Hotel influencer marketing: Strategies for hotels

What is hotel influencer marketing?

Hotel influencer marketing involves collaborating with influencers—individuals with a strong online presence and a loyal following—to promote your hotel. These influencers create content that showcases your property, offering an authentic perspective that resonates with their audience. Through blog posts, social media updates, and video content, influencers can boost your hotel’s visibility and help attract new bookings.

Influencer marketing has become a powerful tool in the hotel industry, helping hotels connect with their audience through authentic voices. For medium-sized hotels, particularly those looking to boost their brand visibility and drive bookings, leveraging influencer marketing can be incredibly effective.

What are hotel influencers?

Hotel influencers are content creators, bloggers, vloggers, and social media personalities who share their travel experiences with their followers. By working with hotel influencers, you’re tapping into their established audience and creating a more personal and relatable way to showcase your property. Influencers are trusted by their followers, and their recommendations often carry more weight than traditional advertising.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to create a successful hotel influencer marketing program, find the right influencers, and measure your return on investment (ROI).

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Why does hotel influencer marketing matter?

Today, traditional hotel marketing methods are often not enough to capture the attention of modern travellers. Hotel influencer marketing matters because it adds a human touch to your marketing efforts, allowing potential guests to see what a real experience at your hotel looks like through someone they trust. Influencer marketing builds credibility, creates buzz, and allows hotels to reach a wider audience without relying solely on traditional advertising methods.

What is the role of influencer marketing in the hotel industry?

Influencer marketing plays a vital role in boosting brand awareness, particularly in the hotel industry where visual storytelling is crucial. Influencers create engaging content that highlights your hotel’s unique offerings, from amenities to location and service quality. Their content often includes real-time reviews and experiences, helping potential guests feel more confident in choosing your hotel for their next stay.

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Why is hotel influencer marketing beneficial?

Hotel influencer marketing offers several key benefits:

Reach a targeted audience: Influencers have dedicated followers who trust their recommendations, making it easier to reach the right audience for your hotel.
Build credibility: A recommendation from a trusted influencer carries more weight than a traditional ad, increasing the likelihood of bookings.
Increase bookings: By showcasing real experiences and positive reviews, influencers drive repeat visits, direct bookings, and bookings through a partnered OTA.

hotel influencer marketing

How to create a hotel influencer program

Setting up a successful hotel influencer program involves a few key steps:

Step 1: Define your goals

Before reaching out to influencers, you need to define clear goals for your campaign. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, promote a special offer, or boost bookings during a particular season? Clear goals will guide the entire influencer marketing strategy.

Step 2: Choose the right influencers

Finding the right influencers is crucial to the success of your campaign. Look for influencers who align with your hotel’s brand values and target audience. For example, if you’re a luxury hotel, you’ll want to collaborate with influencers who cater to a high-end, luxury-seeking audience.

Step 3: Establish terms and expectations

Once you’ve selected your influencers, set clear terms for the collaboration. Discuss the type of content they’ll create (photos, videos, blog posts), how often they’ll post, and any specific hashtags or messages you want to include. Make sure both parties are clear on deliverables and timelines.

Finding the right hospitality influencers for your hotel

In influencer marketing, it’s not only about who is influential right now, but also who is the right kind of influencer for your hotel and its audience.

Hotels that work with influencers

Look at similar hotels to see which influencers they’ve collaborated with.

Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts: This global luxury brand collaborates with influencers across its properties worldwide. Influencers are invited to share their experiences at locations like the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, using visual storytelling to promote everything from hilltop spa retreats to exotic island views. This helps the brand maintain its elite image while attracting a global audience.
Radisson Hotels: With over 1,100 properties worldwide, Radisson regularly partners with influencers to showcase its diverse range of hotels, including the Radisson Blu Bali Uluwatu. The influencers help highlight the unique experiences at these locations, such as beachside stays in Bali, through engaging content that appeals to a broad audience
Hurawalhi Maldives: This adults-only luxury resort in the Maldives partners with travel influencers to showcase its incredible underwater restaurant and stunning coral reefs. Influencers often share breathtaking visuals that highlight the resort’s appeal as a dream vacation destination.

This can give you a good idea of the types of influencers who resonate with your target audience. You could also:

Use influencer databases like Upfluence or Traackr to find creators in the travel and hospitality niche.
Search relevant hashtags on Instagram (e.g., #luxuryhotels, #boutiquehotels) to discover potential influencers.
Collaborate with local influencers to promote your hotel’s regional attractions alongside your property.

Measuring return on investment for luxury hotel influencer marketing

Measuring ROI is essential to understanding the impact of your influencer marketing efforts. Metrics to track include:

Engagement rate: Measure likes, shares, and comments on influencer posts to gauge how well the content is resonating with your audience.
Traffic and conversions: Use tools like Google Analytics to track the amount of website traffic and bookings that come from influencer content.
Promo codes or affiliate links: Assign promo codes or affiliate links to each influencer to track direct bookings and revenue generated from the campaign.

Addressing challenges and solutions in your hotel influencer marketing program

Every influencer marketing campaign comes with its own challenges, but with the right strategies in place, you can overcome them.

Challenge: Finding the right influencer who aligns with your brand.
Solution: Use influencer databases and thorough research to identify influencers whose audience matches your target guests.
Challenge: Measuring the true impact of influencer marketing.
Solution: Track data such as bookings, traffic, and social engagement to get a clear picture of the campaign’s effectiveness.