Digital Marketing for Hotels
Digital marketing is essential for hotels, and hospitality is also one of the most competitive fields for digital marketing. You have solid online competition coming from other hotels, OTA's, and travel journalist websites.
Honest Marketing has a small team of top experts in digital marketing for hotels designed to increase your direct bookings!
Honest Marketing has a small team of top experts in digital marketing for hotels designed to increase your direct bookings!
Why us?
Given our experience and passion for hospitality, we are confident that Honest Marketing is the best choice for your hotel's digital marketing. We combine experience working with (and in) some of the top hotels in Ireland and Europe, allocating a lot of time to your account.
COVID-19 has destabilized the hotel industry so you can work with us as hourly consultants/freelancers or as ongoing monthly digital marketing specialists. Explore our hospitality section page and guide, and contact us to arrange a free call!
When it comes to elevating your hotel's online presence and driving bookings, our comprehensive strategies for digital marketing for hotels are second to none. Discover how our expert team at Honest Marketing Agency can tailor a boutique marketing approach to boost your hotel's success in the competitive digital landscape.
Check some of our services tailored for hotels to grow direct bookings!
(scroll down for more info on our guide for hotel digital marketing in 2023)
SEO
SEO (Google,Bing) is challenging. You need an expert in this field. We worked on over 30 SEO clients in the past. At Honest Marketing we do modern SEO, which is a holistic approach to SEO as everything is connected to SEO today.
PPC-Google Ads
Paid advertising is getting more and more important. We try to make ads as much segmented as possible. Google is gathering more and more information about users so it's easier than ever to target people. Make sure to check our PPC ROI myth post!
Social Media
We provide Instagram and Facebook marketing and consultation for your business.
Advanced Reporting
Another thing that differentiates us from others is that we spend a lot of time analysing and interpreting data & trends regarding your business. Data segmentation is key. This information also helps you make better business decisions.
User Experience
User experience is getting more and more attention and it should be the cornerstone of modern digital marketing. The attention span of a site visitor is rapidly decreasing and there is an ever increasing competition online. Better UE = more conversions.
Hotel Digital Marketing
We are highly experienced in digital marketing for hotels with over 30 hotel clients in the past. From some of the top hotels in world to 3 star local hotels we know what it takes for perfect online hotel presence.
Hotel Revenue Management & hotel consultancy
We have a specialized and very passionate hotel consultant - Matea. She worked in the hospitality industry for more than 12 years.
Website development
We have a very experienced web developer - Milun who has more than 20 years of experience. A software system engineer and web developer.
Our Hotel Digital Marketing Guide for 2023
We view a hotel as a living entity - a place made for people to enjoy themselves and create memories and experiences. That's what differentiates hotels from Airbnb. Your digital marketing should reflect that.
There is no better medium to convey a feeling of being in a hotel better than video, audio, and images.
Digital marketing for hotels consists of traditional channels like SEO, PPC, Social media, email marketing. Every other business uses these channels in their digital marketing, so what's different for hotels?
The difference is in choosing which online channels to prioritize and what content to show to potential guests.
We have listed the top digital marketing channels for hotels in 2023 below:
1. Social Media for Hotels
In our experience, social media has become the best and most underrated channel hotels should use. If you think about it - what a hotel represents and what it's trying to achieve: storytelling and experiences.
There is no better channel to visualize what the hotel is about than with social media. Instagram is the most important social media platform for hotels right now. Many hotels don't have time or enough creativity to use social media for storytelling. Often, hotels don't have a dedicated person who handles social media networks, so they assign it to the person within the hotel. That's why we strongly suggest hiring our social media for hotels consultants.
What to focus on
Social media consists of organic and paid content. Posting often and posting interactive content is essential for organic reach, but we all know paid ads on social media often get you even more.
To be successful with social media for hotels, you need to make a strategy – a content calendar for the next six months, one year.
2. Google my Business Listing
It's a window to your hotel for people that are online browsing. A hotel's google my business profile is just as important as their site. People will browse your images there before clicking on the site.
Make sure to keep an eye on those images. Some are uploaded by staff too. You can see how many views they get in your Google my business profile.
One good tip is to upload your videos, promotion images on there, too, since they get a lot of views. Think of Google my business as guests' first impression of your property. You want to do anything to make a positive first impression.
What to focus on
Google my business has 2 substantial benefits: 1. SEO can rank high and get you traffic and bookings. A listing with all images, updated info, and an increased number of good reviews will rank better for hotels in your area.
2. It's a window into your hotel so use it to present your hotel. Business listings get A LOT of views from potential guests. We might also mention rates on hotel ads show up here, so make sure you have the cheapest rate showing.
