Unleashing the Potential of Member Hotels - How Chain Hotel Corporate Offices Can Boost Digital Marketing Success
ID HOTELIER - As someone who has worked in the hotel industry for more than 20 years, I have noticed that member hotels within a chain hotel often have limited autonomy when it comes to digital marketing activities. While corporate offices may have a comprehensive digital marketing strategy in place, member hotels may not have the resources or flexibility to customize their own campaigns or content.
This lack of autonomy can have a significant impact on the success of member hotels within the chain. By being limited in their ability to create and distribute their own content, member hotels may struggle to differentiate themselves from other hotels within the chain or capture the attention of potential customers.
Managing digital marketing activities has become an essential aspect of any business, especially for hotels. It is crucial for corporate offices of chain hotels to manage their digital marketing activities effectively to ensure maximum exposure and revenue generation for their member hotels. However, the question arises, how should a corporate office of a chain hotel manage the digital marketing activities for their member hotels while still allowing the freedom to create and distribute their own content?
While it's understandable for corporate office to want to maintain brand consistency and control the standard marketing message, however, overly restrictive control over digital marketing activities can be detrimental to the individual hotels within the group.
Each hotel within the group may have unique characteristics, local attractions, and a distinct target market that requires tailored marketing efforts. the corporate office's digital marketing strategy may not always be perfectly aligned with the specific needs and goals of each member hotel. For example, a member hotel located in a different region or catering to a different target audience may require a different approach to digital marketing than the corporate office's overarching strategy.
And centralized digital marketing might lead to a homogenized approach that fails to differentiate each property. This can result in missed opportunities to connect with potential guests who are looking for unique and authentic experiences.
Furthermore, a rigid approach to digital marketing can hinder innovation and creativity. Hotels within the group may have innovative ideas and strategies for marketing their properties, but these may not fit within the centralized marketing framework. This can stifle creativity and limit the potential for hotels to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
And hotels within the group may feel disenfranchised and disempowered by a centralized approach to digital marketing. This situation can lead to frustration and a lack of motivation to actively engage with the marketing efforts, which ultimately harming the overall success of the group.
Therefore, one approach to this issue is to establish a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that outlines the objectives, tactics, and goals for the corporate office and its member hotels. The strategy should be flexible enough to allow member hotels to create and distribute their own content on several content channel distribution while also providing guidance on best practices and brand standards.
In a real case scenario, a chain hotel corporate office may be reluctant to share information about which keywords they have targeted in their digital marketing campaigns for specific member hotel. This lack of transparency can limit the ability of member hotels to align their own digital marketing efforts with the corporate office's strategy and potentially miss out on valuable opportunities to capture online traffic.
Without access to information about targeted keywords, member hotels may struggle to optimize their own websites and content to increase their search engine rankings and visibility. They may also be unable to effectively use search engine marketing (SEM) tactics such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to target specific keywords and drive traffic to their website.
Again, this lack of transparency can also create unnecessary competition among member hotels within the same chain. If multiple hotels are competing for the same keywords, it can dilute the effectiveness of the overall digital marketing strategy and create inefficiencies within the chain.
Another issue that I have found on the field, member hotels of chain hotels also face difficulties in monitoring the performance of their own website ( and it is sad some of the hotel member website is a microsite where no dynamic content could be added ). One of the key tools for website performance analysis is Google Search Console, which provides valuable insights into website traffic, search queries, and errors.
However, there are a lot of for hotel websites which has no connection / verified to Google Search Console, which can limit their ability to track and optimize their website performance. Without this connection, hotels unable to monitor important issues on their website .
Google Search Console offers tools and reports for the following actions:
Confirm that Google can find and crawl your site.
Fix indexing problems and request re-indexing of new or updated content.
View Google Search traffic data for your site: how often your site appears in Google Search, which search queries show your site, how often searchers click through for those queries, and more.
Receive alerts when Google encounters indexing, spam, or other issues on your site.
Show you which sites link to your website.
Troubleshoot issues for AMP, mobile usability, and other Search features
Corporate offices of chain hotels can play a crucial role in addressing this issue by encouraging and facilitating the connection of member hotel websites to Google Search Console. This can be achieved by providing resources and training on how to set up and use Search Console, and by emphasizing the importance of website performance monitoring for digital marketing success.
Another way to manage digital marketing activities is to leverage the power of technology. The corporate office should provide its member hotels with a comprehensive digital marketing toolkit that includes templates, guidelines, and tools to create and distribute content.
Another important consideration is the use of data analytics to measure the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns. By providing member hotels with access to these metrics and insights, they can make informed decisions about their marketing strategies and adjust their efforts accordingly.
In today's competitive digital landscape, it is essential for chain hotels to leverage the full potential of their digital marketing strategies and tools to drive success. This includes empowering member hotels with autonomy in content creation and distribution, as well as providing resources and support to enable them to monitor and optimize their website performance.
By taking a collaborative approach to digital marketing, chain hotel corporate offices can unlock the full potential of their brand and create a win-win situation for both the corporate office and member hotels. Not only does this approach foster innovation and creativity at the hotel level, but it also contributes to the overall success and growth of the chain hotel brand.
For further information and discussion , please reach me to my number : +6281803614636 or just email me to : askar.dgkamis@gmail.com
Thank You for sharing Pak Askar. Indeed as the digital nomad generation embrace mobility and flexible work conditions. In targeting this business segment focused marketing makes sense. With main issues on sustainability, eco friendly and carbon footprint comes to fore. Many management tools are now readily available at fraction the cost.
This article should be considered by the head office of chain hotel in regards to their digital marketing standard and policy. And there are more item which need to be exposed besides the two samples mentioned above.