The travel and hospitality industry is dedicated to serving guests, which is why a digital marketing presence which covers timely responses and personalized offers are vital focus points.
In addition – as travellers are always on the go – hospitality brands need to create a full-fledged booking and information system which can be found on all channels.
Customers on the go
Yes, travellers are carrying pocket books with translations and various travel itineraries. However, updated information and last minute bookings are done via the internet, mainly via mobile phones. According to a report from the Trip Adviser, 51% of travellers access the internet on their mobile phones.
And, based on this report, what are they doing on the internet? Cast your mind back to when either yourself or someone that you know went on a trip – signs of survival were only clear when:
Images were being uploaded to social networks, specifically Facebook. – 39%
A status update was being made to keep family and friends updated. – 39%
Finding attractions or activities on mobile applications. – 33%
What’s more, 24% said that they used social media for planning and booking trips with another 76% saying that they found Facebook incredibly useful when booking or planning a trip.
So, do you want to know how to convert digital travellers into regular customers? Perhaps this is a rhetorical question, as no one wants to know the ‘what’ without knowing the ‘how’.
Here are 5 tips for stimulating customer bookings and purchases; whether it be a trip to Bora Bora or accommodation around the corner.
Timing is everything
First, let’s establish that a traveller is always moving around and doesn’t have time to sift through hoards of information to find something. Relevancy, therefore, is paramount. And what goes hand in hand with relevancy – is timing.
There are people that travel quite regularly, while others plan far in advance for a full, yearly excursion around the globe. Chances are, you’re going to have both types of these travellers to attend to. Check in with these people from time to time, by:
Sending an email to your subscribers with discounted holiday rates and monitor click through rates and customer feedback.
Send out a Tweet or Facebook message with an open-ended question such as ‘When will you be booking your next trip oversees?’ and see what the response is.
Follow your previous years trends as far as flights and/or bookings are concerned and lay out a similar pattern for this year, as a guideline.
This data will assist you in knowing what your guests are currently looking for and what the correct time to market new promotions is.
The Bottom Line
Decide when the best times are for your to communicate with customers and then create multi-platform messages which will be sent at these ideal times.
ExactTarget’s 2012 Channel Preference Report showed that travel alerts should have a variety of ways for consumers to opt-in to. Travellers, whether they be regulars or not, are already interested in receiving promotions, packages and special offers from your company – make it easy for them to find you.
