If your hotel website is not optimised, your content won’t amount to much. The need of the hour is the adoption of right SEO practices, the content on the website should be keyword optimised, informative and engaging. Very few hoteliers adopt good content strategy, such as posting a blog regularly in the resource section. This is a great way to provide travellers the information they need the most such as local sightseeing places, art and cuisine while also improving organic search results. Hotel owners who have adopted SEO optimisation can see it yielding good conversions.

To be successful at marketing your venue or destination on social media, you must start viewing channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as any other ad-supported medium. If your venue is willing to allocate a portion of the marketing budget, you can reach targetable and distinct mass audiences that you never had access to before.

What are the best ways to use social media advertising to get the optimum ROI? How can you be sure to reach your target audience at the right stage of their travel planning?

Here are four tips to help you make the most of your hotel’s social media advertising:

1. Invest in promoted content

You now have to pay to play. Even when you’re posting for an audience that has voluntarily “liked” you. You might have 15,000 fans on your Facebook page, but only a small percentage might actually see a photo you posted if you don’t pay to promote it. Be sure you include content that stimulates every phase of the planning experience. Travelers and planners in the dreaming phase will be inspired by vivid photos of destinations and experiences, while those in the planning and booking phase will be motivated by a concrete offer or specific package that showcases value or creates urgency. For the experiential phase, promote content highlighting your destination, as well as reposting social media content from current guests themselves.

2. Know the unique reach of each type of social media platform

Be sure to choose the platforms that reach your guests and can achieve your campaign goals. For instance, business travelers tend to favor Twitter over YouTube; Pinterest is the best platform for reaching wedding planners and Facebook; and Instagram and Snapchat are the top three channels (in that order) for millennial engagement.

3. Make your social media ads part of a larger multi-channel campaign

For maximum effectiveness, you can integrate ads on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to coincide with your hotel’s other marketing channels, like email marketing, Google Display Network, or search engine marketing.

Even better, utilize ADARA, Sojern, or other travel ad networks to help your social media ads reap even greater returns. Using first-party data from top travel planning and airline websites, these travel ad networks target users while they’re planning trips. This extra layer of data added to your social media ad campaigns helps to target your audience when they are closest to the booking stage.

4. Target smarter to stretch your budget

Custom audiences allow social media advertising to truly outshine its media predecessors. Using targeting tools on each social media platform can yield big results for even the most limited hotel budgets.

For instance, YouTube’s unique in-market capabilities utilize search behavior to target users who are planning a trip to your destination and suggest videos that will positively influence their choices during the booking process. On Twitter, follower targeting makes it possible for marketers to reach followers of a relevant Twitter handle. What if your ad popped up on the Twitter feeds of all the followers of a celebrity who recently tweeted from your hotel? You can also target the context of individual tweets by selecting keywords, such as “beach” or “skiing” if those apply to your hotel. Facebook allows you to target your email list, but also a “look alike” audience whose profiles match those on your email list.

Social media will continue to drive modern communication. Never before has it been possible to reach so many travelers with so little effort or capital outlay. Experiment with your top two social media channels, use their different targeting tools, and try out different budget amounts. Keep a close eye on your analytics to find which formulas work best for your property. Most importantly, stay up-to-date with your chosen social media platforms, as new features are being released all the time.

Independent hotels are small businesses, and as such they do not have the same abundant resources and corporate guidance enjoyed by the major chains. Instead of benefitting from a nationwide hotel brand marketing campaign, independent hotels must devise and carry out their own marketing strategies based on the quality and style of the hotel, its price point, and who the target consumers are.

Mass Market Promotion

Large-scale online travel sellers have the reach and the marketing power to deliver big numbers when it comes to room nights sold. They have names that nearly every travel consumer knows, with dedicated websites supported by advertising campaigns in markets around the world. They contract both large chains and independent properties, selling hotel rooms at a discount online. The exposure they provide can be invaluable and well beyond the means of any small-business owner to attain independently.

People searching for a room in a given location will look up the available hotels, and yours will pop up as an option. Online travel sellers select properties based on their location, the selection of available amenities, and the ownership’s willingness to provide commissions and special rates.

Specialized Agencies

The use of travel agencies as a selling tool tends to be more of a targeted effort than national mass sellers. Agencies have had to develop in new ways to compete with large online sellers, and as a result, they have turned their focus more toward specialties or market niches in many cases.

For example, some agencies will specialize in a given region, such as an area known for winter skiing, and will provide agents who know that region inside and out: where to stay, what to eat, how to save, and where to shop. These specialized agencies are often a place for independent and lesser known properties to make their case as a viable option versus major chains and costly luxury brands. Specialized agents will take the time to learn the property and convey its unique marketing message to the traveling public in a way that mass market sellers will not be able to.

Discounts

Discounting works much the same way in the hotel business as it does in any other: Potential guests are promised rates that are lower than normal for rooms booked under certain conditions. A hotel might offer discounts for extended stays or frequent visits, for example, or during slow periods. In theory, these promotions all lead to more room nights sold and to customer loyalty. They fall short with pass-through travelers who will visit only once, and who cannot, therefore, benefit from long-term rewards. In this case, the use of a one-time special-rate discount is key, no matter the season or the potential for a future stay.

Independent hotels that work with local government tourism boards to promote special rates on tourist maps and in welcome-center brochures stand to gain a lot of traffic even from the one-night-in-town set. The costs of ads or sponsorships in tourism literature is relatively low, and the potential for return is high.

Partnering Up

Promotional strategies that incorporate the needs of more than one business are often cheaper to put together than solo marketing efforts, and appeal to a broader audience. For instance, if you sign a partnership marketing agreement with a local surf shop, you will gain an audience of surfers that you might not otherwise have been able to reach. The surf shop in turn gains the attention of all of your guests, some of whom may be considering their first board purchase or lesson. When the two businesses go half on the costs, the expense is reduced and the reach of the strategy can extend further than an individual campaign would have been able to. Promoting local businesses is always beneficial to local business as a whole, and the same goes for hotel marketing.

