With remarketing, your hotel operates more independently, allowing you to reduce commission costs and even generate more revenue. How do you get started with remarketing?
Gepubliceerd op 04-06-2020
Run your hotel more independently, reduce commission costs, and generate more revenue? Remarketing for your hotel is a fundamental strategy that all hoteliers should implement, but often do not. It requires some research, knowledge, and time, which often holds hoteliers back. Nevertheless, it is wise, and if set up correctly, it will certainly lead to more traffic and conversions (bookings).
In this article, we provide some guidelines on how to set up and use remarketing for your hotel.
New website visitors will not book a stay on their first visit to your hotel website, except for a small percentage. The first visit (assuming these visitors do not yet know your hotel) is primarily exploratory and comparative. You want to remind visitors of their website visit to prevent them from forgetting your name or website and booking elsewhere.
Remarketing occurs when you remind visitors on external websites and/or platforms about their visit to your hotel website. Remarketing is a powerful tool that can increase conversions.
The main goal of remarketing for hotels is independence. Booking sites like Booking.com make it easy for the industry but perhaps a bit lazy. High commissions are often complained about, but what is overlooked is that these sites take over much of your work. This makes you dependent, which can have negative consequences sooner or later. If you can attract enough bookings on your own, you are less dependent on large players in the market.
In addition to dependence, strategy plays a significant role. It is wise to determine your own marketing strategy. This gives you more control and freedom. Once you have a working formula, tweaking it is simple, and you can respond more effectively to the needs of your hotel. You will feel more confident because you learn who your guests are and how to engage and excite them.
A third reason for remarketing is a cost consideration. More direct bookings mean less commission costs. This savings can be substantial on an annual basis. Think about how much you save if you eliminate half of your commission costs!
Remarketing comes in several forms. To get started, three types are recommended, which we will discuss in more detail in this article:
The first three are mostly implemented using Google Ads (formerly Adwords). This is simply the largest ads platform and makes it easier to reach your target audience for that reason. The last, Facebook remarketing, operates independently and is done through its own dashboard.
Display remarketing involves - as the name suggests - image ads/banners. You frequently encounter them on various websites. If you have visited a webshop, you will undoubtedly recognize that you see ads about that specific item everywhere. You can't escape it; everything is geared toward completing your sale. It is essential to note that you must have had at least 100 users on your website over the past 30 days to activate display marketing.
Google Ads allows you to advertise in the search results of the search engine. Search remarketing does the same but applies it to visitors who have already visited your website. They will encounter an ad from you more quickly while searching. Moreover, these are often much cheaper when looking at CPC (costs per click). However, you will need 1000 users per month to activate search remarketing.
The enormous reach of YouTube cannot be underestimated. Especially for hotels, an impression can evoke emotions. By targeting specific groups, you can advertise very specifically. The beauty of this advertising form is that you only pay when the video is directly clicked and viewed.
Facebook remarketing resembles display marketing and shows sponsored posts in your target audience's timelines. They can consist of still images or even videos. It can include a link to your website or Facebook page. Since a large part of your audience will undoubtedly be active on Facebook, this is an interesting advertising method. Especially since the ads appear in the timeline, resembling a regular post. Facebook can also be linked to Instagram to apply your remarketing on Instagram as well.
The golden tip, in my opinion! Applying remarketing on external websites or even URLs is incredibly effective. A practical example: a visitor browses an external booking site and searches for a hotel in a specific area or perhaps even comes across your accommodation. During this search, it is possible that the visitor ultimately considers another accommodation. However, we can assume that there is some interest in a stay at your hotel.
You can attract these visitors to your website through ads. Traffic can be acquired at the URL level (on external websites/domain names). Imagine being able to present ads with extremely low costs (after all, remarketing costs are limited) to the following visitors:
In short, strike while the iron is hot. You understand that in this way, you serve ads to visitors who genuinely have an interest but are at risk of booking elsewhere. You only pay for the clicks, therefore for those who feel attracted by the ad.
Now that we know the basics of remarketing for your hotel (or other accommodation), it does not matter how big or small your accommodation is, in my opinion, remarketing is essential for running your business successfully. It's an automated process that you can continually tweak to further build and increase your success.
In practice, a few matters are essential, and it quickly goes into the technical aspects. It is crucial to track your conversions in Google Ads to see what works and what doesn’t. To apply remarketing, you need a Google Tag integrated into your website and also a Facebook Pixel to transfer website visitors to Facebook for implementing and displaying your campaign.
Setting up and creating your campaigns takes the necessary effort and may require some technical details. That is precisely where we from MyTourist have devised a solution. Part of our package is a website builder that enables you to easily assemble and fill in your hotel website. Additionally, the technical requirements for your remarketing are ready for you and do not require further knowledge. In short, want to get started quickly and directly with remarketing? Sign up for a MyTourist trial account today and benefit from higher returns and independence for your business.