Due to the pandemic, the way people travel and take vacations has drastically changed, with more people choosing to spend their vacation days closer to home.
Additionally, the business travel market isn’t as reliable as it used to be, with companies reducing travel and trade shows being canceled all over the country.
That’s why hotels and resorts need to figure out different ways to promote themselves and attract more guests.
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Staycations
For most major hotel chains, at one point in time, around 70% of their revenue was coming from people that were traveling for business purposes.
However, thanks to the pandemic, this revenue has been drastically decreased.
With fewer people traveling for business, most resorts and hotels have had to look for different types of guests to make up for their losses. However, the pandemic also made leisure travel a lot more limited.
Most people don’t want to risk flying on planes due to travel restrictions and COVID. That’s why the best way for hotels and resorts to promote themselves these days is to market to local communities.
With most people choosing to stay closer to their homes, consumers are looking for staycations as the safest way to get away from their everyday lives.
In fact, with a large number of people having to work from home, they started taking advantage of the flexibility of their workday to work from hotels.
Some people have even taken this opportunity to book long-term trips where they can stay at a single resort for several months while continuing to work remotely.
Contactless
It’s no surprise that throughout the pandemic most people haven’t wanted to touch things that other people might have touched. Because of that, most consumers prefer contactless options whenever they’re available.
The way that hotels and resorts can take advantage of this preference is by offering their guests contactless payments and check-ins, as well as contactless access to amenities and rooms.
There are plenty of different options for this, but integrating all of those contactless options for guests into an app is one of the best opportunities that hotels and resorts should seize.
By developing an app, hotels and resorts can get first-hand information about their guests, where they are, what their preferred times for booking hotels are, and more.
Social Media
People tend to spend a lot of time on their phones, and more specifically, on social media platforms, which became even more popular since the start of the pandemic.
That’s why resorts and hotels should be as accommodating as possible to guests and what they are looking for.
Social media allows hotels and resorts to put the idea of a trip in front of an audience that might not have even been considering taking a trip before seeing that message. However, simply having a social media presence isn’t enough most of the time.
Hotels and resorts should create interactive and engaging content that captures the attention and imagination of potential guests.
Matthew Caiola serves as Co-CEO at 5W Public Relations, managing the overall growth, direction and day-to-day business of the Corporate & Technology Communications Divisions and Digital Marketing.
With more than 17 years of PR experience, Matthew leads teams in launching and building high-growth tech companies, disrupting industries, building global brand resonance through thought leadership, C-Suite profiling, and speakers’ programs, as well as crisis communications across a variety of industries.
