Gone are the days where we paid someone else, like a travel agent, to do our research for us. With the mass amount of information at our fingertips on the internet it seems that doing your own research has become second nature and let’s face it, you can do it from just about anywhere thanks to smartphones.
When searching for a hotel most customers say that they use search at every stage of their customer lifecycle. They search for reviews, facilities, locations and pricing long before deciding to book. They search at a variety of different times and from different devices and browsers.
This certainly throws up some challenges for any hotelier when trying to market their property to the general public. So, let’s break it down into manageable chunks to help you get noticed in searches:
- Be visible. Sounds simple right? The customer journey starts before your guest has decided on your property – so how do you appear in front of them before they know they want to book with you? With a GREAT website. Your website should have beautiful but authentic content with targeted and embedded keywords to attract your specific audience. Know what your audience likes and use it to build the story you’re portraying on your website.
- Manage your Reputation. Did you know that 85% of travelers have their hotel choices affected by what they see in online reviews? With so many review platforms to leave opinions on ensure that you are responding to reviews to demonstrate to your would-be guests that you care about what people are saying about you, that you rectify problems and that you humbly accept great feedback when given.
- Be responsive. Do you check your messages via OTAs, your own email address or social media? These are the pathways that guests will use to ask questions about your product, policies or just general information about the location. If you are not answering these questions, what kind of impression do you think this leaves with the guest? If you don’t have the time to answer these questions then pay someone who can or turn off the ability for people to ask questions.
- Be Social. Make sure you’re updating your social media – over 50% of searchers say they use social media as well as general searches together. You don’t have to be an influencer but your voice on social media should match your website branding and show that you are current and present on your chosen platforms.
- Make it easy. Once they have finished their search and have arrived at your website – make sure it’s easy to make a booking.
Of course everything we’ve discussed above takes time and if this is something that you’re short on, Koncept Konnect are here to help, click here to contact us or call Kim on 0429 969 581. Not only can we help with ensuring you can be found in a search, we also build websites – click here to find out more.