Quick Note From The Future (2021): Yeahhh, so 2020 didn’t quite turn out the way we all expected, did it? Feel free to skim these ideas for inspiration, but I’ve written a more recent follow-up on the latest hotel trends here.

Digital marketing for the hospitality industry presents all sorts of unique challenges. At the end of the day though, hoteliers all want pretty much the same thing: heads in beds.

Oh, and ideally, those “heads” booked direct.

To get more direct bookings, there's a dazzling variety of marketing strategies to try. You have your somewhat-obvious, like email marketing, user generated content, SEO, and social media marketing. Then there are newer hospitality marketing trends that you might not be doing much with yet, like voice search, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

Today, I want to talk about a few hotel industry trends — specifically, trends I think more hotels should try and some that I absolutely hate. We’ll look at hotel marketing strategies as well as customer experience elements. Let's dive in!

No, Thanks: Robots

When did we become so sick and tired of basic human interactions? Hotel robots have become more of “a thing” in recent years—and honestly, I’m not here for it.

Quick history lesson: The first reported instance of a hotel using robots to check in guests was the Hen-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan. The hotel made headlines back in 2015 for the concept.

Here’s my favorite excerpt from that Guardian article:

"'I’d like to check in please,' I shout, wondering if the robots are voice-activated. A door opens to the right and a real live human in a black T-shirt appears. 'Check-in is 3pm' he says, and goes back into his room."

— MONISHA RAJESH, THE GUARDIAN

Wow.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Hen-na Hotel has “fired” half its robot workforce. Using the robots “failed to reduce costs” for the hotel and ultimately created more work for their human counterparts. Turns out, the robots were incapable of answering even the most basic of guest questions. Not ideal.

Despite the very public failure of the world’s first robot hotel, this trend hasn’t gone away.

In Belgium, the Ghent Marriott Hotel introduced its own robot concierge. “Mario” speaks 19 languages, answers questions, and provides dinner recommendations.

“Connie” at the Hilton McLean Hotel in McLean, Virginia, is powered by IBM’s human-mimicking Watson AI system. Also more of a concierge, Hilton executives said that Connie is meant to work alongside hotel employees, not replace them.

I could write an entire standalone article weighing the pros and cons of robots at hotels, but I want to leave you with a few key points:

Robots lack comprehension in emergencies - What happens when a guest collapses in your lobby? Your staff are trained to respond swiftly. They can also employ empathy and comfort, which robots are (currently) incapable of.
Robots can and will malfunction - So do humans, technically. But when a guest experiences a lapse in service from an electronic device, who will they turn to? As the Hen-na Hotel found out, malfunctioning robots end up creating more work for the human staff.
Robots are the opposite of hospitable - Hospitality is about making people feel welcomed, understood, cared for, and valued. The simple act of a warm smile can make or break a service interaction. Without human expression and genuine displays of empathy, there’s just no true hospitality.

Yes, Please: Chatbots

Chatbots are a different kind of hotel tech. They’re also considered Artificial Intelligence (AI), but instead of living within a freaky, humanoid robot, a chatbot only simulates human conversations through mobile messaging.

Hotels can use chatbots to field common customer service questions and even execute simple tasks. Requiring a little bit of initial set up, hotel chatbots are able to deliver seamless customer service over SMS or Facebook Messenger.

One of my favorite examples of a hotel chatbot comes from Edwardian Hotels in London. They use an AI-powered hotel chatbot called Edward to fulfill housekeeping requests, handle guest complaints, and recommend local attractions and restaurants.

Did I mention this all happens in real-time?

Edward’s ability to respond with lightning-speed is very attractive to customers. Today’s travelers expect fast response times. Don’t forget, my generation loves instant gratification. A human front desk agent can’t do several things at once without sacrificing some of the service experience—a chatbot can instantly respond to queries from hundreds of guests at the same time.

Chatbots also free up the front desk to step in, when necessary, for even more personalized service. Giving colleagues the time and space to go above and beyond is the best way to exceed hotel guests’ expectations.

Uploaded by Edwardian Hotels London on 2018-04-20.

No, Thanks: Brand Term Bidding Wars

You guys, this one really grinds my gears… And it’s by no means a new trend.

I’m talking about hotel brand term bidding wars. Pretty much since the dawn of the Internet (or at least, as far back as 2010), hotels have been bidding on their competitors’ brand names on Google.

As if the OTAs weren’t already enough to contend with!

When I worked on-property, I caught maybe a dozen different competitors bidding on my hotels’ brand names. Nothing “official” could really be done about it. Instead, DOSMs would receive a polite but firm email. A little nudge to remind them of the unspoken “gentleman’s agreement” in place. Most of the time, they stopped. But a few would always start up again a few months later.

In general, hotels are still bidding on their competitors’ brand terms. Some marketers and media agencies consider the practice of “brand-jacking” a quick win, or at least, an easy way to steal qualified traffic.

