when the ‘book it’ moment occurs. Booking a hotel is never a one-way street and reaching potential guests across their travel planning journey requires a multichannel marketing approach that offers a greater user experience on whatever device they choose to use.

Responsive: You need to centre your website and marketing efforts around a strategy that reaches the right consumer, at the right time, on the right device. This includes a responsive website that offers the optimum user experience on desktop, tablet and mobile, as well as a robust marketing strategy with initiatives that complement each other including SEM, SEO, email marketing, online media advertising and social media.

Personalisation expected: Personalisation is not only proven to increase bookings and other key performance indicators; consumers expect content to be personalised to them. A recent survey by eMarketer showed that 85% of internet users expect personalisation. In planning your 2018 strategy put more emphasis on personalising website content – promotions, visuals and marketing copy.

Cut through the noise with storytelling: Today’s consumers need to understand the story behind your hotel and need to be engaged in your story to be able to picture themselves at your property. Today’s consumers demand a personalised and highly value-rich marketing approach. They need to be engaged with before, during and after their stay. This can be achieved through contact marketing. A great tool to help with your content engagement is SproutSocial.

Stay authentic to the brand: Content should be crafted so that it appeals to the type of guest that tend to stay at your hotel, yet also find ways to engage key customers segments we would like to increase.

A 360 Approach: A Smart Data Marketing Strategy is the Foundation for Driving Direct Bookings

• Past/Repeat Guests 15%-25% of Guests (Target Using CRM Data)
• Future Guests 75%-85% of Guests (Target Using Intent Date)

Author: John thrives on collaborating with others to achieve a collective vision and takes pride in helping to create a supportive framework for teams that empowers them to deliver. He is digitally literate and possesses significant knowledge of advertising and integrated digital marketing techniques, such as search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and social media. In 2014 John has secured substantial funding from the Local Enterprise Office and was shortlisted in Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur Competition Best New Ideas Category. Interested in networking with John? Check his LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.