Marketing approaches for small hotel businesses – A concrete example of digitalizing the customer Journey

In today’s digital age, the hotel industry is undergoing a transformation in how it manages the customer journey. From the moment a guest considers a stay to the post-departure phase, digitalization is reshaping every interaction. In today’s article, I explain what’s at stake at each stage of the customer journey in the hotel sector.

🦉👀 Awareness: In the digital age, hotels have unprecedented opportunities to capture the attention of potential guests through various online channels. Social media, search engines like Google or Bing, and online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com or Expedia.com serve as powerful tools for building brand awareness and showcasing unique offerings. Through targeted advertising campaigns, engaging content, and influencer partnerships, hotels can reach a wider audience and cultivate interest in their properties.

🔎📆 Pre-Booking: Digital platforms play a crucial role in facilitating the pre-booking phase, providing guests with seamless access to information and booking capabilities. User-friendly and catchy websites and mobile apps allow travelers to explore hotel amenities, room options, and package or pricing details with ease. Integration with booking engines enables real-time availability checks and secure reservation processes, ensuring a frictionless experience for guests.

💻💳 Booking: With just a few clicks or taps, travelers should be able to customize their stays, select preferred room types, and add special amenities or services. Flexible payment options, coupled with instant confirmation emails, instill confidence and convenience, driving higher conversion rates and reducing booking abandonment.

📩🧳 Pre-Stay: Leading up to their arrival, guests benefit from personalized pre-stay communications delivered through digital channels. Automated emails or mobile notifications provide essential information, such as check-in procedures, directions to the hotel, and local recommendations. Tailored offers for room upgrades, dining credits, or recreational activities enhance anticipation and set the stage for a memorable stay.

🛏️ 🍽️ Stay and Check-In/Check-Out: Digital check-in and check-out processes redefine the guest experience upon arrival and departure. Mobile check-in allows guests to bypass traditional front desk queues, providing a seamless and contactless arrival experience. Mobile keys enable guests to unlock their rooms with their smartphones, eliminating the need for physical key cards. Similarly, express check-out options simplify departure procedures, allowing guests to settle their bills electronically and depart at their convenience.

👍🏻👎🏻 Post-Stay: After guests have checked out, digital platforms continue to play a vital role in nurturing ongoing relationships and gathering valuable feedback. As we saw in the last post on customer review marketing, post-stay surveys, email communications, and social media engagement provide avenues for guests to share their experiences and preferences. Hotels can leverage this feedback to identify areas for improvement and tailor future offerings to meet evolving guest expectations, ultimately enhancing satisfaction and loyalty.

🫶🏻🎁 Retention: We talked about this in the first topic on Newsletter Marketing, retaining customers in the competitive hospitality landscape requires strategic use of digital tools. By delivering relevant content and incentives through email newsletters, social media channels, and mobile apps, hotels can cultivate lasting relationships with guests, encouraging repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Curious to see an example? Watch the following video where I demonstrate one of the numerous ways to digitize your customer journey:

Here are a few tips to follow from the literature cited below for a better digital Customer Journey: