Luxury Travellers: A Hotel Marketing Strategy
Keep It Classy With Big Spenders At Your Hotel
Luxury travellers are the highly sought-after demographic by hotels around the world. They are however, a small percentage of actual holidaymakers. The numbers of leisure travellers and corporate guests far outweigh the numbers of luxury travellers, but they offer something that every hotel desires.
Their purchasing power.
These high-end guests have a discerning taste for the finer things in life, expect top-notch services and amenities from their accommodations and have the bank accounts to cover everything that they need.
What Defines a Luxury Traveller?
How to Attract Luxury Travellers?
What are Luxury Travellers?
While it is easy to consider that these guests are solely made of blue-blooded aristocrats frivolously spending their parent’s money or influencers throwing around their new-found bank reserves, it isn’t always so cut-and-dry.
Instead of identifying where these luxury travellers come from, from a marketing standpoint it’s far easier to consider what these guests have in common. Or, what makes them tick?
What Do Luxury Travellers Look For?
According to EHL Insights, these guests look for the 5 C’s of luxury travel:
- Culture
- Cuisine
- Community
- Content
- Customisation
Culture: As these guests value culture, they often value performing arts, heritage sites, and unique traditions.
Cuisine: What’s a holiday without 5* cuisine? Fine dining is at the forefront of these guests’ requirements.
Community: It wouldn’t be a luxury if they were packed in like sardines, yet if there is no one there to share it with, it didn’t really happen! Opt-in community events go a long way with this guest type.
Content: Luxury guests don’t come to you, you come to them. Events and materials should be arranged and presented to them. This is how they value your worth.
Customisation: They may not like to go out of their way to search for things, but they certainly like making their mark on them. Give them the options to customise their experiences, day-visits and more and they’ll return the favour in positive reviews.
How To Attract Luxury Travellers
If luxury travellers are your hotel’s ideal guest type, there are a number of ways to leverage your marketing strategies and make your hotel appealing. However, aside from the following tips, there is one key thing all hotelier’s should remember:
Don’t Lower Your Prices, Raise Your Standards.
Your luxury market isn’t looking for a cheaper holiday, they are looking for a valuable one. If you start lowering your rates to attract luxury travellers, you will actually have the opposite effect.
So what should you do?
Increase your value! Your hotel should focus on providing unique and memorable experiences that will leave a lasting impression on their guests. If you lower your rates, you won’t be worth the attention of luxury travellers – and your hotel marketing strategy should alter accordingly.
But now, let’s cover some tips for hotels to optimise their marketing strategies and appeal to luxury travellers:
Emphasise Experiences Over Price
Luxury travellers are not typically driven by price, but rather by the quality of their experience. As a hotelier, you should emphasise the unique experiences you can offer, rather than trying to compete on price alone. This includes personalised services, such as customised meals or spa treatments, exclusive access to local events or attractions, or VIP transportation services – who doesn’t love starting off their holiday with a private driver and a glass of champagne?!
Highlight Your Unique Selling Points
Your hotel has something special that sets it apart from the competition. Something that makes you, you. Whether it’s your stunning location, historic local architecture, or world-class chefs, your hotel marketing strategy should focus on highlighting your unique selling points across every channel available.
Luxury travellers are often seeking one-of-a-kind experiences, so showcasing what makes your hotel special can help attract their attention.
Leverage Social Media Influencers
Social media is a powerful tool for hotel marketing for any guest type – and luxury travellers are no different. With the right planning, leveraging influencers can be an effective way to reach luxury travellers. Make sure to explore partnering options with social media influencers who have a large following among your target audience. The idle rich love the glamour of an influencer’s feed and the right posts at the right time can boost your demand. With the right hotel photography tips, your social media influencers can showcase their experiences at your hotel and provide visible proof of the quality of your accommodations and services.
Create Packages and Special Offers
While luxury travellers are not price-sensitive, value is EVERYTHING. Your hotel can, and should, put together special packages and offers that provide added value to their guests. Think about complimentary spa treatments, exclusive access to local attractions, private events for those honeymoon / proposal romances. These packages will separate the wheat from the chaff and allow your hotel to shine through with its experiences.
Hotel Marketing Strategies
Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing strategies.
On top of identifying and playing towards your ideal guest type you have to cover a whole host of other essentials, including:
As well as many other marketing strategies that can be found on our hotel marketing blog page!
Or, get free advice at a one on one meeting with our hotel marketing specialists! A no-strings attached short call at your convenience as we analyse your hotel’s online presence and advise where you can improve your marketing strategies!
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