The holiday season is here and it is an extremely important period for hotels all around the world. It is their opportunity to make better sales and increase revenue.
However, not every hotel has the right tactics to milk the most out of this beneficial season.
But don’t fret! I have you covered with this article. I will discuss some of the tried and tested holiday marketing strategies for hotels to make the most of this holiday season.
Table of contents
1. Get started early
When you are preparing your hotel for the holiday season, the first and foremost thing to do is start your marketing activities as early as possible.
This will give you a time frame to try and test your campaigns. If any campaign isn’t effective, you can quickly tweak it accordingly.
For example:
Your hotel is going to roll out all the holiday season packages starting 1st December. But will it be effective if you spread the word just a week before? Unlikely.
But, you’re a smart hotelier. You know that people start planning for their holidays at least a month prior. So, instead of waiting, you run your marketing campaigns a month early. Now, you’re not only running better campaigns but also acquiring more bookings.
2. Customise your website
I get all excited when the holiday season arrives. And for some reason, I feel this excitement should be everywhere.
So, when I visit any website, I start to think about how could they make it more joyous or fun.
This same concept goes for hotel websites as well.
I understand, that customizing a website is no easy feat but it is certainly worth it. When you’re putting all your time and effort into every marketing activity, then why not the website?
Make your website look exciting for the holiday season. Not just the look and feel but you should also mention all the offers you’re running.
The website is like your virtual identity. So, make sure you leave a good impression.
3. Showcase Your Safety
Even though the covid episode has almost come to an end in many countries, people are still wired to safety measures. Which is why it would be good practice to adhere to safety measures and protocols.
Assuring guests about their safety will help you gain more bookings. Because, if guests feel safe, they are more likely to boast about their experience to others, and also, they will be more likely to stay with you in the future.
In addition, promoting your safety measures through your marketing activities will bring a lot of business. Just make sure you get the messaging right in your marketing. If you can show guests that you really care about their safety, they will be happy with your seriousness and come back again.
Word to the wise: Do not practice this with the sole mindset of attracting guests. Do it with real concern and for people’s well-being.
4. Go Contactless
Commonly shared surfaces such as doorknobs, pens, and room keys all can be super-spreaders of germs when not sanitized correctly. The problem is, most times, there is no way to sanitize these surfaces after each person touches them.
To better prevent germs from being spread at your hotel, we recommend making the transition to offering a contactless staying experience.
Today, with the advancements in technology, every hotel can easily provide a contactless stay. All you need to do is reassess every part of the customer journey associated with booking, and staying at your hotel. Everything from the check-in process, to the guest’s departure, will need to be overhauled to be contactless.
Luckily, we are here to make going contactless easier, from an operational standpoint. Our hotel booking platform allows customers to book and check in to a hotel, virtually, while our hotel management system moves certain processes, such as billing and reviews to be online and contactless.
To learn more about our contactless program plan, feel free to grab a copy of our contactless hotel services guide.
5. Offer Discounts and Packages
Whether it is the holiday season or not, discounts and offers play an important role in getting you more bookings.
Along with the safety, a REASONABLE PRICE is what your guests will expect. When you offer a great price with some added benefits, it will surely attract them.
Well, you can create different offers like early bird, flash sales, flat discounts and so on. You can also consider creating packages. All you have to do is combine your rooms with a few amenities.
#Protip: Try running time-limited offers AKA flash deals. In the flash deals. you can increase your discount or offer an exclusive deal just for a few hours, and attract the customers.
Also, people are in expanding mode during the holiday season. So offering gift cards, free products, or free coupons to nearby bars, restaurants or cafes will give them one more reason to select your hotel.
6. Offer something for free
I am sure you must be thinking about how this is different from offers and packages. Well, the difference is significant.
In the point above I am talking about offering something at a lower price, while in this point I suggest you give the guest something completely free of cost. This could be just a meal or a bottle of wine or any other service.
Again, there’s no hard and fast rule. It is all about making a kind gesture that shows you keep your guest on top of your priorities. So, even a gift voucher would do.
One experience that made me feel good was when I was staying at the Hotel Queen of Hills in Mussoorie, India. During my check out, they offered me a gift hamper with souvenirs.
And just like everyone else, I did recommend to my friends that they stay in that hotel if they are planning to visit Mussoorie.
7. Create Relevant Landing Pages
In case you don’t know, let us tell you what a landing page is.
It is a standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other platform.
Now you may think why do you need a landing page? Because, they are designed with a single goal, to convert the visitor into a booker.
