Hospitality Content Marketing Techniques

Elements that seem to *almost always* increase bookings when I test them: 👉 Professional property photos that showcase the experience. Not just room shots – I'm talking about sunset views from the deck, cozy morning coffee spots, and those "I can see myself here" moments. 👉 Virtual property tours that bring spaces to life. Every time we A/B test 3D walkthrough content against static images, the immersive experience wins. Guests want to explore before they book. 👉 Expandable amenity lists that delight. Keep the page clean while letting interested guests discover every detail, from the wine fridge to the beach equipment. 👉 Season-specific CTAs that speak to the experience. Forget "Book Now" – try "Secure Your Perfect Summer Getaway" or "Lock in Your Ski Season Escape." 👉 Transparent booking and payment policies. Displaying clear cancellation terms, payment schedules, and trusted payment methods reduces booking anxiety significantly. 👉 Clear property unique features. Why this beach house over others nearby? Answer this in seconds with standout amenities or location perks. 👉 Detailed property pages that answer every vacation question. Comprehensive pages covering local attractions, check-in details, and house rules outperform brief listings. What conversion-boosting elements do you use in your vacation rental marketing? #VacationRental #HospitalityMarketing #TravelIndustry #PropertyManagement #BookingOptimization

If a GM called me today and said, “Scott, every marketing effort we’ve tried in 2025 is failing, and I need you to come in and fix it so we don't go through the same thing in 2026,” here’s exactly how I’d start creating real change. These are the first ten things I’d do starting today: 1️⃣ Audit the foundation. Before changing anything, I’d study every digital touchpoint. Website, booking engine, social media, CRM, and OTA listings. You cannot fix what you don’t understand. 2️⃣ End autopilot marketing. Too many hotels copy each other. I’d stop every cookie-cutter campaign and rebuild creative that actually connects with people. 3️⃣ Rebuild storytelling from the inside out. I’d get every department involved. Every housekeeper, bartender, and concierge has a story. Let them tell it. That’s how your brand becomes human again. 4️⃣ Go all in on video. Short-form, long-form, drone, behind the scenes, chef stories, real guest reactions, all of it. In 2026, video isn’t optional. It’s how people discover you. 5️⃣ Dominate your local market. I’d run micro-campaigns targeting locals with spa days, dining experiences, and staycations. When locals love you, they sell you better than any ad. 6️⃣ Make data your foundation. I’d stop guessing and start tracking. Every post, ad, and campaign must be built on data and analyzed weekly to find what truly drives revenue. 7️⃣ Reinvent influencer partnerships. I’d stop the free-stay culture and build real collaborations that measure reach, conversions, and storytelling impact. If it doesn’t drive ROI, it’s not marketing. 8️⃣ Turn guests into content creators. Every guest has a phone and an audience. I’d launch a campaign that encourages guests to tag, share, and co-create content. That’s authentic marketing you can’t buy. 9️⃣ Redefine internal marketing culture. I’d move meetings from the office to the lobby. Let ideas breathe in the energy of your guests. The best marketing ideas come from proximity to real hospitality. 🔟 Build for AI and voice search. Travelers are already asking AI where to stay. I’d optimize every piece of content so that your hotel is the one that shows up first. The hotels that start executing on these things now will dominate 2026. The ones that wait will spend the next five years trying to catch up. --- If you like the way I look at the world of hospitality, let’s chat: [email protected]

