Five years of hospitality experience has helped me understand insights into the industry while realising the importance of marketing and in particular online practices.
In an ever-evolving society, people are rapidly changing their purchasing behaviour and online channels such as social media or search engines have a strong influence on that.
Moreover, the technology advancements are now being used to avoid even the most basic processes, including long waiting lines for check-ins/outs. Things like online bookings and digital keys can now allow customers to book and access their rooms with the simple touch of a button on their own devices.
People like to stay connected! A survey done by Research and Data Insights shows that 1/3 people would avoid booking hotels that are not providing with free WI-FI. WI-FI is not an option anymore, it is a mandatory requirement, being extremely important to provide good internet service that can cater for both business and leisure clientele.
Maintaining an online reputation is a very important aspect of the business since 93% of local consumers use reviews to determine if a local business is good or bad (BrightLocal, 2017).
Understanding and responding to customer feedback can only benefit the marketing strategy! By responding to queries and taking note of the customer reviews could create the best opportunity to fix existing problems and improve on processes while establishing a loyal customer and generating more business.
Since 66% of the UK’s population are actively using social media (Statista, 2020), a hotel’s online presence is almost crucial for the business. By taking advantage of different channels and developing specific campaigns based on audiences’ insights, for example, hotels can use this for different marketing and sales goals, including creating awareness, engaging with existing customers or reaching to new audiences!
In conclusion, digital marketing outlines a new stage in the hospitality industry while answering customer behaviour changes and allowing the development of new strategies to satisfy their expectations. It is time for hospitality to fully embrace all the digital marketing trends, tools and techniques!