Hotel blogging can be a powerful, effective content marketing tool for hotels.

But if you ask around, you’ll learn that many hotels don’t bother with it. The hotel industry tends to rely on paid promotion and hosting influencers, instead of writing our own blog content.

So how do you decide whether your hotel should publish a blog? And what do you need to do to make it worth the effort?

I won’t lie to you: Running a successful blog on your hotel website requires time, planning, and resources.

Setting up a hotel blog is also not a quick-win or one-size-fits-all strategy. Depending on your team’s workload or your target audience, blogging might not be right for your hotel.

Yet there is still a compelling case to be made for having a blog on your hotel website.

Let’s go through a few reasons why creating a hotel blog is a good idea — as well as the reasons why it doesn’t always make sense.

Prefer to watch? Check out the video version below!

The Pros — Here’s why you should add a blog to your hotel website:

1. Blogging keeps your hotel website fresh & Relevant

There are many factors that contribute to a successful hotel SEO strategy.

(Psst… if you’re new to the world of search engine optimization, I’ve shared a ton of useful articles on hotel SEO already. You can view them all here.)

One factor that’s super-important to SEO? Relevance.

Publishing a hotel blog is a great way to show Google that your website has fresh content — and that it’s actually relevant to what the searcher is looking for.

Updating your internal pages every other week would be labor-intensive and it’s unnecessary.

But a hotel blog?

By nature, blogging requires publishing new posts with some level of consistency. This alone signals to Google and other top search engines that your website isn’t just sitting there on the web, outdated and ignored.

Personally, I think a blog should be part of your hotel website design conversation from the start, right alongside your booking engine and lead capture.

Remember, you don’t own your Facebook or Twitter followers — what happens if those social media platforms suddenly went away? What happens on your own hotel website Is far more important.

2. Blogging helps you reach the right audience

The best hotel blog content helps potential guests get the answers they need about your destination or property.

Spoiler alert: That’s what Google wants, too!

Think back to the customer path-to-purchase: How do your guests start their booking journey?

Most start by searching on Google, first for really broad/general terms (“New York hotel”), and then for increasingly specific keywords (“Luxury New York hotel near Times Square”).

If you’ve already read my guide to finding the right hotel SEO keywords for your property, you’re ahead of the game.

You should use that keyword research to plan the topics of your blog posts — and get ideas wherever you see opportunities or content gaps that a new hotel blog post could fill.

Provide your potential guests with all the relevant information they need to make their booking decision and they won’t have to turn to OTAs instead.

This is one of my most important hotel SEO tips, by the way.

You need to be the answer to the question — and blogging gives you the perfect place on your website to do so.

Read Next: 101 Hotel Blog Post Ideas To Increase Traffic To Your Website

3. Blogging gives your hotel authority

One of the best reasons to have a hotel blog is to showcase your local knowledge!

Use your blog to connect readers to exclusive local tips and insights from your team.

Your colleagues are one of your most valuable marketing assets. Talk to your concierge, your restaurant manager, your hotel management, your guest relations coordinator… really, anyone willing to contribute!

Likewise, you should always tailor your blog to the audience you want to reach.

If your hotel relies on corporate business, you could publish content targeted to meeting planners. What are their pain points and how can your hotel address them? What are the latest meeting trends?

Hotel blogging can help position your property’s sales or event managers as industry experts. This is just one way to build trust and authority with potential clients.

Oh, and when I say blogging gives you authority, I also mean with Google!

Hotel blogs help you grow brand awareness, which is especially important for independent hotels and boutique hotels that don’t have a strong chain brand behind them.

There are many (MANY) different ranking factors and off-page signals used by search engines to decide who gets to be on page one.

Simply put: the more you build a trustworthy website by providing useful content, the more Google thinks you know what the heck you’re talking about!

4. Blogging powers every other marketing channel

Something hotel marketers often hear is that our work has to touch every single department in the building.

It’s true: We need to collaborate with our colleagues in the front office, F&B, housekeeping, revenue management, and everywhere in between.