Value-Added Promotions

Value-added promotions are appreciated by sellers and clients alike. They provide rewards to the customer for a basic night’s stay and help make your property easier for travel agents to sell. For example, if your competition is offering a double room for $100 per night, and you are offering a comparable room with free breakfast, airport transfers, and Internet access, your property just jumped to the top of the list of options for many travelers. You probably already have Internet service at the hotel, airport transfers will only apply to some guests, and breakfast is inexpensive to put together. The cost is low but the potential for return is high. Value-added items can be customized to fit the style and amenities of the hotel, and can include such amenities as spa treatments, dinners, champagne or free parking.

Your social media platforms, email marketing, website and paid advertising all work together to brand your hotel and sell your rooms.

Have you thought about your digital advertising strategy for the upcoming year, yet? If not, it’s time to think about moving beyond the status quo and trying some new things.

While digital advertising is an ever-changing arena, and each year ushers in a whole new set of trends, you can take control of your digital marketing today.

To help you, we’ve prepared this article of hotel digital advertising trends and predictions.

Before we get started with the specifics, let’s touch on a few important points to guide you as you begin to develop your digital strategy:

Humanize Your Hotel

In today’s marketing climate, consumers want to have touch points with your hotel brand. They see your hotel’s reputation as a reflection of what they can expect when they stay the night.

While you may have great service and great rooms, if you aren’t focused on building a relationship with your visitor online, you’ll likely lose the booking. To humanize your hotel online, tell stories, share anecdotes, be funny and most importantly, have empathy with your guests especially when they have a bad experience.

Spend Money

If you aren’t currently spending money on digital advertising, the time is now. In this article we’ll touch on some of the best ways to do this in the coming year. You want to be where the consumers are, and that is online. Traditional advertising is hard to track, so eliminate or cut this budget down so you have money to spend digitally.

Test and Evaluate

Use the tools available to you to analyze what’s working and what’s not. Change things up as necessary. Test, measure, evaluate and revise are the keys to your hotel’s digital advertising.

Now that we’ve discussed some of the basic tenants of digital advertising, let’s get to the details.

The Continued Rise of Social Media Advertising

As we turn the corner into a new year, you can be assured that social media is a viable, worthwhile marketing strategy, and one you should use. Here are several trends we anticipate taking root:

• Social media will continue to cater to users’ sense of immediacy. People want in the moment updates. If this truly catches on, scheduling your posts days in advance will have to take a back seat to instant updates.
• Buy buttons in paid social media advertising will be huge. Facebook and Pinterest have already launched buy features. In fact, their mobile users can use one click to purchase something without leaving the app. Imagine the possibilities for your customers. 

Diversify Your Social Media Marketing

For years, Facebook has been the biggest game in town when it comes to advertising your hotel. Facebook will remain at the top of the heap, but it’s a good idea to diversify your paid social media advertising.

Paid advertising options are available on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat as well as Facebook.

What do all of these options mean for you? They mean multiple platforms for you to promote content, engage customers, build relationships and drive website traffic.

As in other marketplaces, competition encourages innovation and quality. Look for new features on all the platforms in the coming year.

Video Marketing is the Hottest Trend

If content is king, video marketing is the emperor. Visual storytelling will dominate, as hotels can share videos across social networks, through their website and with their email marketing.

Some of you may be scratching your heads and wondering just how a travel-related video can help your bottom line. Here are some ways you can stay on top of this hot trend and use it to your advantage:

• Inspire your future guests. Use video at various stages of the planning process. The hotel booking process for most customers takes several trips to the website before completion. A well-crafted video can help expedite the process.
• Share videos on social media and use paid advertising to promote the video. You’ll create brand awareness and increase your SEO with links to your website.

Industry experts predict that travelers will look less to travel review sites and more toward first-hand video stories of your customers’ experience at your hotel.

Video ads also take hold. Google is soon to incorporate video advertising in their search results, and this has great potential for paid advertisers. Once this happens, video is certain to drive hotel advertising.  So, it’s time to start creating your videos so you stay in front of this trend.

Retargeting Leads the Way

Retargeting is a trend that may sound complicated, but it’s one you should take advantage of. Here’s why:

Booking abandonment, the rate at which your website visitors abandon reserving your hotel, is staggering. Studies show the rate to be more than 65% for hotels.

An Expedia study found that in the 45 days leading up to a booking, a consumer may visit as many as 38 websites. It’s important to know when and how to engage and re-engage with these people. Retargeting is an exceptional tool for converting users and helping them with their complicated decision-making process.

Why do people abandon your website in the middle of booking a reservation? Here are a few of the reasons:

• They were just looking and in the middle of the research process.
• The price was too high.
• There were technical issues or the process was too long.

While this may seem all gloom and doom, that isn’t necessarily so. With retargeting, you can reach back out to these customers to engage them and attempt to meet their needs.

We mentioned the personal relationship earlier. Retargeting allows you to re-engage with your website visitors in a personalized manner. 

Social media retargeting – show ads to people on social media after they’ve left your site. For example, a consumer tries to book your Dallas hotel. They leave and go to Facebook. Your ads automatically retarget them on Facebook and show them the hotel room they might stay in at your Dallas hotel.

• Email retargeting – a subtle reminder to users who started booking your hotel and stopped.

Retargeting is a paid digital advertising medium and one worth a look.

Search Engine and Display Advertising

This year brings you customers who split their time online between multiple devices. In their journey to booking a room at your hotel, they may view your website in an app, on a smartphone and a desktop computer. Their voyage towards conversion is fragmented.

Every encounter they have with your hotel online creates a digital pathway leading to the next interaction and the next, until ultimately they are engaged, and they take action.

Because of this, expect display advertising to take a greater role than search advertising as part of your paid search strategy.  While search ads continue to drive business to your website, display advertising has come of age, and the reach potential is enormous.

When potential hotel guests are searching for a place to stay, will you show up in search results? With paid advertising, the odds are much better. We recommend allocating a generous budget to both search and display ads.

Search engine advertising, including paid search and display ads, is essential to your digital advertising success. Let’s look into the ongoing importance of paid search and display advertising.

Marketing Automation

Hotel marketing teams will move towards more automated marketing. Just what is it? It’s the use of technology to manage and automate the process of converting consumers into paid hotel guests.

Consider the past hotel guest who booked your hotel over spring break last year. With automated marketing, you can reach back out to that person two months prior to spring break with a message that it’s time to make their reservations.

This trend, if you take advantage of it, will save you time and money while allowing you to customize messages to your hotel guests or website visitors.

