Hotel Marketing: 5 Online Event Ideas To Keep Your Customers Engaged During COVID-19

With many people confined to their local area and unable to travel, it is difficult for hoteliers to keep positive and to be proactive, especially when it comes to luxury resort marketing.  Since the start of the pandemic, online event experiences have become one of the best ways to maintain visibility and stay engaged with your guests. 

As events, concerts and social gatherings have been cancelled, people are actively searching for online events to attend. As well as entertaining, these events will also keep your brand name in front of your guests and show you care. 

As a hotel brand, awareness about your events and promoting them doesn’t need to be difficult. It's important to keep your online events relevant to your core business. They should also be an extension of your hotel services and maintain authenticity with your brand - especially when you create brand partnerships.

Here are 5 tips your hotel for creating a virtual event aligned with your hotel brand value.

During this challenging time, and perhaps in quarantine, many people feel anxious. An exercise event is a great antidote to that. Record these events in your hotel's wellness center/spa and explain how it can help and the benefits they will reap.

Schedule a regular workout, for instance 3 times a week, and your audience can include it in their daily routines.  You can share a recorded version of your exercise event on your website or social media or even as a live stream.

Including nutritional tips adds more value to your event. Your nutritionist or a partnership with local fitness instructors will help you make it more interesting.

Is your brand character calm and relaxing?

Add yoga classes, meditation sessions, and breathing exercises to help your audience stay calm and mindful. If you have a spa in your hotel, use it to record your classes. 

This creates a feeling that your participants are physically there and they are more likely to visit the spa in the future.

Enlighten your audience about the benefits of yoga, and how your events can help them address a new way of living without any anxiety.

Sharing your skills and knowledge not only engages people with your brand but also builds your reputation as an expert in your industry.

Does your hotel have a F&B offering? 

It is time to take advantage of your kitchen and take your audience behind the scenes.  Teach them how to make the most popular meal on your menu or how to make homemade pasta, chocolate or the perfect latte. Add insider tips such as how professionals decorate a cake, dress the perfect salad or add artful decoration to a dish.

Create a partnership with local artists and deliver online workshops with them on painting, photography, jewellery or calligraphy. These events also provide great opportunities for taking pictures to share on social media.

If possible, donate part of any profit from your hotel events to a good cause. Create a blog post to tell everyone what you are doing.

The pandemic has provided huge challenges for health care systems and key services. You can help hospital staff and key workers to de-stress. If you have an opportunity to help, don't hesitate to do so whether it be a free meal, discounted stay or complimentary spa treatment. Right now, even a small gesture can mean a great deal and will help to build goodwill with your local audience.

This post aims to provide some initial guidance on what luxury hoteliers can do online to engage their audience while maintaining their luxury credentials. Anything you can do now will also help to take advantage of the recovery once this crisis passes. For further information and ideas please contact us at Aró Digital Strategy.