Blogging also touches other “departments,” as in, other parts of your overall hotel digital marketing strategy.

Need to breathe life into a boring sales email? Include a blog post detailing ten exciting new trends for meeting planners.

How about spicing up that boring in-room compendium? Repurpose your best blogs about local points of interest or activities.

Blogging is just one part of a well-rounded hotel marketing plan.

Blog content provides the link between external social media posts and your owned website. Blogging is the fuel that powers your organic search traffic and blogging fills your funnel with qualified, interested customers.

Pro tip: If you decide to start publishing blog content, use my free hotel SEO checklist to make sure it’s formatted correctly for Google and other search engines. Get your free copy below. ⤵

The Cons — Here’s when having a hotel blog doesn’t make sense:

1. You don’t have other active marketing channels

There’s no point in writing a blog if you’re not going to show it to anyone. You must have a plan for distribution.

Blogging alone is not an effective marketing strategy for hotels. You really need to have other active marketing channels, too.

This starts with having a presence on the most popular hotel social media platforms.

You don’t necessarily need to be posting on every single one.

Being active and consistent on 1-2 can actually be more effective! Know where your target audience likes to “hang out” on social media and make sure your hotel is present there.

Email marketing is also an important distribution channel.

Nurturing and growing a profitable email list requires providing valuable content, doing it consistently, and “serving” more than “selling.”

Keep your subscribers engaged by adding relevant blog posts to your hotel newsletter or sales emails.

Read Next: The 8 Emails Your Hotel Needs To Be Sending Guests

2. You don’t have the resources

This might be the main reason many hotels don’t have a blog.

Hotel marketing departments are stretched pretty thin as-is. Marketing roles in the hospitality industry tend to be a team of one — or sometimes, a single marketer is responsible for multiple properties.

And just because you’re a marketer, doesn’t mean you even enjoy writing!

Maybe you’re more interested in photography and visual mediums, or maybe you’re a total data and analytics nerd — psst, that’s OK!

As a hotel marketer, finding time to brainstorm hotel blog ideas AND write compelling, consistent content — on top of many other tasks — can sometimes feel impossible.

If you’re not able to personally plan, write, edit, publish and promote hotel blog posts yourself, don't sweat it. Consider whether you could train colleagues in other departments to pitch in.

Looking externally could be an option, too. Try sourcing articles from local bloggers in your destination. You could also make guest blogging part of your influencer marketing strategy.

Or… you could always hire an expert hotel content writer! 🙃

What are the best hotel blog examples?

If you’re still on the fence about hotel blogging, maybe seeing a few examples will help.

Check these out for some inspiration:

The Most Instagrammable Spots in Cornwall by Lewinnick Lodge
Things To Do During Rainy Season in Bali by the Colony Hotel
What Should I Bring to the Galapagos Islands? by the Finch Bay Hotel
What to Wear in Key West: Packing Guide For Each Season by 24 North Hotel
Where to Find the Best Bagels in New York by The Row Hotel NYC
Five of the Best Films and Shows Shot in Guernsey by The Old Government House Hotel & Spa

In another article, I gave more examples of hotel content ideas based on themes like photography, packing guides, itineraries, lists, and more.

Most of the time, I suggest hotels start with what their audience is searching for — and create content that answers those pressing questions or provides more context than the competition.

Free tools like Answer The Public can help you find ideas, but I strongly recommend investing in a proper keyword research tool to be more strategic.

(Read this guide to finding hotel keywords for more tips.)

Final Thoughts

Considering the above, do you think your hotel should have a blog?

I know I’m a bit biased, but honestly, if you’re an independent hotel without the power of a big chain brand behind you… you really ought to have one.

The best thing you can do for your hotel website is to publish a blog. Remember that blogging:

Keeps your hotel website fresh and relevant
Helps you reach the right audience of people interested in traveling to your destination
Gives your hotel authority and builds trust — with Google AND your guests
Fuels ALL your other marketing channels by giving you content to repurpose

If you’re still not sure if blogging is right for your hotel, get in touch to book a free consultation with me.