Hotel Advertising – 11 Marketing Strategies for Success

By: Frank DePino | November 25, 2022

Hotel advertising is one of the primary ways hotels generate leads, increase bookings, build and share brand messaging, and drive traffic to the website. The past few years have seen a massive shift toward digital media, and the hotel advertising industry must adapt to stay relevant. 

The collection of digital marketing techniques and strategies used to promote your hotel, its location, and its services all fall under the umbrella of hotel advertising. The purpose of advertising is to communicate information about your hotel to inspire action in the viewer, such as visiting the website to book a vacation.

Read on to learn more about hotel advertising and the eleven strategies for a successful digital marketing campaign. 

• The importance of advertising in the hotel industry
• Develop an online presence
• Identify the ideal target audience
• Establish and maintain brand consistency
• SEM—Search Engine Marketing 
• Social media advertising
• Video advertising
• Display advertising
• Native advertising
• Influencer marketing
• User-generated content
• Retargeting
• Luxury hotel advertising
• Hotel advertisement examples and ideas
• Hiring a hotel advertising agency

The importance of advertising in the hotel industry

Tourism experts said hotel bookings are expected to reach pre-pandemic levels this year, which makes digital marketing one of the most impactful steps you can take to boost your business. Advertising is one of the primary methods your hotel has to stand out from the competitors and communicate your unique selling points. A successful hotel advertising campaign will build brand awareness and encourage customer loyalty, whether you operate an international hotel chain or a single bed and breakfast. 

1. Develop an online presence

With more than 60 percent of hotel bookings occurring online, developing a robust online presence is the most important part of ensuring your advertising campaign’s success. The world has declared itself ready to travel as pandemic restrictions lift, but the way people travel has changed. Online advertising should be a cornerstone of your hotel advertising strategy, and all your digital marketing efforts should point your target audience to your hotel’s website. 

Ensure potential customers can easily find your hotel’s information with updated listing on Google My Business and accurate contact information. Register with review sites to make it easier for customers to leave online reviews for your hotel, and respond to those reviews, as engagement is one of the most significant deciding factors when consumers are choosing between companies.  

2. Identify the ideal target audience

Identifying your target audience, the group of consumers most likely to become your customers is a vital part of a digital marketing strategy. Worldwide, hotel and resort locations exceed 700,000, and it’s up to you to give people a reason to choose yours for their trip. Even the best hotel advertising is worthless if it doesn’t reach the right people. Learn about your target audience and target your marketing efforts toward them for the best results. 

Combining business trips with leisure travel exploded during the pandemic and continues as the world recovers, according to a report for the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Consider marketing toward the niche of travelers looking for easy entertainment while on business trips in addition to your other hotel advertising. 

3. Establish and maintain brand consistency

Your brand is everything consumers associate with your hotel. It extends beyond your color scheme, slogans, and logo to include anything the public uses to identify your brand. It is crucial to establish a clear brand message and ensure it remains consistent across all platforms. Maintaining your brand messaging in all your advertising lets customers know what to expect from your hotel. Once they book a stay, it’s up to you to provide the experience your advertising promises. Brand consistency inspires customer loyalty. 

4. SEM—Search Engine Marketing 

Use search engine marketing to secure the placement of paid hotel advertisements on search engine results pages. When using an online search engine, the first few results usually consist of paid advertisements, also called SEM.

You’ll bid on keywords searchers may use on sites like Google and Bing when looking for goods or services and pay for each person clicking on the ad. SEM lets you put your ad in front of motivated customers when they are searching for your industry, making your travel advertising more effective. 

5. Social media advertising

Social media advertising is one of your hotel’s most cost-effective hospitality and tourism marketing strategies. Online social networks, of one variety or another, is part of daily life for the vast majority of your hotel’s potential customers. If your digital marketing plan doesn’t include social media advertising, you aren’t taking advantage of all the tools at your disposal. A clever, engaging social media presence can do more for your hotel’s brand at a low cost than anything else on this list. 

Advertising on social media may be daunting for those not well-versed in the industry. Hiring a hotel marketing agency allows you to lean on the experts to boost engagement, increase bookings, and stay relevant on consumers’ radars. Social media pages also offer you a wealth of demographic information, which will help you identify your niche and tailor your efforts toward your target audience. 

Advertising via social media is most effective when combined with the other methods on this list and used as a platform to share your brand messaging. Running a successful campaign on social media takes time and effort, but the payoff should be more than worth it. 

6. Video advertising

Consumers take in more information online than ever before, with shorter attention spans. Short-form video advertising is an excellent hotel marketing technique. Short videos with a calculated visual appeal on apps like Instagram and TikTok will help you expand your target audience while driving traffic to your website and building brand awareness. 

Adding video advertising to your hospitality marketing strategy will assist with lead generation and highlight your location to viewers. Combining video marketing with social media and influencer advertising helps you maximize your budget and expand your target audience. 

7. Display advertising

Combining text, imagery, and a URL link is called display advertising. Use this method to guide consumers to your hotel’s website, where they can learn more about your location and services or book a room. Display advertising comes in many formats, from static images to video. Use imagery to your advantage and showcase your hotel’s spacious rooms or your region’s stunning vistas. 

