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Do you need to learn about luxury resorts marketing and how to increase your bookings? Do you have a resort marketing plan in place or are you unsure how to go about it? Were you aware that digital marketing can be a great help to establish your online reputation and reach potential guests? Are you having trouble reaching audiences in unique markets like South Korea which require a slightly different marketing approach?
Then keep reading to find out more about all the best digital marketing strategies that have proven to work for luxury hotels and resorts. Find out which search engines and social media platforms you need to be on, and how to reach travelers from all over the world, including places like South Korea.
What Is A Luxury Hotel Or Luxury Resort?
A luxury resort or hotel offers its guests lavish accommodations, luxurious furnishings, excellent service, and an unforgettable experience. Often a luxury resort is located at an exotic location that offers affluent travelers the chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Think of the white sandy beaches of the tropical island of Phuket in Thailand or the scenic mountainous landscapes of Tuscany in Italy.
Luxury hotels are the ones that receive a five-star rating and what visitors brag about on social media after staying at one. A luxury resort offers comforts, gorgeous scenery, and a high standard of service unlike any other type of hotel. It is the perfect place for a dream vacation or a destination wedding for those who can afford it.
How Is Luxury Hotel Marketing Different From A Budget Hotel
Luxury hotels provide their guests with much larger rooms and more lavish furnishings than regular budget hotels. A luxury resort will also have specialty services such as a spa, a gymnasium, great room service, extra concierge services, and multiple fine dining options, whereas a budget hotel will only provide the basic amenities. In many cases, luxury hotels are the destination for the guests, and not just a place to sleep while they explore the local tourist attractions.
The potential guests who are looking for luxury hotels to have a five-star experience are different from the ones hunting for a budget hotel. Luxury travelers often wish to rest, relax, and simply lounge around at the resort while they enjoy its finest comforts and superior customer service. They are not concerned with saving money and are unlikely to be swayed by discount offers. Budget travelers on the other hand are normally trying to save money on the hotel since they wish to spend it on exploring what’s in the surrounding area.
If you’re the owner of a luxury resort that has been operating for some time, then you are no doubt aware of who your target audience is. Your resort marketing efforts need to be developed with this type of potential guest in mind, and your marketing campaigns need to be launched on platforms that this type of customer is using.
Global Spending Trends In The Hospitality Industry
According to World Tourism Organization statistics, travelers from Western European companies, the United States, and the United Kingdom top the list of the highest global spenders. If you have been operating a luxury resort or a chain of luxury hotels, you are no doubt aware of this. However, also in the top 10 list is South Korea, with a large market that has the income to support a stay at your luxurious establishment. This makes tourists from the East-Asian nation potential guests that need to be targeted using your resort marketing strategy.
Luxury Hotel Marketing Strategies
Since you are competing against thousands of the very best five-star establishments around the world, you need a few solid resort marketing strategies to stand above them and bring in more direct bookings from potential visitors. While many of these resort marketing techniques mentioned below will work in general for potential guests anywhere in the world, there are some special considerations you need to keep in mind when targeting customers in countries like South Korea.
Establish A Sense Of Exclusivity With Video Ads
Video marketing is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal that you can use to attract, engage and convince travelers to come to stay at your resort. This is because there’s simply no better way than video content to showcase the gorgeous views from your resort’s luxurious guest rooms or the lavish furnishings. Well-produced video content also has some of the highest levels of user engagement online.
Of course, to properly utilize video marketing, you’ll need to know what your audience values, and use that to establish a sense of exclusivity. If your resort or hotel looks like the perfect getaway in a professionally produced video advertisement, it will not only convince customers but also helps build anticipation for their upcoming vacation. These videos can be posted on your website, on social media channels, and even on traditional media depending on your audience.
Differentiate Yourself From Competitors
Differentiating yourself from your competitors is key to a successful resort marketing strategy. If you’re already an established brand, then it’s easy to attract guests to take advantage of that existing brand recognition. If you’re new to the hospitality industry, then you need to build a sophisticated brand image that immediately communicates the superior level of service and comforts you provide at your luxury hotel or resort that cannot be found elsewhere.
You really need to go the extra mile when it comes to your resort marketing strategy when it comes to differentiating your service. A few examples of differentiating could be providing complimentary free gifts at check-in, and sending recommendations for local attractions, restaurants, and activities before the arrival of your guests. However you decide to differentiate yourself, it needs to be highlighted in your resort marketing.
Show How Your Luxury Hotel Adds Value To The Guest Experience
Luxury hotel guests don’t generally pay much attention to the price they pay for a stay at your establishment. Therefore they respond more to value-added rather than cutting prices with discounts. In fact, offering regular discounts could even tarnish your brand value in the eyes if your target market by making your establishment seem less reputable. This additional value that you create can come in the form of an upgrade to the suite guests will be staying at or offering dining credits.
Have A Mobile-Friendly Luxury Hotel Website
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is absolutely crucial to have a hotel website that loads fast, looks great on mobile devices, and is designed to reflect the brand image you wish to project to the website visitors. It has to be easy to navigate, eye-catching, and communicate all the ways you differentiate from your competitors as mentioned earlier.
All web page elements need to be functional, and any type of visual content such as videos or images needs to be of a high standard of quality and optimized for devices. South Koreans, in particular, are very tech-savvy, possess premium smartphones, and will easily lose interest in your website if it’s of poor quality.