Marketing automation is part of the relationship building we discussed earlier. It humanizes your hotel and allows you to communicate personally with your customers.

The Take-Away

Digital advertising is expected to become the number one media category, according to a comScore report released to CNBC earlier this year. Next year is the year to allocate a budget for digital advertising.

You’ve learned about a few of the digital advertising trends for your hotel including social media advertising, search engine advertising, retargeting and video marketing.

We’ve given you a lot of information about these digital advertising trends for your hotel. One of the most important things to remember is that they are all interwoven and co-dependent.

One digital advertising trend affects another and vice versa. Your social media platforms, email marketing, website and paid advertising all work together to brand your hotel and sell your rooms.

As the hospitality industry continues to grow and independent properties gain even more traction, it’s key to look into the marketing trends that will define the year. Marketing is a powerful tool that has the ability to make or break a business, or even an entire destination.

Take Iceland, for example, which did such a great job at marketing that they now have an overtourism problem. While Iceland might be the extreme example, it just goes to show the power of marketing. No matter your property size or marketing budget, there are a lot of things you can do to put your property in an opportunistic position.

Localized SEO

Local SEO has gained traction over the past few years as internet directories and review websites have become more popular. Examples of local SEO opportunities include Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and even large OTAs like booking.com or Expedia.

Local SEO’s goal is to help the person searching for something find relevant, local results. Usually, when we discuss local SEO, we’re talking about how people within a certain destination find results in that destination. But in the case of travel, local SEO comes in handy when people are planning their trips as well.

Almost all online directories, including Google My Business and Bing Places for Business, are free. All you have to do is claim your listing and fill out your profile in its entirety. Usually, this includes your address, phone number, operating hours, and a description which you should use to include relevant keywords. Relevant keywords could include things like “best hostel in Belgium” or “cozy cottage in New Hampshire” – anything that will help potential travelers find you. For help on local SEO and what to prioritize, we suggest using Moz’s library of content.

Building Community with Social Media

It goes without saying that social media will continue to remain an important part of business to consumer marketing strategies. Social media evolves at a rapid pace, and the strategies that work in years past may not be optimal anymore. For example, Facebook regularly updates their algorithm, and in January 2018, they announced that the Newsfeed would start to feature more updates and posts from friends and family, rather than brands and publishers looking for engagement.

Facebook is seeking to rebalance users’ feeds. Therefore, posts that are passively consumed, like a static image that has been turned into a video to “trick” the feed will soon lose their virality. But, there is a way around this, and that’s through building a community and then tailoring your content to them. Facebook will rely more on engagement metrics, like shares and comments from friends, to gauge what to place in your feed. Posts that promote discussion and action will win.

This means hard sales and pushy posts will not do so great (they haven’t in a really long time). Whether we’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, the focus should turn to building an audience of people who care about your business and feel a certain way towards it. It doesn’t and shouldn’t push a sale, or booking, or whatever else. In the long run, what’s most beneficial is sharing knowledge, tips, insights, and building community.
Consider engaging your employees in the Tik Tok account of your hotel as well.

Some ways to build community: create a Facebook group for past guests to connect with one another or for people who are huge brand advocates. Or on Instagram, find relevant hashtags and comment thoughtful things on peoples’ posts to build an audience.

Reputation Management Continues to Be Important

Whether we like it or not, reputation management is here to stay for all business types. Review websites, like the ones we discussed in the local SEO section, have incredible power. Not only are they some of the top results on search engines, they’re actively sought out by travelers. Most consumers today will not book without first looking at at least one review site. And most of the time, if they’re booking on an OTA, they reviews will show up right alongside the “book now” button.

Reputation management is part proactive and part reactive. To be proactive, properties should directly ask happy customers to leave reviews – therefore positively padding your online presence.

Regardless of whether a review is positive or negative, someone from your property should respond to the review. In both the case of a positive or a negative review, a response shows that your property cares and listens to feedback. For negative reviews, always try to find a resolution, ideally off the public forum.

For 2018, create an action plan for reputation management that includes both asking for positive reviews and responding to any and all reviews on the most important sites.

Content Becomes the New Driver of SEO

SEO and content marketing go hand in hand. It has been a long time since creating a super optimized website with static content has been enough to get discovered online. Over the past few years and countless algorithm changes – websites that make frequent changes and have regular quality updates are in the best position to do well. Share timely content, city guides, local events, and other interesting information about your property and destination. You don’t have to be extremely well versed in technical SEO tactics to set yourself up for success. Do keyword research on a topic, and include them in your posts. Moz has fantastic learning center to get you started.

Live Chat

Communication is key and live chat windows, either on your property’s website or through another platform like Facebook Messenger, are among the newest and most effective communication channels

Over the years, we’ve been introduced to countless different mediums of communication. From SMS and email to Facebook Messenger and chatbots, there are countless ways for customers to get in contact with you.

Live chat works well because you’re able to supply information and fulfill requests in real time, unlike emails which may take longer to respond to. Chatbots and artificial intelligence are poised to be two of the next big things, especially in service industries like hospitality. The possibilities with artificial intelligence are endless, and we’ll soon fewer paper guides and maps in properties. Technology already has the ability to replace in-room guides, but artificial intelligence will take it to the next level and for guests to experience a new level of personalization without even talking to someone.

However, the chatbots and the artificial intelligence that will power them are still a couple years away from making their prime time debut, especially for independent properties.

A Wider Distribution Network

Specifically regarding the travel industry, one of the best ways to market your property to a wider audience is through distribution partners. Online travel agencies (OTAs) big and small offer properties of all types and sizes the ability to reach new and expansive audiences.

Large OTAs like Expedia, Hotels.com, or Booking.com cater to millions of travelers every single day – even if you are compared side-by-side to nearly every single one of your competitors. And then there are smaller, more niche distribution channels which help your property reach people of certain demographics or travel types. Take for example a company like Hipcamp. They cater to the young, adventurous camper who is looking for their next off the beaten path destination.

Reaching new customers in today’s market can be relatively painless, especially with the help of a channel manager. With the right technology, you can list your property’s inventory on many different sites without the fear of overbookings. This year, consider researching a few new channels that may be worth your while.

