2012 Marketing Must-Do"s For The Hotel Industry

　　The good (and sometimes bad) thing about the marketing industry in general, is that it""s always evolving and changing, often for the better. Hotels who stay informed and implement the newest marketing tactics and mediums will develop a true competitive advantage, staying ahead of the pack.

　　As we reach the end of another year, it""s always a good thing for businesses to look back and reflect on the year that just passed, in order to figure out what worked and what did not. With marketing, this is especially true because of how quickly the success of a marketing campaign can turn around. Consider the following questions:

　　Were there marketing mediums that generated more awareness and action (i.e. bookings!) than others?

　　Does your target audience respond better to the tried-and-true options or the new booking channels?

　　What were your marketing objectives (i.e. goals) for 2011? Were you able to achieve them?

　　Then of course, it""s time to start planning your property""s marketing campaign for the year ahead, taking into consideration some of the best marketing tactics and mediums for 2012.

　　The Mobile Channel

　　Through 2010 and 2011, hotels have experienced a rapidly shrinking booking window because of the increase in mobile bookings, sometimes even from the pavement outside of a hotel in fact, 1 in 5 online hotel queries came from a mobile device this past year[i]. A 2010 Priceline survey found that 82% of mobile customers booked their hotel rooms within one day prior to their arrival, versus 45% of computer bookers[ii].

　　Mobile is a great way to reach consumers anytime, anywhere. Brand recall (meaning the number of consumers who remember the message) is very high, with some survey results as high as 51%, with 96% remembering the call-to-action from the message. That is unheard of in many marketing channels. And the best part - when compared to other leading marketing mediums, mobile marketing is quick and inexpensive to implement.

　　In addition to adding mobile marketing to your 2012 marketing strategy, make sure that your website - and most importantly your site""s online booking channel - is optimized for the mobile web. If you are pushing mobile capabilities but consumers cannot access everything with ease, your campaign will not see as much success.

　　The growing trend of booking via smartphone or tablet is expected to drastically increase in the upcoming years by 2014, it is predicted that mobile users will surpass desktop computer users in the US1. So as consumers"" booking habits change, hotels must also adjust their marketing budgets to ensure that they create the highest ROI from each marketing dollar. According to a recent TravelClick report, 50% of hotels plan to put more marketing dollars towards mobile websites and marketing in 2012 therefore, the 50% of hotels that don""t implement the mobile channel will find that they are falling behind the competition.

　　Social Media

　　At this point, everyone is familiar with social media and its importance in a hotel""s marketing outreach. Social media is still a great medium in which to interact with consumers and promote brand awareness. For 2012, continue to use social media to make sure customers are happy, remind them of the people behind your brand and to communicate special promotions to your followers. Keep your profiles/pages up-to-date and provide interesting content, taking advantage of the latest technologies whenever changes roll out. For instance, both Twitter and Facebook changed formats recently, making them even more useful to brands.

　　Over the past few years, social media has been recognized as an important way to engage directly with potential guests, but in 2012, hotels need to look for ways to monetize these channels. Some properties enable customers to book directly through Facebook, growing the impact and ROI of social media marketing activities, and it is important that all hotels follow suit in 2012.

　　Flash Sales

　　Flash sales are a fairly recent development in the travel industry. The term refers to limited-time offers promoted to a members-only audience through sites like Jetsetter or Rue La La. So far, the industry has seen that the flash sales concept is less effective than with retail products (which is where the concept originated). Because travel isn""t a spontaneous purchase, flash sales often don""t actually yield a large increase in bookings however, flash sales sites do offer a fantastic opportunity for hotels to increase their online visibility.

　　The bottom line on flash sales: hotels would be smart to consider the marketing opportunities offered by this sales tactic, instead of expecting the sites to fill a gap in bookings.

　　Opaque OTA Channels

　　There has been a great deal of controversy in ehotelier over the last few months about whether OTAs are necessary for boutique and independent properties. One article written by Carol Verret said: "The simple fact of the matter is that every hotel needs them... Not only do these channels drive rooms and revenue but they provide a level of exposure that it is difficult to measure in dollars and cents - especially for independents that don""t have the larger franchise marketing budgets." Another article written by Larry Mogelonsky took the opposing viewpoint and stated: "the OTAs are converting your customers into theirs."

　　But no matter your opinion, most hotels have realized that the OTAs are a necessary evil. That being said, there is a new breed of OTAs that has emerged over the past few years that frees up hotels from the restrictions commonly associated with traditional OTAs.

　　Opaque channels - such as the new hotel booking website BackBid - enable hotels to circumvent the rate parity agreements that sites like Expedia and Hotels.com have forced on the industry, and allow hotels to move distressed inventory, often at a lower commission rate.

　　In 2012, savvy hoteliers should be putting a greater emphasis on listing their rooms on opaque OTA channels to generate the most bookings and RevPAR, while allowing for the flexibility to list inventory in times of slow demand.

　　Public Relations

　　Public relations (PR) is a very important part of a property""s marketing plan, especially for smaller, boutique properties that don""t have the benefit of association with a trusted corporate brand or budget, but unfortunately, most hotels don""t recognize the potential it offers.

　　While PR outreach won""t directly impact sales, it is extremely useful in brand building and increasing awareness of your property in your target audiences. Over time, that awareness will increase sales because a trusted third-party (a journalist, news anchor or blogger) is endorsing your property. These types of endorsements are more credible and therefore, more effective than advertisements or other types of marketing outreach, because the endorsement doesn""t originate directly from the hotel. And the best part: public relations can be accomplished at a much lower price point than traditional paid advertising. With PR, your costs are minimal (even when you""re working with an external agency) and you can generate placements in many different publications for little to no cost.

　　Make 2012 a Banner Year

　　Of course, there are hundreds of other marketing tactics and mediums available to hotels today but the five that I have listed here should be a large part of a hotel""s 2012 marketing plan. Using all five will help hotels increase their visibility - both on- and offline, while increasing their bookings and revenues.