18 Jun 2020

The Coronavirus pandemic hugely impacts the travel industry, and marketing your hotel through Covid-19 is a real challenge.

Here are some ideas which might help you with this complicated task.

1. Show that you care for the community

Your employees are suffering from the situation, showing that you care for them is crucial and will significantly improve their loyalty. For example, you can reward their dedication by providing them free rooms or a discounted price.

People love to witness humanity in the businesses they are dealing with, so make sure that you communicate your good deeds to the public via social media.

2. Focus on existing customers

Your loyal customers already trust you and are excited to start traveling again. With your hotel, they already know what to expect, so they will be more inclined to book a room again.

Proactively contact your existing clients to keep them informed of how your business is dealing with the crisis. You can, by example, create an email campaign telling them how you are looking forward to welcoming them again soon.

3. Direct Perks and upsell are keys for marketing your hotel through Covid-19

It is not advisable to cut the rates of your rooms as it might increase your reservation rate in the short term, but in the long hole, it will not be easy to recover from it.

A better way to increase your booking rate is to add value to the stays of your guest. There are endless possibilities to do that. You can offer a room upgrade or create specific packages with free drinks or dinners. You can also provide a stay extension at discounted prices.

You might also consider a flexible cancelation policy as it will help you win the bookings of travelers who don’t want to take the risk of losing money if they have to cancel their trip.

4. Add an action bar on your website

The chances are that you communicate your promotional opportunities via your website. Often customers are interested in the promotion but don’t know how to avail it and are left hunting around the reservation page to figure out how it works.

The best way to avoid situations like those is by using an action button. It highlights the perk you’re offering and will allow your clients to take direct advantage of it.

5. Consider using Hotel metasearch engines

A hotel metasearch engine is a search tool that sifts through hotel rates and availability on other websites and shows results in one place. Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor, Trivago, to name a few, offer this service.

More and more prospective customers use those engines to reserve their holidays. Using one of them will increase your booking rate, reduce your distribution cost, and amplify your online presence.

The world will get through this

It is important to remember that a difficult situation is always an excellent opportunity to prepare for the future.

Soon it will be over, and if you play it right, your business can end up more healthy and robust than before.

Also, would be great to have a booking engine that helps you to better market and receive direct bookings: CultBooking will be happy to help you.

Support

If you have any questions and need support, please contact us via phone or email: info@cultbooking.com

References :

https://blog.netaffinity.com/marketing-your-hotel-through-covid-19-action-bars-and-google-hotel-ads/

https://www.siteminder.com/r/hotel-distribution/hotel-metasearch/current-state-metasearch-can-hotel-find-real-value/

https://socialhospitality.com/2020/05/10-inspirational-hospitality-industry-stories-during-covid-19/

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/8-ideas-for-hotel-marketing-for-covid-19-and-beyond/

https://blog.leonardo.com/hotel-strategies-for-covid-19/

https://www.littlehotelier.com/r/distribution/booking-sites/the-significance-of-meta-search-for-small-hotel-owners/#:~:text=As%20a%20small%20hotel%20owner,likelihood%20of%20getting%20direct%20bookings.

https://ads.google.com/hotels/how-to-get-started/