Content marketing is an important part of any hotel's marketing plan, and video marketing should be an integral part of that plan. Video is naturally engaging, and if utilized well, is effective in promoting your hotel, building your brand, and driving business. Enticing group business or leisure travelers to stay at your hotel is easier when they can see what you have to offer. But hotel video marketing goes well beyond simply showcasing your property in video form. Keep reading for some ideas to help boost your exposure, as well as some top examples from real brands.
Discover 7 hotel video marketing ideas and examples:
1. Offer virtual tours.
One of the most effective hotel video marketing methods is to create a virtual tour of your property. Virtual tours enable your prospects to see your property, its amenities, and how versatile it can be — all without having to step foot inside of it. Aside from this being a great offering when people are unable to travel due to COVID-19, offering these tours can increase interest in the long-term, too.
Virtual tours also get prospects and would-be guests acquainted with your hotel and give them a good idea of what they can expect upon arrival. Show off rooms, restaurants, outdoor amenities such as pools and beaches, and anything else your property has that makes you stand out.
Virtual tours come in many shapes and sizes, so choose the one that best fits your property, as well as your target audience. For example, create a video walkthrough like the one below to target guests and show them what will be available during their stay, but also utilize 3D diagramming to show planners upgrades that are coming to your space.
2. Give a behind-the-scenes look.
Behind-the-scenes videos highlight the inner workings of your hotel. This is especially useful when marketing to planners. Knowing that your venue is able to pivot quickly, and with minimal strain, provides your prospects peace of mind that your venue is the right one for their event. These videos grant special access to viewers and should be positioned as such. You can show videos of your restaurant’s chefs preparing meals for large groups, your staff setting up for a large event, or your receiving and shipping department’s capabilities.
Not only will highlighting your capabilities promote your brand, but it can also promote your team’s attention to detail, dedication to excellence, and even position your venue as a thought leader. If there's an innovative way you handle a certain aspect of an event, highlight it and show it off. If there's a special dish your hotel is known for, have a chef walk through how to make it at home. There is no limit as to how you can make the services you provide, and the people who provide them, the star of your hotel video marketing.
The below example wasn't created in-house by the Ritz-Carlton, but was instead put together by the Evening Standard — a daily London newspaper. So not only can the hotel promote it within their channels, but they receive additional promotion from the publication as well.
3. Introduce your team.
Similar to the behind-the-scenes options mentioned above, giving viewers direct access to your team members is a great way to boost your business. Highlight the achievements of your staff and the value they bring, both to the property and to guests. If you have a world-renowned chef, do a spotlight on them. Has one of your concierges been working at the hotel for 25 years? Share their story. Highlighting your team not only boosts morale, but also enables guests and planners to know that, when they come to your hotel, they will be working and interacting with the best of the best. It gives prospects a face-to-face connection without actually being face to face.
Additionally, try to give your brand a voice and personality through your video content. Let your viewers get to know your property through the voices of your employees. These can be interviews, personal stories, or a glance at why each person you spotlight chose to work at your property. This approach enables your prospects to put faces to names and voices to your hotel.
4. Provide travel tips.
As a hospitality professional, you have special insights into travel, especially when it comes to your hotel's surrounding area. Your expertise in this area is priceless, and a great way to highlight it is via video. Travel tip videos position your property as a thought leader and showcase how your hotel is best suited for all of your guests. For example, let's say your hotel has a shuttle service. Create a video promoting it and highlight the various landmarks and tourist sites that guests can take the shuttle to while they're in town.
If there's more than one property in your portfolio, show what a trip to those various properties could entail, such as a drive through the Grand Canyon or a flight that gives passengers a birds-eye view of Niagara Falls. Give prospects and potential guests a taste of what they may miss out on by not staying with you.
Additionally, if you have special deals with local businesses, add that to your travel tips video. It shows how your hotel is woven into your community, and that staying with you provides plenty of perks.
5. Leverage reviews and customer testimonials.
Another great way to boost your hotel video marketing efforts is to have former guests and clients talk about how great your staff and property are, and about the wonderful time they spent with you. These videos can be created a handful of different ways, including conducting on-camera interviews with willing customers and clients and featuring those interviews in a video, or grabbing positive reviews from websites like Tripadvisor and Yelp to create a mash-up of all the positive things people have to say about your property. Instead of creating an individual video for each positive testimonial you receive, consider weaving a handful of testimonials together with background music and B-roll of your property.
Of course, asking customers and clients for a testimonial can be difficult, but there are plenty of ways to solicit feedback. In addition to conducting in-person interviews or working with review websites, you can get feedback on social media platforms or even add a section to your hotel website encouraging guests and planners to give feedback there as well.
6. Highlight amenities and upgrade opportunities.
Highlighting your hotel's amenities and the upgrades guests can experience while at your property will not only entice more people to visit your hotel, but it will also drive up-selling opportunities and increase business. For example: If you have a renowned spa, create a video of people enjoying it. Or, if you have an incredible beach and offer rentals like chairs, cabanas, jet skis and boats, make sure your potential guests are aware by including those options in a video.
Show your soon-to-be guests what a day at your hotel looks like, from waking up to hot coffee and a continental breakfast to spending time relaxing in the spa before heading to the hotel bar for some world-class cocktails. For group business, show off the awesome space you have available — both while it's empty and in use. This is a great opportunity for a time-lapse video! Show off your upgraded conference rooms and highlight the technology that you can make available to them. Video marketing can help you not only tell, but show, how you can make events better, so make sure you're putting your best foot forward.
7. Don't be afraid to pull at people's emotions.
If the goal of your hotel video marketing is to stand out and grab people's attention, one of the best ways to do that is to evoke emotion. In fact, a 2016 study from the Tempkin Group found that, when individuals have a positive emotional association with a specific brand, they are 8.4 times more likely to trust the company, 7.1 times more likely to purchase more and 6.6 times more likely to forgive a company’s mistake. Additionally, a Nielsen study found that ads with an above average emotional response from consumers caused a 23% increase in sales compared to average advertisements.
Take the below Holiday Inn China commercial as an example. The two-minute video, which was part of the chain's Moments of Joy campaign, tells a story of a little girl, her always-traveling mom, and how Holiday Inn can become a home away from home for families. The actual property only appears in the video for a few seconds, but the rest of the time is spent telling a powerful — and memorable — story.
Boost your hotel video marketing efforts today!
And remember, once a video is created, don't be shy about sharing. Make sure your top marketing videos are featured on your website, social media platforms, and all relevant email marketing materials. Integrating your video content with all of your other marketing efforts will lead to high engagement and high conversions.
Up next, take a deeper dive into the world of hotel video with these must-know hotel video tips.
