Luxury Hotel Marketing – Top 10 Proven Strategies for Success

Luxury hotel marketing is a specific type of marketing that is developed to attract a distinct group of consumers. These consumers are seeking exceptional and unique experiences, spacious and well-appointed accommodations, outstanding customer service and the highest quality of everything from food to furnishings.

Luxury hotel marketing is designed to tell the story of your luxury resort brand and set you apart from competitors by building awareness of what makes your brand exceptional. It’s not limited to digital marketing, and uses various mediums. It is focused on attracting a select group of consumers who demand the best of everything, and takes place across multiple marketing platforms. Luxury hotel marketing is an ongoing effort to strengthen and maintain your reputation.

Your luxury hotel marketing strategies involve all channels, from your website, to your social media presence, emails, and video storytelling. You must carefully choose your messaging and images to appeal to the luxury brand audience, showing them what makes your resort unique. They must have confidence that staying at your luxury hotel will give them the exceptional experiences they desire.

What is a luxury hotel?

If you are forming your luxury hotel marketing plan, you must understand what sets luxury hotels apart. Many often think first of price when they think of a luxury hotel, but if other aspects are not present, people will not be willing to pay that higher price. 

In order for someone to be willing to pay a higher dollar amount, a luxury hotel must exude the highest quality and exceptional craftsmanship. The aesthetic must be one of uniqueness and sophistication that makes guests feel as if they are experiencing something that can’t be found elsewhere. The interactions guests have and the unique experiences offered are as important as the aesthetic. From the moment a guest enters, they must feel welcomed, cared for and important. Guests must feel that they are receiving personalized service, and that their unique needs are being met.

How is luxury marketing different?

Luxury marketing is different from mass marketing because it is focused on a very select group of consumers who are seeking rare, personalized and extraordinary experiences. They are seeking the best of everything. In luxury hospitality marketing, that could mean gourmet food, opulent and well-appointed accommodations, and unique experiences that are not available to the general public. When you are creating your luxury resort marketing plan, you must choose words and images carefully to attract this discerning group.

Why Do Luxury Hotels Need Marketing?

Luxury consumers have many options to consider when they are planning a stay. These consumers are all seeking a luxury experience, but they are not all seeking the same experience. Some are looking for grand adventures, some for urban excitement, and others may be looking to disconnect and find ultimate relaxation far away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. They also have different values that influence which luxury brand they favor. For example, many potential guests will only choose to stay at eco-friendly resorts.

When developing their luxury resort marketing strategies, brands must think about what sets them apart and what type of guests they wish to attract.

Your messaging, photographs, images and designs should tell your individual brand story, highlight your values, and appeal to the specific luxury sector you wish to attract. Take a look at how the Top ten luxury hotels set themselves apart and appeal to distinctive groups of travelers through their marketing.

What is the target market for luxury hotels?

The first group that may come to mind when you think of the target market for luxury hotels is an older demographic who has accumulated wealth and may be retired and have time to travel the world. While this may have been the case in the past, the biggest age group purchasing luxury brands now is 25-44 year old. They make up 64% of the target market. Those in their teens and early twenties also make up a sizable portion of this market.

This may sound surprising, but people in these age groups have been exposed to the internet and social media for a good portion of their lives. They have been surrounded by influencer marketing. They follow travel bloggers, consume beautiful images and videos, and desire to have those same kinds of experiences.

Check out this guide for a detailed description of these groups and their values, what they are buying, and how to target and attract them to your luxury brand. You’ll need to find the best marketing tools to reach your audience.

10 Luxury Hotel Marketing Strategies

1. Your Website Tells the Story of Your Brand

Luxury resort websites should paint the picture of the experiences they offer, their aesthetics and their brand values. The messaging and images should serve to tell the story of your brand and should attract your target audience. For example, if that audience is adventure travelers, the messaging, images and videos should center around the exhilarating and thrilling opportunities available to them if they choose your luxury resort. Take a look at the 3 reasons brand storytelling is so important with a link to this article

If you are looking for inspiration and examples, take a look at these top luxury hotel websites to see how they use images, videos, colors, messaging and design elements to tell their brand story and attract their specific target luxury audience.

2. The Power of Compelling Luxury Brand Copywriting

Copywriting is simply defined as words that sell. Copywriting for luxury brands should be focused on selling your brand by setting it apart and highlighting what makes your brand unique. Creating copy that focuses on exclusivity, rare experiences, luxury, and the highest quality of service and personal attention will attract luxury consumers, and also help you to stand out in Google searches, making it easier for your target audience to find and connect with your luxury resort.

Check out this guide to copywriting for luxury brands to learn more about how to optimize your luxury hotel brand copywriting to stand out from the crowd and attract your target audience.

3. Strong Imagery Reinforces Your Brand Story

Once you have created compelling copy, you must choose imagery that will reinforce your messaging. Luxury brand consumers will want to be sure that your resort meets their high standards. They will want to see images of your interior spaces to ensure that they are luxurious, spacious, well-maintained, and have a beautiful and unique aesthetic. If you have a golf course, outdoor pools and hot tubs, a lazy river, gardens, beaches or wildlife areas surrounding your resort, you will want to highlight these as well.

Hiring a professional with experience in hospitality photography is critical. You want to choose someone who knows how to capture images that allow your resort to shine. Check out these tips for hiring the best hotel photographer, and communicating your vision so you end up with the best and most appealing photographs possible.

