We understand how busy this time of the year is for hoteliers across the world.
With the year coming to a close, Christmas celebrations, increased wedding enquiries and the voucher sales, hoteliers will also be planning and strategising for the year ahead.
While there is economic uncertainty in the air, experts suggest 2023 will be a rewarding year for the hospitality industry.
Direct Bookings are at a rise and after the two long years of lockdown, more and more people are looking to get out of the four walls of their house to explore.
As a luxury hotelier, your take on digital strategy will define your performance in 2023.
Digitisation is here to stay and will always be a crucial steppingstone for the luxury hotel industry.
Read on to learn the most important things you need to master in the Quarter 1 of 2023 to be on top of the leader board generating budgeted revenue and profit for the rest of the year.
Website Content
Your website is your master key to generating direct revenue without having to splurge high commissions to OTAs.
It is also an opportunity for prospective and returning customers to research your brand before making a buying decision and when they do book with you directly, they are your customer and with the right technology and service in place, they should remain your loyal customer beyond this next stay.
In order to attract your target audience, your website should be fully optimised with fresh and relevant content that is shared regularly to keep the visitor engaged.
You should have only the best quality imagery and videos of your hotel displayed on your website, with ALT tags, and if possible, try to keep it seasonal too.
For Q1 ensure you have a minimum of 350 optimised words on each of the offerings/services that you wish to promote, such as:
•Landing pages for your January Sale and Winter Offers- all linked to the relevant offers on the booking engine
•Valentines content page linking to your Valentine dining offering, accommodation package and gift voucher ideas
•Spring Midterm content around family breaks, including Kids Club details if run a program and/or things to do at this time of year for families in the area
•Easter content updated, highlighting the reasons to choose your destination for an Easter break and linking to Easter Offers
•Q1 is the time to capitalise on wedding conversions following the Festive Engagement Season –
read our top tips here.
Don’t forget to send our SEO team all of your new and updated content for search engine optimisation!
Packages set up
Make sure your hotel packages are created/updated and set up on the back end and relevant packages are published.
Best to keep it chronological.
Research the yearly holidays, long weekends and events in your location in advance so you can be ready to attract your customers with attractive content and offers ahead of these events.
Digital Marketing Ready
Have you discussed your yearly strategy with your Digital Marketing Team?
Your digital marketing team should be aware of and align your Marketing Plan with the events happening around the year.
Make sure you have planned your paid and social media campaigns well in advance and share your plans with us so that we can have them scheduled with our Digital Marketing Team.
Ezines Ready
Remember those brilliant contacts you made with your customers this year?
Invest in these email contacts collected over the years and plan your monthly ezines in advance to be sent to past customers.
Include exciting news stories about your area, events and celebrations, offers and packages at your luxury property in these mails to persuade your customers.
Rates Loaded for 2023
With the current trends in the market, people are excited to book their holidays well in advance.
It is essential at this stage to have your 2023 rates loaded on your website to avoid losing customers looking to book their holiday at your property.
You can publish early bird offers for your customer with strike throughs on your booking engine to make your offer are exciting and lucrative.
If you are a corporate location, ensure that all your Corporate RFPs have been finalised and you have your rates loaded. Conduct a test booking to ensure that your rates are visible.
It is also a great time to send a refresher email to your travel trade clients to remind them of your rates and the reasons to book with you.
Wishing you a great Q1 with all the groundwork in place for a record year!
To learn more on how you can improve your digital revenue streams-
contact us now.