It’s always interesting to look back on the trends that were predicted for the previous year and see how things panned out. We were told video would dominate; mobile use would surpass desktop; reputation management would take off, and that print media wasn’t dead. While the last one is still up in the air, for the most part, those hit the mark or are well on their way.

So, here we go again. Feel free to check back in at the end of the year and let me know if my batting average should put me into the All-Star game or have me sitting on the bench.

1. OTA Advertising

OTAs have become synonymous with high fees, large percentages of business, and just overall market dominance with large ad budgets. For most properties, if you’re not playing ball with the OTAs, you are either in extremely high demand and don’t need to or you don’t have a clue. In recent years OTAs, specifically Orbitz and Expedia have introduced their own ad platforms. This isn’t necessarily new (and Orbitz was acquired); however their capabilities and importance in the advertising channels are increasing rapidly.

Typically these advertisements operate as part of the hotel search in a “sponsored placement” position (see image below). When clicked, the ad would take the visitor to the landing page for the hotel on the OTA. This is a great strategy for combatting low occupancy with targeting for specific periods. Most recently though, Expedia is offering the ability to advertise and link directly to the hotel’s website. Yes, it comes at a slightly higher CPC, but the opportunity is to drive direct and bypass the OTAs while using the OTAs.

Another notable mention in this space is TripAdvisor’s new system allowing for sponsored search. We expect this to be a focal point for TripAdvisor’s sales team in the coming year and beyond. So if you haven’t heard from them yet, don’t worry, you will!

2. Experiential Marketing

Sounds ominous, but it’s pretty straightforward; you want to sell an experience. Staying at a hotel isn’t just about a good night’s sleep. It’s about making memories. The goal of experiential marketing isn’t to pre-promote your hotel, but to compel them to lock in that memory so they can talk about it to their friends when they get home. Get where this is going?

Yep, Facebook, Instagram et al are highly effective in communicating more immersive experiential content. If potential customers see others who have stayed with you plastered all over their pages, and they look like they’re having a wonderful time doing cannonballs into your pool, that can go a long way. Denise Wong, the president of George P. Johnson Experiential Marketing, says: “Experiential work is where the rubber hits the road—where advertising meets the Amazon review.” You want your guests experiencing your hotel, not just dropping by.

3. Mobile-First Indexing

Google doesn’t sit still very long, which has its benefits and annoyances. But, like the IRS, it doesn’t really matter whether you like their changes or not. What matters is that you learn them and figure out how to take advantage of them. Their new deal is that your website performance on mobile is soon going to be primary and desktop performance secondary. No one is quite sure when this will happen, but Travel Tripper says that the rumor is it will formally appear later this year. Like a successful vacation, it’s all about planning.

If you’ve been dragging your feet for the last ten years and still don’t have a mobile-friendly version of your website, things may get a lot worse for you very soon. Google is going to base your search rankings first and foremost on your website’s mobile performance. The bottom line is, if you have somehow managed to appear on the first page of a results page without optimizing for mobile, you can probably kiss that goodbye.

In their summary, Moz.com drew up a simple diagram of the comparisons between the old and new systems, and how they will differ from each other:

4. Voice-First Speech

Ah, the good old days. Remember when you had to be able to type to find anything on the web? We may never be completely rid of the screen-first module, but the speech component in many devices like phones, tablets, and now Amazon’s Echo have really gained traction. Search Engine Land reports that 40% of adults now use voice to search at least once each day. Once again, your search engine optimization (SEO) is probably going to need some tweaking.

When SEO first gained prominence, and the importance of keywords began to evolve, we learned that when typing searches into Google, your search phrases didn’t need to be grammatically sound, as long as the keywords were intact. For example, Forbes notes that when typing, you might search for “luxury hotels in Beverly Hills,” while when speaking you would phrase it as a question such as “What are the best Beverly Hills luxury hotels?”. The most important takeaway from all of this is that long-tail keywords are going to become more important when distinguishing between these two types of search, and they will create less competition in site rankings. Google’s goal is always to connect the search with an appropriate result, and spoken details will make that outcome more likely.

5. Beacons and AR

Apparently, “reality” as a concept has lacked diversity. In addition to virtual reality, the hospitality industry now engages with terms like augmented reality (AR). Expect to see growth over the next few years.

Beacons are essentially the technology or the carriers for AR and other features. Most beacons for hotels are in the form of an app, which gives them access to hotel features. For example, Starwood Hotels & Resorts has an app for preferred customers whereby they can receive a digital key that unlocks their rooms. Virtually every major hotel chain offers rewards program apps giving guests access to local discounts, along with offers on food, drinks, spa, and golf. Beacons are a great option if you’re looking to incorporate new technology into your hotel and impress your guests with your amazing ability to adapt to change.

AR is a form of animation that happens in real time right on the device you’re using. You must have not only the technology for the device but the external hardware to connect to it to achieve real-time animation. Holiday Inn used AR with four different Olympians in its UK properties to promote the summer 2012 Olympics. Hospitality Technology suggests that hotels could use their print brochures and turn them into AR, or to incorporate AR into a hotel restaurant’s menu. Check out this example of a brochure utilizing AR technology.

6.Curated Videos and Photos

Let’s say you have a choice between reading a page of content and watching a two-minute video. Both have the same exact content. I don’t know about you, but I’m all over the video. More hotels are now taking video to the next level by curating or assembling existing online videos and presenting them in an organized fashion.

For example, if your hotel is near a major attraction, consider gathering existing videos and images from other sources and setting up a page on your website devoted exclusively to that venue. We aren’t all located in Orlando, but every town has some unique aspect it can highlight. Just be sure to credit the sources.

For those of you who still think videos are ineffective, check out some of these stats:

• The average person retains about 95% of the content from a video versus 10% when reading it.
• 60% of people prefer to watch a video, given the option.
• Video promotion is proven to be 600% more effective.
• And here’s the big one. The average website visitor spends 88% more time on websites that offer video.

1. Go live with a great website

Your website is the most important distribution for your business and the crux of any good online marketing strategy. No matter which hotel marketing tactic has directed a potential customer to your website, this is the place where people can learn more about your individual business and decide whether or not to book a stay with you. It’s also the only online distribution channel where you can generate direct online sales, so it’s crucial your website has a booking engine to handle self-service reservations. As more internet users rely solely on their smartphones and tablets, a mobile friendly website is necessity these days.

