Effective Ways Boutique Hotels Can Market Online

5 Effective Ways Boutique Hotels Can Market Online

By Manisha Pathak, Source: Hotelogix

Customer service and one-of-a-kind experience are competitive advantages for boutique hotels. But, what boutique hotels need is a well thought out online marketing strategy. Here are 5 effective online marketing strategies for boutique hotels that can reduce dependency on OTAs and improve direct bookings.

Booking Engines:

Allow direct bookings on your website by offering a simple and quick booking engine.

Showcase rooms in the most attractive way and also utilize the Facebook booking engine as social media is a strong entity.There is a fine line between attracting a customer to your website and making them book. A booking engine is capable of incorporating all the room details and allows you to upsell your value added services.  Your value added services are crucial to winning a direct booking.

Own your Channels:

Make sure to display consistent rates across all channels. Own your website channel and enable pop-up deals for customers that can offer room upgrades, restaurant offers or free tickets to local attractions. Have your hotel listed on TripConnect to get enough traffic to your website. This way you will spend less on the commissions to the OTAs. Napa River Inn in California recently ran a free dinner offer which popped up immediately when you visit their website. This deal would not have been available on an OTA channel, so this is one of many ways to be able to seen more appealing to a customer when deciding which channel to book through.

 Create A Niche: Whilst having a booking engine and offering good deals form a part of the booking conversion, the positioning of your hotel product and what you look like online is what is going to help browsers be attracted to you in the first place. Build an engaging website for your audience and come up with interesting concepts that differentiate you from your competitors.

Be Good Looking: Good looking websites attract a lot of customers. According to a survey, the gallery section of a hotel website attracts 97% customers so having professional photographs will give you great advantage. Apart from hotel pictures, show the attractive locales too. Get a responsive website that will look good on multiple device screens as research by Forbes suggests, “By 2017, 87% of connected device sales will be through smart phones and tablets.”

Be Creative with Your Content: Increase searchability on search engines through blogs, powerful content and videos. Video is the new king of content and a very versatile marketing tool. Videos have viral reach of 77% on Facebook and people remember 50% more from videos compared to 22% with written content.

Hotelogix conducted a webinar on 15 July, 2014 on Online Marketing Strategies for Boutique Hotels. The webinar was held by Nathalie Salas, an acclaimed marketing consultant for start-ups and hospitality clients and an MCIM Chartered Marketer.

A webinar on Online Marketing Strategies for Boutique Hotels

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Hotelogix will be conducting a webinar on Online Marketing Strategies for Boutique Hotels on Tuesday, the 15th of July, 2014 at 4:00 P.M. GMT. The interactive session will be held by Nathalie Salas, an acclaimed marketing consultant for start-ups and hospitality clients, and an MCIM Chartered Marketer.

As boutique hotels aspire to provide a niche experience with personalized services to make a one-of-a-kind statement, their key focus lies in positioning. They compete with various types of players - luxury brands, budget brands and 5-stars, depending upon their positioning. Their success also lies in impeccable guest service that is expected to be consistent. All these factors directly translate into the technology that they need for positioning of their brand, and having in-house automation tools to help them enhance the guest experience. They also need to be equipped with the right tactics to make their hotel stand out in the online marketplace.

Considering these specific needs of boutique hotels,Hotelogix has invited Nathalie Salas to address the webinar as she has over eleven years of experience working with a variety of large blue-chip and SMEs in Europe and the Middle East. Her work in the boutique hotel sector allows her to collaborate with clients such as OTAs to deliver story-led content for their hotel inventories, as well as act as a hotel reviewer and judge for the Boutique Hotel Awards. Nathalie has also contributed to a number of online and print publications, including Boutique Hotel News, Masquerade (Dubai), Global Citizen (GCC), Hautetime.ae and her own travel site PerfectBoutiqueHotel.com.

Nathalie says "I am passionate about marketing and love helping independent hotels improve their marketing potential. Since Hotelogix also focuses on making hoteliering easy for boutique hotels, I am really looking forward to this webinar. With the online marketing strategies that I provide in the webinar, I hope to enable boutique hotels worldwide to participate and compete confidently in the global marketplace."

Mr. Aditya Sanghi, Co-founder and CEO of Hotelogix states, "In the present technological era, boutique hotels have immense opportunities, provided they position their brand on all the online marketplaces appropriately. The marketing mix and the key success factors for a boutique hotel are unique in its own way. Nathalie who has extensive experience globally is an expert on addressing the needs of boutique hotels and we take pride in having her on our platform. She will discuss the trends and forecasts for hotel online marketing, and help boutique hotels use them effectively to get sustainable results."

Hotelogix constantly strives to find ways and avenues to empower hotels with the latest technology and trends. This webinar is just another medium to spread awareness about the numerous tools available for hoteliers across the globe and how best to use them. 

Roadblocks That Slow Down Boutique Hotels

By Maansi Sanghi    |    by Hotelogix

Boutique hotels are independent properties that offer an unparalleled level bybof luxury and intimacy to guests. Boutique hotels focus more on the comfort of the guest above all else. While these hotels are trying to offer a unique experience to guests, they face unique challenges.

Boutique hotels have to compete with large scale chains that have disposable revenue and worldwide brand power, but they are not at a complete disadvantage. They can be more personal with guests through comments on social media and online travel agency reviews. This level of intimacy is both a blessing and curse for boutique hotels. While it is something they have an edge over large chain hotels, it is a lot of demanding work that often requires an entire position dedicated to the task.

The top three challenges boutique hotels face:

1. Financing. Financers are much more likely to back a branded hotel because they are easier to underwrite. It is also difficult for boutique hotels to gain financing for a property that doesn’t have comparable properties at the price point because there is no baseline – making it harder for boutiques to create a market and break on to the scene.
2. Global distribution systems. Facing major chains and their global branding is difficult for small boutique properties. Although the segment is growing, boutiques don’t have as much accesses to GDS. If hoteliers can’t find the right channel mix, they won’t be able to get the bookings necessary to survive in the industry.
3. Staffing. Because intimacy is a selling point for boutiques, it’s vital to have each and every staff member well trained to cater to the guest’s individual needs. The attention to detail in boutique hotels is even more important and that starts and ends with the staff. Hoteliers should know each staff member individually and be able to offer assistance or additional training to attain the right level of customer service.

These small, independent hotels though have the advantage of being able to switch tracks quickly if something isn’t working, unlike large chains that must abide by the rules of the corporation. With all the advantages a boutique hotel can offer to a customer, they face some unique challenges. There has been a rise in Boutique Properties showing a growing trend towards more intimate and concept destination holidays.