3 Psychological Principles for Better Hotel Marketing

How and why do people think and act the way they do?

If you get the answer to this, you’re this close to becoming the undisputed master of marketing.

Well, that sounds a little dramatic, but you’re getting the point. Aren’t you?

In this blog, I am covering a really interesting topic — “How can psychology be used in hotel marketing?” And it is sure to help hotel marketers come up with a much clearer and more effective approach to hotel marketing.

The Role of Psychology in Hotel Marketing

The hospitality industry is all about human interaction.

From having a conversation with guests at the frontdesk to offering services to creating messages for marketing campaigns, there’s a deep human connection.

Now, imagine, what if you could read people’s (your existing and potential guests) minds? What if you could understand what triggers their actions?

You’re already intrigued thinking about it, aren’t you?

Well, that’s exactly what psychology does in hotel marketing.

Hotel marketing is a complex field, and psychology plays an important role in it.

Psychological research in marketing helps you understand the guests’ mindset and behavior, which can then be used to create effective marketing materials and campaigns, and create guest service policies that are sensitive to their needs and preferences.

Psychology also helps to understand how guests respond to incentives. And once you determine that, you can decide what to offer them and how they are going to perceive it.

In short, Psychology is essential for any hotel marketer who wants to achieve success in the industry. After all, understanding the human mind is all that it takes.

How Can Psychology Make Hotel Marketing Better?

Psychology is a vast topic and given its role in hotel marketing, it will take much more time to cover every corner.

However, I would still like to give you an idea of how you, as a hotelier or hotel marketer, can leverage the power of psychology.

There are three common principles that I would like you to understand.

1. Principle of reciprocity

The reciprocity principle states that in numerous situations, humans tend to pay back for what they receive from others. 

This is not a made-up statement.

Dr. Robert Cialdini, an American psychologist and author states in his book,"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion", that we humans are wired to return a favour in order to treat others as they've treated us.

This same principle can work wonders in hotel marketing.

Let me explain with an example:

Vienna is a seasoned hotelier. But more than that, she is a great marketer.

When Vienna started her new boutique hotel in Singapore, she took charge of the marketing efforts. Initially, her marketing seemed to be a fiasco to others as she was hosting contests, offering free merchandise, free stays, no extra charge on cancellation, and more.

But with time, those same elements turned her hotel into a trustworthy and lovable brand. People pick her hotel above any other property.

Not to mention, her guest retention rate went unbelievably higher.

Now, what’s interesting here is that, knowingly or unknowingly, Vienna has leveraged the reciprocity principle. She treated her guests, both in her hotel and marketing campaigns, with such empathy that they now have become loyal to her and her hotel.

2. Social proof effect

Let’s understand this by retaking Vienna’s example.

Recently, Vienna started an Instagram page for her hotel. On the page, instead of generic posts about the hotel or the industry, she features her guests.

Sounds fun? There’s more!

Vienna not only posts photos of her guests with goodies but also shares what they experience in the hotel. It’s like she is making her guests feel like celebrities.  

Here comes the interesting part.

Every time people on Instagram see these posts, they develop an urge to visit the hotel.

And this, mi amigo, is called the social proof effect.

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people develop a notion that, since others are doing it, I should be doing it, too.

So next time when you marketers sit on to develop a marketing strategy for your hotel, don’t forget to include this phenomenon. This could prove to be one of the excellent hotel marketing psychology tactics.

3. The Decoy effect

The decoy effect is a type of cognitive bias in which an unattractive or a more expensive option is added to influence a consumer to choose the more expensive of the first two options.

Should we go to Vienna’s hotel and see how she’s using this phenomenon to her advantage?

Yes?

Great!

So, when Vienna first created her hotel’s landing page there were only two room options:

– Gold suite – $60 per night
– Platinum suite – $95 per night

And the majority of the people were going with the first option. Why? Because that’s cheaper.

However, she learned about the decoy effect and added another room to the list, and made a tiny change. This is what it looks like now:

– Gold suite – $60 per night
– Diamond suite – $92 per night
– Platinum suite – $95 per night

Simply put, Vienna added a useless option to the list that made the last option look like a real deal.  And in turn, her hotel reservations for the platinum suite went through the roof.