How To Create A Video Marketing Strategy For Your Hotel

It’s been a tough few years for the hotel industry. Covid-19 hit hospitality harder than most other sectors, with Hotel Asset Value Enhancement predicting 5-years for hotels to get back to pre-pandemic performance.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. As travel restrictions across the world are lifted, people are finally beginning to travel once again.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to harness the power of video to win more bookings for your hotel. From cutting edge video ideas to practical tips and examples, we’ve got you covered.

So, why us? Well, we’re Viddyoze, and video marketing strategy is our business. We help all types of brands create visually stunning content to achieve their marketing goals.

The most effective video marketing strategies for hotels smartly put the focus on the two things most important to travelers:

1. The hotel’s facilities
2. The destination

Selling both successfully is the key to attracting more guests to your hotel.

Below are a few video ideas which you can use to promote your business.

1. What To Expect On Arrival Videos

The pandemic has made many people more nervous than ever about travel, so allay any fears with a calming “what to expect on arrival” video.

This is classic video marketing for hotels. We recommend a “walk-through” style video that takes your virtual guest through check-in to the door of their hotel. If you provide a transfer service, you could even extend your video to the airport.

Shoot the whole thing from your “guests” POV (point of view) to really immerse the viewer in your content.

2. Highlights From Live Events

Nothing captures excitement quite like a live event. Show would-be guests the kind of fun they can expect with a highlight video that recaps the memorable occasions held at your hotel.

This type of evergreen hotel video marketing works as a promo (to be posted out on social and in email), and as a research tool as a video on your website.

You can also use this type of video marketing to attract business clients on the lookout for a place to host their latest conference or a high-level meeting. Think of it as 2-for-1 video content.

3. A Tour Of The Facilities

From concerts to house viewings, Covid-19 created a boom in virtual experiences that continue to this day – and hotel tours are no different. Considering the majority of holiday research is now done online, an online tour to sell your facilities, be it a YouTube video or a landing page hero, is a no-brainer.

Be sure to keep things simple with a tour of the areas guests most want to see: pool, bar, restaurant, lobby, gym, spa, and the rooms (a few examples of the different types you offer).

Using virtual reality technology, you can add a 360 element to your video project, creating a much more immersive, desirable experience – if viewers can already imagine themselves staying at your hotel, you’re well on your way to a booking.

4. Behind The Scenes In The Kitchens

Food is one of the major reasons people travel. In fact, some reports suggest that 70% of travelers research a destination’s food and drink before they book a holiday. Set those taste buds tingling with a sneak peek of your kitchen’s culinary prowess.

Behind-the-scenes content is a great way to do this. Not only will they show off your delicious dishes, but they’ll help capture the energy of your team in full swing. Once again, incredible food builds demand, so make sure this content is front and center on your website.

5. Samples Of The Evening’s Entertainment

Whether it’s traditional music and dance, stand-up comedy, or a magician for the kids, generate demand and drive more customers to your hotel with a series of videos dedicated to your evening entertainment.

This content can be both a promo, posted on social media or used as an ad, and hosted on your website to show off your entertainers. Remember, website pages with video perform better for SEO than those that don’t.

6. Customer Testimonials

Nothing sells a product like a happy customer. A happy customer, refreshed and sun-kissed after a beautiful holiday? Even better.

The best part about this particular hotel video, is that you’ve already got the perfect setting and plenty of potential subjects. We suggest asking guests towards the end of their stay, that way they’ll be more likely to get involved, and the request won’t feel too intrusive.

If you have customers who’ve stayed more than once, these should be your main target.

7. Promo Videos

Picture the scene: a stunning hotel room looking out onto the dazzling blue ocean; a dapper bartender whipping up a Pina Colada; an infinity pool empty at sunset but for a single swimmer.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s what a good promo video should do. Show your hotel off at its best; make it irresistible for holidaymakers. Great for raising awareness, you can use this type of hotel marketing video as an ad, or an organic social post.

8. Staff Profiles

Staff profiles have two major benefits for hotels. Firstly, they help put a human face to your hotel, which makes people more likely to connect with your hotel from the outset. Second, this is a surefire way to represent your hotel as a great place to work. When you’re recruiting, you’ve got a ready-made tool to send out to prospective employees.

This type of hotel marketing video is super easy to make, as they’re short, and can be shot in a casual interview style. We suggest making a handful of clips for your public-facing staff and hosting them on your site.

9. Explore Tours And Excursions The Hotel Operates

A snorkeling excursion off the coast of Barbados; a cycle tour of Amsterdam; a visit to a Mayan pyramid in Cancun. If you provide any services, tours, or excursions like this, you need to turn them into video content. Simply put, this is video marketing gold.

