This article uses practical examples to show the most common hotel marketing mistakes and how hotels can avoid them. Today, it is no longer enough to use selective marketing measures to stand out from the competition and reach the guest. Especially in online marketing or hotel internet marketing, the combination of different channels and measures leads to a self-reinforcing marketing system. The following mistakes are counterproductive and minimize the marketing success of hotels in digital hotel marketing.
The solution: remarketing to enable multiple approaches. The target groups for advertising are determined on the basis of existing data. For example, all users who have visited the website in the last 60 days, or who have seen a Facebook ad, or who have made an inquiry and then not booked. This way they are exposed to the hotel multiple times. Lookalike audiences are used to target users who are similar to these people, increasing the relevant audience and the likelihood of a high number of bookings.
However, this is the critical metric for hoteliers to measure the success of their marketing efforts and to know whether the investment in a dedicated marketing agency and advertising budget is worthwhile. The ADDITIVE+ MARKETING INSIGHTS software enables this analysis through a link to the hotel's software. In this way, hoteliers always know which activity is generating how much revenue.
A holistic hotel marketing system, consisting of hotel online marketing and hotel specific software, unlocks the full potential of digital hotel distribution. Choosing the right hotel marketing agency is therefore considered a key success factor in digital hotel marketing.
1. Place individual ads - neglect remarketing
The (potential) guest needs several points of contact before booking. If they see an ad on Instagram for a hotel they have never heard of, they are unlikely to decide to go on holiday. It is therefore not enough to place individual advertisements. It is only when the guest interacts with the hotel through multiple channels that the hotel can capture their attention and interest.The solution: remarketing to enable multiple approaches. The target groups for advertising are determined on the basis of existing data. For example, all users who have visited the website in the last 60 days, or who have seen a Facebook ad, or who have made an inquiry and then not booked. This way they are exposed to the hotel multiple times. Lookalike audiences are used to target users who are similar to these people, increasing the relevant audience and the likelihood of a high number of bookings.
2. Do not optimize landing pages - allow expensive queries
A landing page is a target page that a user reaches when he clicks on an ad. Depending on the content and goal of the ad, this can be, for example, the voucher store on the hotel's own website or a specially created page with a booking mask. In order to increase the likelihood of a transaction (e.g. voucher purchase or inquiry), it is worth optimizing the landing page for online hotel marketing. Otherwise, the price per inquiry increases significantly because the click on the landing page is paid to advertising platforms such as Facebook, but no inquiries are received due to the high bounce rate.3. Ignore the customer journey and send the same message to every guest
As described in the first point, each (potential) guest comes into contact with the hotel through a variety of advertisements. This means that one user may not even know about the hotel at first contact, while another may have had several points of contact and be close to making a purchase decision. They are therefore at different stages of the customer journey, which is classically divided into the six stages of 'inspiration', 'interest', 'purchase', 'fulfillment', 'loyalty' and 'referral'. Depending on the stage, the user needs a different message. This needs to be taken into account when designing online hotel marketing ads.4. Plan a fixed advertising budget - do not consider hotel occupancy
Tourism is characterized by seasonal fluctuations. In this context, hotels often make two mistakes in hotel marketing:- The advertising budget for hotel online marketing is spread evenly throughout the year and does not take into account the need for more intensive advertising during certain periods. While the hotel fills up during the high season without much advertising effort, the occupancy rate is specifically increased by marketing activities in the spring, for example.
- If the advertising budget is only increased when the hotel is in a period of low occupancy, it is already too late because it is much more difficult to generate reservations at such short notice. It is therefore better to calculate the average pre-booking time (e.g. 45 days) and add 30 to 60 days for the average customer journey from inspiration to booking. The low season promotion should therefore start about 3 months in advance.
5. Analyze metrics superficially - do not measure success directly.
There are many ways to analyze and evaluate online marketing efforts for hotels. Tracking plays a central role. For example, in the case of social media advertising in hotel marketing, the impressions achieved, click rates and inquiries generated are recorded. The actual revenue generated from the resulting reservations is often not traceable to the individual measures.However, this is the critical metric for hoteliers to measure the success of their marketing efforts and to know whether the investment in a dedicated marketing agency and advertising budget is worthwhile. The ADDITIVE+ MARKETING INSIGHTS software enables this analysis through a link to the hotel's software. In this way, hoteliers always know which activity is generating how much revenue.
A holistic hotel marketing system, consisting of hotel online marketing and hotel specific software, unlocks the full potential of digital hotel distribution. Choosing the right hotel marketing agency is therefore considered a key success factor in digital hotel marketing.
