This webinar discusses how hotels can tap into authentic travel experiences for marketing by inspiring new audiences during planning and booking stages. Speakers discuss how hotels can be relevant by anticipating travelers' needs, be inspiring through visual content and storytelling, and make their websites easy to use on mobile. Translating local concierge knowledge into digital guides and empowering travelers to share their experiences can help hotels inspire new audiences organically. Storytellers who share their authentic experiences can build trust and spark new relationships with future travelers.

1. WEBINAR
Tapping into the power of
authentic travel experiences for
hotel marketing

2. Speakers
Kate Bielamowicz
Inbound Marketing Manager
Travel Tripper
Alonso Franco
CEO
Arrivedo
Richard Dunbar
Director of Partnerships
Flip.to

3. Agenda
Inspire new audiences during planning & booking
The impact of translating local knowledge into digital guides
Storytellers: Helping your travel brand inspire new audiences

4. Inspire New Audiences During
Planning & Booking

5. Earning brand/property trust from customers happens
over time and with repeat engagement.

6. Earning brand/property trust from customers happens
over time and with repeat engagement.
Bookings happen after many interactions over many
stages of planning.
Google: How micro-moments are reshaping the travel customer journey

7. In order to get travelers to
book direct, hotels (and
their websites) need to:
Be there.
Be relevant.
Be inspiring.
Be easy to use.

8. Be there:
Inspire the dreaming,
planning, and booking
stages

9. Be there: Inspiring the dreaming, planning, and booking stages
Using storytelling (words AND photography) to create a sense of inspiration, FOMO, ‘Wish
You Were Here!’

10. Be there: Inspiring the dreaming, planning, and booking stages
Pull TripAdvisor / Google Reviews / Facebook reviews on site

11. Be there: Inspiring the dreaming, planning, and booking stages
Pull TripAdvisor / Google Reviews / Facebook reviews on site

12. Be there: Inspiring the dreaming, planning, and booking stages
Establish the connection between a destination and your property; and that your hotel will
positively contribute to the customers’ destination experience through destination maps,
attractions pages, blog-based local guides

13. Be relevant:
Anticipate travelers
needs through copy
and design

14. Be relevant: Anticipating travelers needs through copy and design
Know your key audiences and their travel needs. What sort of information are they
looking for when?
● Tailored site map that makes sense to the user, not just to the property
● On page cross sells
● Frequent calls to action
● Book Now CTA in sticky navigation
● Link site content to other pages on site

15. Be relevant: Anticipating travelers needs through copy and design

16. Be relevant: Anticipating travelers needs through copy and design

17. Be inspiring:
The importance of
visual content

18. Be inspiring: The importance of visual content
● Website design, photography, and copy are a powerful system of tools that can inspire
feeling. It allows the customer to go on a visual and emotional journey, to imagine
themselves as a guest on property.
● Hotel websites have a distinct edge over OTAs as they can deliver visual content and
copy in a singularly branded way, not in the same template or voice as all others.
● Connecting a hotel to its location both visually and with appropriate content is
paramount so that the guest can imagine themselves returning to the property after a
day of work, starting their day with breakfast in bed, or kicking off an evening of
exploration with a cocktail at the lobby bar.

19. Be inspiring: The importance of visual content

20. Be inspiring: The importance of visual content

21. Be inspiring: The importance of visual content

22. Be easy to use:
Mobile optimization

23. Mobile Optimization
● 46% of travelers who do mobile travel research say they made their
final booking decision on mobile, but moved to another device to
make the booking because of mobile booking friction.
● Still! 80% of last minute and on-a-whim bookings are made from
mobile.

24. Mobile Optimization
It is imperative that mobile
versions of sites are simple
and straightforward while still
providing the customer with
inspiration. The booking
process should be
ESPECIALLY frictionless in
order to maximize
conversions of users in all
stages of the booking funnel.

25. The impact of translating local
knowledge into digital guides

26. Currently at
least half of
travelers are
open to receive
destination
inspiration
Source: Expedia Media Solutions “Multi-national
travel trends - Connecting the Digital Dots: The
Motivations and Mindset of Online Travelers”,
2017

27. Activities can be more
relevant than price in
travel decision making
When prioritizing, activities &
unique experiences drive travel
decisions.
Price and deals are still
important, but fall out of top
three influences.
Source: Expedia Media Solutions “Multi-national travel
trends - Connecting the Digital Dots: The Motivations and
Mindset of Online Travelers”, 2017

28. Hotels have tried to sell rooms with experiences for a decade now...
Pariwana Hostels (Lima, Peru)
Grand Hyatt (San Francisco, CA)
Hilton Parc 55 (San Francisco, CA)

29. ...while billions of repetitive questions happen at hotel lobbies!
Your hotel staff has unique and
valuable local knowledge
What can you do to to turn your hotel’s wealth of local
knowledge into a powerful digital tool?

30. How to tap into your concierge to market your
hotel as a travel experience?
Organize
your voice as
a local host
Curate a
digital guide
Share it with
guests
1 2 3

31. Tapping into your concierge to market your hotel
as a travel experience
Organize
your voice
as a local
host
Interview concierge + local
experts in your hotel to
organize best advice. Include
favourites, routes,
experiences and local gems.
1

32. Tapping into your concierge to market your hotel
as a travel experience
Curate a
digital guide
Organize it in a digital way
with maps and routes to
curate a Neighborhood Guide
(leverage on travel writers &
influencers)
2

33. Tapping into your concierge to market your hotel
as a travel experience
Curate a
digital guide
Organize it in a digital way
with maps and routes to
curate a Neighborhood Guide
(leverage on travel writers &
influencers)
2

34. Tapping into your concierge to market your hotel
as a travel experience
Share it with
guests
Automatize your voice to
reach your guests with your
curated advice at throughout
all their travel experience.
3

35. Automatize emails at
booking and check-in
Share curated content throughout all your guest’s experience

36. Train your staff on giving recommendations
Share curated content throughout all your guest’s experience

37. Involve guests to comment on guide
Comments by past
guests add validation
and transparency
to concierge advice.
Improve guest experience
and build reputation as a
local host.

38. Include neighborhood content in your website
Share curated content throughout all your guest’s experience

39. Storytellers:
Helping your travel brand
inspire new audiences

40. Storytelling: Telling the story of
your brand through the experiences
of travelers to your destination
Storytelling + storytellers
Storytellers: The travelers who
become brand evangelists by way
of sharing their experiences with
others

41. The case for the
storyteller

42. Authentic introductions to your destination by someone they
know and trust
Build trust + spark new relationships with future travelers.
Organically reach new audiences
through the most trusted source.

43. Stories evoke
emotions, and
emotions
inspire use to
take action
Storytellers share experiences that are
empathetic, inspirational and relevant.

44. Your property is at the center of the stories being shared to
new audiences you couldn’t reach yourself.
Let your travelers share your brand through stories and bring
back new visitors to your own web experiences.
Provide compelling experiences with content & CTAs relative to
their journey—the point of inspiration.
Put destinations and hotels back at the
center of the traveler journey.

46. Inspire and
empower
travelers to
share their
real, authentic
experiences
on your
property.
Turning your travelers into storytellers

47. Reach & inspire new audiences.
WIN – WIN – WIN
Spark new relationships with travelers
in the best way possible.
Drive measurable impact for your property.

48. Stories travel.
Welcome new travelers before your competitors
even have a chance.
RICKY DUNBAR | DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS | FLIP.TO | HTTP://FLIP.TO

49. AUDIENCE Q&A

50. THANK YOU
Please send follow up questions to
marketing@traveltripper.com.