Written by Lori Kresse, VP of Integrated Marketing & Client Services, Spherical

Marketing luxury hotels is both an art and a science. Guests have high expectations and are attracted to thoughtfully designed and inspired hotels. While your marketing ecosystem should reflect this premium caliber of service and design, the success of your digital presence cannot be sacrificed. At Spherical we push the creative envelope as far as possible while maximizing your marketing performance and utilizing precious media dollars to get the right eyes on it. Our clients are most successful when this delicate balance is mastered.

Whether you’re a DOSM, General Manager, or hospitality guru, you’ll appreciate these performance marketing parallels seen through a hospitality lens.

Front Desk → Website Homepage 

The front desk of a hotel is the first impression, a greeting, and a space you cannot miss during your stay. As we think about your digital strategy, your website homepage is that anchor. It’s the grand entry point and directs you in the right place. Even though we often utilize strategies to deep link a user to a detailed page on the website to create the least amount of clicks and serve up the most relevant information, your homepage is like the front desk. It is a common place that would be rare for a guest not to interact with at some point in their travel journey.

Front of House and Back of House → Website Front-end and Website Back-end 

Top hotels have a strong Front of House staff powered by an equally as strong Back of House team. Similarly, your website needs both a solid front-end and powerful back-end. In both cases, you can’t have a fully functional, high performance website or property without the operations and logistics of the website back-end or Back of House. On hotel websites this means booking engine integrations, seamless CMS functionality and beautifully, design-driven experiences. The beauty of the two working together for website performance is what captures attention, inspires guests, drives bookings and fulfills stays all while utilizing data to inform future improvements. 

Concierge and Butler → Off-site Search and On-site Search

Concierges generally handle requests for things outside of the room, such as restaurant reservations or shopping assistance, while butlers tend to guests’ needs inside the room, such as fresh flowers and beverage service. Similarly online search can help a guest find what they are looking for in two places. First off-site search on search engines like Google can help a guest discover content and information about your hotel outside of your website. Then on-site search serves content within your website. A good marketing strategy addresses both areas. SEO and paid search can be utilized for off-site search visibility and strong rankings driving to your website. At the same time SEO and content strategy are required for on-site search. Keep in mind both search engines and your hotel website can feature property specific information and destination content.

Turndown Service →  Personalization 

A hallmark of luxury hotel service is turndown service, an evening surprise and delight moment to show guests special attention. The timing of turndown service is very special and important – possibly the last touchpoint before a guest is going to bed for a restful night. Personalization in performance marketing can also create memorable moments of hospitality. Personal interactions in marketing touchpoints can create lasting impressions. The little things add up, subtle goes a long way, and loyalty is built on a more personal relationship. So whether it’s a personalized email greeting, a tailored web experience, bespoke community management or informed content curation, high-tech personalization can deliver the same impact of high-touch service.

Distressed Inventory → Remnant Ad Inventory

Distressed inventory refers to hotel rooms that are not expected to be sold at full price. For these rooms, hotels often significantly reduce prices to avoid their rooms going unoccupied and encourage consumers to book last-minute. With media buying for channels like display advertising larger publishers often sell all their remnant (unsold) ad inventory through ad networks. And like unsold room prices, ad networks may reduce pricing for that advertising space. Our team of luxury hotel marketing experts focuses on quality assurance and premium placements featured in above the fold inventory. 

The beauty of digital is being able to see results in real-time and improve upon your work. Coupled with working in hospitality, an industry at the core of our society, it’s a fascinating space to be in and a fulfilling commitment to connecting us all in meaningful ways.

755 words

Written by Lori Kresse, VP of Integrated Marketing & Client Services, Spherical

Marketing luxury hotels is both an art and a science. Guests have high expectations and are attracted to thoughtfully designed and inspired hotels. While your marketing ecosystem should reflect this premium caliber of service and design, the success of your digital presence cannot be sacrificed. At Spherical we push the creative envelope as far as possible while maximizing your marketing performance and utilizing precious media dollars to get the right eyes on it. Our clients are most successful when this delicate balance is mastered.

Whether you’re a DOSM, General Manager, or hospitality guru, you’ll appreciate these performance marketing parallels seen through a hospitality lens.

Front Desk → Website Homepage 

The front desk of a hotel is the first impression, a greeting, and a space you cannot miss during your stay. As we think about your digital strategy, your website homepage is that anchor. It’s the grand entry point and directs you in the right place. Even though we often utilize strategies to deep link a user to a detailed page on the website to create the least amount of clicks and serve up the most relevant information, your homepage is like the front desk. It is a common place that would be rare for a guest not to interact with at some point in their travel journey.

Front of House and Back of House → Website Front-end and Website Back-end 

Top hotels have a strong Front of House staff powered by an equally as strong Back of House team. Similarly, your website needs both a solid front-end and powerful back-end. In both cases, you can’t have a fully functional, high performance website or property without the operations and logistics of the website back-end or Back of House. On hotel websites this means booking engine integrations, seamless CMS functionality and beautifully, design-driven experiences. The beauty of the two working together for website performance is what captures attention, inspires guests, drives bookings and fulfills stays all while utilizing data to inform future improvements. 

Concierge and Butler → Off-site Search and On-site Search

Concierges generally handle requests for things outside of the room, such as restaurant reservations or shopping assistance, while butlers tend to guests’ needs inside the room, such as fresh flowers and beverage service. Similarly online search can help a guest find what they are looking for in two places. First off-site search on search engines like Google can help a guest discover content and information about your hotel outside of your website. Then on-site search serves content within your website. A good marketing strategy addresses both areas. SEO and paid search can be utilized for off-site search visibility and strong rankings driving to your website. At the same time SEO and content strategy are required for on-site search. Keep in mind both search engines and your hotel website can feature property specific information and destination content.

Turndown Service →  Personalization 

A hallmark of luxury hotel service is turndown service, an evening surprise and delight moment to show guests special attention. The timing of turndown service is very special and important – possibly the last touchpoint before a guest is going to bed for a restful night. Personalization in performance marketing can also create memorable moments of hospitality. Personal interactions in marketing touchpoints can create lasting impressions. The little things add up, subtle goes a long way, and loyalty is built on a more personal relationship. So whether it’s a personalized email greeting, a tailored web experience, bespoke community management or informed content curation, high-tech personalization can deliver the same impact of high-touch service.

Distressed Inventory → Remnant Ad Inventory

Distressed inventory refers to hotel rooms that are not expected to be sold at full price. For these rooms, hotels often significantly reduce prices to avoid their rooms going unoccupied and encourage consumers to book last-minute. With media buying for channels like display advertising larger publishers often sell all their remnant (unsold) ad inventory through ad networks. And like unsold room prices, ad networks may reduce pricing for that advertising space. Our team of luxury hotel marketing experts focuses on quality assurance and premium placements featured in above the fold inventory. 

The beauty of digital is being able to see results in real-time and improve upon your work. Coupled with working in hospitality, an industry at the core of our society, it’s a fascinating space to be in and a fulfilling commitment to connecting us all in meaningful ways.

755 words