Hotel online marketing

Armin Gögele
last updated on
16 August 2023

Online hotel marketing describes all measures to market hotel services online. Accordingly, there are various goals of online hotel marketing, with profit maximization clearly in the foreground. Online, the hotel industry reaches the desired target group in a more defined way than with offline measures (high wastage), especially thanks to a comprehensive guest database. This creates an advantage over the competition and increases awareness of the hotel brand.

What is online marketing for hotels?

A synonym for online marketing is digital marketing. Hotel marketing efforts include all digital channels that need to be leveraged online to attract guests. Mainly, online marketing is done through a hotel website, paid advertising (SEA and social media ads), email marketing and organic social media posts (social media hotels).

What are the main goals of online hotel marketing?

The primary goal of digital marketing is to attract potential guests to the hotel and inspire them to make a reservation or convert existing guests into satisfied regulars.

Secondary goals of online marketing include increasing reach, reaching new audiences, and collecting guest leads or guest data for further online hotel marketing efforts. For example, lookalike audiences can be created with guest data from the hotel's email newsletter. This allows advertising platforms to reach new target groups that are similar to existing prospects.

Online hotel marketing - automation measures

Online marketing is essential for hotels today and offers great potential for optimizing hotel occupancy and revenue goals. At the same time, planning and executing the right activities at the right time with the right message for different guests is almost impossible to manage manually. So-called data-driven marketing, based on data and facts that come directly from a hotel's property management software, for example, opens up new possibilities for hotel marketing.

Marketing automation for hotels can help hoteliers in this regard, as most promotional activities can be automated with CRM systems or software solutions (marketing automation in hotels). For example, automatic welcome emails can be sent to new guests, and discounts, vouchers and offers can be sent to existing guests to encourage them to book again.

The most important questions about online hotel marketing:

How does online hotel marketing work?

Online marketing for hotels should be considered holistically. It makes sense for hotels to use all potentially important channels with marketing methods such as organic marketing and also paid advertising. It is very important to always choose the right target group approach for potential guests. In this way, hotels not only increase the success of their own campaigns, but also save a lot of money on paid advertising.

What is Hotel Marketing Online?

Hotel marketing online focuses on increasing the profile and reach of hotels with the goal of increasing the number of guest reservations. This can be done through social media such as Instagram or Facebook, as well as through popular search engines such as Google or YouTube. Methods such as paid advertising or search engine optimization are used to ensure that more potential guests become aware of the hotels' offers.

How can hotels increase their visibility online?

There are special brand awareness campaigns (brand advertising) to increase awareness. Organic marketing on social media can also help. If potential guests have already been in contact with the hotel online several times, they will return to the hotel for an upcoming vacation because it looks familiar, and they already have the hotel brand in mind.

What is involved in online marketing for hotels?

Hotels have a variety of different online marketing options. These include email marketing, social media marketing, SEO (search engine optimization) and of course paid advertising (PPC marketing). There is a basic distinction between organic and inorganic marketing, such as paid advertising for hotels. All types of marketing have different advantages.

What is meant by hotel marketing online

Hotel Marketing Online is a broad term used to distinguish between paid and organic marketing. Organic marketing refers to all methods that gain exposure in a natural way. This includes search engine optimization, social media marketing and email marketing. Paid marketing refers to gaining reach or increasing revenue through paid means such as social media and search engine advertising.

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