When occupancy in a hotel drops, it’s usually stressful for business owners because they don’t know how to revitalize their operations. Many hotel marketing strategies (you are not alone) will also go through low demand periods or an off-peak season during the same time.
A more effective option is to concentrate on offering hotel marketing value, to be inventive with your rate packages, and to explore various market segments and be innovative with your marketing efforts. It’s also an excellent time to encourage guests to make direct reservations on your website by offering unique benefits only available through those who book directly or convert those that arrive via other third-party.
Quick View
Before you tackle your occupancy problems, make a note of your hotel’s marketing occupancy patterns so you know what to anticipate. Occupancy statistics should also be compared to your guests’ booking behavior – for example, how they booked, which channel they used, and whether or not they booked ahead of time.
A look at your hotel’s projected occupancy rate for the coming year might provide crucial information about those time periods when room nights are steadily declining or consistently low. Check the dates going forward if this is around national holidays, as they may be subject to change.
The amount of open hours can be a telling indicator about your company’s occupancy. You may use this information to improve your hotel marketing efforts by focusing them on specific periods of the day or week.
In this blog, we have compiled methods to boost businesses during low-demand phases. Find a more detailed explanation on this blog!
Metasearch
A meta search engine (or aggregator) is a search tool that sends queries to other search engines and then collects the data to generate its own results. Metasearches such as Expedia and Skyscanner, which aggregate hotel accommodations, can be used as part of your hotel marketing distribution approach. Previously, these websites provided hotel room options before directing users to an OTA for booking. However, they have evolved to include booking buttons directly within the results.
Online Travel Agents (OTAs)
For any hotel, whether small or huge, OTAs are the key to online distribution. They can help you access hotel marketing that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to enter, and guests are frequently more willing to book a destination they haven’t visited before through an OTA since they want to feel secure about the company’s ability to meet their needs. OTAs focus on hotel marketing to a larger audience, allowing for more potential guests in an international market that would otherwise be out of reach for many independent hoteliers.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
It’s critical to improve the visibility of your hotel marketing online, and SEO is one of the most effective methods for doing so. A hotel must make sure they are properly set up to be seen on search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to boost visitor traffic to their website.
Your hotel may use SEO to raise in search engine ranks and, eventually, aim to rank higher in the SERPs.
Increasing your search engine ranking and optimizing visibility by implementing an effective SEO strategy like keyword placement and following meta standards is possible. You may also aid your SEO by creating a blog that explains the keywords you’re using in context, providing Google and the other search engines proof that you have relevant and useful material.
Promotional Packages
Some cities may have peak or off-peak seasons, but there is generally something going on in the city or region that attracts potential consumers who you can bundle offers for if demand is low.
Creating a package allows you to hide room rates by including extras that enhance the stay at your hotel. This makes it more appealing to a guest because they will get additional perks and implies that as a hotel, you are competing on service and value rather than price. Providing value in this manner is an excellent method to also differentiate your hotel marketing.
Tip: You can take advantage of holiday moments such as Christmas and New Year to create promotional packages that fit the holiday theme (seasonal promotion).
Many target audiences are interested in these promotions that you can leverage.
Retention
By allowing your visitors to book your property directly, you may establish a hotel marketing database by encouraging them to join up for recurring communications. Offering discounts and coupons is a wonderful approach to attract new visitors as well as reward old ones, and it may be an incentive for business people who are seeking to stimulate mid-week company.
Target Audience
Hotels collect a significant quantity of data on their guests on a daily basis, which may be utilized to create business intelligence. This information might also aid in the improvement of your hotel’s marketing plan and revenue management techniques.
The data is gathered based on the visitors’ actions, and it may be used to forecast future behavior based on past activities. As an example, your business intelligence might be utilized to predict low and high demand seasons.
Partnerships
Working with partners may help you develop additional value elements and benefits that are tough to quantify but will improve the perception of your packaged rates.
Partnerships might assist you in gaining brand exposure for your hotel marketing, allowing you to access client information that you wouldn’t have otherwise, teach you more about consumer behavior, and distinguish you with brand positioning rather than price.
Hotel Video Marketing
Hotel video marketing is a marketing method that uses engaging videos to promote the products or services of your hotel business.
This strategy has been widely used to increase audience engagement, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive conversions (bookings).
The fact that 60% of people in APAC (Asia-Pacific) rely on online videos to plan their travels, therefore maximizing this strategy can increase the visibility of your hotel and, for sure, increase occupancy rates.
Read Also: TOP 5 Hotel Video Marketing Ideas to Boost Your Hotel’s Booking
Use Google Search & Hotel Ads
With a vast user base coming from different countries, advertising on the Google search engine can be one of the most effective ways to increase hotel occupancy.
Travelers use the internet or Google to search for the latest information on hotels or their vacation travels. Therefore, it is essential to ensure your hotel’s presence on the Google search engine in an effective and efficient way.
Active on Social Media
Being active on social media has become an absolute strategy in the hospitality industry.
Being active on social media helps you engage with social media users to expand the reach of your hotel audience and build brand awareness among your potential hotel guests.
As the biggest allure of the hospitality industry is its ability to provide security, relaxation, comfort, and entertainment to guests, social media is the perfect platform to showcase this appeal to your target audience in the form of interactive content.
Conclusion
Increasing hotel occupancy for your business can be very stressful for hotel owners. In addition to focusing on value offerings, exploring various market segments, and tracking occupancy patterns and booking behavior, knowing where to promote your hotel is also crucial to increasing your hotel business occupancy.
Hopefully, we’ve given you all the information you need about hotel marketing strategy & tips to increase your business occupancy. For more advanced hotel marketing strategies, please contact SATUVISION.
