8 Hotel marketing trends for the upcoming 'holiday' season - Part 1
The ‘holidays’ are coming up fast, and before you know it, December will be here. With Sri Lanka trying hard to attract foreign tourists, exciting times are no doubt ahead. In this context, hotels’ gearing to deal with the competition is paramount. Don’t forget, we are competing with the region as well as the rest of the world. To save you the trouble, dear readers, I’ve been doing some research into the latest hospitality marketing trends as the world tries to open up again and have condensed the most salient points for your convenience. You’re welcome.
People want to know what you’re doing to keep your property clean, sanitised and disinfected from the moment they step in until they check out. Highlighting your cleanliness, sanitation and disinfection practices is going to be a key theme of your marketing materials, as potential customers will need to be reassured that they’re safe. This means that hotels need to continue building their marketing campaigns around the message that safety is the No. 1 priority. However, don’t go overboard. Make these factors one of your themes, but not the main theme.
Economies have taken a severe hit, and unless you belong to the lucky top 1%, chances are your purse strings have faced some sort of strain as well. The pandemic has had a varied impact on the finances of travellers globally. According to a recently released report titled ‘The dynamic traveller: a new era of hotel guest’, the third biggest influence on where people travel to currently is budget. For example 27% of respondents in Germany said that budget is a top two factor for where they are deciding to travel. Those catering to the German market need to take heed.
This means that travellers will be doing their research to ensure that they get the absolute bang for their buck. They will meticulously research their hotels, flights, and attraction costs. When it comes to airfares, all those deals during the pre-pandemic period are things of the past and this translates into higher prices. Whilst flight choices and costs are somewhat beyond the traveller control, an area where they have plenty of choice is hotels. Bluntly put; your brand with its upmarket connotations and rich history means zilch if your prices are out of whack and your customer reviews are nothing to write home about.
The nature of the global pandemic has seen countries open up, close up, go under lockdown, travel restriction, you name it, often at little to no notice. With COVID-19 still lingering and impacting leisure and business travel, hotels have no choice but to become more flexible overall. So, now’s not the time to be rigid and enforce “no cancellation, no reschedule” rules, if these occur due to reasons beyond the guest’s control. For example, if you have a foreign guest coming from a country that has suddenly announced a lockdown; you know that it’s not their fault. Offer them some options, rather than simply taking their money and saying, ‘hard luck’.
Culture sells, granted. But, it’s time for something different, rather than the same offerings of tours to the nearest tourist hotspots. Offer your guests experiences that they wouldn’t typically expect. Of course, this depends on your property’s surroundings as well as staff capabilities, so you should gather your team together and brainstorm options. For example, city hotels could host culinary journeys or historical tours around the city, whilst beach hotels could look at sandcastle building competitions for kids. More than anything else, the modern guest just wants a memorable experience. This hasn’t changed. What has changed is how you deliver it.
To be continued
Ashraaq Wahab -Technical and Marketing Director - Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
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