Either make a stand-alone promo video for each individual product or a highlight reel to push out on social media during your peak booking season. If you have the budget, virtual tours, and virtual reality videos for hotels work well, too.

10. FAQ Videos

“What time is check out?”

“How do I get to the town center?”

“How far is the beach?”

As a hotelier, no doubt you’ve heard these same kinds of questions hundreds of times. So take the pressure off your staff with a handy FAQ video for the FAQ page on your site. As an added bonus, send this content out to visitors via email as soon as they’ve confirmed their stay.

That way, most of their questions have been answered before they even arrive.

11. Guides To Local Tourist Attractions

As a hotel, your USP is right on your doorstep: the destination itself. With video you can show off your biggest asset in stunning fashion – you can literally bring the viewer to your location.

One of the best ways to do this is a local guide video. Produce videos that walk the viewer through the major attractions in your neighborhood, such as parks, museums, galleries, beaches and other points of interest; throw in a few bars, cafes, and restaurants, too.

Not only does this kind of content drum up demand for your destination, but it creates trust in your hotel. Travel giants Airbnb and The Culture Trip have both had tremendous success in this area.

12. What To Know Before Visiting [Location]

Before booking a holiday, most travelers research the destination they want to visit. Usually, they want to know things like what the weather is going to be like, entry requirements, and language basics.

By creating a video that covers key topics, you’re more likely to rank for key SEO terms related to your destination. Video, it just so happens, is great for your website’s SEO, and recent research from Forrester discovered that Google is 50x more likely to rank a video compared to text.

Things to cover can include:

• Visa requirements
• Weather in “X”
• Best beaches near “X”
• Is it safe to travel to “X”

13. Best Things To Do In [Location]

The search term “Best things to do in [LOCATION]” is an absolute goldmine for SEO.

For example, “Best things to do in Cancun” attracts around 150,000 hits per month. Even if you only get within a fraction of those viewers, you’ll reap the rewards in bookings.

We already know that video is great for SEO, so create a video list to help capture traffic for your site. Remember to add subtitles to your content, include strong CTAs (call to action), and create an engaging thumbnail. For an added boost, use the video to accompany a blog post or landing page, and upload it to YouTube.

14. Travel Checklist Video

A travel checklist is a practical piece of content, aimed at people who’ve already booked their holiday. Similar to the “what to expect” mentioned above, this type of content covers key SEO search terms, covering the last details a person needs to plan their trip.

Things to include:

• Local customs and traditions
• Language basics (Hello, please, thank you, etc)
• Local festivals and celebrations

As the planet continues its recovery from Covid-19 and people begin to travel again, now is the perfect time for hotel marketers to invest in video.

The biggest problem for the travel industry is cost: after 3 years of little to no room bookings, budgets are still tight for many in the hotel business.

Unfortunately, drones and virtual reality equipment don’t come cheap.

The good news is, you don’t need any of that to create videos that ‘wow’ tourists.

Nope, all you need is Viddyoze. For a low-cost, one-time subscription fee, you’ll have access to thousands of professional animated templates, which you can use to make or improve any of the ideas above.

Using our state-of-the-art online software, you’ll be able to create hotel marketing videos in a matter of minutes – even if you’ve never made a video before in your life.

All you have to do is sign up, choose a template from our extensive database, customize it to fit your branding and message, and post it on social media. It really is that simple.

With 86% of brands now using video content marketing (Wyzowl), hotels can’t afford to miss out on this powerful tool any longer. Subscribe to Viddyoze today and start driving more demand to your hotel business.

Fill more rooms with Viddyoze. Or watch the video below for more information.

Sell The Experience And The Memories

When selling a product, we say “sell the benefits, not the features”. For hotels, it’s slightly different. Instead, you need to craft content that sells the experience and the memories your guests can make by staying at your hotel.

To do this, your video marketing campaigns should tell a story. Check out this content by Ogilvy. Notice that it doesn’t spend two minutes reeling off a list of features about a particular hotel. Instead, it tells a story, capturing the magic and excitement of a child in the build-up to a holiday.

Use Actors Which Match Your Target Audience

Before you make a video, ask yourself “who is your target audience?”. For example, are you trying to attract young families, couples, seniors, or backpackers?

Whoever you’re marketing for, make sure the actors you use in your clips reflect this. It’s simple psychology: your potential guests need to see themselves in your video marketing. If they can’t, they’ll look elsewhere. Here’s a good example from the Scott Resort and Spa. They’re targeting young couples, which is made clear within seconds.

