Video Marketing for Hotels

Video marketing for hotels is a strategy that involves creating and sharing videos to promote hotel services, amenities, and experiences. This form of marketing is important as it visually showcases what a hotel offers, creating a more engaging and immersive experience for potential guests. It helps increase online visibility and enhance brand image and can significantly influence booking decisions by providing a realistic and attractive preview of the hotel’s facilities and atmosphere. This approach is particularly effective in today’s digital age, where visual content often has more impact than traditional text-based advertising.

Key Takeaways

  • Emphasize Storytelling: Create engaging narratives that showcase the hotel’s unique features and experiences.
  • Quality over Quantity: Focus on producing high-quality videos that reflect the hotel’s brand and standards.
  • Effective Distribution: Utilize various platforms like social media and the hotel’s website for maximum reach.
  • Seasonal and Event-Based Content: Creating videos for specific seasons or events to attract relevant audiences.
  • Interactive Video Features: Using interactive video elements to engage viewers and provide additional information.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Videos are an undeniably powerful marketing tool, especially for the hotel and travel industry. After all, they can capture the attention of the audience much quicker than text and have the power to generate extremely high traffic to your website. No wonder video marketing has taken the Internet by storm. This effective tool is so versatile that you can use it to promote your hotel’s services and build customer rapport.

What Is Video Marketing?

Video marketing isn’t just about selling content to a target audience. Different aspects of this online marketing tool can be used to promote website visits, products, and services and attract bookings.

You can even improve your customer service through effective video marketing strategies. According to the Video Marketing Statistics Report by Wyzowl, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.

Table: Example of Channels & Platforms Where Video Marketing Can Be Used

The table below presents a comprehensive overview of effective engagement strategies for hotel videos across diverse platforms. Each strategy is accompanied by key metrics, enabling hotels to assess the performance of their video marketing efforts.

Platform Engagement Strategies Key Metrics
Hotel Website Embed videos on the homepage and relevant pages.
Create video galleries showcasing amenities.
Website traffic
Time spent on site
Social Media Share videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Run video ad campaigns targeting specific demographics.
Likes, comments, shares
Click-through rate (CTR)
Email Newsletters Include video teasers in email campaigns.
Use videos to showcase special offers and events.
Open rate, click-through rate (CTR)
Conversion rate
Booking Platforms Add video tours to property listings.
Respond to guest inquiries with personalized videos.
Booking inquiries, conversion rate
Conversion rate, guest satisfaction
Other Marketing Channels Feature videos in blog posts and articles.
Collaborate with influencers for video promotions.
Traffic, engagement
Reach, engagement

How Your Hotel Can Benefit From Video Marketing

A professionally created hotel video will help your business gain market credibility. Video content will help you tell your story and allow potential customers to get a feel for your hotel’s facilities and services before booking a room on your website. In this article, learn the five essential video marketing tips and some amazing video examples to increase your hotel revenue.

1. Focus on quality

High-quality videos tend to attract more viewers than low-quality images. If your hotel video looks like an amateur has created it, the chances of room bookings will be much less. Creating a high-quality video will give you the best possible returns on your investment. If your video doesn’t quickly or effectively address the guests’ needs through quality pictures, they will move on to another property, and your video will be forgotten in seconds.

2. Wow Your Audience With a Great Intro

The hotel industry relies on effective videos to promote their services to prospective customers on the Web. A brief intro is the most essential part of your video, as you will want to capture your viewers’ attention from the second they watch it. Remember to keep your intro direct and short. It must tell the viewer everything about your hotel while setting the tone for the rest of your content. Incorporating an intro video into your website’s homepage lets you grab your visitors’ attention.

3. Make Your Video Stand Out

If you want to create a unique video, you must first highlight your hotel’s unique features. Your business has a rich story behind it; you must emit this through your video. Find out what makes your business stand out from others and emphasize that. Only then you will be able to find your tone and uniqueness. Whether your tone is inspiring, passionate, or serious, you need to think of all the characteristics that make your particular hotel different from all the ones in your location and portray these in a positive tone of voice in your video.

Video Marketing - Make Your Video Stand Out

4. Add Value to Your Video

Adding value to your hotel video doesn’t mean creating a sales pitch that’s all about your brand. You should consider video marketing an opportunity to add value at every stage of the potential customer’s online journey. While you might think it’s easy to produce a great hotel marketing video without much pre-planning, you could end up with low-quality content that will only harm your brand. It is, therefore, important to start with a script to keep your filming crew on track and your viewers engaged.

5. Share Your Video With Your Audience

Another important tip for your video marketing campaign is to enable your video to be shared on your other social media channels. This will help spread the video from one platform to another and reach a wider audience. According to the Most Popular Video Content Type Worldwide Research Report by Statista, online videos had an audience reach of 92.3%. YouTube is one of the most important social media sites since millions of people use this platform to watch videos every month. You need to include a link to your website on your YouTube video so your audience can visit your homepage after watching your video.