2. Follow the SEO staples

There’s no point in having a website if its difficult for potential customers to find via their preferred search engine. Make sure you’re following SEO (Search Engine Optimization) online marketing basics like ensuring your content is rich and relevant, with strong keywords and keyword combinations that give your website the best chance of being clicked upon. Consider likely search terms when planning your hotel marketing SEO campaigns and don’t forget to combine your main keywords with strong secondary ones like the name of your local neighbourhood or district.

3. Differentiate yourself from the rest

To really contend with the competition, your hotel needs to offer something unique and distinctly different to entice potential guests. Your hotel marketing campaign needs to be equally individual. Quality customer care needs to be at the core of everything in the hotel and hospitality industry. Going that extra mile for your guests can yield massive returns. Make sure you’re doing something different, from providing customers with a little treat at check-in, to nabbing local press and PR connections to shine a light on hotel marketing events.

4. Get recommended by real authority

One surefire way of securing new customers is to get your hotel listed with local tourist offices. Whether it’s a printed flyer in a bricks and mortar office, or a prominent link on a local tourism website, you’re guaranteed to take premier listing over many rival competitors. If you’re looking to appeal to the business traveller, nearby convention and exhibition centres are also a great place to promote your hotel. It’s also worth talking to local marketing and event companies in the region as many of these may only offer part-package deals to their own customers, meaning you can cover the accommodation needs and bolster your bookings in quieter seasons.

5. Promote yourself with online travel agencies

In the modern digital age, no hotel can secure regular business without capitalising on online travel agencies and travel brokers. A simple listing can generate thousands of bookings in the long-term, but it’s worth remembering that each time a booking is generated through such an agency, a commission will be applied. Never rely solely on online travel agencies when it comes to your hotel marketing efforts, ensuring such websites are used to generate additional sales, rather replace your direct sales efforts entirely.

6. Global Distribution Systems

A Global Distribution System (GDS) is a network that enables automated transactions between travel service providers (airlines, hotels, cruises and car rental) and travel agencies. When connecting your hotel to a GDS provider your hotel can be booked via hundreds of travel agencies worldwide. You can also use such systems to target specific travellers, including those venturing from home turf on business.

7. Appoint a sales rep and reap the rewards

When it comes to hotel marketing, you should always take best practice in hospitality out into the field when promoting your business. If a local business is regularly recommending you to potential customers, make sure you’re maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with strong incentives. Appointing a dedicated sales representative is definitely worth considering for hotel businesses looking to expand. Any good rep should be taking stock of potential companies in the area worth making a connection with, while ongoing procurement efforts to lock down new partnerships should be at the forefront of any hotel marketing effort.

8. Get savvy with social media

If you’re not utilizing social media in your online hotel marketing campaign, start now. It’s free to create accounts with the likes of FaceBook, Twitter, FourSquare, Instagram and YouTube and it’s never been easier to create dynamic social media pages in moments. However, there’s no point launching a social media presence if you don’t mean to maintain it. Make sure you’ve got at least one person appointed to keeping your hotel marketing social media message live and engaging. Fresh content is pivotal, so make sure you’ve got a content delivery schedule. If you’re strapped for time to create new content, consider launching a hotel blog you can link back to from your social pages regularly.

9. Keep an eye on reviews and recommendations

A great review can earn you a new customer. A poor review can cost you hundreds. Try to encourage better reviews and recommendations from previous guests by engaging them after checking out. Your hotel could feature dozens, if not hundreds of times on review websites, so you need to ensure that each page is loaded with positive reviews and complimentary content. Monitor reviews on the most popular sites, taking note of any bad reviews and engaging dissatisfied guests with helpful and constructive feedback. Neutralise negative feedback wherever you can.

Hospitality Marketing Strategies

Since the technological revolution of the world nearly 20-years ago now, the nature of marketing and how we locate brands and services has changed entirely. What used to be “cold-calling” is now messaging on Instagram, direct messaging on Twitter or email marketing.

We’re cognizant of the ever-changing nature of hospitality and travel marketing strategies in our world today, which is why we offer a fusion of marketing solutions, digital marketing support, and social media marketing campaigns, catered perfectly to fit your brand.

Blogger Engagement

One of the most effective ways of getting content on your hotel or restaurant location out into the world is through blogging. Travel blogs are easily liked, commented, and shared on social media with thousands of readers in a matter of minutes. Not to mention, people use social media correctly to locate blogs today. Consumers want free information, and your blog is the place they’re going to find it. Our company offers high-scale blogging content curating, editing, and posting, with unique content that will improve your SEO rankings.

Custom Brand Campaigns

It’s no secret the competition is stiff out there today. To outshine your competitors, you need custom brand campaigns that are creative, original, and engaging. We design custom campaigns for a variety of social media and other blogging channels on your behalf. Our team formulates the campaign idea, develops it through graphic expression and copyediting, and pushes it out into the world on your behalf. We then measure the results and ensure the campaign is continually performing.

Influencer Engagement

Social media has given rise to an entirely new group of individuals with powerful marketing capabilities. Influencers can be everyday people that have mastered their niche on Instagram. Those with 100k, 1 million, and even 5 million followers can significantly affect consumer’s behavior and purchasing decisions. We collaborate with the industry’s leading travel influencers to give your brand greater exposure.

International Media Opportunities

The nature of the tourism industry means you need to get your hotel’s name out into the world, far away from your home location. One timelessly effective way to do that is through international PR opportunities. Quite simply, as your PR agency, we work on your behalf to develop press, pitch it to journalists, and secure your exposure in newspapers, blogs, websites, TV, radio, and the list goes on.

Local Partnership Opportunities

Every travel excursion is about more than the hotel, brand, or tour company. By partnering with other businesses around you like high-end restaurants, flower shops, luxury phtographers, and local vendors you’ll be able to offer your guests the whole package. We work to develop connections with you and valuable business owners that can provide something to your guests.

Marketing Partnership Strategies

Pairing up with other people in your niche industry and working together on marketing strategies is incredibly popular today. Many brands host co-giveaways to engage consumers for both of their operations. We research and recommend marketing partnership strategies that will be beneficial to your business in the long run.

Measurable Results

ROI matters, and we’re here to prove it to you. We provide measurable results regarding all of our marketing services, and take the time to go over the numbers, impressions, and clicks moving forward. We want to work with you to make sure the best possible strategies are being executed for your operation.

