5 Ways Hotels Can Leverage Influencer Marketing for Direct Bookings

A majority of travelers—70% according to Expedia—are influenced by digital content creators when making travel decisions. That presents a big opportunity for hospitality brands to tap into these influencers. But at the same time, DCI’s newest report, “Hospitality Outlook: What PR Executives Are Thinking,” reports that influencer relations are a top challenge for hospitality marketers.

While it’s difficult, hotel marketers know they need to embrace influencer marketing, especially when it comes to encouraging direct bookings. Fees from OTAs and booking websites add up, but the right strategies can help minimize them.

It’s time to bridge the gap between the potential for influencers to drive direct bookings and hotels who are tired of losing money to third party booking sites. This isn’t just about brand awareness anymore. Influencer marketing can be so much more strategic than ever before to increase direct bookings.

1. Partner With Influencers Who Convert, Not Just Impress

Having a big influencer mention your brand or property is nice, but nice doesn’t convert to bookings. It’s time for hotels to focus on building partnerships with influencers who have high engagement, audience trust, and proven track records of driving action. 

The goal now is to prioritize content creators who align with your brand and booking demographics. Be more targeted to reach the travel audiences who are actually going to book.

2. Trackable Booking Codes & Exclusive Offers

An influencer relationship needs to be about trust and access, but also trackable results. It’s good practice to provide influencers with special discount codes or exclusive packages to promote, making ROI measurable. This ensures you’re tracking your investment in concrete ways as you watch the direct bookings increase.

So the goal is to tie influencer promotions directly to your hotel’s booking engine or campaign landing page. Don’t just let them shout you out in a post and call it a day. The relationship needs to go deeper.

3. Build Long-Term Relationships Over One-Off Stays

Gone are the days where having an influencer drop into your property is a win. There are too many influencers dipping into too many properties to stand out from the crowd. Instead, develop repeat collaborations to yield better content and brand familiarity. Think more “spokesperson” and less “cameo appearance.”

The goal here is to embrace long-term partnerships that ultimately lead to more authentic content and deeper audience trust. The more often an influencer touts your hotel brand, the more impactful it will be, leading to more booking over time.

4. Let Influencers Showcase the Booking Experience

Influencer storytelling can start long before the individual arrives at your hotel. Work with them closely to highlight the ease, perks, or value of booking directly. This will spell out the value proposition more clearly, and encourages travelers to follow their example.

The goal here is to position your hotel’s direct booking benefits including loyalty points, free breakfast and upgrades. Make these a part of the influencer partnership to ensure you’re maximizing the relationship and driving direct bookings.

5. Curate a Social Media Booking Funnel

Influencer marketing does not need to stop with the influencer’s post. Hotels can turn influencer content into paid ads, Instagram highlights, or website embeds that encourage booking action. Build in an agreement to repurpose their content when you begin working together to ensure everyone is satisfied with this approach.

The goal here is to extend the shelf life of high-performing content and improve overall conversion. Greater ROI is one benefit, but replaying effective, impactful influencer content will keep the direct bookings coming.

Every hotel has a different story to tell, and every influencer connects with a different audience. But building the right relationships will bridge the gap between social inspiration and direct conversions. And that’s something that every hotel brand will want to achieve.

Digital creators are trusted trip-planning resources. So while 46% of hotel PR executives say that organizing influencer campaigns is one of their biggest challenges, it’s also a challenge they all want to overcome to drive direct bookings and maximize revenue.

Working on developing an influencer campaign for your hotel? Getting started might be the hardest part, but DCI has the industry experience needed to help. Get in touch with Tania Kedikian at tania.kedikian@aboutdci.com to learn more about working with our dedicated team of influencer marketing specialists.