When it comes to promoting luxury brands, the rules are not the same as for mass-market businesses. They should approach their marketing, branding, and public relations activities differently.
As a high-end hotelier you are providing markedly different services from the regular hotel market and your messaging should reflect that.
As with any marketing, having a strong online presence is a huge advantage however the way you approach it must be tailored to the space you operate in.
What is marketing for luxury hotels?
Luxury hotel marketing is the business of promoting and selling your top hotel brand, its services, its value and its positioning in a competitive environment.
For luxury hotels, it’s not only about attracting guests with their high-end services but also managing the perception of these services.
To create the highest brand value and pricing power you need to leverage multiple factors such as your history, location, facilities, vision, testimonial, and client base. This requires a luxury hotel marketing strategy. Why is specialist marketing important for your luxury hotel?
The aim of luxury hotel online marketing is to convince a small target group of prospective guests to recognize your value offering, become paying guests and remain loyal guests.
This provides what is called a product/market fit i.e. consumers see your hotel as the one which perfectly suits their wants and needs; and they would be disappointed if they couldn’t stay there.
Once you have product/market fit, you can scale your business. Satisfied guests will advocate and spread the word to those in their social, professional, and family circles. Retention of existing customers and adding new ones will drive growth and your revenues.
Leverage the following principles to strengthen your hotel online and position yourself well in the digital world.
1. Make a luxury impression
When you see a high-end service or product, every detail screams quality. The same is true for your website. Web design for luxury hotels should convey the essence of your hotel.
Hiring a full-service hotel digital marketing agency will ensure that your luxury hotel website not only creates an unforgettable online experience for your guests, but also supports your hotel marketing plan effectively.
2. Cultivate exclusivity and status
The promise of being seen and recognised as part of something elevated from the ordinary deliver exclusivity.
There are two key elements to building the appeal of a luxury hotel brand:
- Your brand must be recognisable online. You want your hotel website and your brand to be as visible as possible. This is possible through strategic use of SEO, PPC, display advertising and social media. Many of these marketing strategies require a significant online input. Consider hiring a luxury hotel marketing agency to manage your account.
- To heighten your luxury appeal, you must create perceived barriers to some bookers. Privilege heightens desire. Pricing is the most obvious tool to use, however additional strategies can amplify the effects. For example, exclusive events which tie in with other luxury brands, chauffeur services, access to a yacht or car, or special offer sections of your website which only certain customers can access.
3. Promote loyalty and engagement
The success of your luxury hotel is dependent on generating loyal guests. There are many online marketing solutions to help with this:
- Social media. Encourage your followers to share posts online. This reinforces their identification with your hotel brand, and also promotes authentic user-generated content.
- Email marketing. You can engage with your guests, promote loyalty, and a sense of exclusivity with email marketing. If you're not sure how to effectively utilise email marketing for your luxury hotel brand, consider engaging an experienced luxury brand marketing company to manage this.
- Consider your own loyalty program, run via your website and booking engine, which rewards return guests.
- Paid adverts. Your advertising copy is in your control. Not only will it provide a great return, it's another channel to highlight your exclusivity and brand appeal.
- Integrate your digital and offline marketing. For luxury brands, offline marketing and PR is still a central factor.
One thing which is common to all hotels is that guests not only want to experience your services – they also want to check you out online first by exploring your website and reading online reviews. Luxury or boutique hotels tend to have more offline media promoting their status and appeal.
Well-executed digital marketing techniques give you the opportunity to take advantage of these traits and strategically funnel consumers from both the online and offline world to your hotel.