Hotel advertising - how to promote your hotel online and beyond?

In order to create more effective marketing and effective online advertising for your hotel, you need to find your target group and the right tools. In this way, you can not only increase profits, but also build a group of loyal guests who will be happy to return to your establishment. Which promotional activities are worth betting on? What does hotel marketing look like?

Challenges of marketing in the hotel industry

The hotel industry is a very broad term. It includes facilities such as hotels, guest houses, campsites, hostels and camping grounds. Competition is fierce, so in order to create effective hotel advertising and promote your business, you need to direct your campaign accordingly and define your target group. For example, facilities that have an offer specifically designed for families with children should not target seniors or those without children.

Moreover, the large choice of establishments in the hotel industry makes it harder to develop sustained interest and loyalty. A hotel that wants to keep its guests for longer, i.e. so that when they check out they say 'see you soon' rather than 'goodbye', should particularly focus on building a lasting relationship with them.

Seasonality is also one of the challenges of this industry, especially when looking at Poland's most popular destinations - the sea and the mountains. The busiest periods, where many people are looking for a hotel, include:

• holiday period;
• winter holidays;
• long weekends;
• occasional holidays - Valentine's Day or Women's Day.

It is worth planning a special advertising offer for the hotel on the occasion of these events so as to maximise earnings, although of course these moments are usually quite challenging for the industry. What are some ways to promote your hotel to cope with them?

Google hotel advertising on the web - many options to choose from

Advertising A hotel on Google is one option for developing better marketing of your property. At the very beginning, it is worth starting with a Google My Business card. What is this? This is the profile that appears when you type your hotel's name into a search engine. It is visible on the first page and when the item is clicked on in Google Maps. The entrepreneur creates it himself by entering the selected data:

• company name;
• contact - telephone number, e-mail address and website;
• facility address;
• opening hours;
• photographs - in this case, a service can be used to provide a virtual walk-through using Street View technology, so that clients can see what the entire interior and the areas next to the building look like.

The whole process of setting up a Google business card is free and the tool will help promote your business. Many customers search for a Google business card to find out more about a particular accommodation. It is also where guests often leave feedback about their visit. It is worth monitoring these on an ongoing basis so that if there are negative comments, they can be responded to quickly. Positive feedback should also be accompanied by a short comment so that the user knows that his or her opinion matters.

Positioning your guesthouse on the web is one of the key issues when it comes to online hotel advertising. The website is used for this. It is a good idea to check in which position in the search engine the accommodation facility is located. Enter the phrase 'hotel' and the name of the town (local positioning) in which it is located to see if it appears on the first page of Google. It will be most effective to use incognito browsing so that the result positions are reliable. If it is not there, it means it is poorly positioned.

How to change it? It's worth checking the site thoroughly. Do the descriptions of the place and rooms have the right number of keywords? Is the website structured intuitively, and can customers easily find what they are looking for (booking forms, price list or photo gallery)? It is worth asking yourself these questions during a site audit and remember that SEO optimisation is an important factor in ensuring increased visibility. However, it is important to bear in mind that this is not a quick process. Organic SEO has to be carried out professionally in order to be effective, and it takes several months to see results.

Google Ads is also used to promote the hotel online. This is a paid search engine promotion that will help position the company online.

Effective hotel advertising on social media - take care of your image

If you want to promote your business, you should not forget social media. Some of the most popular platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok. It is not advisable to open a profile on each of these at the outset. Consider what your target audience uses most often. All of the portals are designed for a different way of communicating.

Advertising a hotel on Facebook is something that many businesses start with. It is one of the largest portals where you can create a profile for your accommodation and build an engaged community around it. On both Facebook and Instagram, you can opt for paid hotel advertising in the form of sponsored posts. These also enable targeting, i.e. reaching a selected target group and potential guests. Posts with competitions, discounts and promotions, information about events and free dates are ways to attract attention.

