Building your hotel’s digital presence requires meticulous planning and execution across various channels to ensure maximum visibility and seamless operations. From GPS submissions to paid marketing and content optimization, here’s how to effectively position your property for success.

GPS: Getting Your Hotel Found

Ensuring your hotel can be easily located is a foundational step in the launch process. Submitting your property’s details to GPS sources ensures accurate mapping and helps resolve any directional challenges. Consistency in UNAP (URL, Name, Address, Phone) information across all online channels is crucial. Listing your property on as many websites and OTAs as possible is not only going to improve visibility but also address issues arising from rebrands or flag changes if another business previously operated at your address.

Press Release: Spreading the Word

A thoughtfully crafted and strategically distributed press release can amplify your hotel’s opening. Targeting a nationwide audience without overlapping with brand-level press releases ensures unique exposure.

Photo Shoot: Visual Storytelling

Captivating imagery is key to attracting guests. Work with professional photographers to create on-brand imagery for your hotel. Pre-opening, utilize a mix of stock or brand imagery to build anticipation. Post-shoot, distribute high-quality images across all major channels, ensuring your visual story aligns with your brand identity.

Paid Marketing: Accelerating Initial Growth

The first 90 days post-opening can be challenging. A targeted paid marketing strategy can bridge the gap while sales gain accounts. Plan campaigns through platforms like Google AdWords, MetaSearch, Travel Ads, CVB, and other local opportunities to align with your revenue goals.

Linking the Cogs: A Coordinated Approach

A seamless digital launch involves interconnected strategies. Make sure you have a team who will help you ensure a smooth digital opening.

Content: Telling Your Unique Story

Strong, consistent content is the foundation of your marketing strategy. Highlight your hotel’s unique selling propositions (USPs) with accurate, compelling copy. Review and update website content to ensure alignment with your brand and offerings.

Search Engine Optimization – Optimize on-site SEO by researching market-specific keywords and incorporating them into title tags, headers, and meta descriptions. These strategies improve click-through rates and search rankings.

Local Optimization – Audit and optimize your local listings on platforms like Google My Business, Apple Maps, Bing, TripAdvisor, and Yext. This ensures accurate and prominent visibility in local searches.

Social Media – Streamline your social media presence by optimizing your Facebook page and merging any duplicate pages. Start scheduling engaging and relevant posts to kickstart your online activity.

Imagery – Ensure your property’s imagery showcases multiple images per room type. Maintain consistency across Expedia, Booking.com, and other channels.

Online Travel Agencies – Since most OTAs pull content from platforms like Expedia and Booking.com, achieving a 90% or higher content score on these platforms is critical. Cross-check your hotel and room amenities for accuracy to enhance booking appeal.

Collateral – Tell the same story offline by creating materials like custom fact sheets, rack cards, review solicitation cards, or meeting space diagrams. These tools help maintain a cohesive brand image.

Reputation Management – Encourage guest reviews across platforms to boost exposure and SEO. Perform sentiment analysis and secure logins for all channels to monitor feedback effectively.

Competitive Audit – Analyze your top three competitors to identify opportunities for differentiation. Evaluate backlink profiles, domain authority, and referral sources to improve your off-site SEO and support your sales team’s efforts.

Reports – Regularly review reports to identify trends and anomalies. Track website traffic, channel mix, referring domains, and the usage of group/LNR booking tools. These insights enable data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.

Brand.com – Maximize your brand’s direct booking potential by leveraging brand-specific marketing opportunities. This ensures higher revenue retention through direct sales.

These are the crucial steps that Cogwheel Marketing always focuses on when launching a digital presence for a new hotel. Every aspect of your strategy should drive traffic and revenue to your lowest cost of sales channel – your website. By aligning your strategies and leveraging integrated solutions, your hotel will achieve a successful and impactful opening.

About Cogwheel Marketing

Cogwheel Marketing™️ is a full service digital marketing agency specializing in branded hotels, first leveraging brand systems then coupling that with supplemental strategies to maximize total online presence. Their reporting and business intelligence tool, Cogwheel Analytics, aggregates data from multiple sources to allow companies to identify trends and opportunities in their online presence. Our defined processes ensure the best positioning for your hotel against the competitive set and against other hotels of the same brand. Let us work with your sales and revenue management teams to identify and close the gaps and target your ideal guests.

Stephanie Smith
Founder and Digital Matriarch
+1 540 239 1052
Cogwheel Marketing

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