One of the basic preconditions for an independent hotel business is to have its own website. On their website, hotels, as well as other types of accommodation (hostels, apartments, villas…) should display their facility, share information with potential guests, and offer the possibility of booking.
When deciding where to stay in a certain city, guests will almost always check the online presence of the hotel. This online presentation includes your website and reviews on sales channels. If you offer quality content and advice on the site for guests who come to your hotel, then you are definitely improving your sales position. What is the quality content and why do hotels need a blog?
1. Attracting new guests
Starting a blog on your site, which deals with topics of importance to guests and those who are interested in your city/town, increases the possibility of reaching new guests. Whether it is an individual, family, couple, or business person, definitely when choosing a destination, a large number of people do their research on the destination.
Some of the basic questions that guests want to solve are definitely:
- What are the sights in a particular place?
- What is it that sets a place apart from others and makes it significant?
- What is the local food like?
- History and local culture
By including these questions in your blog, you offer answers for those interested and you get an upsell opportunity to offer them your accommodation and other services you offer.
2. You have a story you need to tell
This means that behind your hotel, place or city hides a certain story that makes your stay significant and offers guests a new experience. Whether it’s a historical fact, the view, the way you furnished the rooms (handmade furniture, smart home technology in the rooms, eco-friendly way of doing business, etc.), the specifics of the food you serve in the restaurant (organic, homemade, family recipe, local cuisine, etc.) or certain discounts for the holidays, tell your story.
3. Regularly share information about your business with regular guests
Your regular guests and those who have yet to become one, want to have up-to-date information about their favorite accommodation. Renovations, new menu, capacity increase, information on prices of overnight stays, and other services, all this should find its place on the website.
Imagine your blog as a channel for direct communication, not only with individual guests but also with the competition and companies and organizations that want to cooperate with you.
4. You have a developed marketing strategy
If you connect your social networks to a website, you can cross-communicate and offer opportunities to stakeholders.
When organizing a contest or a specific promotion, you can redirect readers of your blog to the hotel’s Facebook or Instagram or Twitter page. Also, people who follow you on social networks can be regularly informed about the news that you describe in the blog, by sharing content directly with them.
Each of these actions brings with it certain benefits for your business, in the form of better promotion and more interactive communication with guests. By increasing the traffic on your website blog, you increase the possibility for new guests to make a direct reservation through the site and thus avoid the cost of OTA sales channel commissions (Booking, Expedia…)
5. It helps you increase your e-mail base
Email marketing is one of the better strategies that preserve the loyalty of your guests and helps you increase the number of bookings. But one of the main problems is, how to increase the database of emails? If you offer enough quality information, interesting stories, and opportunities for your readers, then these readers will definitely want to sign-up for your mailing list. You need to regularly offer enough diverse and original information to increase that database.
6. You stay in trend
Any novelty or a new trend that appears in your place or that is in some way related to your business, and that concerns guests, should be included in your blog. Is there a world event, festival, or sports event organized in your city? Explain why the visitors of that event should stay with you.
Also, issues such as maintaining public health, eg due to the Covid19 coronavirus pandemic, should be clearly communicated from your part. What steps are you taking to protect your guests? What measures have you taken to protect your employees? What are your plans for the next period in order to improve hygienic conditions? The answers to this question are of great importance for potential guests, in order to feel safe in choosing the hotel or accommodation in which they want to stay.