It provides your guests with a clear picture of your special offers. Since they will have all the details and a single call to action on one page, your holiday conversion rates are likely to increase.
Other than that, it has additional information like your hotel’s amenities, USPs of your property and location.
A nicely designed landing page is a prerequisite for holiday marketing strategies for hotels
They are a must for each and every marketing campaign for your holiday season. You can give your landing pages a holiday theme to attract your guests.
Most hotels run different campaigns, offers and packages, and don’t consider creating separate landing pages. Thereby losing a significant chance of acquiring bookings.
We don’t want you to repeat that mistake.
You can design an attractive landing page with any of the landing page builder tools. We’d recommend you choose a pocket-friendly one.
8. Boost Social Media Marketing
Social media has now become a routine for all of us.
And hence, is the right platform for you to promote your hotel in the holiday season.
As facts stand, Facebook has 2.7 billion active users worldwide.
It is a great platform for finding new and re-engaging existing customers.
Before and during the holiday season, you have to be more active on your social media platforms. Post more engaging content like stories, contests and quizzes. Not only that, promote your service, offers, and deals on Instagram and Twitter as well.
You can even try running ads to get more bookings.
9. Host a contest/giveaway
Book a stay with us and stand a chance to win a 3N/4D trip to the Maldives.
Sounds intriguing, right?
Hosting contests to attract guests is one of the top marketing campaigns hotels can opt for. And the holiday season is just an amazing opportunity to up your efforts.
If you think that these sorts of contests are a little too expensive for you, then you can also host a social media giveaway.
For example:
You can ask people to stay at your property, click pictures, upload them on Instagram and tag you. 3 lucky winners will win a brand new smartwatch. At the end of the day, it all boils down to how you strategise. Do your part of the research and get things rolling.
10. Improve Your Marketing Messaging
With high profits coming during the holiday season, it is not a coincidence that most companies spend most of their marketing budgets during this time of year. You need to have the right set of holiday marketing strategies for your hotel.
This year, hotels likely had to move money from other departments to account for losses caused by the pandemic. If this is the case for your marketing department, applying for extra funds from a business loan can help the department exponentially. Business loans can provide short-term funding to help purchase new equipment, to even long-term funding to help get the department back off the ground.
As the holiday season approaches, improving your marketing department can be done in a few ways.
- Bring In New Talent
Injecting a stale department with new talent can always help. Marketers all come from different backgrounds with different viewpoints on things. Diversifying the department will only help future initiatives - Purchase New Equipment
Talent goes a long way in developing strong and solid holiday marketing strategies for hotels. If your department does not have the right equipment to do the job, their work will suffer. Purchasing some new cameras, and modern computers, and investing in the right software for the team to do the job will make your marketing even stronger. - Explore New Channels
Marketing channels are constantly changing, and right now, we are in the midst of another major marketing shift. With more people turning to social media and other online channels for entertainment, that is where you will want to target your efforts. - Don’t Forget About Existing Customers
While it can be exciting to target new customers, you cannot forget about your existing customer base. In the post-pandemic era, travellers are going to be very cautious. Travelers would prefer a hotel that they trust, instead of trying new places. Make sure you continue to target them and showcase the value your company delivers.
11. Be Compassionate
People have had enough stress lately. Do not let your hotel become another stress point for your guests.
Being flexible, emotional, compassionate, and thoughtful this holiday season will help you forge new relationships with your guests. Being mindful of the problems people are going through will also help build a positive brand image versus your competition and is one of the Sureshot holiday marketing strategies for hotels.
During the holiday season, consider adding a flexible cancellation policy that will show how flexible and understanding you are as a hotel owner. It will be nice for a potential guest to see that they are not just another sale, but that you actually care about them.
Showing compassion during the holiday season is always a recommendation, but this year, showing compassion is a MUST.
In Conclusion
According to reports, the global travel and tourism revenue will return to a pre-pandemic amount of over 730 million by 2023.
Not just that.
Room demand is also likely to reach an all-time high in the upcoming months including the holiday season.
This clearly shows that travelling is spiking and people are ready to become globetrotters.
Meaning, that hotels now need to be proactive in their marketing efforts to attract guests and boost their revenue during this holiday season.
Holiday season marketing campaigns significantly differ from regular ones. This is why accommodation providers need to be a little strategic.
I tried to provide you with as much information as possible to help you show your guests all the ways that your hotel is better than the competition. I hope the tips and tricks work for you.
