A hotel marketing wishlist for 2024

This year is all about getting real and making genuine connections with our guests. Let’s make it a year where our marketing not only stands out but also truly resonates with the people we’re here to serve.

words by Kostas Panagakis | released on January 5th, 2024

As 2023 drew to a close, a long-standing tradition in the hospitality industry came to the fore. Each December & January, amidst the festive atmosphere, leading players in the hospitality sector, such as Hilton, Booking.com, Design Hotels, and Black Tomato, release their annual forecasts for travel trends in the upcoming year. This period, rich in analytical foresight, serves as a pivotal moment for sales and marketing teams, PR & media relations agencies, digital marketing professionals & branding experts.

The list has it all. From the allure of sleep wellness to the thrill of multigenerational adventures, and from the appeal of technology-free experiences to the resurgence of train travel, the emerging patterns and trends consistently captivate our interest. If one were to encapsulate the essence of these insights in a single sentence, it would be that “People around the world are traveling differently.”

This change reflects a decade-long introspection on travel habits and a return to authenticity in travel experiences. On the other end, hotel sales and marketing teams strive to “read the tea leaves,” interpret the situation, and envision what lies ahead in the near and medium term. Digital marketers keep a close watch on platform developments and test what works and what doesn’t, while communications professionals work to develop relevant stories that resonate with audiences and media. 

There is a lot of room for discussion and many passionate debates to be held throughout the season but now more than ever most discussions among hospitality marketers align along the lines of the following wishlist.

The wishlist

Wishing for … mail marketing campaigns addressed to humans not inboxes. Let’s all forget our focus on CTR & open rates. Let’s stop thinking clickbait catchy titles and start putting ourselves in the position of our past & future guests. We work for love brands and this makes all the difference in the world when you prepare copy and you curate visuals. Actual people have lived and made beautiful travel memories on the place that we describe them on our email. Let’s pay a tribute to them and create content that will re-ignite those memories & feelings.

Wishing for … actual hotel concepts that look good in real life and not just in press releases. Let’s all bypass in 2024 our urge to make a brand stand out through extravaganzas and PR gimmicks that make little to no difference in the guest’s experience. People want to be the best version of themselves when they travel. Let’s just try to serve that ambition.

Wishing for … brand partnerships that resonate with guests not marketeers. Collaborations that go past the press release and combine the unique attributes of brands outside the hospitality community with hotels that truly embrace them.

Wishing for… websites that speak to guests not only to search engines. Because at some point users will land on your landing page they will want to experience something that reads well not only ranks well.

Wishing for… unique photoshoots that bring forward the brand and not the Lightroom presets. We all loved that hotel in Tulum. Let’s try to cherish that content and not turn every hotel in South Europe to look the same. Lightroom presets help you ensure consistency for your brand. If they help you ensure consistency with other brands you have a problem.

Wishing for brand copy with empathy that reflects feelings not keywords. Our written content should resonate with emotions and experiences, not just keywords. It’s about connecting with our guests on a deeper level.

Wishing for… coherent social media strategies that fill timelines not powerpoints. A good strategy is a well-crafted, long – term roadmap that delivers on a specific goal. Powerpoint decks with content pillars, posting times and format mixes is not a strategy. It’s an action plan.

As we kick off 2024, let’s take this opportunity to focus on what’s genuinely important in hotel marketing. This year is all about getting real and making genuine connections with our guests. Let’s make it a year where our marketing not only stands out but also truly resonates with the people we’re here to serve. This wishlist isn’t just a random collection of ideas; it’s a heartfelt call to revolutionize how we connect with our guests.