Here today, gone tomorrow.
We all know hotel marketing moves at a rapid pace. Tactics that crushed it last year may no longer even be relevant today.
So, what’s worth exploring and expanding… and what needs to be jettisoned?
From time to time, we identify hotel marketing tools, tactics and techniques that transcend property segments, chain scales and geographies. And similarly, we see practices that have fallen out of favor or are simply not living up to the hype.
Depending on whether you work for a large flag, a select service property in New York City or a small independent resort in coastal California, your definition of “what’s hot” may be radically different from ours, but here’s our latest thoughts:
WHAT’S HOT?
1. SPAC
It’s not easy filling your hotel’s need periods.
These low periods can break your annual budget. So rather than “spraying and praying” offers all over the digital landscape in a frantic, last-minute frenzy, smart hoteliers are tapping into a simple, but increasingly popular new technique: SPAC: Simultaneous Promotion Across All Channels.
Launching the same promo on every channel AT THE SAME TIME gives consumers comfort and avoids confusion. If guests see different offers for your hotel on a 3rd party channel than what is shown on your own direct hotel website, they will get uncomfortable with the inconsistency and find another hotel that gives them greater mental comfort.
Also, just like a military operation, launching a well-timed, multi-pronged effort gives your campaign the highest possible chance of success.
Think about it:
If Offer A is running on your Facebook page, Offer B is running on a 3rd-party channel and Offer C is running on your website, guests will be leery of what’s real or what’s current. Prospects will experience dissonance… enough to turn them away looking for another more consistent and mentally-calming hotel option. Consumers are uncomfortable with inconsistency.
It may be overwhelming to keep all of your hotel’s content updated and consistent across a dizzying array of digital channels.
But, it’s vital. Consistency matters.
2. Being accountable for revenue
What?!
Marketing people carrying a quota?
While this may be a strange and radical concept among a large swath of hotel marketers, other industries (i.e. Silicon Valley software companies) have been assigning scary lead generation AND REVENUE quotas to marketing teams for many years.