4. Focus on What Makes Your Luxury Hotel Unique

As with all luxury brand marketing strategies, your luxury hotel marketing plan must focus on highlighting what makes you unique. Think about what kind of potential guest would be drawn to your resort over another, and why. Then focus your brand storytelling on speaking to those people and showing them that your luxury resort has what they are looking for.

For example, if your resort focuses on wellness and environmental consciousness, choose the words and images that will express that on all of your marketing platforms. Show images of guests in a yoga class on a pristine, secluded beach at sunrise on your website. Talk about how your resort is eco-friendly and reduces waste and energy use by using recycled materials, or solar or wind power on social media.

For more marketing strategies to help you stand out and tell the story of  what makes your brand unique, check out this brand marketing guide.

5. Focus on Adding Value with Extra Perks Instead of Discounts

As a luxury resort brand, you want to focus on adding extra value, not on offering regular discounts and trying to compete on price. Regularly offering discounts degrades your brand, because luxury travelers are not choosing hotels based on price. They are willing to pay higher prices, but they expect to receive exceptional experiences and special perks in return. These perks could include dining credits, suite upgrades, late check-outs, welcome gifts, or personalized concierge services. These extra touches go a long way in helping guests to feel special and valued. Check out these examples of hotel amenities you could be offering.

6. Partner with Influencers to Build Trust in Your Brand

An influencer is someone who is well-known and socially prominent in some way. They might have a strong presence on YouTube or Instagram, for example, or they may write an influential blog. They have built trust with their audience, and they are looked to for recommendations on brands.

When you partner with a luxury brand influencer, your brand is associated with someone who is trusted by their audience. Because that audience trusts the influencer, if she recommends or promotes your brand, they will be more inclined to trust you as well. You build awareness of your brand because the influencer is sharing your brand with their engaged audience.

To get an understanding of how influencers partner with luxury brands, take a look at some of these examples of influencers who have a large and engaged audience and share their opinions about brands, building awareness.

7. Making Emotional Connections Through Video Storytelling

When your luxury resort marketing makes an emotional connection with its target audience it can be very powerful. When they are able to visualize what it would be like to experience your resort with family or friends, you stand out against your competitors.

Video storytelling is so powerful because it can tap into all the senses. You can use music that evokes emotions and sounds like waves rolling in or birds chirping to help them imagine being there. You can use close-up shots of faces to show feelings of joy, peace, or excitement. These visual aspects combined with powerful messaging are very effective at reaching the heart of your target audience. Check out these tips and examples of memorable video storytelling to learn how you can create luxury brand stories that will leave a lasting emotional impression.

8. Create Compelling Content

Luxury content marketing is using content like blog posts, social media posts, newsletters, emails, videos, and more to tell the story of your brand and reach your targeted audience. If your luxury brand is new, it is a way to introduce your brand and build awareness of what you have to offer.

It is not enough just to put content out there. The kind of content you create is very important. It must have a value to those interacting with it or it won’t be read. It should inform, teach something new, or offer a unique perspective.

You also want to make sure your content is reaching your target luxury brand consumer. If 25-44-year-olds make up 64% of the luxury market, you want to put out your content where they are. Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat are the most popular among this age group. They also enjoy videos and interactive content, so these are ideal platforms for your content.

If you need inspiration, check out these excellent examples of content marketing.

9. Effective Email Marketing

Luxury email marketing is a very effective way to reach your customers, as the Direct Marketing Association found that it has a 122% ROI. Paid search only has a 25% ROI, and social media has a 28% ROI. Over 82% of customers read branded emails. While a large percentage of luxury customers read branded emails, you still have to cut through the clutter of spam emails.

You have to grab the attention of your target audience and offer something of value to motivate them to open the email. This could be an informative newsletter with insider tips, a special offer, a loyalty program, or a luxury travel guide. You have to know your audience and what their desires and needs are so you can tailor your email messaging and offers.

Another advantage of email marketing is that you can track your campaigns to find out which emails are performing and which are not. This allows you to constantly improve and evolve your campaigns so they are reaching your target audience and building brand loyalty.

For more ideas, check out these 4 steps to keep your email subscribers engaged and grow your email list.

10. Online Reputation Management

Establishing and maintaining a good reputation is critically important for luxury resorts. It is an ongoing effort and requires resources to track what is being said about your luxury brand on travel review sites, social media, and other online platforms. It also involves engagement with those who are speaking about your hotels. If they are speaking negatively on review sites or social media, their comments should be addressed promptly by your reputation management team. In this way, the public will see that your company is willing to listen and address any issues that are causing negative experiences. You also want to offer multiple opportunities for satisfied guests to leave glowing reviews.

Learn more about the 10 strategies to establish and consistently improve your luxury hotel brand reputation.

Work with a luxury hotel marketing agency

You may be an expert at managing your luxury resorts, but you are probably not a luxury brand marketing expert. You and your team may not have the time and expertise to develop a high-level marketing strategy. Mediaboom has a talented, creative and experienced team who can work with you to develop your individual brand story, logo, website, and overall luxury brand visual design.

When you work with a luxury brand marketing agency, you are leveraging their knowledge, industry insights, experience and resources to create, implement and monitor a high-level luxury brand marketing campaign.