Local Marketing Tips for Hotels

Travelers’ expectations of hotels have evolved in recent years, and local marketing is now emerging as the most effective way for hotels to boost their booking rates. Where travelers once sought accommodations that provided an escape from the world, today’s engaged travelers see hotels as their gateway to local activities and attractions where they can discover new, genuine experiences. For these modern travelers, it’s all about the local experience; this altered focus gives you the chance to shine because you have something that the large OTAs cannot match: genuine local knowledge and a local presence.  We’ve assembled some local marketing tips for hotels that will help you leverage your knowledge and skills to position your hotel as the top destination for your locale.

• Tip #1: Turn your hotel website into the best source for local info
  Leverage your insider knowledge of the local community to create a mobile-friendly hotel website that provides detailed information on everything local. If you can establish your site as the one-stop shop for local information, travelers will begin their trip planning on your site, book their stay, and continue to turn to your site for guidance as they explore local attractions.
• Create webpages of local information, with the best restaurants, local attractions, shopping opportunities like local Farmers’ Markets and craft co-ops, nighttime hotspots, and community happenings
• Post informative videos and photos that bring the local surroundings to life
• Include information of surrounding areas
• Tip #2: Partner with local providers
  Create partnerships with local attractions, restaurants, and excursion providers to offer exclusive packages, local tours, and discounts to be cross-promoted on their sites.
• Tip #3: Create a hotel mobile app with local tour booking
  Mobile apps are some of the most effective mobile marketing strategies for hotels. Once you and your local partners have collaborated to offers tours and excursions, expand your hotel’s local reach with a mobile hotel app that travelers can use to book local tours, stays at your hotel, restaurant reservations, and other local activities. Raise the funds for the app with contributions from your partners.
• Tip #4: Create a strong presence on Google+ Local
  Google now features a 3-pack of organic listings powered by Google Hotel Finder at the top of non-paid local hotel search results. The best way to raise your hotel search ranking is to claim your Google+ Local page and generate positive reviews. Claim your business pages on all Google platforms (Google+, Maps, etc.), make sure your contact info is correct on all, and run promotions to encourage guests to leave reviews.
• Tip #5: Use social media to promote local activities
  Put your social media marketing skills to work promoting local attractions, excursions, and area attractions, then offer special deals to your Twitter and Facebook followers. Create Google+ circles for local activities and attractions, and arrange special local excursions; publicize your promotions using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to shoot videos of your local activities to feature on your hotel’s YouTube channel.
• Tip #6: Apply local SEO strategies
  To raise your website’s search engine ranking, you need to apply local SEO strategies: optimize your site using tightly targeted local keywords in your site’s titles, content, video and picture alt tags, meta descriptions, etc.
• Tip #7: Run local AdWords campaigns with customized landing pages
  Invest in non-branded hotel AdWord campaigns that focus on types of travelers, trip excursions, and your geographical area. Create customized landing pages for each campaign (a click on your romantic Miami weekend getaway campaign goes to your romantic hotel landing page rather than a generic hotel  page, etc.) to get the best conversion rate.

For more local hotel marketing tips and strategies, call on the marketing team at Travel Tech Strategies. Our dedicated marketers can help you develop a comprehensive hotel marketing campaign that includes responsive hotel web design, expert SEO services, hotel mobile app development services, and much more.

Contact Travel Tech Strategies today at 954-779-2801 for more hotel marketing ideas and expert hotel marketing services to ensure your hotel business is a success!