The pandemic was a survival challenge for the hotel industry. It caused profound and lasting changes that have reshaped the sector. Contactless services, flexibility in booking and cancellation policies, and transparent communication are now the keys to customer loyalty and successful accommodation promotion.
In the new reality, technology plays a critical role in the industry recovery. Email marketing with its high ROI of $36 for every dollar and wide automation opportunities is the channel hotel businesses must not ignore in their marketing strategy.
Emails are also great for providing customer care in the hospitality industry. For instance, short emails with reservation reminders and all the information a guest needs are super handy. And a targeted email campaign can become a powerful promotion tool for your business.
Maintaining a strong connection with guests is crucial for marketing strategy in the hospitality industry. Loyalty, long-term relations, and staying top-of-mind will lead to repeated bookings. According to recent surveys, knowing customer segments inside and out becomes even more important for hotel promotion now. Travelers don’t want one-fits-all solutions: they prefer personal offers for their needs.
Email marketing opens great opportunities for automation, personalization, and customer segmentation to provide the best offer for every guest and grow conversion. Knowing their preferences and behavior is the key to tailoring personalized emails that will lead to bookings.
Email marketing is a perfect fit for marketing strategy in the hotel industry. Numbers confirm it — emails in the niche reach an average 22.48% open rate, and the average clicks reach 1.61% in Canada and the United States.
Even non-targeted emails increase website visits and bookings. A targeted email campaign with personalization can give your hotel even higher chances to get direct bookings. Since people are exhausted and experience decision fatigue, they’d be happy to receive a personal offer they were looking for and not have to browse through dozens of options.
Still in doubt? According to a recent study, 61% of consumers are willing to spend more with companies if they offer a customized experience. So, your hotel business can drive 40% more revenue from personalization than your competitor who ignores it.
Special offers are great for growing loyalty. Why not grant your guest one after the checkout? A thank you email with a special offer for the next visit is great for the occasion. Again, a high email CTR means higher booking chances.
Another good example is seasonal deals. When the seasonal demand is up, lure guests with last-minute deals and great prices. And when it goes down, encourage your potential customers to book a room at your place with some delicious bonuses. For example, you can offer a free meal on their first night or a free upgrade upon booking.
Overall, emails are great for spreading the word about your special offers. Even better, a targeted email campaign for your offer promotion is a surefire way to boost reservations.
Building a long-term relationship is the strategy that will bring your guests back. Email marketing lets hotels keep in touch with the guests all year round so they make a reservation for their next vacation without doubt. As always, it’s great to bring value first and not limit yourself to sales pitches.
The most obvious and effective topic for an email targeting guest loyalty is your hotel’s loyalty program promotion. Cashback, points, and rewards are great for making your guests come back. And emails are great for promoting your loyalty program.
For example, this loyalty program email from Booking.com promises more wonderful travel experiences to gain with Genius bonuses.
First-time guests need enough visual data to get a sense of your hotel. You will have to invest a penny to produce high-quality content to show your readers the accommodation as if they were there. But if you do, your emails will feel like a virtual tour, inviting your subscribers to make a reservation call.
Take a look at this email from Vacasa — feel like taking a swim already?
Adding a new marketing channel to your strategy is a challenge, especially if you’re a small business owner. Your resources are limited and you are simply afraid to waste them. If a big business can afford experiments, a small one needs to be very gentle with the budget.
Here’s a little instruction that will help small hotels and resorts start their first email marketing campaign and make their budget work to boost their reservations.
Let’s say, you’ve never sent a single email. You’re still likely to have some kind of CRM with customer data on your previous guests — it’s time to leverage it.
A successful marketing strategy begins with a deep understanding of your audience. Study the historical data to learn who stops at your place, why they need accommodation, how old they are, their budget, and so on. Having this data and finding patterns in it helps marketers tailor more personal offers that are relevant to subscribers.
For example, here’s an email that targets customers vacationing with their families.
Not enough historical data? Surveys and feedback are great for getting to know your guests better as well. Ask your guests how their stay was right after checkout. If they don’t answer the first call, give it another shot and send a follow-up email. Here’s a great example from Renaissance Marriott that does exactly that. The guest ignored the first email with the feedback form, so they kindly asked to reconsider giving feedback in the second message.
You can also spread surveys on what the guests value most about the accommodations, their plans for trips, etc. This data will help you understand them better.
List segmentation is the key to more personal offers and a more effective marketing strategy. The more precise your segmentation is, the more tailored your offer will be. Segmentation criteria may include demographics, reservation history, location, preferences, etc.
For example, if you have a segment of business travelers who come for a specific business event, you can offer them a transfer to the venue or a discount for a conference room. If you know that a segment of your guests has two kids of a certain age to travel with, you can offer a nanny or a list of kids’ entertainment around the place. If you know that your guests are older people, focus on healthcare programs or light activities your hotel offers.
