Adam Deflorian is the Founder and CEO of AZDS Interactive Group, an agency based in Denver, Colorado.
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As hoteliers continue their steep climb back from the greatest crisis in hospitality history, making sacrifices has been less of a strategy and more of a means for survival. Whether it’s laying off employees or fighting tooth and nail for every booking, thus far there simply hasn’t been another option.
Going forward in the recovery, however, I foresee sacrifices becoming more and more of a strategic decision and varying from one brand to another. And I don’t mean strategies like cutting rates, which will do the opposite of fostering long-term growth and market share.
To truly build a trustworthy brand and establish genuine guest loyalty once travel finally returns to some semblance of normal, here are a few ways to think outside the box when it comes to short-term marketing decisions.
Use data to treat guests like humans.
While most hotels are already using advanced CRMs to collect copious amounts of guest data, many are still not leveraging that data to its fullest potential. During a pandemic, when personalization is crucial and each individual guest has their own unique circumstances, creating generic, one-size-fits-all Covid-19 policies simply won’t do the trick.
Say, for example, your CRM indicates you have an older guest (in the 65-plus age risk group) visiting the hotel next week, and suddenly your region has a Covid-19 outbreak. Why not reach out to that guest proactively and offer them a future credit as a way of looking out for their health? Sure, it’s a short-term loss of revenue, but the value gained in guest gratitude is worth way more than that in terms of future loyalty. Think of your CRM data as the key to providing proactive customer service. If you truly look out for your guests during a vulnerable time like a pandemic, it’s very likely they will return the favor in the future.
Create empathetic content; don’t force-feed promotions.
As dire as the current hotel situation is, there’s a fine line between creating content that is useful to the guest and creating content that reeks of desperation. There’s nothing wrong with marketing current experiences that are outdoors, safe and socially distant, but on the flip side, nothing is quite as annoying to a consumer as receiving unrealistic promotions that further exacerbate the grim reality we’re all living in.
As important as it is to fill rooms in the short term, try to build your content strategy around aspirational content that allows consumers to get inspired and safely plan their future trips. Much like in-person sales, coming off as empathetic and genuine (read: not forced) will go a long way to gaining trust and receiving quality bookings in the future. Guests don’t need a reminder of how difficult it is to plan a normal vacation right now — if your content transports them to a world that feels familiar and safe, your brand can automatically gain from it in the future.
Rethink loyalty programs.
Hotel loyalty programs have undergone drastic changes in recent months, simply because nobody can travel enough to take advantage of traditional rewards models. So, the first thing you’ll need to do is adjust your points system to ensure travelers can earn credit based on realistic stay quotas.
Once that’s done, I also recommend looking into rewards models that reward guests who stay at your hotel in the near future. Again, the point is not to push guests into something they’re not comfortable with, but there’s nothing wrong with incentivizing those who do feel interested.
For instance, a stay over the next few months might be worth double points, or it could earn them a resort or experience credit for a future stay. However you want to configure it, incentivizing stays through loyalty programs is a good way to put heads in beds in the short term — all while gaining goodwill to help your brand in the long-term.
Go above and beyond in sanitation.
Hotels have generally done an incredible job of elevating their sanitation processes to make guests feel more comfortable during the pandemic. That being said, some hotels are still investing more than others and going above and beyond what’s required, which doesn’t go unnoticed.
Enhanced sanitation is a significant financial investment, and as marketers, we need to make sure this investment gets properly translated to the hotel’s target audiences. At my agency, we’re currently working with one of our clients to do just that, communicating the hotel’s outstanding sanitation investments through email campaigns, blog publications, influencer sharing and ultimately PR efforts to gain pick-ups in high-profile publications. It may not provide immediate dividends in terms of revenue, but we foresee the long-term loyalty impact to be substantial. Again, the guest feels as though you’re genuinely looking out for their best interests.
Personalize the booking path.
I’ve already touched on the importance of personalization during the recovery, but it’s worth mentioning again when it comes to the online hotel booking path. A generic booking engine that looks completely standardized and doesn’t offer customized pandemic-related communication options can come off as naïve, almost as if every guest doesn’t have their own set of questions and needs.
In addition to making your general Covid-19 policies exceedingly clear throughout the booking engine, the best way to allay any fears is to offer plenty of opportunities for guests to input their own thoughts. As part of investing in a new custom booking engine, this could be done through comment boxes requesting any special accommodations, or through more advanced integrations, like chat boxes with live reservation agents. Even if these functions are not used by the guest, they can go a long way toward making the guest feel like they’re being cared for authentically.
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Author: Adam Deflorian, Forbes Councils Member
