Digital Marketing
How To Woo More Business Travellers
The answer to attracting more business travellers doesn’t necessarily lie in more expensive software and fancier systems. A recent New York Times article posited that it was actually about the people who work within the hotel itself.
Though this is not new among travel and hospitality trends, it’s worth taking a look at to see if you can adapt any of the advice given in the article to your own marketing strategy. Business travellers will not know your city, and are relying on your staff to make the venue seem attractive. Unfortunately, for many, the outreach is too late if it starts when the guest is already in the hotel.
Using a hotel marketing company might be useful on this occasion if you’re not sure where to start with client outreach, but remember that business travellers want to be able to feel welcome at your hotel even though they’ve not checked in yet. For that reason, it’s social media and targeted communications that will make your marketing an ambassador for your area.
The right personal touch can give hotels and other local businesses a competitive edge. Try not to hew too closely to travel and hospitality trends, but instead focus on the customer. Any good hotel marketing company will tell you to do that, but it’s especially important if your traveller has no pressing reason other than locale to choose your hotel.
It’s a mistake to devalue business travellers, not just because they often keep midweek rooms full, but because they aren’t just in the city to go to a meeting and sleep in a room in your hotel for the night. They might have kids who want a souvenir brought home, or have always wanted to visit your city and want to know how to make the most out of their one or two-night stay there but need a few clues on where to begin.
For that reason, they’re going to choose a hotel that makes their stay feel more exciting and seems to be aware of more things to discover in the local area. It’s up to you and your hotel marketing company how you manage that, but discovering what your customers want and then being able to deliver it better than your rivals is a worthy outcome.
Think about what makes your city special, and keep up to date with the various happenings in the area; a recurring theme in travelling and hotel trends. Maybe there’s a beer festival, or an exhibition—find what’s popular around your workplace and with your customers. Ask your staff, since they are as much ambassadors for the city as you are and the people your customers will be interacting with the most. Develop a strategy with your hotel marketing company that shows deep local knowledge and appreciation for the area that travellers will most likely not know about. And then put that knowledge into practice and see if business travellers choose you over your rivals.