When you clearly understand who your readers are and which segments you can form, it’s time to craft emails. One thing to consider is that people won’t spend a lot of time reading your emails, so your content should be digestible, not overly verbose, and centered around visuals rather than a long copy.
This email from Ace Hotel is a great example because you can get its gist without reading too much into it. Trendy-looking pictures in a smooth color palette and big headlines let you understand what the email is about by simply scrolling through it.
You may also try gamification and interactive elements in your marketing strategy to grow engagement and bring life to your newsletters. According to research, interactive content is 52.6% more engaging than static content. And it definitely is more fun.
Scheduling campaigns is a bit more complex than writing an email for every event in the holiday marketing calendar. There’s no foolproof number of emails you should send monthly — it depends on many factors like the average age of your audience. For example, 53% of Zoomers are happy to receive emails from the brands at least once a week. That slightly differs from 66.5% for Millennials and 58% for Boomers.
Sending more emails than the readers are happy to receive can lead to email fatigue. It’s when the reader gets tired of your newsletter and stops engaging with your emails, which then leads to unsubscribes. According to Mailgun, 20% of readers say they most commonly unsubscribe from email lists because they get too many emails.
To make sure your emails are always welcome, let your readers choose frequency themselves. Set an email preference center where they will choose how often they want to get emails from you. Don’t forget to provide the link to the preference center in your emails so that your readers can manage their preferences anytime.
The preference center can also become a tool to collect extra data about your audience. It doesn’t just tweak frequency for a subscriber — they can also choose the type of content they’d like to receive. These include discounts and deals, regular newsletters, and so on. This provides you with data about what your subscribers are interested in. Then, you can use this data to adjust the general direction of your email efforts.
Now, that you know the general theory, let’s dive into deeper details! Let’s check out some inspiring hotel newsletter examples and see how you can use different types of content to engage with your audience.
Focusing on the accommodation is an obvious and effective way to craft a good newsletter from a hotel. High-quality visual content is a must for this type of email.
Check the email from Ace Hotel Toronto below. The focus is on a huge picture of the accommodation in good quality, from a decent angle, shot in beautiful natural lighting. The text presents the new venue and tells about its history. There are clear calls to action as well: “Book a room”, “Shop Toronto”, and “Book Adler”.
When you already have the reservation, there is no need to sell anymore. The reservation reminder should be brief and contain all the information your guest needs on one screen. Such emails are automated via marketing software like Selzy, so you only have to set it all up once.
Check the reservation reminder from Airbnb below. It has an extra brief accommodation description, location and full address, dates, check-in and check-out time, the link to the host profile, and the price. There are also several handy buttons and links like “Get directions”, links for payment and itinerary details, and a “Change your reservation” button. It’s all the information your guest needs on one screen.
75% of marketers believe that personalized experiences drive sales and repeat business. Creating personalized emails may seem easy — just include your recipient’s name in the subject line, right? Wrong!
Personalization is not only addressing readers by their names. It is crafting a personal offer for readers based on what you know about them.
This email from HotelTonight contains information on the guest’s activity in the service during the year. It also offers to make a booking in the city the reader recently searched and promotes HotelTonight’s Instagram account.
Emails are great for a hotel’s loyalty program promotion. You can simply provide discounts or make your loyalty program an exciting game where guests get better perks with each level.
In the email below Marriott Bonvoy promotes the loyalty program, encourages the reader to provide more data, promises perks, and encourages subscribers to try the mobile app.
Upcoming season change gives you another chance to engage with your audience. You can craft a nice offer for the new season that might interest your guests.
The newsletter from Vacasa below starts with a great interactive element. It introduces a survey where readers can choose their favorite way to take on the summer. It also contains links to guides with the best locations for each option.
Here’s another good example of a holiday newsletter: HotelTonight encourages readers to book rooms for Pride Month. The email is really simple: it wishes you a happy Pride Month and lists available booking options.
Special events in your hotel can become a good occasion to meet your guests even when they don’t make a reservation. Concerts, fashion shows, markets, dinners, and parties are the most popular formats for those.
Take a look at this email from Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel. It features vibrant photography, promotes not just one but several upcoming shows, and the offer sounds like a steal — live music AND a hot springs pool? We’re in.
A good sense of humor always grows loyalty, so why not use one in your newsletter? Check this awesome email from The Hoxton that provides a special offer for Sunday night and some excuses for your boss to explain you’ll be off on Monday.
Email marketing for hotels is a great tool to nurture customer relations and grow loyalty. You can showcase accommodations, promote special offers, and drive direct bookings. And guess what, Selzy provides a hotel marketer with all the tools to do that!
