Strategies to Improve Traffic and Revenue for Hotels in 2021

The start of 2021 provides the perfect space to begin new strategies of content marketing, online presence improvement, and consumer communication approaches. All in the aim of fulfilling the needs of Google's SERP requirements to ultimately improve rates of traffic and streams of revenue.

Luckily, Milestone has a hotel strategy incubator called Portfolio to enlist the projections for 2021 and how to build strategies of success. From taking advantage of the wedding boom soon to come and upselling on suites through to opening your rooms to the essential workers and taking your booking system back to its direct roots.

1. Fill the demand from the wedding business

2020 halted so many events from celebrated harmonies of marriage to annual holidays. Using this knowledge, it's important to think ahead for the celebrations of 2021.

For example, 2021 is projected to have an influx of weddings due to the cancellations and abandonments seen throughout 2020. So, ensure your site implements content marketing strategies to addressing the fiancée demographic.

During this drive, you need to implement build strategies through omnichannel communication to ensure all past, current, and future brides and grooms are aware of the campaign and have the opportunity to engage. Key methods include email newsletters, a request for proposal (RFP) page, designated landing pages, paid campaigns, hotel SEO, local SEO, and social media reach.

Strategies to implement:

• Define new wedding-focused packages in relation to the campaign
• Develop new landing pages
• Provide an RFP page for wedding inquiries
• Ensure customer service includes live responses
• Enlist paid campaigns through social media channels and Google
• Update FAQs to reflect wedding values
• Communicate rules of social distancing, health, and safety for weddings and events as per state and federal guidelines

Key performance indicators:

• Increase in visits to the RFP page
• Increased engagement with the RFP page
• Traffic deriving from organic keywords
• Growth in the email contact list
• More weddings throughout 2021

2. Condense the consumer journey

Providing booking opportunities on a hotel's direct website is a valued prospect by guests. Yet, in a digital age, capturing direct bookings can be a challenge for hoteliers around the world. For example, third-party sites such as Booking.com dominate the bookings of hotel rooms on a global scale, meaning they feature a level of trust you need to work toward.

Yet, with a loss from overheads to these third-party sales, it's more cost-effective to reside within your own business platform for commerce. Not only this, but you will be in control of the sales process and at the helm for receiving feedback from guests (which is a key part of increasing rates of traffic in 2021).

In order to do this, there must be an implementation of build strategies that focus on remarketing your hotel brand: new on-page features, call-to-actions, and best-rate guarantees for booking direct.

Strategies to implement:

• Offer discounts to site visitors
• Re-start paid advertising campaigns
• Add a page to discuss the benefits of booking direct
• Implement new basket abandonment techniques
• Create new landing pages
• Use direct links to basket from external sources

Key performance indicators:

• Direct channel orders with a year-on-year increase
• Fewer abandoned baskets
• Growth in repeat guests
• Ratio developments between new visitors and return visitors
• Growth in the email contact list

3. Be ever hospitable to the essential workers

After 2020's negative momentum, rates of traffic in 2021 will largely depend upon the value your hotel offered during a difficult time. Perspective matters. And, while vaccines are being efficiently distributed across the globe, the events have not yet drawn to a close.

Essential services are still under immense pressure and essential workers still require help in various means, so it's vital to build strategies that can help provide rooms to the cause while accumulating guest credibility and confidence in your hotel.

Last year, Milestone witnessed hotels across America opening their rooms to house quarantining patients, medical officials, and the unhoused to help relieve this pressure.

Atop this, a learning center named 1440 Multiversity generated over $1 million in donations for a project aimed at providing scholarships to essential workers for recovery and recuperation.

Strategies to implement:

• Develop your website to enable corporate donations
• Create campaigns that aid essential workers
• Enlist for local, state, and federal provider programs
• Work alongside insurance companies, charities, and non-profits
• Use content marketing to increase contextual awareness

Key performance indicators:

• Increase brand value
• Heightened rates of traffic in 2021
• Growth in the email contact list
• Increased web page dwell time
• Growth in repeat customers

4. Upsell to increase the revenue per sale or ADR

In the efforts of focusing entirely on increasing streams of revenue, we inadvertently focus on rates of traffic in 2021 and potential guest engagement.

To do so, it is important to build strategies such as upselling (on the direct website) and applying promotions to suites, corporate deals, business meeting rooms, and so on. You could also offer welcome drinks, a free breakfast, a late checkout, or flexible bookings.

This tactic relies on psychology in 'the consequence of urgency'. Meaning your guests may spend more on the bigger suite and hotel extras thinking they won't see the chance again.

This is especially important in a 2021 economy after mass redundancies where every cent matters. It is key to build strategies leveraging local listings using enhanced descriptions, pop-up promotions, newsletters, social media references, one-time offers, amenities, high-quality images, FAQs, and more, to raise awareness of the better room deals. Thus, increasing rates of traffic in 2021 and income numbers.

Strategies to implement:

• Promotions, upgrades, and offers
• Specific landing pages
• Email marketing offers
• Enhanced room details such as images and floorplans
• More journey-decreasing call-to-actions with pop-ups
• An FAQ module
• A review-taking system

Key performance indicators:

• Increased average cost per booking
• Better rates of traffic in 2021
• Impressions and click-throughs from paid advertisements
• Increased ratings on third-party sites like TripAdvisor to the house for free
• Positive reviews on your hotel's website
• Improved brand value

And these are the four tactics your hotel should implement to drive traffic and revenue for your business in 2021. To find out more about how your hotel can tailor the online marketing approach in a 2021 society, contact the Milestone team at [email protected] or call us at +1 408-200-2211.

Erik Newton
VP of Marketing
+1 408-200-2211