Media Networking

As a travel and hospitality public relations firm, media networking is one of our specialties. We’ve worked hard to accumulate a reputable list of reporters with big-time media outlets that can get your hotel or travel company the exposure it deserves. We are always building media lists and nurturing our contacts to ensure favorable coverage time and time again.

Strategic Consultancy

And of course, for everything else you desire from us, we provide strategic consultancy on everything related to hospitality and travel marketing strategies. Whether it’s campaign ideas for Live Video on Facebook, or chasing down a reporter at a newspaper halfway around the world, we’re here to provide 24-7 communication, support, and success for you and your operation.

Airbnb split payment is simplifying guest’s experience without having to get involved in embarrassing payment conversation between friends.

Do you hesitate to ask your friend to go Dutch on a bill? Have you found yourself tongue-tied on a date while splitting the bill?

Airbnb has recently introduced a system that takes the awkwardness out of fun-lodging.

Now, you can book a room on Airbnb and have the total fee split among you travel buddies without having to put your foot in your mouth. By using the new split-payment system, you can book a listing on airbnb and have it equally paid by your travel partners.

It is as simple as a snap of a finger, all you need to do is book the listing that you like. Once you select a listing, Airbnb split payment grants you with 72 hours to settle the bill amongst your friends. At the end of three days, if all your travel partners including you, make the payment, your dates are locked. However, the maximum number of people that the payment can be divided into is 16.

Alternatively, if none of your partners pay, Airbnb split payment does not instantly cancel the booking but offers a maximum 24 hours stretch for you to pay the whole amount. So the crucial check-in dates are not lost and is still available if you choose to confirm the reservation.

Therefore, instead of you having to seek each buddy to pay for the reservation, Airbnb draws an invoice and split the cost equally.

Payments amount can be split equally or at a proportion of your choice

By default Airbnb split payment the total amount equally amongst the number of companions. However, it does offer an option to adjust the payment differently. For instance, if one of the couple decides to pay more in comparison to the other then such a partner may double their payment.
This happens for instance when you have an apartment with different rooms.

An alternative to third party booker

In order to cater to the gaping demand by corporate travelers, Airbnb also started to offer a different variation of payment option. Under this system, a designated person can book on behalf of someone else. Such person is called Booker within Airbnb platform.

A booker is the point of contact at the initial stages of a reservation namely; reservation request, introduction, and payment for the reservation. Once this is complete, the onus shifts to the person on whose behalf the listing has been reserved also known as a guest.

At this point, booker and guest join the message room with the host. Therefore creating a three-way communication channel.

Alternatively, if you’re a host, you’ll have the titles ‘booked by’ and ‘booked for’ differently appear in your chat interface linked to the concerned listing. This makes management of reservation by the corporation as easy as pie.

However, this option was stopped in some countries due to the fact that Airbnb claims its platform is based on trust and people booking on the behalf of someone else will break the trust circle.

On the other hand business travel it is still available, therefore, for instance, a manager assistant can book for his manager, paying with the company credit card.

Airbnb users have doubled since the launch of split payment settlement

Considering the stats, split payment option has been a successful move for Airbnb. At the beta stage, this payment settlement system drove new users to the platform. Out of the 30% of booking that used split payment, there were tens and hundreds of new users who joined the platform.

Being the consumer-centric brand Airbnb is, its founder Brian Chesky instantly incorporated the split-payment because of a tweet exchange he had with one of Airbnb user. In one of his super popular tweet dated December 26th 2016, Brian Chesky asked this question to his followers.

With only less than a year after this tweet, Airbnb launched split payment that made cost-sharing convenient and graceful.

What was the secret sauce in making split payment a reality in 11 months?

In order to speed up the developmental process of split payment, Airbnb made a major acquisition in February 2017. Tilt, a social payment start-up app that specialized in peer-to-peer money transfer, and it was acquired by Airbnb. Investors at Tilt were grateful and counted their blessings which came in the form of unexpectedly large-sum of acquisition money.

What further sweetened the deal was money because tens of millions of dollar were paid only to ensure employee retention. From the onset of this acquisition, it was clear that Airbnb split payment was headed for the kill. Like most acquisition where the team is replaced, existing team was retained. Departments were operational and functional as if it were before the acquisition.

In the end the strategy seems to have paid off.

What are the implication for hosts?

Basically, Airbnb hosts, who have to deal with this group buy system they have a booking left on hold for a longer period that the 24 hours, as it happens for singular booking. On the other hand it may bring many advantages to property owners who has big apartments or expensive one. To sum up this split payment on option on Airbnb can definitely increase the sum of the money exchanged in every transaction within the platform.

It seems Airbnb has tons of ace up its sleeve, let’s see what’s next?

Truly, Airbnb is a company that exploded into fast-track growth because of its aggressive drive. It turned over new leaves on its track, and also left no stones unturned when it came to innovation. This millennial focused start-up never failed to up the ante while causing disruption.

This short-term rental secret is barely legal, now you can make massive money too

Did you know short-term rental can make you wealthy?

Many private-millionaire landlords have their property rented on short-term lease over long-term. Do you know why? Yes, you’re right. Because the bank-roll from short-term rental trumps long-term rental in virtually every locale.

Long-term rental locks your rental property for longer periods. Your tenants will normally extend their stay over 12 months. Terminating a contract before the contracted date may attract penalty that can strip you off your money if a jiffy.

Short-term rental is easy to hack and the fastest method to build a profitable business. A prominently located property will attract masses of tourist who wish to experience the city like a local. Unlike long-term rentals, where negotiations is complex and takes ages to complete.

As you read through this recently discovered fact that uncovers the truth of property rental business, you’ll be spellbound to know that you could make more money in less than half the lease period of a long-term rental system.

How do we know this? In an article posted by curbed.com from San Francisco area, there were startling revelation relating to rental cost. Prior to kick-off at Super-bowl at San Francisco, the prices for 3 days accommodation in Russian Hill 3 bedroom was walloping at $17000. Yes, you read it right. That’s how short-term rental landlords are raking in the dough.

In addition long term rent rental often requires renovation adjustments and you often results in more commitment and legal issues involved rather than a short term rental.