As a result, brand terms are becoming more competitive and ultimately, more expensive for everyone. And there’s still not much that can be done about it.

You do have legal options if a competitor uses your trademarked hotel name in their Google ad. Both Google and Bing let advertisers file trademark complaints in this case—but again, your hotel name has to be trademarked.

What do you think of these ideas so far? Use my free hotel marketing plan template to figure out how to incorporate some of these trends into your strategy for next year!

Yes, Please: Google Hotel Ads

OTAs continue to dominate paid search results and PPC costs are on the rise. So, what else can your hotel do to get guests to book direct?

57% of leisure and business travelers start their hotel booking process with a Google search. There are two ways to show up on Page 1:

Focus on your content marketing strategy, to rank organically for the right hotel SEO keywords.
Consider shifting some ad budget into hotel metasearch.

Metasearch is “a search tool that uses another search engine's data to produce its own results from the Internet.” Think of it like a search-within-a-search.

Formerly known as Google Hotel Finder, Google’s hotel metasearch platform launched back in 2011. Google Hotel Ads display your direct rates in real-time, right alongside the OTAs—letting the user choose the best option.

Google isn’t the only hotel metasearch platform—there’s also Trivago, Hotels Combined, and even TripAdvisor—but it is currently the most profitable for hoteliers. In 2018, Google captured 79% of metasearch market share. And as an online marketing channel for hotels, it’s still growing in popularity.

It’s also worth noting that all major OTAs are already connected to metasearch sites. By not participating in that space, you stand to lose even more bookings to these third-party retailers.

Hotels can still win the customer by maintaining competitive pricing, updated availability, and an attractive direct booking incentive.

Hotel metasearch might just be one of the most effective ways to combat rising PPC costs and competitive bidding wars. More than just another hotel marketing trend, Google Hotel Ads are part of the company’s ambition to own the entire travel booking journey. As such, I predict this is a trend that’s not going away any time soon.

No, Thanks: Problematic Influencers

Ah, yes. Another topic on which a novel could be written… influencers.

Over the years, influencer marketing has (rightly!) become a more mainstream, generally accepted tactic for hotels. Now, I want to preface this by saying I do believe hotels can get value from working with influencers.

What I take issue with is the approach taken by a few bad apples. Bad behaviors by so-called problematic “influencers” such as:

Approaching hotels with the expectation of free room nights, food, drinks, and even local experiences—in exchange for nothing more than an Instagram post. (The phrase that usually sends me running for the hills? “Let’s collaborate!”)
Engaging in shady behavior like falsifying blog metrics and/or buying fake followers or comments.
Over-promising impact and under-delivering actual results.

Hotels can—and must—expect better from the influencers they choose to work with. Get a contract in place which outlines crystal-clear project deliverables and expectations. Know that influencer marketing is not the same thing as a traditional media visit or hotel FAM trip.

And yes, this respect goes both ways. Hotels, you need to pay the quality influencers actual money for their time and work, not just offer to comp their mini bar!

Thankfully, there are still many talented and genuinely professional content creators out there. Hotels need to stop entertaining influencers who offer them nothing beyond a “collab” in exchange for experiencing your property for free.

Yes, Please: Micro Influencers

So, what’s the hotel influencer marketing trend I do want to see more of? Micro influencers!

There’s no official definition yet, but generally speaking, a micro influencer is a content creator with around 10-50,000 followers. What makes a micro influencer so appealing is that their “smaller” audience results in seven times higher engagement rates on average.

What I really like about working with micro influencers on hotel campaigns is that there’s so much opportunity to build a meaningful brand relationship.

If you’re working with a micro influencer, you’ll probably work with them one-on-one, as opposed to coordinating with their manager or assistant. If you work with someone during an earlier stage of their growth, they’re also more likely to form a genuine bond with your brand and keep referring followers to your hotel for years to come.

The three things hotels should remember when working with influencers are:

Influencers should always provide hotels with a detailed, up-to-date media kit. No media kit = no thanks.
Really consider what holes exist in your hotel content and look for an influencer who excels wherever you’re lacking (ex. If you want great video, it doesn’t really matter how many Instagram followers they have. Look for someone with a great YouTube channel and/or lots of video samples.)
Always ask for examples of similar past campaigns. If they claim to be a top blogger, take a look at blog posts written for other hotels—Does their blog come up on a Google search? Is it well-written, informative, and engaging? Did they use high-quality photos to represent the property?

These tips apply to anyone, from a nano influencer (less than 1,000 followers but super-niche) to a mega-influencer or celebrity.

Final Thoughts

What do you think about these hotel marketing fads and trends? Leave a comment below and let me know which of these you’d like to learn more about.

And ICYMI, I published a more recent article all about the hotel trends you need to know about in 2021 and beyond, taking COVID-19 into consideration. Might want to read that one next! 😉

WHAT TO READ NEXT:

Hotel Marketing Trends To Try in 2020 — and a Few Fads to Avoid