No industry in the world is immune to the influence of SEO. Whether we talk about five star luxurious hotels or budget accommodation options, there is a need for everyone in the hospitality industry to have a solid SEO strategy.
SEO has been widely regarded as a great marketing tool. However, some people are still of the opinion that getting a higher rank on search engines need not necessarily increase traffic. There is a further counterpoint that even with higher traffic or clicks, not many hotels manage to get a lot of successful bookings. All such aspects can be clearly deciphered by understanding SEO as it is and also by relating the hospitality industry with the essentials of online search criteria.
The big names in the hospitality industry would opt for ads on search engines rather than trying to go for SEO. Moreover, people looking for hotels in a specific place are of course aware of the reputed names. Hence, the objective is to target what people are actually looking for. SEO is not simply trying to get a higher rank but also to come up as a relevant and desired result. It is only then that hotels would enjoy more clicks and more bookings. Otherwise, one can simply get a higher rank but not end up with any bookings.
Here is an example on how the hospitality industry really needs to go around using SEO.
There are four things that influence the hospitality industry – star rating (amenities and services), price, location and guests’ feedback. Hotels that are three star or four star rated would have no use of appearing on web pages that had the search criteria of ‘budget accommodation’. That way, one may have a better SEO in place but would not get clicks and even if the clicks are there, bookings would be rare. Similarly, we find ads of budget accommodation and cheap hotels appearing irrespective of the searches. If one is looking for a luxurious property, despite the ad being displayed and the small hotels spending money on it, the bookings would go to the big names.
There is a need to have a relevant and sound SEO strategy. Hospitality also calls for targeted SEO. A hotel at Bondi Beach in Sydney or Tampa in Florida needs to have SEO targeted at cities from where the number of tourists coming in is the maximum. Having local SEO is the last thing hotels should be looking at.
With proper Hospitality SEO, hotels can get more accommodation reservation than what can be speculated.
