Eric Oppegaard
Before we dive in, be sure to visit our ultimate guide to hotel marketing to access an all-encompassing rundown of hotel marketing trends, data points, and insights.
Building and optimizing a smart media strategy is key to set you for success as the hotel industry recovers from COVID-19.
While there is no shortage of data at your disposal, filtering it and turning it into actionable insights can be daunting – especially in the middle of this crisis. To make it easier, we’ve outlined four key areas of focus for you to drive revenue now and in the future:
What is your market position?
Creating an impactful strategy in this climate demands accurate, real-time data that gives hoteliers a 360-degree view of historical and forward-looking performance for their properties and competitive sets. To build solid media strategies for attracting consumers and travel agents in the future, you must know where you are today.
Review and redefine:
- What are our competitive sets?
- How do we stack up with our competitive sets in terms of offerings, rates, occupancy, share of voice, and media executions?
- How does your audiences perceive the hotel and travel markets?
- Which factors will drive trust and conversions in the long term?
- Are there any new feeder markets or traveler segments to now include in scope?
80% of hotel executives say leisure travel will return before business travel.
How has your audience changed?
Knowing your audience is no longer optional: Engaging and resonating with potential guests requires understanding their mindset so your strategies are powered by impactful, personalized messaging.
Dig into your data and develop guest personas that outline:
- What is my addressable audience?
- What are the demographics and psychographics of my Generation Clean guests?
- Do meaningful experiences weigh more heavily now than before?
- Are past guests ready to venture out?
76% of global hospitality executives plan to prospect to new audiences to make up for impacted revenue from their usual business mix.
Has your distribution mix shifted with buying patterns?
COVID-19 has changed the way people are shopping for hotels. Make sure your distribution strategy is still producing results – and that you are maximizing your visibility on high-performing channels. Remember that even what constitutes “high performance” for your hotel or that particular channel may have changed – comparing to a 2019 benchmark makes it nearly impossible to recognize success in today’s market.
Be sure to identify:
- Are we getting our fair share on crucial channels?
- How much incremental net revenue are we realizing for each channel?
- What channels deliver the highest ADR?
Are there key periods where you need to drive occupancy?
Knowing your future need periods and average lead times will help you strategize ads and messaging to support revenue and boost occupancy when your property needs it most.
Have a good handle on:
- What is our current average booking window?
- What specific periods/dates (now and in the future) do we need to fill rooms?
- What are our seasonality, occupancy, and rate trends during peak and low periods?
While 75% of industry professionals believe forward-looking data will be critical to executing their recovery plan, only 17% are “confident” or “extremely confident” in their current occupancy forecasts.
You can’t create a media strategy that produces revenue without data.
The good news is, most of it is already at your fingertips – all you need to do is fit the pieces together.
Download How to Fuel Your Media Strategy with 360-Degree Data for a comprehensive rundown on what data to pull from different platforms and channels and how you can use it to:
- Take stock of your position in the market and within your competitive set
- Establish a baseline for marketing efforts
- Build your media strategy
- Optimize your campaigns
