What is hotel remarketing?

Hotel remarketing, which can also be known as retargeting, is a digital marketing tactic that you can do to ‘re-engage’ travellers who have visited your website but have not booked a stay with you.

Hotel retargeting is a way to turn abandoned bookings into actual reservations by showing more information about your property and offers to people who are already familiar with your brand.

Maybe, the individuals who left your website are in a phase of consideration or they didn’t see an offer that stood out to them. Either way, hotel remarketing is a great way to remind them of your value as a hospitality provider.

This blog will tell you everything you need to know.

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How hotel remarketing works for your property

Remarketing works by identifying specific visitors to your website and tracking them after they leave, so you can display more information to them about your hotel.

The process is as follows:

  • A small piece of code is installed on your website
  • This code is used to create ‘cookies’ on web browsers
  • A traveller visits your website
  • When they leave your website, they are followed by this cookie
  • On another site, an ad of yours is displayed to them

The ads that you display can be as simple as a logo or as detailed as offering a specific deal. In addition to being displayed on websites, they can also be displayed via email or on social media sites such as Facebook too.

How to get started using remarketing at your hotel

Since many of us find it difficult to wrap our heads around codes and cookies, there are specific platforms to help with remarketing.

Your first step is to choose a partner to work with. Good options include Google, Adroll, or Retargeter as they will allow you to reach a large number of people online.

Then:

  • Decide how you will segment your website visitors – Maybe, it will be based on the pages they visited, products they viewed, or which page they exited from.
  • Create your ads – Your ad needs to be relevant and enticing for the segment(s) you are retargeting.
  • Analyse results – This will let you see if you need to adjust your segments or your ads to optimise success.
Hotel Remarketing

Why are remarketing campaigns useful?

Hotel remarketing campaigns are extremely useful if you want to provide a boost to your conversion rate. With the average hotel website conversion rate sitting at about 2.2%, there’s plenty of room for small improvements to make big long-term differences to your revenue.

Here’s a few reasons they are so helpful:

  • They can be very specific and target those who you think are closest to converting
  • They can be one of the few ways to stay in touch with people who have visited your website
  • They can be cost-effective and can be flexible to your budget
  • Return on investment is high since you are not marketing to people who have never heard of you
  • They increase conversions to boost your occupancy rate
  • They can be personalised based on audience behaviour
  • They can also be used for upselling to make more dollars from bookings you’ve already won
  • They offer measurable results so you can improve their effectiveness over time

At the same time, you need to be sure that user privacy is respected and that your offers provide genuine value – lest guests think less of your brand.

Hotel remarketing campaigns ideas

There’s room to be creative in your thinking and your execution when it comes to remarketing campaigns.

Some ideas that you get started with to boost bookings include:

  • Base your campaign on behaviour – As we mentioned, this could be targeting people who visited a particular page.
  • Target ‘abandoned’ carts – Maybe you only want to retarget people who were almost over the line.
  • Time based targeting – Perhaps you think you only have a chance to win back people who spent a notable amount of time on your website.
  • Use eye-catching designs – Maybe your ad could feature a countdown timer or take the form of a poll or quiz to engage audiences more strongly.
  • Remarket to past guests – If someone stays with you once and never again, it’s a lost opportunity. Try to get past guests to come back, so you can get another chance to build loyalty.
  • Utilise your partnerships with other businesses – Use a bundled offer or discount to a local attraction to catch their attention.

You can also focus more specifically on the purchase stage an individual may be at, which we have mentioned. This means you can take a different approach based on their likelihood of converting:

  • Awareness – They have seen your brand before but haven’t explored beyond your homepage, for example. Based on this, perhaps you need to only show your logo and name to get them interested in learning more.
  • Consideration – They were browsing particular offers and seemed interested. You could show them an ad that displays a particular room type that you offer.
  • Decision – They are ready to make a booking but have not fully committed to which property. You could display an ad offering a specific deal or discount.

Facebook remarketing

Meta (Facebook + Instagram) is a popular platform to remarket on as it’s very easy to define the audience you want to serve ads to.

Because you want remarketing to be low cost, you can choose an audience based on a profile that you think will be highly likely to visit your hotel website again and consider a booking.

The process and choices are much the same as the general remarketing guidelines, here’s a general overview to read.

Email remarketing

Email remarketing can be effective as your ad might be more likely to stand out to your audience. However they can also feel more intrusive, so potential guests may not appreciate them.

If you can personalise your email ads in any way, this will help ease the friction. For instance if someone abandoned their cart, make sure your ad includes the specific room they were considering.

Some tips include sending the remarketing ads within a few hours of the prospect visiting your site, and ensuring that your ad won’t appear too frequently so a potential guest doesn’t feel spammed.

A remarketing example you can use at your hotel

Let’s look at remarketing in action with an example that targets a young woman who is planning a weekend away with friends.

Here’s how the scenario could play out:

  • She searches for ‘hotels near Bondi Beach’
  • Your website is one of the search results and she spends some time browsing images and rooms.
  • She goes on to visit different sites, including third-party bookings sites to get a full picture of her options.
  • Some display ads for your brand appear on these other sites, showcasing the beautiful view at your property or reviews from guests saying how lovely your rooms were.
  • She also sees an ad pop up on Facebook showing guests enjoying themselves at your hotel, with a promotional message.
  • She is reminded of her positive first impression when visiting your site and opts to return there to browse more seriously.
  • Eventually, she books a two-night stay for her and three friends.

It sounds simple and easy of course but only the right ad, at the right time, served to the right person will lead to a reservation instead of an abandoned booking. However, as we said at the top, even a small increase in conversions each week or month can make a big difference for your hotel in yearly revenue results.

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).