In recent years, the high-end hotel industry has changed; it is now characterized by a sense of uniqueness where the provision of luxury services is no longer a sufficient distinguishing factor.
Luxury guests are looking for extraordinary experiences. These are now the core pillar for luxury tourism, which more than any other industry holds the potential to elicit strong emotional and experiential reactions by consumers.
Traditionally, luxury goods such as clothes, cars, and boats represented a niche market characterized by customers with particular needs and high purchasing power.
Today, the luxury travel market also follows this trend and as with the marketing of goods, it too requires its own specific type of promotion.
Let's dive into our top 5 tips to help hoteliers with their marketing.
1. Connect with your guests.
Luxury guests have specific characteristics. It means that hotels need to be aware of their desires and needs.
Accordingly, instead of treating these guests in a generic way it is important to treat each of them as unique.
A keystone of your marketing is being in touch with the exclusive tone of your community and communicating that in a way which resonates with your target audience.
The best way of connecting with guests is through understanding their lifestyle in order to understand what kind of personal, authentic experience you can create and offer to them.
2. Differentiate your offering
Today, guests have a huge range of services to choose from; for the luxury industry, high quality of services and products are the norm.
To stand out among your peers has become harder for luxury hotels.
This is an opportunity for your hotel to truly understand its guests and what is the "something more" they are looking for. It may not be more luxury.
For example, it may be the chance to give something back by connecting with a local community initiative or staying in a resort which is entirely solar powered.
Providing unique experiences which tap into and connect with your guests’ core values will provide an emotional connection which will see them return again and again.
Your hotel becomes an extension of who they are and how they see themselves.
3. Competitive advantage
The main challenge of a luxury hotel is to retain guests and attract new ones. Growth is impossible without retaining existing clients.
It involves asking some searching questions of your staff.
Do they know why seeing things from the guest's perspective is so essential? Do they understand why the experiential approach is necessary for competition?
The best approach is to focus on your story and experiences as well as your service offering.
Make them a part of your training and also incorporate as a key strategy point, including it in your mission statement, values, and brand image.
4. Value creation
The traditional concept of value creation has changed. Previously it was an in-house task and guests were not considered as part of the process. Now value is co-created by hotels and guests.
Provide the opportunity for high quality interactions with your guests to which allow you to organically co-create unique experiences.
Encourage
social media sharing which gives you the opportunity to incorporate them into your marketing mix.
5. Your hotel website
While guests will feel comfortable with a site which mirrors their values, with great design you can also lead them to make a booking.
Direct bookings are the lowest cost channel and lead to a greater level of trust and connection with your guests.
It allows you to showcase your latest experiences and promote them to your luxury guests, always with an eye to converting them to make a booking with you.
Conclusion
Changes in economy, technology, and increasing competitiveness in the luxury hotel space continue to drive the ongoing approaches to differentiation.
Understanding the key factors of a luxury hotel experience are important for the hotel management and marketing teams.
At this level, value is not created by services alone; it is embedded in personal stories created through active co-created experiences.