David vs Goliath or how independents can beat the OTAs at their own marketing game In 2024 Expedia spent on marketing $6.8 billion, which represents 49.6% of revenue, while Booking Holdings spent $7.3 billion which was 31% of revenue. These two mega OTAs spent on marketing a total of $14.1 billion. In total, last year the two mega OTAs spent on marketing $14.1 billion Many hoteliers feel defeated by this marketing might and give up on their own direct channel marketing. “We cannot outspend the OTAs, why even try?” But if you do a simple math, you will see that the OTAs spend on marketing approximately $250 per month per hotel available on their platform. This is it! Now, the question is, can even a small hotel spend $250/month to increase its Internet presence and steer people to book direct? Of course! Independents - even smaller properties - need to spend on marketing at least 4% of their room revenue. Hoteliers have tremendous advantages over the OTAs - the know their destination, location and product far better than the OTAs do. In addition, using the Pareto Principle, hoteliers can focus on their feeder markets and customer segments that generate 80% of their business thus being much more efficient than the OTAs. Where do you start when you are an independent hotel, even a property with smaller budget? 1. Fix your website! Is it mobile-first? Is the textual, visual and promotional content fresh, unique and truly representing your product and property? 2. Does the website SEO: on-page, back links and technical - fully optimized? 3. With the explosion of AI search, is your website ready for AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization)? 4. Implement CRM technology and Guest Appreciation Program to increase significantly your repeat business. The fully automated CRM initiatives keep “the conversation going” with your past guests, keep them engaged and steer them in the right direction: to book your hotel when they visit your destination again. 5. Establish solid social media presence with original posts and tons of user-generated content and customer reviews and comments. 6. Take advantage of all the freebies out there: free Google Business Profile, free booking links on Google Hotel Ads, free business directories, CVB listings, Chamber of Commerce listings, etc. 7. Launch Google Ads (GA) campaign for your branded keyword terms to capture all friends and family referrals, repeat guests, etc. the goal is to “own” 100% SOV (share of voice) You will be surprised how inexpensive these search campaigns are! 8. Invest in Content Marketing, the least expensive from all digital marketing initiatives. Content Marketing engages and entices the travel consumer in the Dreaming and Planning Phases and creates ready-to-book customers for the Booking Phase of the digital customer journey. 9. Hire a knowledgeable digital marketing agency to handle all of the above and help you steer through the complexities of the digital world we live in.

Want Your Hotel to Be Seen as the Next 'White Lotus' Destination? The White Lotus didn’t just sell drama—it sold destinations. From Maui to Sicily to Koh Samui, Four Seasons properties became bucket-list stays overnight, proving that storytelling is the most powerful marketing tool in hospitality. The question is: How can hotels and luxury brands tap into this phenomenon? Here are four key strategies that hotel owners and operators should adopt: 1. Invest in Cinematic Storytelling. Luxury travelers don’t just want great service—they want an immersive narrative. - Develop a strong brand story that blends heritage, exclusivity, and emotion. - Lean into cinematic visuals—showcase your property as an aspirational setting. - Collaborate with filmmakers, influencers, and travel storytellers to bring your destination to life. Example: The San Domenico Palace in Sicily didn't need to market itself—White Lotus did it for them. But, the hotel's brand storytelling on social media kept the momentum going. 2️. Position Your Hotel as a Pop Culture Destination Not every hotel will land a TV series, but you can still make your property feel like it belongs in one. - Create experiences that feel exclusive and made for storytelling. - Align your brand with lifestyle and cultural trends—think fashion weeks, film festivals, and elite gatherings. - Encourage user-generated content that reinforces an aspirational narrative. Example: Hotels like Aman and Six Senses thrive on exclusivity and storytelling—guests feel like they’ve stepped into a curated, high-society experience. 3. Curate Experiences That Go Beyond the Stay It’s no longer just about rooms and suites—it’s about crafting a cinematic escape. - Offer unique, high-end experiences (think private island dinners, exclusive cultural excursions, secret speakeasies). - Partner with luxury brands to create limited-time, immersive stays. - Build a loyalty program that rewards experience-seekers, not just frequent travelers. Example: The Four Seasons’ new Mallorca property is integrating a vineyard and high-end culinary experiences—tapping into the romance of Mediterranean life. 4️. Embrace Set-Jetting & Destination Marketing People travel to places they’ve seen on-screen—use this to your advantage. - Collaborate with film and TV productions to feature your location. - Work with tourism boards to position your hotel as part of a broader cultural movement. - Launch travel packages inspired by popular films & series. Example: After Emily in Paris, Parisian hotels leaned into curated “Emily-style” itineraries. Why not craft a White Lotus-inspired luxury escape? The Takeaway: The White Lotus Effect proves that hotels aren’t just places to stay—they’re places to be experienced. The brands that master cinematic storytelling, pop culture positioning, and immersive experiences will win in the next era of luxury travel. What’s your take—how can more hotels capitalize on this trend? Let’s discuss.

