When the managers of a hotel decide to embark on a renovation – be it improvements to an existing spa or an overhaul of guest rooms – one of the prime factors to consider is marketing. And planning ahead is vital. Don’t wait until you’ve finished the rehab to announce it because you want to let the public know with some lead-time, so you can positively affect bookings.
Obviously, if you are undertaking an upgrade of any kind, it is to better serve your guests’ experience when staying with you. And as an award-winning travel PR agency, we advise clients to let your guest community know that these changes are occurring.
So what are the tools you have to let your guests and future customers know about the changes going on at your property?
- Press Release — Its vital to get a press release out to the media that cover travel so they can start to alert their readers of what to expect. Since many of the hotels we represent thrive on repeat guests, as do many in the luxury category, you want to make sure the magazines and the news sites they read are carrying coverage of the upgrades.
- Social Media – Let your followers on Facebook and Twitter know what’s going on, since those are going to be among your most loyal guests. Our agency utilizes the channels of Instagram and advises clients to promote the news on their personal LinkedIn profiles as well.
- Media Tour – If the news is significant enough, let your PR agency reach out to its media contacts to arrange some face-to-face interviews with key reporters for a member of your sales team. Since we are based in New York City, and that’s the media capital of the country, we often bring our clients in for desksides or a quick cup of coffee with editors.
- Press Trip – The best advice we can give is plan ahead! Since early January we’ve been reaching out to target press for group trips scheduled for early spring. In order to put together a topnotch group, it’s in your best interest to start this process a good three-to-four month’s out from the date you anticipate the upgrade to be finished.
- Tourist Board – The country tourist boards get an enormous amount of traffic, and post news about what’s going on in their countries. Get the word out by sending them your press release, and arranging an interview with the hotel manager.
Generating buzz is the byword to keep your hotel in the forefront of the traveling public, and these tools should all be utilized to their fullest extent.