NB: This is a guest article by Martin Soler, marketing director of World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP).
Every hotel needs to discover what is unique about its brand and then promote heavily in its marketing efforts on the web - that statement is simple.
This is true for independent hotels, for hotel chains, individual hotels within a chain and all the way to an inn or bed and breakfast.
But establishing the unique selling point (USP), however, appears to be more difficult than many property owners think.
Before taking on a hotel as a client, we do a thorough study of the property to determine it's unique selling point(s). Several factors are used for this, but often to the amazement of many of our customers we're often looking first outside of the actual hotel.
Typically one thinks of USPs by comparing against the competition or hotels in the immediate vicinity.
If there is a modern decoration, a hotelier will tend to think of that as the USP. If the interior design was created done by a famous designer, many a hotelier will choose that as the USP.
But there is something which is often omitted when working out a USP: customer perception.
What is it?
What do you want your guests to see and feel when they experience a hotel - this is ultimately what a property needs to take into account when working out the online marketing USP.
Walking around the hotel and actually looking is far better than work it all out from behind a desk. Equally, working out a successful USP also means talking to guests and finding out how they felt about their experience at the hotel.
A USP needs to be something that will personally affect the life of the end user. Not esoterically, not in some far-fetched manner, but at the moment they touch the brand for the first time.
Common mistakes
The biggest mistake we've seen in working out the USP is to forget that it has to be something that the guest will benefit from.
Some examples:
- Using a historical fact as a USP. That Oscar Wilde lived in a hotel is not much of a USP because it doesn't show much benefit to the individual.
- Focusing on interior design elements. Mentioning LED lighting or other fancy technology features as a USP doesn't help understand the comfort.
- Using the decoration theme as USP. That the hotel is decorated based on Marylin Monre or after the theme of cars is nice but the guest isn't staying there to watch the theme.
Key elements of a USP
There are three factors that determine a hotel's USP and only three.
A good USP integrates all three elements to form a clear concept of the hotel. If a hotel is unique (and positively so) on all three points, the USP will be perfect.
But that's rare, a property will often find one of these points is totally unique and the other two are passable.
It can often happens that only one is great and the other two are not good at all, so better for a hotel to put all its focus on the positive element, as in could actually be enough to drive people to a property.
More about location, comfort and value
Here are some examples:
- Location - if there is there's a direct subway to the city center or other point of interest from a property, then use it to your advantage in the messaging around the USP
- Comfort - tell a guest how they will personally benefit from it the design and asthetics associated with the property. Essentially, a hotel needs to tell the guest how a stay will make their life better.
- Value - how will a hotel save a guest money? This does not necessarily mean a property is cheap, but a focus on value, rather than cost. Just like the classic ad campaign by Avis "We're only number two but we try harder." A hotel can use it's negative position as an advantage.
Every property needs a USP, regardless of its size, status, cost, brand - simply because guests aren't interested in staying somewhere that will not meet their expectations.
But don't just sit and think! Go out and look, talk to people and read their comments, monitor what they say in social media and collect feedback. Lots of it.
Once a hotel has established its USP - it is still incredible now many do not have an understanding of what it actually is - then the rest of the web marketing campaign will be a lot easier to execute.
NB: This is a guest article by Martin Soler, marketing director of World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP).