ORLANDO, Florida — With a wave of conversions during the pandemic — along with the return of major renovations as more brands reassert the need for capital improvements — more hotels need to reintroduce themselves to the traveling public.
A big part of that is budgeting for marketing along with those capital improvements.
Speaking during the “The Keys to Digital Success When Opening, Reflagging, or Relaunching a Hotel” panel at the 2022 HSMAI Marketing Strategy Conference, Betsy Haubert, director of customer engagement for Marriott International, said investors need to be thinking about the spend from the beginning of the process. That includes funding a “full-funnel campaign all the way up to opening.”
“One of the things we typically advise is hotels budget at least for some additional awareness-focused media spend within the capital allocations of their renovations or their build,” she said.
Then additional marketing spend might be necessary as different parts of the hotel open, such as its food-and-beverage outlets.
Sara Tirrell, corporate director of e-commerce for Mainsail Lodging & Development, cited the adaptive-reuse project that culminated in the opening of Wylie Hotel in Atlanta. Wylie Hotel is a boutique, independent property in a nearly 100-year-old building that originally opened as a hotel but spent most of its life as other things — including being one of Atlanta’s first LGBTQ-friendly bars. Tirrell said it took some work to build awareness around the property.
“We started with the branding and the story development and really building out the history of the property in the area,” she said.
Both Haubert and Tirrell stressed the importance of keeping up to date on content during those early stages of the marketing process.
“We were using a lot of our renderings in the beginning, and then once the property opened and we had an actual photo shoot, we made sure to go back and replace all of those,” Tirrell said.
She added it took longer than originally planned to open the bar at the property due to a delay in the process of getting a liquor license, which led to some marketing changes and how Mainsail chose to sell rooms.
“We had to be unique with some of the packages we were offering,” Tirrell said. “So we started with a parking package, a sweet deal package to offer guests larger rooms at a better price. [And we had to figure out] what are those guests looking for and shopping for. That’s really important in the process to help them find what they want. Then once we had our liquor license, we could expand by creating a celebrate package with champagne and other ways for people to enjoy the property when coming from the local area.”
Haubert said the process leading up to opening should include appropriate changes in messaging, including announcements such as the delay in the bar opening or offering deals to induce demand.
“So I think that’s something to keep in mind as you’re going through the life cycle of either rebranding or reopening a hotel,” she said.
But not all renovations are created equal, and how much hotels tout the improvements that have been made should be proportionate to how much they change the guest experience, Haubert said. In general, the amount of marketing spend depends on various factors.
“When we work with hotels, the first thing we’ll say is ‘What type of event is this? Is this a refresh? Is this a rebrand? Is it a brand-new hotel that needs to start from scratch?’” she said. “That’s going to be one of the biggest influencers [on how much you spend on marketing]. If it’s a brand-new hotel starting from scratch, you’re going to need a bigger budget than if you’re just kind of going through a refresh.”