Changing Marketing Trends in the Hotel Industry

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Meeporn Oeawpanich, or you can call me Nancy. My current position is cluster director of marketing of InterContinental Pattaya Resort and Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam, under IHG Hotels & Resorts Thailand. With my extensive experience in the hotel industry and my marketing expertise, I have had a long journey on this career path. I started with traditional marketing and communication patterns 18 years ago and have kept improving myself by learning about the new trends of marketing and targeted audiences such as target persona, preference channel, type of message, and pitching stories.

A strong background in public relations and communications is not enough to survive the hotel business in this tourism industry. I have been trying to learn and improve my digital marketing skills, including online eCommerce. In the past, we thought about what we would like to communicate and deliver to the audience, but nowadays, we have to think about what the audience is looking for in our content in order to get better awareness, reach, impression, and engagement.

"The marketing plan or budget is more flexible and dynamic with tourism situations and market trends"

We do need to understand the whole journey of targeted audiences from when they start to travel until returning to their home in order to ensure that our service is always in their mind, and also if we expect them to be repeated guests, as well as valuable reviews on the online platforms and word-of-mouth in both online and offline channels. That’s why keyword search optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) secure all sights from our potential audience and keep repeating our awareness through decisions on social media content on different platforms. Moreover, the hotels need to ensure the satisfaction of guests' experiences during their stay in order to gain the e-word of mouth for post-stay as well.

In the past, we weighed the budget spending on offline media such as magazines, newspapers, television, radio, etc. The expenses are quite high, and it is challenging to evaluate the performance and return on investment. On the other hand, when we spend on digital investment, we can monitor the reaction of the market, such as reach, impression, click-to-rate, and conversion. Moreover, we are still able to do retargeting with the same audience in the future. The marketing plan or budget is more flexible and dynamic with tourism situations and market trends. Each destination will have a typical style. What is successful for others is not guaranteed that it will be yours, then learn your market, learn your team and learn to apply your plan and budget in order to create your tailor-made strategies to gain your own success.

Anyway, I personally believe that traditional marketing and digital marketing (Online social media &eCommerce) should be blended together. Only digital marketing can drive great success, but it would be stronger when also having traditional marketing as we still have a mix of targeted age audiences in one business unit.

Last but not least, I think the new trend in the tourism industry is to care for and save nature. Sustainable activity and campaigns are one of key tools to drive awareness and long-term success, especially in the hotel business. Be always proactive to improve your products and service, be dynamic with the changes of the market and, adapt your marketing plan and strategies to match needs and demand, communicate the right key message into the right channel with the right audience. Success is not that far from presenting your hotel & tourism marketing effort.