You know that digital and physical publications are among the best marketing ideas to drive new business to your hotel. In fact, there are many benefits of hotel blogging, from interacting with your current customers to engaging potential new ones. But you also know that coming up with new and novel blog content is a daunting task, especially over time. If your content calendar is running on fumes, don’t fret. We’ve got you covered with creative strategies to come up with hotel blog ideas that keep visitors engaged today — and even drive bookings down the road.
Discover creative ways to generate new hotel blog ideas:
- Talk to your coworkers. People beyond the hotel marketing team often know more than you about the behind-the-scenes working of your hotel properties. Send an email to colleagues in housekeeping, venue management, and restaurants across your properties seeking ideas for the blog. You can even give them a heads up to think about what interests them about the hotel and take a shared break in the hotel coffee shop to discuss ideas.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- A profile of a groundskeeper who spearheaded a composting program.
- A Q&A with a housekeeper who loves being at your property on holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Years — and what draws them to holidays at the hotel.
- Survey guests. Add a question or two to your post-stay surveys that might generate ideas. Ask guests if there were things they wish they knew about your hotel or the local area before their stay. Ask if they found anything unique about your property. Or, if there were local attractions that piqued their interest.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- A digital photo gallery of a local botanical garden.
- A profile of your in-house baker who specialises in vegan pastries.
Learn more about creating hotel blog content
- Survey event planners. Along the same line, you can survey planners after their events at your properties. Ask if some amenities and services stood out to them as differentiators. These may be worthy of a closer look in a blog post. You should also talk to planners about their interests during face-to-face hospitality industry events.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- A blog listing the best free event planning tools to reduce stress and boost productivity for planners.
- A comprehensive article about event catering trends coming up for the second half of 2020.
- Check out what the competition is doing. Explore the blogs of competitors to see what they’re producing — and then adapt (don’t steal!) some of their practices. Remember: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- An article explaining how your hotel creates an all-inclusive workplace for its employees.
- A post introducing your menu team, with a focus on how they design original recipes and menus for events.
- Explore your past blog posts. Go back a few years and see which posts generated the most engagement. Which posts did visitors read start to finish? It may be time to revisit or update some of these topics. If you wrote about a restaurant in 2010 that just opened its doors, share an update on how the business is doing 10 years later.
You can also look at the subheads of past blog posts, too. Maybe there were sections you wanted to expand on, but didn’t have the extra time. Write about it more deeply now.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- A blog post about your hotel redesign included a section on the original large-scale artwork in the lobby created by a local artist. Write a deeper profile of the artist, and what the installation means to them five years later.
- Let a popular post about the top 10 restaurants in your hotel’s city inspire a blog photo gallery series titled “Thursday Nights Out.” Each gallery shares gorgeous shots of a busy night at the hot spot, including closeups of signature dishes. Post a new gallery every Thursday for ten weeks.
- Follow travel social media personalities. What are they talking about with their followers? And what topics are their followers engaging with most passionately? This can inspire your blogs. For example, a business travel social media influencer sharing tips about what makes the best hotel business centre could inspire an idea about your upgraded business centre.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- A travel blogger complains about poor hotel customer service. You write about how your hotel provides employee EQ training.
- Write an article about how to find and score the best travel gear, along with tips about how your hotel can help with supplies.
- Translate ideas from your favourite non-hotel blogs. Chances are you have a favourite marketing blog you visit for industry trends or a writing blog you turn to for words of wisdom. Perhaps you have an outside passion, such as surfing, knitting, or acoustic blues guitar, and you visit a blog regularly for tips and teachings from the pros. Look for interesting angles on common topics they cover in their blog. This can inspire a shift of perspective and spark ideas.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- Let college hoops inspire you to write about the basketball program at your local college. Shine a spotlight on stand-out athletes
- Create a book review blog for the passionate readers on your list. Explore the best new releases, explore the classics, or go with a topic such as heartwarming non-fiction finds.
