Picture this: You’re the proud owner of a charming boutique hotel nestled in a picturesque lakeside town. The rooms exude warmth and comfort, the service is impeccable, and the restaurant tantalizes taste buds with delectable dishes. Yet, as the old adage goes, “even the finest wine needs a good salesman.” In the face of the challenging economic climate of 2024, the hotel industry is grappling with stagnant room rates and a dwindling flow of guests. Your hotel, unfortunately, isn’t immune to these headwinds.
As you survey the quiet lobby, a question lingers: How can you fill those rooms and boost your bottom line without breaking the bank? How can you make your hotel stand out in the crowded marketplace and capture the hearts of travelers?
Content
- The New Economic Reality: Adapting to the Times
- The Changing Face of the Traveler
- Unleashing the Power of Owned Media
- KAWO Insights
The New Economic Reality: Adapting to the Times
The macroeconomic pressures of 2024 have forced the hotel industry to rethink its strategies. With room rates hitting a ceiling and travelers tightening their belts, hotels are scrambling to find innovative ways to attract guests while keeping costs in check.
Social Media: Your Hotel’s Digital Storefront
Amidst these challenges, some hotels are thriving. Their secret? They’ve harnessed the power of social media. These forward-thinking establishments actively engage with their audience on social platforms, showcasing their unique character and experiences, and weaving themselves into the fabric of the local tourism scene.
Take, for instance, the Accor’s Novotel Zhengzhou Airport Hotel. They bucked the trend in the first half of 2024, achieving a remarkable 10% increase in total revenue. Their recipe for success? A blend of the “hotel+” model and a savvy social media strategy. By actively engaging on platforms like Douyin, they attracted tourists from far and wide, boosting their occupancy rates to an impressive 90% during the May Day holiday. Their online sales soared, resulting in over 5,000 room nights booked. It’s a testament to the power of social media to drive both revenue and reputation. (source)
Even lesser-known destinations are leveraging social media to put themselves on the map. Towns and cities in China’s third- and fourth-tier regions have seen a surge in tourism, thanks to their savvy use of social platforms.
The Changing Face of the Traveler
- Value-conscious, experience-driven: Today’s travelers seek more than just a place to sleep. They crave unique experiences and are willing to pay for them. A hotel’s distinctive features and offerings are what set it apart.
- Social media as a travel guide: Travelers increasingly turn to social media for inspiration, reviews, and recommendations when planning their trips.
- The buzz is building: Conversations about hotels on social platforms are growing exponentially.
To stay ahead, the hotel industry must adapt to these evolving consumer behaviors. While maintaining brand consistency is essential, hotels also need to showcase what makes them special and connect with potential guests on a personal level through social media.
Owned Media: Building Your Brand’s Voice
Paid media can be costly, and earned media is often beyond your control. That’s why owned media — your hotel’s official social media accounts and the personal accounts of your staff — is the cornerstone of your social media marketing strategy. It’s a reliable, cost-effective way to build your brand’s voice and connect with your audience authentically.
However, many hotels are missing out on the full potential of owned media. Shifting your marketing budget to focus on creating compelling content and amplifying it across your owned channels is a smart move for cost-effective customer acquisition and conversion.
Owned Media: Turning Engagement into Bookings
- Your staff are your storytellers: Who better to share your hotel’s story than the people who live it every day? Empower your staff to become brand ambassadors on social media.
- Craft captivating content: Showcase your hotel’s unique personality, experiences, and surroundings. Tailor your content to resonate with your target audience and highlight the value-added services that make your hotel special.
- Drive conversions: Use social media to encourage direct bookings or guide potential guests to your loyalty program for further engagement and conversion.
- Build a content library: Create a repository of high-quality content that can be easily shared and repurposed across your social media channels.
Unleashing the Power of Owned Media
To maximize the potential of owned media, hotel groups need to address key challenges, such as managing multiple accounts across various platforms and doing so cost-effectively. Here are some strategies:
- Get the big picture: Consolidate data from all your social media accounts to gain a comprehensive understanding of your performance. This will help you identify top-performing content, incentivize your staff, and make informed decisions.
- Empower your team: Provide your staff with the training, tools, and inspiration they need to create engaging and effective content.
- Prioritize brand safety: Implement content moderation to ensure that all content aligns with your brand values and avoids any potential pitfalls.
- Let data guide your decisions: Analyze your social media performance to gain valuable insights, optimize your strategies, and continuously improve.
- Work together: Coordinate your social media efforts across all your hotels and platforms to amplify your reach and impact.
- Keep an eye on the competition: Monitor what your competitors are doing on social media and learn from their successes (and mistakes).
KAWO: Your Partner in Social Media Success
KAWO’s professional hotel social media management system is designed to empower hotel groups to take control of their social media presence and achieve their marketing goals.
- Track and analyze your performance: Monitor your social media metrics in real-time to make data-driven decisions.
- Create and manage content: Access a library of content ideas and streamline your content creation process while ensuring compliance.
- Foster collaboration and motivation: Encourage teamwork and empower your staff to become brand advocates.
- Gain competitive insights: Stay ahead of the curve by tracking your competitors’ activities and understanding industry trends.
KAWO Insights
Showcasing the unique experiences of each hotel is crucial for attracting customers and maintaining premium pricing. Social media is the most powerful platform for hotel groups to tell their stories and connect with their audience. Empowering individual hotels and frontline staff to create social media content is the best way to showcase the unique characteristics of each hotel.
Owned media, consisting of individual hotel and frontline staff social media accounts, is the foundation of a hotel group’s social media marketing strategy. It has immense potential to help achieve cost-effective customer acquisition and conversion.
KAWO’s professional hotel social media management system helps hotel groups fully activate and manage their hotel and employee social media matrix, further reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and achieving a new social media marketing landscape.
Ready to see how KAWO can elevate your hotel’s performance? Request a Demo today and discover our solutions and success stories firsthand.