Today many multi-sided platforms they manage to have to decrease the risk of renting to minimum level for landlords and real estate companies.

Here’s a Cheat-sheet for a short-term rental business-owner

Although not all that glitters is gold for everybody, there are certain caveats to short-term renting. If you follow my advice word-by-word, you’ll surely build a mega-successful rental business in no time.

1. In every country, city, or state, there are legal implication that you must be aware of. Like certain states require you to obtain a license to lease your property for less than 30 days. It is best you contact your local lawyer to get legal assistance before you start-out.
2. Next, you’ll have to feel the pulse of rental business in your locality. You can get a classified newspaper from the central newsstand and look at prices of apartments that are similar to your rental property with a keen eye. Circle the relevant rental charges, add all of them and divide it by the number of listings (circles that you made). This is the run-of-the-mill price that you can demand.
3. Another simple but fiercely-effective step is to go to airbnb’s website and look for competing prices. Look for the crown-jewel in every listing, especially the wildly popular apartments. Does the listing has private pool, or tennis court, or perhaps barbecue-backyard? Moreover, analyse the offers and make one that is better than it. An offer they can’t refuse. Are the kitchen fully-stocked? If not, then you offer a full-stocked kitchen along with bathroom essentials and artwork that will greatly enhance guest experience.
4. You can dramatically spike your rental revenue by tactfully marketing your property. By reading guest review on Airbnb or other sites, you can study the class of tourist/visitors that frequent your city. For instance, San Francisco attracts Super-Bowl fan in flock of millions during the first week of February. Most of the land-lord adorn their listing as per the super-bowl theme to make guest have a one-of-kind experience.
5. What this means is that you can attract a throng of guest to your listing as   well. All you have to do is strategically theme you property in your city’s or country’s most ravishing festival, season or fiesta. Online channel are often cheaper and more effective but being offline at some certain point can be way more effective.

By doing this, you’ll rise head and shoulders above 90% of your competing rental business owner.

Again, you do not want be jack of all trade rather master of just one. If your locale boasts of slew of tourist attractions, you should ideally choose only one and gain a magic touch for it. Being popular for singular event can drive revenue faster.

6)  Like everybody else, you are in the rental business to make money, that’s why it’s best you make an expense sheet for fixed and variable expenses that erodes revenue.
You can ask an accountant to prepare the expense and revenue sheet to draw up exact profit from the business.

An accountant can do more than just billing and computation. You can rest on your laurels after employing an actuary because your taxes and returns are taken care of. As long as you’re within the confines of legal boundaries and keep these tips in your mind, you can safely grow your business into a money-churning machine.

Once you get the wheels turning, you must include in this financial plan the occupancy rate. What is an occupancy rate?
It is how many days or months in year is your apartment occupied by guests. In a year there shall be certain months (February—in case of Superbowl) when you will experience a surge in demand.

How much time in percentage your property should be occupied so that you do not lose money? Make discount ad or promotion according to your forecast.

Pro-Tip: Always have a fixed minimum price before you even start-out with the rental business. This will ensure that you stay above the line of cost at all times, for safeguarding yourself against hagglers and people asking for discount

It is always good to know how much you can be flexible on price before losing money.

Short-term rental business has its share of wealth that you as a landlord can massively cash-in. All you need to do hit the nail on the head when it comes to marketing and pricing to watch your profits shoot through the roof.

Never lose a dollar on your Airbnb by putting together an easy-to-use system

Are you renting several properties? Do you have them listed on multiple rental website? Is it stressful to keep track of dozens of booking? Did you disheartened your guest because of overbooking?

If you said yes any of the questions, you’re in for a million-dollar advice. Your problem ends now. You can easily accommodate every guest and rake in lots of money while gaining a superstar reputation on Airbnb or any other platform.

I get mails from readers who repeatedly ask me this question. One host from Airbnb, let’s call him Billy, had his listings posted on many other rental sites including booking.com, homestay and others. He faces a deadlock when two guests from different platforms booked the same listing for identical dates. Guess what happened?

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush

You might have guessed it right. In order to welcome both the guest, he tried convincing them to change their check-in dates. When one of them didn’t budge he negotiated with the other. Since none of them were flexible with their dates, our host was secretly wishing to have them both stay in his room by asking them to change their check-in date. He was stuck in a delightful dilemma, instead of at least accommodating one guest at his desired convenience; he lost both of them to this dilemma.

As you see, he lost a booking because of conflicting check-in dates for the same listing. This loss in booking could potentially lead to millions of dollar in lifetime value from that lost client. Many like Billy have this predicament on a daily basis and this guide helps to allay dilemma. A must guide for anyone seeking to smartly manage their listing and get the most bookings without losing a dollar.

Synchronize your calendar’s right now to have a self-growing bank balance

How does synchronizing benefit you? When you integrate your calendar, you end having a powerful tool to micro-manage booking. When this happens, a booking that you confirm on Airbnb automatically locks those specific dates on the corresponding booking website. Similarly, Airbnb listing gets blocked for those days that it has been booked on other platforms.

If Billy had been synchronizing his calendar from day one, the first guest who confirmed the booking on one platform gained the exclusivity for those days on other listing websites as well. Billy would not have landed in a tight spot because the successive guest would be electronically restricted from booking for reserved slot in the calendar.

As a result, Billy makes money on his listing by renting it every day without conflicting check-ins. Which also means he can easily provide extra-ordinary service to his guest and build a rockstar reputation on the platform by catering to clients one by one.

Integrate your calendar in few minutes and become a top-renter on Airbnb

iCal is your go-to calendar app for uniform integration across every platform. Like you’d expect from a personal secretary, iCal helps you by syncing every listing you have on a singular platform. Its versatility and ubiquitous applicability makes it extremely proficient in setting up an online calendar that manages most, if not all business day-to-day operations.

Services relating to online calendar, client-mailing, scheduling is now possible through your smart-phone. Even Google calendar can be merged with iCal and it can be shared to users who do not have access to your check-front account.

It is similar to having a personal secretary who notifies you in advance. To set up an iCal account all you need to do is sign up and copy the link generated in it within other platforms where you’ve listed your property. To learn the installation and set-up of a fully-functional iCal app, read this step-by-step guide rolled out by check-front.