- Visit your local conference and visitors bureau. You should have an in-person relationship with the folks at your area CVB, as well as with members of your tourist board. Pay regular visits to update your marketing materials and to discuss complete and upcoming property upgrades. And while you’re there, discuss what’s new and noteworthy in the region.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- During your conversation, you learn a notable chef is on the lookout for a property near your hotel. Be the first to write a profile.
- You learn that a major nearby attraction is temporarily closing for renovations. Share a timeline of the project on your blog — prospective guests will appreciate the transparency.
- Let Google generate ideas. Open a Google search and type in “best hotels in [your city]” or “must-know event venues in [your city].” Google’s auto-complete will point towards related searches and the interests of people considering your city for a stay or an event.
Then scroll down and look for more inspiration in the “People also ask” returns (about midway down the first SERP for your query) and “Searches related to [your search]” at the bottom of the first page. Take these common questions and turn them into content for your hotel blog.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- Perhaps people frequently search for eco-friendly hotel venues in your city. Blog about your above-and-beyond sustainability practices.
- Maybe you discover people want to know what to wear in your city in the summer. Share what they need to know, and the reasons your hotel is a perfect summertime destination.
- What are the hotel’s upcoming events? A major conference for sci-fi writers. A beer fest of local craft brews. A fundraising gala for a local non-profit. Whatever events are on the horizon, write content for your hotel blog or magazine that hits the highlights and entices people to come and see what it’s all about.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- An article about the history of a well-known event at your venue. Delve into the origins, fun facts, and why it’s a bucket-list experience.
- Blog about the main attraction of a specific event. For example, If the event is a wine tasting expo, write a blog about the vineyards coming in to host the event. Hosting a Comic-Con inspired conference? Pick one or two popular comics, shows, or films to blog about.
- Look ahead to the future. Editors have their antennae up for news coming down the pike. Whether it’s an upcoming event or upgrade project at your hotel or an outside event occurring locally, your readers will appreciate updates and advice.
Blog ideas this may generate:
- Inform readers about upcoming renovation projects at your hotel. Converting from chlorine to saltwater in your pool? Write about the benefits and how this will affect guests.
- Help readers understand how you are adjusting to a major issue impacting your city or the area immediately surrounding your property. For example, share details of your event arrival plan in light of road closures on a major nearby thoroughfare. This demonstrates preparedness and flexibility and gives planners confidence in your professionalism.
With new tips to find content in your toolkit, now it’s time to review your content process.
5 ways to polish your hotel publication
- Use your event planning software to keep content calendars up-to-date. Keep your viewers coming back to read your hotel blog or magazine with each new post by keeping things fresh. Use your event management software to keep track of your content schedule so you don’t repeat the same topics over and over again.
- Proofread and edit before you post. This cannot be overstressed. Sift through your piece with a fine-toothed comb to find spelling and grammar errors before you publish. An article rife with mistakes makes your business look unprofessional, sending the wrong message to readers.
- Amplify the release of an article or magazine with social media posts. Drum up interest in your hotel blog or digital publication by pushing your post on your hotel’s social media outlets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
- Use keywords and SEO to improve search. Good content and good keywords go hand-in-hand to optimise your hotel’s rankings as people scan search engines for information. Drive content engagement by:
- Using SEMRush or Google Ads to find the phrases used by your target audience and incorporate them naturally in your blog.
- Optimising your “Google My Business” (GMB) ranking. Update contact information, share important details about your hotel and post plenty of pictures.
- Incorporating keywords into headers (H1, H2) to direct search engines to your content.
- Creating relevant meta titles with keywords and information that sums up the content of your blog.
- Take your content from digital to the real world with a print magazine. Many people still like to read print magazines. In fact, reports show that magazines lose reader engagement when they switch to a digital format. While adding a digital publication opens the doors to new audiences, if your hotel publishes a print magazine yearly or seasonally, stick to what works for you and drum up new content with these tips.
Put these hotel blog ideas to good use!
Whether you’re trying to engage your loyal customer base or capture the attention of potential future guests, your hotel’s content is an essential tool for success. Now that you know a few pro tips to keep your hotel blog content ideas fresh and relevant, use your online event management software to organise your content schedule.
Next up, discover for boosting engagement at your hotel.