2. It's a window into your hotel so use it to present your hotel. Business listings get A LOT of views from potential guests. We might also mention rates on hotel ads show up here, so make sure you have the cheapest rate showing.
3. SEO for Hotels
SEO for hotels has been alive for a long time. Looking back, it has passed its prime time when hotels could easily rank in the top 3 results. There are a dozen articles about SEO for hotels, and they are more the same, give or take.
In the last five years, OTA's have taken those positions. Nevertheless, a hotel should have an SEO strategy that goes a bit beyond the traditional SEO tips.
Get the essential SEO tips right: site speed, on-page SEO, metadata, internal linking.
But the two factors that impact SEO the most are Content and Backlinks (links to your site).
But the two factors that impact SEO the most are Content and Backlinks (links to your site).
What to focus on in SEO
SEO can be different for each hotel website.
Success is determined by how good is your website, content, backlinks, and the level of competition.
It is easier to rank in the top 3 results in a smaller place than in a city. Once you get the technical site (speed, crawl errors, redirects, 404) and on the page (metadata, internal links), focus on the more demanding part: getting links and making better content. Keep your Google my business updated, as explained above.
You want to have content about the keyword you want to rank. E.g., you want to rank for hotels in X location, you need to have content about "your hotel in location X. " Now, this is a problem. You don't want "ugly" SEO keyword text.
You want to excite visitors, not to bore them. An SEO person should work on content, which is both intriguing and SEO-friendly. Content placement also plays a factor. Putting your text on the bottom or top of the page affects rankings.
We suggest scattering the text content on a hotel page, so there's not much text in one place, making it more readable.
We suggest scattering the text content on a hotel page, so there's not much text in one place, making it more readable.
It would help if you had links from other sites to your sites, like online mentions in articles and news sites. Social media links don't count here. This action requires creative thinking, and it is a challenge.
Digital PR is the best way to go. You might hire an online PR agency that could land some links from reputable sites. This is a continuous process as a steady number of new links to the site helps you increase rankings. It's a signal to Google that your hotel is mentioned and relevant.
4. PPC (paid ads) for Hotels
It's hard for hotels today to be entirely successful without some form of Paid ads on Google. People click on ads, and according to studies, many people still don't recognize that the results on top of Google are ads. PPC brings you options and visitors you couldn't get with SEO.
Hotels should use a few different ad types to reach new guests and incentivize previous website visitors to come back.
What to focus on in Hotel PPC
Brand Search (appearing in search results) ads are often a must with hotels to increase direct bookings.
Non-Brand Search Campaigns cover keywords for: "hotels in X," "hotel offers in X", "spa" or even competitor brand searches.
Retargeting is showing you are (as banner ads on other sites or your video on YouTube) to people that visited your site. Hotels often use this to incentivize to book direct or an offer.
Hotel Awareness Display/videos are banner or video ads showing on other sites or YouTube about your hotel. People who searched for your location are often targeted, as they might be interested in going there.
"Google Hotel Ads" appear on your Google my business. It's essential to list your site there at the cheapest rate. Make sure your rate is visible in the top 3 results.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is probably the most efficient digital marketing channel for hotels. Email marketing is most often used to "blast out" a promo offer to past guests in hotels.Those emails have a good return and a high conversion rate.
However, we would suggest using it not only for sales but also for non-sales content.
However, we would suggest using it not only for sales but also for non-sales content.
Use it as another marketing channel to excite the subscribers about what's going on in your hotel.
What to focus on in Hotel PPC
Brand Search (appearing in search results) ads are often a must with hotels to increase direct bookings.
Non-Brand Search Campaigns cover keywords for: "hotels in X," "hotel offers in X", "spa" or even competitor brand searches.
Retargeting is showing you are (as banner ads on other sites or your video on YouTube) to people that visited your site. Hotels often use this to incentivize to book direct or an offer.
Hotel Awareness Display/videos are banner or video ads showing on other sites or YouTube about your hotel. People who searched for your location are often targeted, as they might be interested in going there.
"Google Hotel Ads" appear on your Google my business. It's essential to list your site there at the cheapest rate. Make sure your rate is visible in the top 3 results.
Filip Silobod
Filip is the founder of Honest Marketing. He has years of experience working in and with the top digital marketing agencies (Aro, Avvio, Netaffinity) for hotels in Ireland. His experience led him to create Honest Marketing; a new service focused on top quality, transparency, and direct hotel communication.
Matea Sragalj
Matea is one of the most passionate hospitality professionals out there. With more than 12 years of hospitality experience, she worked from housekeeping to Sales and Marketing. She is a social media and sales/revenue management consultant and a regular team member. We are lucky to have her!
13 years of real life hotel experience
(we don't just know the digital side of hotels, we know what's it like working in a hotel)