The beauty of Airbnb lies in its website. A person who is a novice computer user or is computer-challenged can easily set up his listing on multiple website without a hassle. Here’s a step by step guide to synchronizing your calendar for your online renting business:

Calendar Importing

As the name suggests, calendar importing is updating your Airbnb booking dates as per the calendar from external website and applications. You can connect it with Google Calendar, Booking.com, Homestay or VRBO. In order to set the ball rolling, here’s what you ought to do:

1. Go to manage listing on Airbnb.
2. Choose the listing that you wish to integrate and click Manage Listing.
3. Select Availability tab from above your listing preview.
4. Go to Availability setting tab on the top right corner of your calendar.
5. Under the main tab Sync Calendars, select the sub-tab Import Calendar.
6. Paste your calendars URL in the Airbnb Calendar URL list.
7. Name your calendar.
8. Select Import calendar.

Calendar Exporting

Calendar export from Airbnb helps you to transpose information and data relating to occupancy and reservations from Airbnb to other websites. Its best that you do both in order for the integration of operate without any glitch.

1. Go to manage listing on Airbnb
2. Find the listing you’d like to edit and select manage listing.
3. Select availability from above your listing preview.
4. Under Sync calendars, select Export Calendar.
5. A link shall be generated by Airbnb, copy it to iCal application.

Become an immaculate micro-manager of your listing!

It is advisable for every host to have their calendar set up with iCal. You can never go wrong with calendar integration because it works like your personal assistant. For instance, if a guest wishes to make a reservation on your listing, iCal integration provides real-time update on its availability.

So it completely eliminates any conflict. Which means you don’t end up like Billy and instead offer a flawless user experience to your potential guest. To become a hot-shot airbnb entrepreneur, it is essential to treat your listing as a professional business to make the most from it.

Let us know your experience in the comments below!

How do you make massive money from your short-term rental property?
Are you looking for the most profitable platform for publishing your listings? Here’s your exclusive guide to strategically publish your listing on high-traffic websites to get maximum visibility. Since you already know a smartly managed short-term rental business trumps long-term rental business every single time, here’s a powerful tip on how to turn your business into a mega success.

Minimize the risk: Publishing on different platforms

Do you find yourself biting your nails when opting for the right rental website? Many business owners tend to mindlessly publish on several websites leading to chaos, redundant reservation, and client mismanagement.

Instead of moving the needle they end up digging their own grave! What you should do instead is to target websites that attract host of warm relevant traffic to skim the cream of the crop. As you read on, I’ll share with you the list of top 50 sites that should instantly turn your listing super-profitable.

Before you publish your listing on a website, you should watch out for the kind of traffic that frequents it. Not only the quantity matter but also the quality. For instance, if you want to go mainstream you can never go wrong with Airbnb; it attracts tons of interested travelers who wish to wander the world like a local. Most of the guests who use Airbnb are from different walks of life. Some people who fly during Christmas, or any holiday season, or sports club fans who are visiting for the match or Digital nomads who work while traveling and so on.

Whereas in Home-stay, guests typically are students who go abroad on an exchange program and stay in a shared accommodation. Most of the times, the guests enter in collaborative consumption, in which not necessarily money is exchanged in return of services (also known as barter economy or gift economy). Do keep in mind that when you put out your listing here, you’re ideally sharing your house with a guest and cannot rent it individually.

Why publishing on many listings in never a fully automated process?

Publishing on multiple sites isn’t all that easy. Most websites limit the number of images and words you can use for description. In such a case, the infamous style of copy and pasting does not work. Keep your eyes open for sites that support embedding videos in the listing, because there are publishers that prohibit video uploads. Here’s a tool that digs deeper into the traffic, frequency and commonly used keywords on a website.

How to get more visibility for your listing?

Ideally, your home-website should become the stepping stone to publishing elsewhere. This gives you the advantage of promoting your listing using the keywords that relate the most to your locality. By targeting the search query relating to listing in your area, you’ll attract swarms of visitors. Moreover, you’re not bound by the restrictions imposed by third-party platforms.

Another simple yet a million-dollar tip is to get your listing published on a specialty website. What’s a specialty website?
It’s government board that promotes special interests. Is your house located near a scuba-diving site? Or is your listing close to a golf course? Then in such cases, you can maximize your occupancy and also not have to worry about screening as the most of the guests that you’ll encounter will be certified enthusiast.

How to choose the price when the listing in on multiple platforms?

Alright now that you clearly know how to choose the ideal listing sites, it’s time to take a look at the existing price trend. It is as simple as ABC to get the best rent pay-out.
All you need to do is browse through few of the properties, filter them on the basis of price from lowest to highest. Compare the size and price, then place your property slightly higher, if you’ve got better accessibility and amenity. Otherwise on lower spectrum, if you’re offering a vanilla experience.

Never quote a dirt-cheap price just to jumpstart your business, because you’ll invite trouble more often than not. After all, it’s your business and you must treat it like one by carefully considering the cost of photography, listing fees, set-up cost and hosting charges. Decide on a bottom line price and always, always quote it higher than your total expenses.

Learn the rules of the publishers, because you’re here to make bank. Airbnb is the kingpin of short-term rental business and you’re bound to rake in a lot of profits from here because it does not cost a penny to publish. Another visitor-rich yet tacky-looking website is craigslist that you cannot afford to miss. It is flooded with landlords and tenants, you should let the long-term tenant settle at the bottom to scoop short-term visitor off the top. There are few notable sites that should be on your mind to increase your visibility online.

Manage your listings like Dr. Octopus with this secret app!

As you garner momentum or once the ball sets into motion, it’s time you put your manager’s cap and administer the listing by synchronizing all of them. Wait, what exactly does synchronizing mean in this case? Right! It may sound complex but it’s simple, easy and highly effective.

It’s integrating the reservation across every publisher on a single calendar application. As a result of this, you don’t fall in a soup because you’ll have the calendar pro-actively giving you updates based on the reservation made on various website. No conflicting check-ins, no more infuriated guests.

One last takeaway from this guide before I leave. Listing on multiple platforms may be tempting, but you’re the best judge on which publisher best suits your apartment’s profile. Always read the major terms & conditions before going live on a platform to minimize mishaps.
There are certain sites that take a cut of the listed price for the transaction occurring within the platform which is yet another point to keep in mind while pricing your listing.