Inexpensive Marketing Strategy for Hotel: Leveraging Your Existing Customers

In today's digital era, having a strong online presence is essential for any hotel business. While marketing strategies can be too costly, I am here to help you explore inexpensive yet effective ways to promote your hotel business out there. So in this blog, I will reveal the power of focusing on your existing customers and how you can capitalize on their influence to drive your hotel's marketing efforts, thus helping to boost your hotel revenue. 

Your existing customers possess the remarkable potential to become your most influential brand ambassadors, making them a valuable marketing asset for your hotel business. To leverage this, let's dive deeper into the marketing strategies that you can focus on. 

Referral Program 

Create a referral program for your existing customers to leverage the power of word-of-mouth marketing. By offering incentives to the existing customers such as promotion code discounts or free upgrades, for each new customer they refer to your hotel, you're not only encouraging your existing customers to recommend your hotel to their friends and family but also rewarding them for doing so. As a result, both existing and new customers will enjoy getting the incentive. Then, there will be a possibility for new customers to refer your hotel to their other friends and family. 

To effectively implement the referral program, you can use the promotion code system offered by your booking engine provider which enables you to easily create and manage private promo codes. This allows you to track and attribute referrals accurately. Softinn Booking Engine is one of the providers that offer a promotion code system. The users are allowed to create the promotion code for public or private, with some of the other settings like a minimum length of stay, maximum redeemable quantity, etc.  

Read also: 10 Digital Marketing Ideas For Hotel Using Promo Codes

Encourage Social Media Sharing 

Creating remarkable experiences for your customers goes a long way in encouraging them to share their positive feedback on social media platforms. When your customers share their delightful experiences on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, they become influential promoters to their friends and followers. 

Below are  some examples of how you can provide a memorable experience to your customer which increase the possibility of them sharing their experience on social media:

1. Provide exceptional experiences such as welcoming surprises with gifts and complimentary upgrades maybe for honeymoon couples. 
2. Create Instagram-able spots with a nice background or view and encourage them to share them on social media. You might want to introduce a special hashtag. 
3. Actively engage with your customers on social media. For example, if they shared their experience staying at your hotel, you might want to share or comment and like on the post. This will help to strengthen the connection between the hotel and the customers and also encourage others to share the experience as well. 
   
   

Email Marketing 

Email marketing is a powerful tool to nurture customer relationships, drive repeat bookings, and generate revenues. It allows you to directly communicate with your customers and nurture their loyalty. Here's how you can execute the email marketing strategy: 

1. Collect email addresses from your customers during the booking process or at the hotel reception upon check-in. You can also provide an opt-in option on your website or social media platforms where visitors can subscribe to your newsletter or receive exclusive promotions.
   
   
2. Segment your email list based on various criteria such as demographics, booking history, and preferences. This would give you an idea of what to offer to specific customer segments. You can also personalize your emails by addressing recipients by their names and customizing the content to match their interests
   
   For example, if it is a business traveller, you might want to send an exclusive promotion running for weekdays.  
   
   
3. Create engaging and informative newsletters that provide value to your customers. Share updates about your hotel, upcoming events, local attractions, or interesting travel tips. In your newsletters, you can offer exclusive deals and discounts to your subscribers, such as early bird discounts or loyalty program benefits. This approach not only keeps your hotel at the forefront of your customers' minds but also encourages repeat bookings and increased loyalty.
   
   

Encourage Reviews 

Finally, if you have not yet done this, it is time for you to start encouraging your customers to leave reviews on popular travel websites and Google. There are a few methods that the hotel normally does such as placing a QR code in each room or sending a follow-up email after their stay, thanking them for choosing your hotel and asking for their feedback.

As you know, some of the booking engine providers out there offer features where this can be done automatically. Softinn Booking Engine provides a Smart Review system where it allows hotels to send a first-night survey email and also encourages the customers to leave a review on Google with just a few clicks. Even so, you can always check out any other service provider and explore it yourself. 

Softinn Smart Review System

This is also another helpful resource, an ebook about Guest Feeback Tools: Ultimate Guide for Hoteliers. This ebook contains various feedback methods that you can use to collect reviews from your customers, it provides you an example and relevant tools. Include in the ebook also the tips while collecting feedback and templates on how to reply to either positive or negative feedback.

Check out the Video 

Conclusion

In conclusion, your existing customers are a valuable asset to your hotel business. By implementing strategies that tap into their influence, such as referral programs, social media sharing, effective email marketing, and amplifying positive reviews, you can leverage their support to attract new customers and boost revenue.

These low-cost yet effective marketing ideas not only strengthen your hotel's presence but also cultivate lasting customer relationships. Remember, your customers are not just guests, they are invaluable brand ambassadors.