Developing an effective marketing strategy is a complex process — even for small hotels and B&Bs.

Accommodation providers are forced to balance the benefits of an online marketing strategy with the reliable components of traditional marketing. To properly promote your hotel and attract new guests, you need to be able to identify specific target markets.

Your business model must constantly be reassessed to adapt to new trends that will help you increase your guest acquisition.

How Can Hotel Technology Help Your Small Hotel?

Hotel technology is pivotal to guest acquisition, as it allows you to not only identify new target audiences to promote your property to, but it also increases your presence among the most motivated travelers.

In particular, you should consider investing in a property management system that offers you access to a channel manager system. A channel manager allows you to easily implement a distribution strategy that connects you with a diverse range of agents and provides real-time availability information.

In addition, a property management system with an online booking engine will allow you to accept bookings of all types.

Direct bookings from your website, mobile bookings, bookings on social media and other booking platforms are all possible with the right property management system. By accepting every type of booking, you have access to a limitless number of guests from different demographics and geographical areas.

What Types of Guests Can Hotel Technology Help Attract?

Hotel technology allows you to attract the most powerful and motivated guests in the travel industry.

In particular, it can help you better promote your property and your available rooms to these demographics:

  • Millennials
    Millennials, in particular, rely on technology to gain information about a specific hotel and ultimately book their stay. Millennials are known for being spontaneous travelers who rely on their mobile devices to discover and book great last-minute deals on upcoming getaways.
  • Business Travelers
    Business travelers use technology to research the best deals available and they want to be able to quickly and efficiently book their stay at your property.
  • Local Residents
    The right hotel technology can help you uncover incremental distribution channels, which give you access to unique markets and demographics. Local residents are often able to be reached through these channels, which are difficult to connect with if you do not have the right property management system.

Tips for Using Technology to Increase Global Connections

  • Use your technology to create an effective SEO plan. Search engine optimization allows you to increase your visibility online among your target audiences. Use multilingual SEO to promote your property to an international audience. Note that people from different countries may use search engines differently, so you will want to research keyword phrases that are commonly used in the region you are hoping to target.
  • Create a mobile app for your specific hotel that offers convenient services. Your mobile app might provide guests with the ability to order room service or check-in remotely. Promote your app and include it in your marketing campaigns to improve guest acquisition rates.
  • Develop a global social media strategy. Social media is becoming increasingly important in the guest online booking journey. More than 50% of travel brands report that their guests book via social networking sites, proving it is important to have an effective and powerful social media strategy.

Investing in cutting edge hotel technology will allow you to improve your guest acquisition rate as well as refine your overall marketing strategy.

Comprehensive technology solutions will provide you with the administrative software that you need to streamline your business processes as well as the state-of-the-art resources you require to effectively grow your business to the next level.

To learn more about what Little Hotelier’s technology can do for you, watch a demo today.

By Dean Elphick

Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of Little Hotelier, the all-in-one software solution purpose-built to make the lives of small accommodation providers easier. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at Little Hotelier. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance, and, ultimately, value for small accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations (and live their life).