We asked our hotel digital marketing experts, HopDigital, to share some love and top tips for creating a hotel marketing strategy to drive direct bookings for Valentine's Day.
Hotel Digital Marketing Tips for Valentine's Day
Create an Irresistible Offer
Begin by creating an irresistible hotel Valentine's Day package. The offer could include an overnight stay with dinner and breakfast, a bottle of Prosecco and chocolates in the room on arrival, a relaxing spa treatment and a late check-out.
Update your Hotel Website
Market your hotel Valentine's Day package details on your website: Add the offer into the header or navigation bar, so it's one of the first messages users see when visiting your website.
Include a link to the main offer landing page, with an overview of the package details and attractive imagery. Make sure to use a clear and bold 'Book Now' call to action, which links directly to your hotel Booking Engine for a seamless booking journey.
Your hotel Valentine's Day package could also be promoted with a website pop-up linking to your offer page or through an SEO-optimised blog. Optimising your offer landing page for SEO will help ensure that your offer appears on Google when people enter search terms, such as 'hotel valentines offers in Edinburgh', for example.
Run Paid Ads
With the right keywords, targeting, messages and creativity in place, paid social media and Google ads can be highly effective channels for targeting and driving traffic to your hotel Valentine's Day package page.
Make it clear in your message that the offer is exclusive and only available between specific dates to create a sense of urgency in your content.
Post Organic Social Media
Keeping your hotel social media channels regularly updated is crucial for raising brand awareness, driving traffic to your website and increasing direct bookings. Ensure that your hotel Valentine's Day package is planned well ahead of time in your organic social media schedule.
Creative should be eye-catching and ideally video content, which is the most effective format for achieving a higher engagement and click-through rate. Post your hotel Valentine's Day package regularly across your social media channels to keep your hotel fresh in potential guests minds when they're planning on booking a romantic break.
If you've developed a unique Valentine's food and drink menu, make sure to also share photos of the dishes or cocktails on social channels to whet your guests' appetites!
Send Email Campaigns
Send a series of promotional emails to your hotel's databases, informing guests of your hotel Valentine's Day package ahead of time, starting late January. You can also target couples who have enjoyed a previous Valentine's weekend at your hotel by segmenting your email lists.
Many brands now offer their customers the choice of opting out of receiving Valentine's Day marketing emails. A popular strategy that can also be applied to other important dates such as Mother's and Father's Day to create sincerity and demonstrate that your hotel has your guests best intentions at heart.
Market your Gift Vouchers
While many couples will be planning a romantic break, it's not possible to get away on specific dates, as an alternative, a Gift Voucher makes the ideal present.
Hotel gift vouchers can cover many different services and experiences such as spa treatments, afternoon tea or accommodation offers. Make it easy for guests to purchase your gift vouchers online through your booking engine with a feature such as HopShop.
If you require help with your Hotel Marketing Strategy, speak to our team of hotel marketing experts at hopsoftware.com.