Boutique Hotel Marketing: How to Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

Boutique hotel marketing is no easy task. These properties a pride themselves on serving up unique experiences that set them apart from larger hotel chains. So it’s no wonder that boutique hotels seek to duplicate that experience across their marketing channels. Social media, leveraging local, and programming are easy wins for hotel marketers to educate prospective planners and guests alike on what makes their hotel unique. Boosting your brand comes in handy especially during the slow events season or periods of low occupancy. Instead of reducing meeting room rental rates, which will impact your bottom line, hotel marketers can re-shift their focus on adding value to the guest experiences.

Here are 3 tips to amp up your boutique hotel marketing efforts.

Encourage interaction before your guest arrives

Seattle and Portland Kimpton Hotels offer a social media reward upon check-in for anyone who posts on social media about an upcoming stay. This approach benefits three groups: the guests who post, prospective guests, and the hotel. Social media hotel rewards are a great way to show off your level of service and that you’re engaged in a guest’s stay, even digitally. For example, one guest posted on Facebook about her upcoming stay at The Alexis Hotel from the perspective of her dog, Bilbo. Concierge went the extra mile and made a dog house modeled after Bilbo Baggin’s house and named it the Hobbit Hole!

By tracking what guests are saying about you on social media through a unique hashtag, for example, a great opportunity to engage with guests before they arrive.

Let your city to do the hotel marketing for you

If your city is chock-full of points of interest, take advantage and apply it towards your boutique hotel marketing efforts. The Jefferson leveraged their historically rich surroundings by creating a scavenger hunt called the Where’s Tommy Experience after their namesake, Thomas Jefferson. Guests were able to explore the city’s historical side on bikes. To document the hunt, guests were encouraged to take pictures of the cartoon Tommy at all of the scavenger hunt locations and post to Instagram with their hashtag #wherestommyDC.

Planners and hotel guests alike love all things local. Your boutique hotel marketing efforts can create the link between those hosting an event at your property by creating mini experiences that loop in all that city has to offer. The Lorien Hotel and Spa in Alexandria, VA built a partnership with a local craft brewery and created a package deal where guests could book brewery tours for a small fee just above the cost of the room. Every city has a must-see list of attractions so take the opportunity to bring the local flavor into your hotel marketing efforts.

Get creative with your boutique hotel programming

Hotels provide a unique opportunity host events their own events in order to draw interest. Make it easy for guests to discover what makes your city unique by creating programming that cross-promotes a city-wide event. For example, New Orleans, Louisiana is famous for their deep historical roots in jazz music. The Ace Hotel New Orleans marketing team took advantage of this unique offering of their city and created a music event, Six of Saturns Festival. The fest brought together musicians, record labels, and local music venues to celebrate jazz in New Orleans. They posted about the festival on social media but cross-promoted it with smaller concerts happening right in the hotel the week leading up to the festival.

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Andaz, a boutique brand of Hyatt, similarly focuses on different types of creative programming to set themselves apart with unique experiences. They’ve hosted a Tattoo Artists in Residence, educational dinners, and a Father’s Day package with a tour of the New York Stock Exchange. The real highlight of the NYSE tour was ending up as a feature on the Today show, which amplified their brand’s awareness.