Digital marketing isn’t slowing down anytime soon — in fact, it’s only revving up — so it’s important for hospitality marketers to stay on top of the latest trends to keep bringing back guests, drive more direct bookings, and increase revenue. We’ve had our eye on some of the leading trends predicted for 2024 and they will be crucial in streamlining your marketing tactics and improving your guests’ overall experience.
1. Informed Data-Driven Decisions
This is not new, but it’s booming in 2024. Without data, your marketing lacks personalization and any understanding of your guests, their behavior, and their needs. Blanket statement marketing campaigns no longer work for guests as the demand for a personalized experience is at an all-time high. Your guests expect their visit with you to be tailor-made for them from before they arrive to after they depart.
How do you accomplish this? The answer is in the data. Resorts and hotels have guest data coming in from many different areas — on their website, in reservations and bookings, in dining, in marketing, in rentals, and the list goes on. All that data tells you exactly what you need to know about your guests and how you can serve them best which will significantly improve your occupancy and engagement rates.
2. Guest Data & Marketing Automation Platforms
You may have tons of guest data on hand, but if that data is siloed and unorganized across your property, it is extremely difficult to harness its power. With a guest data and marketing automation platform, all your data is funneled into one comprehensive platform, then unified, de-duped, and enriched to give you a 360-degree enhanced view of each of your guests.
When you have your data all “under one roof”, it becomes much easier to build targeted segments based on reservation history, geographical location, how long it’s been since they’ve visited, etc. From there, you can design hyper-targeted campaigns that reach them with the right message at the right time.
For instance, maybe you have a segment of guests who haven’t visited in over two years. You can target them as “lapsed guests” and include a friendly nudge to bring them back, perhaps with a promo code or special offer. You can also create segments of guests who are arriving soon with information about the property, what they can expect during their stay, and how to reserve other amenities to complement their visit. The better the experience the more likely they are to become a loyal return guest.
It’s no question that hyper-targeted, personalized campaigns drive more revenue and direct bookings than batch and blast emails. For example, Mirror Lake Inn drove $200,000 in revenue from a single guest retention campaign by segmenting local guests and bringing them back to the property for a “staycation”.
These are just a couple of examples of the powerful targeted campaigns you can create with a guest data and marketing automation platform. Plus, the tool allows you to automate these campaigns to be triggered upon actions by your guests and run effortlessly in the background, saving you time and resources.
3. Omnichannel Marketing
Where your guests are, that’s where you should be. Omnichannel marketing allows you to build audience segments that your property can speak to on multiple channels such as email, direct mail, and social media. Not only does this provide your past, present, and future guests with multiple touchpoints and keeps you top of mind, it also meets them where they are. Additionally, if a guest books a reservation with you via your website, they might head to social media to learn more about what they can expect. Having an omnichannel marketing strategy ensures a seamless experience for your guests from booking to checking out (and beyond).
Stay Ahead of the Curve
Technology is always advancing, and guest demands are ever evolving, so staying on top of these and future hospitality marketing trends is crucial to the success of your overall strategy. And, by using the data you already have across your various resort systems, you can continue to grow your guest database and build long-term loyalty.
Want to learn more about harnessing the power of your data through a guest data and marketing automation platform designed for the hospitality industry? Ascent360 has you covered. Request a custom demo today and see your guest data in action.
