Hotel Marketing Funnel: Comprehensive Guide + Real Life Example [2024]

The hospitality industry now focuses on high-tech marketing applications, such as mobile phones, mobile applications, and virtual reality. Digital marketing technology, virtual reality, is significant in triggering travelers to “daydream” about stay offers before they experience them at their destination.

This means you have to start promoting and competing even before travelers get to their destination.

To succeed in tourism businesses, you must create strategies that improve and personalize the experience and make guests want to return. This is where you need to know about the hotel marketing funnel. In simple terms, the hotel marketing funnel is how travelers process, choose, and decide on what’s offered for loyalty.

Understanding the hotel marketing funnel means totally knowing which part you should optimize to create a smooth experience for the guest. By matching your marketing plans with the specific needs of the hotel industry, you can boost your chances of getting a devoted customer base.

Here are The 6 Hotel Marketing Funnel 

Navigating the hotel marketing funnel isn’t just smart; it’s essential for transforming travelers or potential guests into loyal bookers. Think of it as your hotel’s playbook; each funnel requires a different strategy.

At the top of the funnel, it’s all about grabbing attention— Here, your goal is to be so compelling that potential guests can’t help but want to know more (TOFU). As they move through the funnel, it’s your job to keep them engaged, guiding them with the right mix of charm and information, and making sure they feel understood and valued (BOFU)

The hotel marketing funnel reflects the journey from awareness to purchase, gradually guiding potential guests toward buying decisions. But here’s the kicker: the modern marketing funnel doesn’t end with a sale.

Yes, it’s about creating a circle of loyalty and advocacy that keeps guests returning and bringing friends. By keeping an eye on what works and tweaking what doesn’t, you’re not just filling rooms but building a loyal guest and increasing customer retention.

For a better understanding, here are several stages of the hotel marketing funnel you need to know :

Awareness

The first stage of the marketing funnel is Awareness. It’s all about making your guests aware of your hotel’s offerings through various marketing efforts like ads, trade shows, blogs, webinars, and social media. Success in this stage is measured by the number of people who engage with the company’s content or visit its website.

Consideration

In the consideration stage, your guests consider booking a room and staying at the hotel. They might show interest by signing up for emails or asking for more information. These guests are called prospects. If sales staff are present, they’ll handle these leads; otherwise, the marketing team takes over. The goal is to offer the best deals based on the guests’ needs. Metrics like email signups, website visits, and ad clicks help track progress.

Conversion

The Conversion stage aims to turn interested consumers into guests who stay in your hotels. You can track metrics to see how many make a purchase. You could analyze which marketing tactics work best and may adjust their strategies accordingly. For example, you can include targeted campaigns, free trials, and remarketing efforts.

Activation

In the activation stage, your hotel or restaurant eagerly anticipates the guest’s decision to book a hotel room or have dinner at the restaurant. Once they do, your hotels benefit from the purchase. However, there’s no guarantee they’ll buy again. If your hotels don’t move the guests to the next stage—loyalty and advocacy—they risk staying in the same position. One example of activation is purchases, subscriptions, or bookings.

Loyalty

Marketing for existing guests is crucial for keeping the guest engaged with your hotel business. Instead of always trying to attract new guests, offering discounts can help retain existing ones. Since these guests have already experienced your hotel’s service, they will likely make repeat purchases. A strong marketing strategy includes focusing on loyalty and retaining the guest.

Retention campaigns, like loyal customer discounts and promo codes, are effective ways to encourage repeat business. Ensure your guests feel valued and appreciated for their loyalty to your brand.

Advocacy

At the bottom of the funnel, the advocacy phase encourages guests to recommend your hotel’s brand or services to others, bringing in new guests. For instance, when an existing guest recommends a product, it’s more effective than increasing marketing spending. Companies can attract new consumers by focusing on advocacy in the awareness phase.

Advocacy is measured by the percentage of guests who join through a referral program or leave positive comments on social media. Essentially, advocacy occurs when the guest brings in new guests, making “word of mouth” the most effective form of digital marketing.

Read Also: Revealing the Secret: What Is The Most Direct Cause of Customer Loyalty?

Lookers into Bookers: Inside a Hotel’s Top & Bottom Funnel Success Story

Understanding the hotel marketing funnel means knowing where to invest and optimize your marketing effort. Here is the hotel’s success story in the top and bottom funnels. 

Successful hotel marketing campaigns at the top of the funnel often focus on creating awareness and interest, aiming to capture potential guests’ imaginations early in their decision-making process. These campaigns are designed to engage audiences in the initial stages of planning a trip, possibly even before they’ve decided on a destination.

This is a success story from a hotel brand that used influencer marketing in its content marketing campaigns to reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness. By inviting prominent bloggers to stay free at their properties, the hotel group generated useful and fair reviews of its hotels on the bloggers’ websites and social media channels. 

Other than that, statistics show that 78% of marketers found influencer marketing to be an effective strategy for increasing brand awareness. This strategy was effective because it allowed the hotel to market through influencers while also providing them with a unique experience.

On the other hand, the bottom marketing funnel focuses on converting prospects into customers by emphasizing strategies aimed at closing sales and facilitating the purchasing decision. A successful hotel marketing campaigns at the bottom of the funnel (BoFu) often involve creative and personalized approaches to convert interest into bookings. Here are some standout examples:

The Hoxton created a unique website hub specifically for dog lovers. It made all of its properties dog-friendly and showcased this through engaging “dog language” content on its website. This quirky and fun approach attracted pet owners and highlighted the brand’s playful and welcoming nature​​.

In a different case, Best Western utilized virtual reality tours to give potential visitors a more immersive preview of its hotel suites. This innovative use of technology provided an immediate and compelling way for consumers to experience the rooms, enhancing decision-making​. 

Conclusion

The hotel marketing funnel is vital for guiding potential guests through the journey from awareness to advocacy. It helps hotels attract, engage, and retain guests by understanding their needs and preferences at each process stage.

Customer loyalty is important in the hotel industry and is the end goal of the hotel marketing funnel. It drives revenue growth, reduces customer acquisition costs, and fosters enduring guest relationships. Loyalty programs are key in encouraging repeat business, enhancing guest satisfaction, and differentiating hotels from competitors.

Therefore, you have to prioritize customer loyalty in your marketing strategies. By focusing on personalized experiences, leveraging technology for better customer relationships, and implementing effective rewards programs, hotels can strengthen guest loyalty, increase revenue, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. Ultimately, prioritizing customer loyalty leads to long-term success and sustainability in the hotel industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Take the next step in elevating your hotel’s guest experience! We can help you to explore and adopt these effective strategies to foster loyalty and drive success in your hotels.  We will give you input and lead you to new heights of hospitality excellence.