Stop posting random blogs. Build Topical Authority instead. Most hotels still treat their blog like a content dump, random posts, no structure, no hierarchy. But in 2025, Google doesn’t reward activity. It rewards authority. Here’s why Topical Authority is now the real foundation of Local SEO When you post disconnected articles  - “5 things to do nearby,” - “Why our brunch is amazing,” - “Meet our chef” Google sees this as noise, not expertise. Topical authority means becoming the trusted voice around a specific subject. For example: Instead of one post about “wedding venues,” you create a whole cluster around it: - Best Wedding Venues in [City] - How to Plan a Beach Wedding - Wedding Menu Ideas - Local Photographers & Florists - Real Wedding Stories Each piece connects back to a main “pillar page” showing Google you own the topic of weddings in your market. And when you do this right, something powerful happens: - Your organic rankings improve - Your Google Business Profile gains visibility - You appear more often in the Hotel Pack - AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini start surfacing your brand Because Local SEO isn’t just about citations and reviews anymore. It’s about content + structure + trust. So here’s the move: - Pick 3–4 revenue-driving topics (e.g. Weddings, Spa, Restaurant, Nearby attractions) - Build a strong pillar page for each - Support it with 5–10 detailed subposts - Interlink them all - Keep adding depth every month Google doesn’t want “more content.” It wants clear expertise. Build your blog like an ecosystem not a scrapbook. That’s how boutique hotels become visible, trusted, and booked.

Most hospitality brands don’t “overlook” marketing opportunities. They just leave them too late. Everyone knows Christmas, Valentines, or Seasonal events are approaching. Yet somehow, the marketing gets planned… the week before. Here’s the thing: If you want to sell it, you can’t rely on “pics from the night” and hope for the best. You need to plan for it weeks or even months before: - The designs  - A proper content plan - Reels and staged shots - A mini launch event (yep, even months in advance) Oh and one last thing ⬇️ Posting on social media is not marketing. Marketing is an ecosystem: - Email marketing - Loyalty programmes - Retention offers - Paid ads - Sign-up campaigns - Midweek promos If you’re banking on “cocktail o’clock” posts alone… What’s bringing me to your venue? The venues that win are the ones that plan ahead and join the dots. They make people want to book before the event even exists.

36 ways to turn viewers into guests. Most hotels are losing bookings not because of price but because of how they show up online. Here's what the best-converting properties do differently: First Impression 1. Show guests what they'll feel, not what they'll see 2. Let your guests do the selling 3. Write for the guest, not the brand 4. Show faces, not just rooms 5. Make your booking link impossible to miss 6. Use a cover that makes people stop scrolling Content 7. Post a guest's day from check-in to checkout 8. Show the setup behind a perfect event 9. Take people backstage 10. Tell the story behind your signature amenity 11. Celebrate guest milestones 12. Walk new visitors through what to expect 13. Capture what makes each season different 14. Replace static photos with short walkthroughs Trust 15. Share real reviews, word for word 16. Respond to every review publicly 17. Repost what guests are already sharing 18. Put names and faces to your team 19. Let your press and awards speak 20. Show up in the community Offers 21. Tie packages to local events 22. Create urgency with time-limited deals 23. Reward your followers with exclusives 24. Make shoulder season compelling 25. Bundle experiences into one irresistible offer Engagement 26. Ask guests to share their favorite memory 27. Poll your audience on what's coming next 28. Reply to every comment within 24 hours 29. Tag local partners to reach new audiences 30. Go live during events and launches Conversion 31. End every caption with a clear next step 32. Remove all friction from your booking path 33. Re-engage past guests through content 34. Build your email list from social 35. Track what drives clicks, not just likes 36. Double down on what's already working Stop throwing half a**sed content on socials, just because you want to 'keep the lights on'. Stop giving away social responsibility to the most junior person on the team. Stop posting without a strategy. The hotels who are smashing it online aren't the ones with the biggest ad spend or the biggest budgets, they're the ones who make every post feel like an invitation, every post is intentional! Who do you think is doing social well?