5 trends in digital marketing for hotels

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Do you want to fill your hotel's accommodation capacity throughout the year? Are you wondering how to attract quality guests and how to interest tourists in coming during the off-season? Are you curious about the current trends in digital marketing for hotels and how to use them to your advantage?

Although hotel accommodation is increasingly popular among tourists arriving in Croatia, the fact is that a large number of hotels are not fully booked throughout the year. Of course, this is a great shame because it unnecessarily wastes money that the hotel could earn from high occupancy rates even in the off-season.

If you're wondering why some hotels are exceptionally well-booked throughout the year, we'll reveal their recipe – smart marketing investments . Traditional marketing plays an increasingly smaller role, and today it's extremely important to invest in the benefits of digital marketing. Below, we'll present 5 trends in digital marketing for hotels that will help you attract new guests.



Quality website adapted for mobile devices
Research shows that the number of tourists making hotel reservations via smartphones is growing. The exact figure shows that within just one year, this number has grown from 13 percent to as much as 20 percent , which is a huge shift in the use of mobile devices.

If you don't want to lose guests who book via smartphones and tablets, it's important to have a website that displays properly on these mobile devices . If you don't already have a mobile-friendly (responsive) website, now is the time to create one . As we increasingly use smartphones in our daily tasks, the number of people who book hotel accommodations via smartphone is set to grow significantly in the future. Stop losing valuable guests and adapt your website to mobile users.



The potential of social networks in marketing for hotels
With the increasing popularity of smartphones, the popularity of social networks has also grown. Today, social networks are a very important part of the lives of a huge number of people. A large part of us spend several hours every day on social networks . That is why they are a great potential for attracting guests to hotel accommodation. Wherever your potential guests are, there you have to be – and today that is social networks.

The most popular social networks currently are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. You don't have to be present on all of these networks because it will drain your time, but it's important to be on at least 2-3 social networks to more easily reach your potential guests.

Social media is a great way to communicate with your guests . It's very likely that future guests will ask questions about your accommodation on social media. Your recent guests will also often leave reviews of your hotel on social media. Today's users value instant communication , so a quick response to a question or a thank you for a positive review is a great way to reach more visitors. Invest time in social media, and it's also wise to invest money in advertising on social media.



Video as a medium of the future (and present)
When Internet speeds were still extremely low 20 years ago, the main medium on the Internet was written text. With the increase in Internet speeds, photos played an increasingly important role - and today's main media has alternatives to factiva become video . In fact, even 80 percent of people prefer watching video content more than reading text while surfing the Internet.

If you try to showcase your hotel through beautiful photos, it's a good way to gain the trust of guests - but you'll achieve even better results if you use video to promote your accommodation . Through video material, you can present your hotel in a more detailed way that will arouse even more interest in the eyes of the user. Also, the user will trust you and the offer you offer more, after being convinced through video material of the truth of your claims.

Video is not the medium of the future, but of the present. Now is the time to turn to promoting your hotel through video . It is important to emphasize that video will also increase the number of shares on social networks, which will ultimately result in greater interest from potential guests – and higher occupancy throughout the year.



Regularly creating new content
Creating content on a regular basis is crucial for great marketing results. Content marketing is currently one of the best ways to promote your products and services in the world. It is a type of marketing where you covertly promote your products and services through content .

In practice, if you have a hotel located in Zagreb - you can create content in which you will reveal to users the charms of Zagreb and why it is important to visit Zagreb at a certain time of the year. In this way, you increase the user's desire and interest to visit Zagreb, and you can then use this to your advantage. Namely, at the end of the text or video material, clearly invite the user to book accommodation in your hotel - thus achieving new guest nights.

The content you create can be text, photos, videos, or anything else – but it's important to be consistent in creating it . Once you've created the content, you can publish it on a blog on your hotel website or share it on social media.



Local SEO opportunities
SEO is the process in which a brand strives to build a better position on web search engines , in order to be more accessible to internet users. When a user searches for the term 'hotel in Zagreb', you want to be first on Google search engine - that is precisely the task of SEO optimization.

Search engine optimization is a long-term process that takes time to get results, but it pays off in the long run. When you rank high on Google, potential guests will find you and book your accommodation on their own – without investing in marketing.

When positioning a hotel on a web search engine, it is important to focus on local SEO . The idea is to position yourself well for terms that mention the location of your hotel (e.g. hotel in Zagreb). By strengthening local SEO, you will increase your visibility to potential guests , which will bring new guests to your hotel. During the SEO process, it is important to create quality content, and services such as Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, booking.com, etc. can also be helpful.



Conclusion
Trends in digital marketing for hotels change from year to year. The tips listed above are current for 2019 and will help you achieve better results for your hotel accommodation . If you are not a marketing expert, it is wise to hire an agency that will apply all these trends for you. Our expert team has a lot of successful projects behind it and it is time to contact us for help. All you need to do is fill in the fields below the text and we will help you achieve successful business results for your hotel .