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Three Mistakes Hotels Are Making with Wi-Fi
Posted: 09/18/2023

Wi-Fi is now like the foundation for your hotel: if it’s not solid, it can jeopardize everything.
Your HSIA network has to deliver the performance and experience your guests demand; Wi-Fi has evolved from being an amenity to a necessity and key driver of guest satisfaction.
In the converged world, all your systems for business operations depend on a solid and secure Wi-Fi network. Without it, nothing else works properly—your staff and systems will struggle, and you will waste precious time, money, and resources trying to recover.
Here are three things you may be doing that put you and your Wi-Fi network at risk, and what you should do instead.

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Definitely Doug 9/15/23: Experience Matters!
Posted: 09/15/2023

Hotels are usually the first thing a traveler books within a destination. And hotels usually know that destination better than anyone else (or any website) a guest might consult. But are hotels connecting the dots?

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Definitely Doug 8/25/23: Check It Off the List!
Posted: 08/25/2023

This week I will cover software that goes under various descriptions, including quality assurance, audit, and checklist management. It includes anything that involves a standard list of things that someone needs to perform or verify. In hospitality, this is still an emerging field, but is growing very rapidly.

Between 2020-2022, traveler adoptions fluctuated drastically due to the lockdowns, the impact of the variants, and the vaccination schedule. As the pandemic is behind us and people start to travel in 2023, one question is on every practitioner’s mind: What are the traveler’s current expectations and preferences in the post-pandemic world?

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Definitely Doug 8/11/23: Charge Me Up!
Posted: 08/11/2023

Few things make travelers more anxious than a mobile phone with a low battery. For years, hotels have tried to play catch-up with evolving mobile device charging standards, and many seem to have given up. Guests can sometimes find desktop or bedside USB ports (dated but still relevant charging standard), but most hotels offer only an electrical outlet, and too many times it is in the most difficult-to-reach location possible. Others have made expensive decisions to install USB ports on bedside tables or work desks, only to find them out of date when the standards changed – or broken by frequent use.

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Why Talking About Local Events on Your Website is Important

09/15/2015

by Nimesh Dinubhai

You are in the hospitality industry, providing lodging to travelers and vacationers and you have a website to maintain. Planning and building your content calendar is important to get the most out of your online prospects. If you think about it, your interaction on the web is 100 percent through content. It only makes sense to adjust your web activity and focus it around what we want to market, right?

Not quite. What you want to be known for is not necessarily what people want to hear about right now. What I mean is: your heated pool and tufted pillows may not be your best selling point. You may understand who you’re marketing to, but pushing a hard marketing message may not be enough to attract prospects. If they don’t seem to be listening to you, try grabbing their attention in a different way like using local events.

How to connect between my prospects interest and my product?

Make a list of important events throughout the year. These events are your attention grabbers. Vacationers come for these events, so talk them up. Now, discuss your service/product in correlation with the upcoming events, and boom, you have lit a spark of interest. A reader planning their next trip might even convert. Here are a few examples.

Event: Super Bowl
Product/service: Hotel rooms
Content idea: Write about keeping a stable travel budget while affording the big game. Make sure you mention your hotel’s special offer for the Super Bowl. Fans can both enjoy the Super Bowl and stay on budget thanks to your reduced rates.

Event: Zombie Fest
Product/service: Hotel rooms
Content idea: Write a post about the coolest Zombie costumes and make sure to entertain them with images. Talk about the Zombie Fest in your area, and maybe even host a competition for the best costume. Offer a hotel room at a discount for those who show up in a costume.

Event: Downtown Christmas Party
Product/service: Hotel rooms
Content idea: Write about how you are getting ready for the Downtown Christmas party; maybe even include pictures from last year’s decorations and parties. Mention that you have available rooms for those who want to stay over the weekend while enjoying the holiday spirit right near downtown Christmas events. Specifically consider those traveling for family get-togethers.

Coming up with these content ideas is easy. The time consuming part is writing a post that will create engagement. Pay attention to the above examples. You’ll notice, everything is focused around the things prospects are interested in.

Note: you should write these with as little promotion as possible.

Your offer should either be right at the beginning so that it’s on the table, or all the way at the end, so as not to make people feel uncomfortable. People don’t like to read promotional content and sales copy. Readers like to invest their time on content with added value. Serve this, and you have their attention.

Finding local events

First let’s see how we find these events. It’s actually very simple. Search in Google for events in [your city’s name]. Here is the one I found for Santa Clara: https://goo.gl/5zsZ9C. It’s that easy!

Now, let’s talk about engagement. Engagement happens only when there is interest. You can create interest by first learning what subjects your potential prospects are interested in, and then talk about them while incorporating yourself and your offer. Although, as the owner of a hotel, you most likely already know which events attract the most visitors. All you need now is to write about it.

Here is one example of great writing that focuses on interest: ShopHonest explains about how cleaning with bleach might increase child illnesses. In the article, they spark interest with mothers about safe bleach usage and also provide their product as a healthier alternative: https://goo.gl/gL9tqO

Increasing engagement is not simple

You need to be creative when giving interesting content. Take time for brainstorming sessions. If your content doesn’t provide any added value for its readers, you won’t get their attention. To get the right traction you must make sure that you provide value. It can be newsworthy, new information, a solution, funny, entertaining, helpful tips, and even money offers (coupons, discounts, free stuff, etc.).

Increasing engagement with events

Marketing events on your hotel website is not just important for increasing content value, but also for increasing engagement by providing and helping your prospects and returning guests.

Each marketer chooses to build his content strategy differently, but I highly suggest to lay out a plan 12 months in advance. You will notice a cycle every year, as most planned events cycle and repeat each year around the same dates.

The ultimate goal here is creating a real connection between your guests and your hotel. Providing ongoing useful information will eventually have them return for more. If you want to be ahead of the curve, investing in your customers is definitely a good way to go. So spread the word, what’s going on around your hotel? People out there are searching for things to do this weekend!

About The Author

Nimesh Dinubhai
President
Websrefresh

Nimesh Dinubhai completed his studies in 2003 and launched Websrefresh to help businesses grow their ROI. He also owns two Arizona hotels, one of which earned the Historical Hotel Award in 2014.