Include Different Language Options In Your Luxury Hotel Website
As mentioned before, you may be targeting South Koreans in your resort marketing strategy. Then you should consider offering a Korean language version of your website as well. The language should be clear and simple. Making reservations and finding contact information should be easy no matter what type of device they are using. Localization will pay off if you get started on this now since you’ll have an advantage over other websites that currently do not offer this.
Have A Blog On Your Luxury Hotel Website
A blog can be a great addition to your website since it provides excellent content marketing opportunities. Apart from potential customers that search for your hotel directly, you can bring in more visitors to your website by writing blog articles on subjects like local tourist attractions in addition to informational content on your own service offerings.
There may be questions that are regularly asked by travelers, which you can answer in your blogs using your expertise in the travel industry. This blog content can be informational and entertaining, as long as you stay relevant to the topic.
For markets like South Korea, it would be very fruitful to start an account on the Naver platform. This is essentially Google for Koreans, and it is here that they ask questions and do their travel research before making any bookings. There is even a dedicated page called Naver Hotels where users can search for hotels and tour details.
You could even localize the blog content on your website and upload it on Naver Blogs to reach the Korean audience. If they respond to your content on Naver, be prepared to reply back in their own language. While many younger Koreans are fluent in English, they might appreciate it more if you respond in their home language.
Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques
SEO techniques are key to being successful in making your website and blog content rank high on search engines like Google and Bing for global customers and Naver for travelers in Korea. This will push your content to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) when potential customers search for luxury resorts online. Since most people don’t even look at the second page of search results, it’s important to get into the top few positions on the first page.
A few key SEO methods used in digital marketing are to optimize the website copy itself for relevant keywords, write blog content that covers interesting topics, and obtain backlinks from other sites with great authority. If you’re unable to handle these aspects, it’s always best to hire a professional digital marketing firm that provides these services. For more on SEO and digital marketing techniques for the hospitality industry, check out Digital Marketing for Resorts and Hotels.
Post Content On Social Media
Your content marketing plan should also include social media posts. Not only will you be able to carefully target the most appropriate audience that can afford a stay at your luxury resort, but you will also be able to engage with them directly. Social media marketing is relatively low cost compared to many traditional ways of going about it. That fancy video advertisement you made can also be uploaded here in addition to your website.
Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok are the primary social media platforms you definitely need to be on. However, when entering unique markets in South Korea, you need to know what else their citizens are using. KakaoTalk is a messaging app that is installed on over 90% of mobile devices in Korea. Its related applications like KakaoStory where many users share images and videos. If you want to build an online presence in this market and promote your resort or hotel’s unique offerings, then you need social media accounts on Kakao-based apps in addition to Instagram and Tik Tok. To learn more, read Social Media Marketing in South Korea.
Utilize Social Media Influencer Marketing
When using your social media to reach your target market, pay attention to who is engaging with your content and mentioning your brand online. These could be influencers who have massive followings that can help you reach even a wider audience if you’re still getting started on social media. Some of them may even be recognizable celebrities in the country you wish to promote your luxury hotel. As long as your audience and brand image align with theirs, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t rely on such a collaboration to reach affluent travelers and increase your bookings.
Provide A Personalized Experience And Customer Loyalty Programs
One of the key selling points of a luxury hotel or resort is the personalized experiences that make guests feel they are pampered and taken care of by the staff. This can be done by enhancing your online and social media communications with them before, during, and after their stay. One way is to make things convenient during reservations and checking-in by automatically filling in their details if they are a return guest.
If a return guest had specific preferences in terms of room type, the room’s view, or dietary concerns, keep this information at hand to show you remember them. This will make their experience even more memorable and more convenient. Keep track of their eligibility for extra perks reserved for return guests and use customer loyalty programs to keep them coming back. Always use their preferred name if you’re reaching them through email marketing to notify them when they qualify for such programs.
Utilize Google Hotel Ads
If you have a Google Business Account, then you are no doubt already using it to have your resort appear on Google Maps with all the relevant details like address, contact information, and available amenities among other things. While you can use SEO practices to rise to the top of search results, you can also utilize Google’s Hotel Ads which are to be featured prominently on results pages. You can specifically target the audience you wish to reach, be shown to them when they search online and direct them to your website to make bookings. Since many Koreans prefer using Naver instead of Google, you shouldn’t forget about the advertising opportunities present there.
Looking For A Digital Marketing Expert For Your Luxury Resort Marketing Strategies?
Now that you understand all the things that need to come together for a successful luxury resort and hotel marketing strategy, you may be feeling overwhelmed. If you were thinking of reaching a market like South Korea, you may be surprised to hear that they use totally different search engines and social media platforms than the rest of the world. What you need to develop your resort marketing plan is an expert, not only in digital marketing but also with experience working with hospitality clients. They would also need to understand how marketing needs to be done on platforms used in places like South Korea.
Inquivix is the digital marketing partner you need on your side to handle everything from on-site SEO to social media management, email marketing as well as web design and development. We’re also based out of South Korea and can help introduce your luxury resort brand to potential guests here. To learn about what we can do for you, visit the Inquivix website today!
[H2] FAQs
You can market a luxury resort by establishing a sense of exclusivity that appeals to affluent travelers, differentiating your services from competitors, adding value to the guest experience, providing personalized service, and multiple digital marketing techniques.
You can create a mobile-friendly website that reflects the brand image of your resort, and then use search engine optimization methods to help travelers find it when they search for places to go online. You can also rely on social media platforms to reach and engage with your audience.
If you’re a hotel or resort owner planning to market to a South Korean audience, then you need to adapt to the platforms like Naver, which is the most popular search engine in South Korea where travelers search destinations and hotels.