Strengthen your marketing proposition
Preparing your brand to reengage with your audiences and secure bookings is a thorough and timely process but it will enable you to drive tangible results efficiently.
To support hospitality businesses ahead of their reopening, we have introduced a marketing and PR audit service to provide you with consultancy that enables you to move ahead with confidence.
Available to hotels and venues, the package will provide brands with clarity of their current positioning and enable them to drive revenue efficiently, and effectively once government-enforced COVID-19 restrictions are lowered.
Click here to find out how Custard Communications can support you in strengthening your marketing position.
Our reopening checklist
In the first article in our series of 2021 reopening guidance, we tackle which areas of marketing communications need to be addressed for hotels to effectively engage with their customers to secure lucrative bookings in the run-up to reopening following the reveal of the government’s roadmap for England.
Please see our marketing checklist for hotels below:
Review
Areas you need to address or update before reopening:
- Compliance: have you updated your policies to reflect changes to VAT rates, government safety guidelines, new capacities, occupancy levels, dining restrictions, pre-booking policies, safety accreditations?
- Cancellation policy: is this clearly communicated, flexible and fair?
- Pricing: how will you manage your pricing in line with changes in demand? Ensure you include opportunities for incremental revenue such as add on packages and experiences. Don’t discount, invest in your marketing.
- Product: how has your product offering changed over the course of the pandemic? Has your audience changed and do you need to work on your repositioning? Do you need to restrict weekend stays to a min three-night break?
- Trends: are you on top of the latest trends within the industry that can provide insight into booking patterns and customer sentiment? Read our 2021 hotel booking trends and event industry predictions.
- Audience: who are you targeting and who CAN you target? The shift from international to solely domestic customers means continuing to adapt your messaging – is your communications database segmented to deliver the appropriate messages to the appropriate audience? Don’t forget journalists also search for inspiration for travel content so make sure your website and social channels include the relevant contact details.
- Website: do you need to revert key messages to reflect what is going to be popular right now – i.e. summer family holidays, multi-gen breaks? Which pages are popular and need to be kept in the front-end? Are your COVID-19 compliance and policies easily accessible?
- Are third-party purchasing systems up-to-date and ready to take bookings?
- Searchability: Can people find your website easily? Identify how people find you and build your paid search campaigns to ensure that people find your website easily, accompanied by a strong Google maps listing and inspiring imagery.
- Are you encouraging people to book direct?
- Crisis management plan and documentation
- Media request policy and procedure
- Is your crisis management plan and documentation up to date and shared with your team?
- Have you updated your media request policy and procedure?
Messages
What are the key things you need to let your customers know?
- Your tone is key – beware of the power of words and use language to express empathy, safety and security and trust. It is important guests know you are following government guidelines without losing your hotel or venue’s personality.
- Photography – update the imagery you are using with spring/summer focus, and ensure imagery reflects government guidelines.
- Highlight exclusive promotions, added value offers and new/existing experiences to encourage bookings and further revenue.
- Ensure you clearly outline the facilities available for guests to use within the current restrictions – i.e. is the spa fully open? What dining options are available?
- Update new developments and improvements made over lockdown on third-party listings, social media, website and other marketing channels.
- Highlight transport options with a focus on driving routes and car parking facilities.
- Remind people of the team behind your hotel and bring them to the forefront.
- Inspire and excite people by showcasing your destination, location and attractions in the area as well as experiences available onsite.
Channels
Hopefully, you have been able to invest time in developing and segmenting your database and building a profile of your domestic audience for the summer, autumn and winter as well as for next year. This will enable you to build a strong communication channel plan.
Are you investing effectively in the following areas?
- Website
- Social media engagement
- Third-party listings and booking sites
- E-communications
- Partnerships
- Paid search
- Paid social
- Video
- Voice search
- Key influencers
- Media titles and online communities, as well as credible journalists
Timings
When is the best time to get these messages out?
You should be communicating with your audience now – there has been a surge in searches and bookings for hotels across the UK within the last 10 days and this is set to continue to grow over the coming days following the announcement. The important thing is to be clear about how and when customers can book, and your cancellation policy as well as the channels you will use for late availability.
Further guidance & resources:
- England COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021
- VisitBritain’s ‘We’re Good To Go’ standard
- UKHospitality’s COVID-19 Support Centre
- Visit Britain inbound COVID-19 sentiment tracker
- Visit Britain domestic COVID-19 sentiment tracker
- UK Government’s interactive Brexit actions checker
Click here to find out how Custard Communications can support you in strengthening your marketing position.
