Hotel Digital Marketing Bad Habits – Here at RevMar, we’re usually all about offering the best ways to present your business to the world. Today though, we’re looking at the opposite: instead of the dos, we’re looking at the don’ts. Here are five terrible habits hotel digital marketing professionals need to just stop right now.
1. Trying to woo clients from OTAs on price
This one is extremely common in hotel internet marketing services. All too often, hotels try to lure clients from OTAs with steep discounts and special deals. There’s nothing wrong with these strategies per se but bear in mind that you’ll never really beat OTAs on price in the long run. The reality is that price is the OTA’s strongest suit. So let’s think strategically for a moment: what’s the OTA’s biggest weakness. Studies suggest it’s exactly what you’d expect it to be: unreliability. According to this study, customers who book through third parties like OTAs are more likely to encounter last-minute problems or otherwise be dissatisfied with their hotel. So play to your strength, and try luring clients back with guarantees of quality and reliability. The simple fact that you have staff who can provide personal care to clients is enough to give you an edge over the faceless OTA. Use that edge to your advantage!
2. Avoiding necessary upgrades
Often, hotel digital marketing is seen as the most reliable way to boost your bottom line in the medium to long-term. Indeed, even just hotel search engine marketing can make a big difference in a pretty short amount of time. However, hotel internet marketing can only do so much, and in the end, no amount of advertising can beat a solid experience for clients. If clients are consistently underwhelmed by their accommodation, then no amount of papering over problems will suffice. So although it’s hard, real improvements need to be made to premises from time to time. To guide you on this, seriously consider any consistent complaints appearing in guest feedback. For example, if pretty much all your clients agree the carpet is ugly, then even something seemingly banal like carpet needs to become a priority. In the end, modern guests are discerning.
3. Working separately
Whatever the size of your marketing team, there’s always one threat above all else: terrible communication. We’re talking marketers with no idea about upcoming periods of potential weakness, lead-less group sales managers and revenue managers who have pretty much no idea what marketing’s strategy is right now. The best-laid plans mean nothing if nobody has a clue what’s going on. Luckily this problem is easy to manage – all it takes is a little attention to detail. Try scheduling weekly full team meetings. This allows everyone to touch base while promoting a team mentality.
4. Leaving sales to fend for themselves
Hotel marketing typically focuses on driving recreation clients, while sales managers are left to their own devices to generate group leads. This widespread practice is a huge waste of resources and can cripple a massive potential source of revenue. Group sales need to be taken seriously by marketing, simple.
5. Getting caught in the data details
One of the great things about hotel digital marketing is the wealth of measurable data. However, while website bounce rates, social media followers and the like all matter, their value shouldn’t be overestimated. Remain focused on numbers that affect your bottom lines, such as MCPB (marketing cost per booking), DRR (direct revenue ratio) and your website conversion rate.
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