You might consider publishing guides to local entertainment with links back to your site for convenient accommodations. Partnerships with local tourist attractions for discounts will additionally create legitimate backlinks leading to your website and adding to your site’s legitimacy with search engines. 

8. Native advertising

Paid media content designed to match the publishing source is native advertising. From paid video ads on YouTube to advertisements written as paid press releases on news sites, native advertising gives you a chance to connect with users in a format of their choice while searching for similar content.

The most effective native ads will use contextual relevance to produce higher click-through rates to your website. Matching the publication’s editorial content doesn’t disrupt the users’ interaction with the page like banner and display ads would. Native advertising doesn’t feel like advertising but still exposes readers to promotional content. 

9. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is another incredibly useful tool in your digital marketing toolbox. Influencers are called so because they influence trends and can put your hotel advertising in front of a massive audience. Short-form videos have exploded in popularity, particularly visually stimulating travel-related influencer videos on apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

According to Shopify, influencer marketing is the fastest way to build brand awareness on social media. Influencers build their reputation around a specific niche, like travel, and cultivate an active audience within that niche. Collaborating with an influencer by providing a free or discounted stay at your hotel has a little tangible cost for you and can have an enormous effect on your social media presence as the influencer posts stunning images and talks about what a wonderful time they had.

10. User-generated content

Encourage guests to share pictures and videos of themselves enjoying their stay at your hotel. User-generated content from real people is a fantastic way to engage your target audience while showing your hotel is trustworthy, authentic, and a picture-worthy place to stay. 

Consider starting a page on your website specifically for user-generated content. For example, highlighting guests’ experiences, and taking advantage of free advertising for your hotel brand. Creating a social media hashtag and using it across all your advertising platforms will make it part of your brand identity. Getting guests to use the same hashtag will be easier. 

11. Retargeting

Employ a retargeting campaign to ensure your hotel digital marketing is as effective as possible. Reconnecting with consumers who previously interacted with your business but did not complete the reservation process helps put your paid advertising in front of people who are already interested in your hotel. You have three avenues for retargeting.

• Site Retargeting

Target prospective guests who previously visited your hotel’s website and tailor your display ads based on the content they viewed. You can give undecided guests the inspiration they need to make a reservation or leave booked guests out of display ad campaigns, so they aren’t overwhelmed. 

• Search Retargeting

Tailor your display ads on Google and other search engines specifically toward people searching for keywords related to your geographic region, like “Florida oceanfront hotel” or “Las Vegas weekend trip.” Search retargeting will also boost your hotel search engine optimization.

• Email Retargeting

You can focus your marketing efforts on consumers who’ve opened your messages with email retargeting. Adding a simple code to your emails makes it possible for guests who open them to see ads for your hotel on sites across the internet. Email retargeting is a subtle yet powerful way to share your brand messaging with interested consumers without overwhelming them with emails. 

Luxury hotel advertising

Luxury travel is a thriving industry with consumers who demand a premier experience and won’t settle for anything less because they are willing to pay premium rates for the experience. Marketing your hotel as a luxury travel destination will help you attract these highly sought guests, though competition in the industry is fierce. Luxury travel marketing starkly contrasts mass marketing and should be considered an entirely separate hotel advertising campaign. 

Connect with your elite travelers using imagery like yachts, private jets, and exotic locations. You want them to visualize themselves in these environments and associate these images with your hotel’s brand. Luxury hotel advertising should include words inspiring thoughts of elegance, luxury, and exclusivity. 

Hotel advertisement examples and ideas

Marriott Bonvoy “Where can we take you?”

International hotel chain Marriott Bonvoy’s recent “Where can we take you?” campaign focuses on the experiences traveling provides as shifting exotic vistas fill the background. 

Hilton “Waitographer”

Leaning into the internet’s propensity for taking pictures of everything, Hilton brought in a professional photographer to teach its waiters to use cameras and take better photos. 

Four Seasons “Feel the Beat of the City with Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans”

Marketing focused on the tourist destinations near the Four Seasons Hotel highlights the many exciting sites in New Orleans while making the viewer feel like the hotel rests at the heart of it all.

Hiring a hotel advertising agency

Creating and implementing a hotel advertising strategy can be a harrowing experience if you aren’t well-versed in digital marketing. You might consider hiring a professional agency to handle your hotel’s marketing campaign. The experts will guide your business through building a sustainable brand and running a successful hotel advertising campaign. From designing a luxury hotel website to implementing a social media campaign, and everything in between, a hotel advertising agency will help you build brand awareness and increase bookings. 

Conclusion

Creating a successful hotel advertising strategy helps your business with lead generation, increases bookings, and expands your target audience to bring in new customers. Effective marketing builds brand loyalty and will make future promotions more fruitful. Connecting with your guests and providing their desired experiences can secure your hotel’s place in the market and ensure future business.

By: Frank DePino

Frank DePino is Principal and Founder of Mediaboom. Since 2002, Frank has led Mediaboom’s award-winning staff of creative and technical professionals building the most effective marketing and advertising solutions for its clients.