360 and Virtual Reality Videos for The Hotel Industry

Virtual reality goes beyond just video games and entertainment. With the continuing advancements of this technology, it now offers an interactive guest experience through immersive headsets and 360-degree videos. Nowadays, many kinds of businesses benefit from VR, and the hotel industry is no exception. Remember to use 360-degree shots of the hotel’s rooms and facilities, as customers will get a closer look at the hotel and will feel comfortable staying there.

Video Marketing - 360 and Virtual Reality Videos for The Hotel Industry

Difference Between 360 and Virtual Videos

One big difference is that the images in a virtual reality video are created digitally, whereas a 360-degree video is captured from a real-life setting. These live videos capture real places exactly as you would see them in everyday life, unlike virtual reality, where a virtual environment is created to interact with.

Why Are 360 VR Hotel Videos Becoming So Popular?

Virtual reality has the power to transport people from one exotic place to another, which is why the hotel industry is increasingly using VR and 360 videos to promote its brand. A 360 video invites people into a scene and offers an accurate picture of where they will stay. This makes the hotel guests feel more comfortable placing their trust in that hotel, and the chances of booking a room will be greater.

5 Great Examples of Powerful Hotel Videos

Video marketing is a powerful tool that helps luxury hotels grab the audience’s attention and engage them throughout the online journey. Here are 5 great examples of hotel videos on YouTube:

#Video 1: Byzantino Boutique Hotel Monemvasia in Greece

The video of the Byzantino Boutique Hotel, located inside the castle of Monemvasia, provides guests with a 360-degree view of the hotel’s location and facilities. The video of this hotel taps into the viewers’ different emotions about travel, relaxation, and getting a sense of luxury. The aim is to encourage visitors to explore the sights of Greece and stay in this luxury hotel.

#Video 2: Kalima Resort and Spa in Thailand

This 3-minute promotional video features the hotel’s rooms, facilities, and all the activities guests can participate in. The visual content is the most important part of this video as all the images are blended together in harmony. The effective call to action at the end of the video prompts viewers to visit the hotel’s website.

#Video 3: Holiday Inn Express in Adelaide, Australia

This newly-built hotel offers a 2-minute 360-degree tour of its premises with special emphasis on its features, including conference rooms, bar, fitness facilities, and of course, its rooms. The tour allows viewers to see the whole hotel in true lighting and proper proportions as though they are actually in it.

#Video 4: Agrovela Hotel Alacati in Turkey

The short movie-like video presents the authentic aspects of the destination, the characterful hotel rooms, and the visitors’ experiences within this charming Turkish village. The 2-minute video mainly focuses on elaborate and intimate moments of people enjoying themselves in a rustic hotel so you get a good feel of what the hotel offers.

#Video 5: Cape Dara in Pattaya in Thailand

The immersive 360° VR Walkthrough of the 5-star luxury resort allows viewers to visualize the hotel before booking. The main focus of this video is on the guests’ experiences. The audience gets a sense of the scale and size of the rooms as well as the hotel’s exotic surroundings.

Video Marketing for Hotels FAQs

To make a video for a hotel, showcase the property’s best features, such as rooms, amenities, and services, using high-quality visuals and good lighting. Add engaging music and a clear narrative highlighting unique selling points and guest experiences.

Hotels need digital marketing to reach a broader audience, enhance their online presence, engage with potential guests, and drive bookings. It’s essential for competing in today’s market and meeting guests where they spend significant time.

Hotels spend a wide range of amounts on advertising, depending on their size, location, and goals. A hotel might allocate between 4% and 10% of its revenue to marketing and advertising efforts, depending on its strategy and market conditions.

To take a video of a room, ensure the room is well-lit and tidy. Use a steady hand or a stabilizer to film, and slowly pan around the room to capture all angles and features, focusing on unique or luxurious details.

To market a hotel online, create a compelling website, use social media platforms to engage with guests, employ search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, leverage online booking sites, and utilize email marketing to reach potential customers and promote special offers.

As the world of technology evolves, so should your hotel marketing strategies. Powerful videos that take the viewers’ experience to another level are growing rapidly. If you haven’t yet started optimizing your audience’s engagement through videos, now is the time to start implementing your strategy.

More Video Marketing Tips

Videos are a powerful marketing tool, especially for the hospitality and travel industry. After all, they can capture the audience’s attention much more quickly than text or images. In the following articles, you will learn more about video marketing:

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

This article is written by:

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. I am specialized in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have over 15 years of experience developing, implementing, and managing revenue management and marketing strategies and processes for individual properties and multi-properties.