Add Videos To Your Profiles On Travel Websites

Adding your hotel listing to a travel site – think Hotels.com, Booking.com, or Expedia – is a simple way to dramatically extend your reach. Expedia alone can open up your hotel to millions of people, which could make a big difference in your bottom line.

To stand out from your competition, add high-quality videography, such as those mentioned above, to your listings. It’s proven to stand out on social media platforms (research shows that posts with videos get more engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), and it’s more than likely to be the same case here.

Record For Mobile Devices

Almost 70% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, according to Perficient. That number jumps up to 80% for social media (Techjury). Simply put, you need to be creating content that works for a mobile device.

Here are some handy tips when making content for mobile devices:

• Shoot vertically instead of landscape
• Keep it short and sweet
• Brand your content
• Ensure the sound quality is high
• Get the file size right (for example, the max size for Facebook is 4GB)

Closed Caption Your Videos

A staggering 92% of people watch video marketing with the sound off, according to a recent survey of US consumers. The reason for this is down to social media platforms themselves.

You see, most autoplay content with the sound off, which cuts the possibility of sound class and enhances the customer experience. So what does this mean for hotels? Well, to make sure your video marketing stands out, you should include subtitles. That way, the message still gets across, even with the sound off.

Insert Brand Touchpoints Throughout The Content

Every piece of video content you create to market your hotel should be branded. The reasons for this are simple: good branding builds recognition and awareness for your business.

Without it, potential customers might not convert. Sure, they loved your quirky content. The hotel looks great; they can see themselves flopped on that beach – but where do they go to book? No touchpoints often mean no sales.

Don’t let that happen to your content. Use Viddyoze to include branded intros/outros, scene transitions, logo overlays, and lower thirds to your marketing output.

Start A Hashtag To Encourage Guests To Share Their Own Videos

Many hotels and travel brands rely on user generated content to promote their business. Not only is it free, but, generally speaking, people love to post their holiday snaps.

Capitalize on this trend with a custom hashtag to direct people to your content. To get the idea off the ground, start with a monthly competition. The rules can be as simple as best photo wins, with a small discount as the prize.

Twitter was the originator of the hashtag but they’ve become increasingly popular on TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Partner With Influencers To Steal Their Audience

Working with celebrities or travel influencers is a great way to tap into an existing, ready-made audience.

Small budget? Try a micro-influencer. These influencers typically have less than 10,000 followers but still provide great engagement. Work with your influencer to produce a hotel walkthrough or promo in exchange for a free stay.

The rewards are twofold: you’ll increase your brand’s awareness and gain credibility by appearing alongside a household name.

Use Your Marketing Videos As Paid Ads

Organic posts on social media will only get you so far. To really cut through the noise, you’ll also need to balance your marketing output with paid ads.

To get the most out of your ads, focus on targeting the key demographics of your customers. For example, think about things like their age, income, and nationality when putting together your ad campaigns.

As for which content to use, promos make for great paid ads.

We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite hotel advertisement examples to help inspire your video strategy.

Hotels.com – Boutique Hotel | Find Your Perfect Somewhere

This clever ad from Hotels.com ticks pretty much every box on the hospitality marketing list. It speaks directly to the millennial target audience, highlighting the benefits of a boutique hotel in a stylish way. It’s a great example of a promo: it uses the right actors to speak to a younger audience, includes plenty of branded touchpoints, and sells “the experience”.

Hilton – Off To Africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcIKnZ1wGC4

Next stop Africa. Hilton manages to capture the essence of an entire continent with this energetic, beautifully shot ad. The “experience” is key here, with highlights taken from a number of African countries, showing off the USPs of each. This is a brilliant example of a promo that focuses on the destination, as opposed to the hotel. At the same time, it hits all the right brand touchpoints, so you know it’s Hilton.

Mark Wiens – Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel – Luxury Relaxation in Zanzibar

This is influencer marketing 101. Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel worked with Mark Wiens to push its Zanzibar property. Mark has 9.07 million followers (it has been watched more than 62,000 times), giving the hotel tremendous reach. The video itself is part “virtual tour”, part “what to expect” content.

This is the year the hotel industry begins its comeback. As of summer 2022, the US is open for business for foreign travelers, with total hotel demand sitting just 2% below 2019 levels, according to US Travel’s monthly report.

In short, now is the time to invest in video marketing. As we’ve outlined in this article, good content can help you stand out, drive demand, attract more people, and fill more rooms. Now, as people look to holiday again, an inspiring piece of visual content could be the difference between a booking and an empty bed.

Using Viddyoze, you can make engaging travel content without the need to hire a team or learn complex new skills. There’s no time consuming, complicated software – just easy-to-use templates designed to help you reach a wider audience.

Sign up to Viddyoze now and boost your booking rate.