Hotel budget planning season is upon us. Or did it ever actually end? Honestly, it feels like just yesterday we were huddled together in a conference room, presenting PowerPoints and brainstorming on whiteboards; going over what worked this year, what didn't, what our comp set is doing, and how we want to grow the business next year.… Whether you’re responsible for a luxury hotel marketing budget in the soaring six-figures, or look after a small, mom-and-pop bed and breakfast — there’s a lot to think about. Your 2023 hotel budget is just about spent. (I know, crazy right? Where does the t ..read more

What are the best marketing tools for a hospitality business? After a decade spent on and off-property in the hotel industry, I’ve tried just about every type of hotel marketing software. Truth be told, the most expensive and complicated tools were rarely the best. How much time do you spend manually tracking search keywords or posting social content during off-hours? Are you stressing over your hotel website design or need help writing captions or Google ads? Or maybe you just feel stuck, with no clue what content to create — while your F&B Director is wondering out loud why you haven’t s ..read more

The top question among this site’s blog readers and subscribers, is unsurprisingly, “how to get my hotel to rank on Google.” So! If you’re new around here, you should know that SEO for hotels is kind of my jam. That’s because SEO represents the beautiful intersection of content writing and digital marketing strategy. ☺️ But true story: I used to hate SEO. As a marketing manager sitting on property, it felt like this big, challenging, technical task hovering over everything I did… Corporate built our hotel website and I added the content, but was it any good? Why couldn’t we rank for anything o ..read more

Did you know that there are all kinds of online courses for hoteliers available right now? And a lot of them are completely free! The travel industry is changing rapidly and hotels may never be the same. Hospitality needs strong, adaptable talent, now more than ever. Truth is, you have access to more career-advancing skills than ever before! In 2020, many college campuses around the world closed their doors to in-person learning. As a result, getting a hospitality management certificate or degree started to look a little different… Enter: Online courses! Hospitality management careers also ran ..read more

How does your hotel use email marketing to communicate with guests? If you’re like most busy hoteliers, you probably have a few email templates set up on auto-pilot: a booking confirmation, a pre-stay reminder, and of course, a post-stay receipt. Most hotel email campaigns follow those three basic formats. Those three emails have one thing in common: They’re only triggered when someone makes a booking — so they’re not exactly driving any additional revenue. I’ve written before about email marketing, specifically, how to grow your hotel’s email list. If your email list is growing right now, con ..read more

Marketing is one thing. Marketing for a hotel is a whole other ballgame, now more than ever. So put the kettle on, blend up some green juice, pour yourself a glass of wine — and maybe grab a pen and notebook, because this guide is Hotel Marketing 101. In fact, you may want to bookmark it, save it, Pin It, share it, tweet it, email it to a friend or colleague… Feel free to do so! This guide is designed to be a handy reference that you can come back to, whenever you need it. Owning and operating a hotel has never been an easy task, you know that! Getting the word out is hard enough without our O ..read more

Travel demand is picking up, and there’s one thing every hotel marketer needs in 2022: Content. So what’s your hotel content marketing strategy? Creating new content consistently is a challenge, even in the best of times. It’s no wonder many hotel marketers have no idea what to post, share, or promote. But here’s the thing: Radio silence was not the answer when occupancy dipped, and now? Showing up online is more important than ever. Hotels need to communicate with customers, whether that’s through social media, email newsletters, blogging, creating videos, hosting a podcast… wherever your aud ..read more

Last week I asked newsletter subscribers to reply with their top questions about hotel digital marketing. Let’s just say, there were a lot of responses! This post covers a LOT of ground, so I won’t be offended if you choose to skim. Here’s what’s in store: General questions about hotel digital marketing Questions about your hotel marketing plan Questions about social media for hotels Questions about SEO for hotels Some quick facts and statistics By the way, I really do love hearing from readers and subscribers! So please feel free to ask more questions in the comment section at the ..read more

So you have a great hotel website and you’ve done your homework in terms of keyword research. What’s next? Friend, we need to talk about local SEO. Well, that and all the things that go into an off-page hotel SEO strategy. “Off-page?” Whoa there — you’re telling me I need to worry about things that aren’t even ON my hotel website? How the heck do I control any of that? Truth is, you can! Well, a lot of it, at least. For any business, understanding how search engines function and rank content is essential to maximizing your reach and visibility. For hotels, search engine optimization can dramat ..read more

Last week, I read a statistic that honestly made my jaw drop: The average ROAS for small businesses spending less than $3,000 a month on Google Ads right now is 1.5 to 1. That’s barely breaking even. As the author sadly concluded, Google Ads is just “not for small businesses anymore.” (Search Engine Journal) Ad prices aren’t just spiking on Google, they’re rising as much as 108% on social media platforms, too. This is why now’s an awfully good time to focus on organic search. And unlike advertising, a successful hotel SEO strategy can be surprisingly affordable to execute! For a good place to ..read more