It is particularly worth taking care of the visual side. Aesthetic content is valued in social media, so when adding photos, pay attention to composition and technical aspects. It is not necessary to hire a professional photographer, but photos should not be badly cropped, of poor quality or against an unsightly background.

Just like on a Google business card, visitors will leave comments on social media. These should be answered to show customers that their opinion counts.

It is also worth using Pinterest to promote and advertise the hotel. It will work very well in this industry. Creating boards with attractive photos of the hotel can encourage users of the portal to check out the offer. What should the photographs depict? The hotel itself, the interiors, if there is a restaurant in the facility then also photos of the food, as well as views from the surrounding area.

Hotel advertising by influencers - is it worth it?

Working with influencers is a way to effectively promote a hotel. They have many followers and a large reach, and the most popular ones often create public opinion. Cooperation with them is an effective marketing and PR procedure to increase the reach and promotion of the property. It is advisable to check what kind of content the influencer is presenting before cooperating. If the hotel focuses mainly on business customers and often hosts delegations or conferences, cooperation with an influencer whose audience is young people will be ineffective.

Influencers, especially those who have been on social media for a long time, know how to prepare engaging and visually consistent content. This can give you an edge over competitors who choose not to work with internet stars.

How to promote your hotel on travel websites?

Another way to promote your hotel is to add your property to various travel sites. There are many giants in this industry. In addition to registering on the sites, consider buying sponsored articles. This improves the hotel's search engine positioning and also increases the reach of the material to potential new guests.

Marketing mix in hotel advertising

What is the marketing mix? These are the four key elements that are important in marketing, including hotels - you may also come across the name 4Ps. These include:

• Product - The hotel's online promotion should show what unique benefits the customer will receive. This includes the unique view from the room, the high standard, the children's area, the swimming pool on the property, the conference room, etc. What's more, it's worth showing how tailored the property is to guests' needs - professional staff and a trained team that is helpful and friendly are key to a good online brand image.
• Price - this is very important in the final customer decision on which hotel to choose. If the hotel being promoted is quite expensive compared to others, it is worth showing guests why. An exceptional location, top-quality service, the best food - these are just some of the possible factors that will explain the disparity to customers. What's more, it's worth publicising the discounts, promotions and extras guests will receive in return for their bookings - free breakfast, parking, a pass for spa and wellness services are just the start of examples.
• Promotion - should be extensive and tailored to the audience. Regular activity on social media, website updates, SEO preparation for the hotel, whisper marketing or content marketing are the basis for building brand awareness among potential customers.
• Distribution (place) - it is important that the opportunity to make contact takes place on multiple levels (telephone, email, instant messaging) to increase the possibility of conversion.

Hotel advertising - interesting online and offline solutions

Advertising for a hotel does not only have to take place online. Offline solutions, i.e. banners, flyers, billboards or posters, as well as different types of collaborations, are a way of getting new customers. These are promotional tools that have been known for years. However, offline marketing is not the only one. It is also possible to partner with local retailers and sales representatives to apply barter cooperation.

In addition, it is worthwhile to contribute to local events, for example by making space available and becoming a partner.

Moreover, you can also prepare your own hotel magazines or brochures that present the most important information about the guesthouse. Some choose to include discount codes as part of an effective promotion of hotels and leisure facilities.

At InPost, we have prepared an offer for companies so that entrepreneurs can use our reach for promotional purposes. So what awaits hoteliers?

• Possibility of wrapping Paczkomat® machines with your advertising. The InPost network already has more than 20,000 machines in Poland. They are located in attractive and busy locations, e.g. at housing estates or food markets. The offer is tailored individually to the business.
• There is also an option to display the banner on our InPost website, as well as in the InPost Mobile app.
• It is possible to display advertising in the form of a static banner on the Paczkomat® machine screens.

Advertising in the hotel industry is an important part of doing business. Through various forms of marketing and creating a media profile for the hotel, you can build guest confidence and increase profits.