5 Resort & Hotel Video Marketing Ideas to Maximize Engagement

For consumers ready to book your resort or hotel, videos wins over text every time.

Why is this? Look at some of these findings from Google:

• More people are doing travel research on their phones or tablets, and limited screen space makes it far easier to watch a video than read text: 60 percent of searches for destination information are now coming from mobile devices.
• Watching videos shows purchase intent: 64 percent of consumers watching travel videos say they are actively considering taking a trip.
• About three fifths of video viewers say they use what they see to narrow down their choices for brands or destinations.

In short, people are hungry for videos of the resort or hotel they’re thinking about. The property with the best video, sometimes the only one with a video, wins.

Here are 5 tips on how to make your next attraction, resort, or hotel video grab prospective guests’ attention and persuade them to book with you.

1. Use a mix of earned, owned and paid visuals in your marketing strategy

In the hospitality industry, travel vlogs are the most viewed and most engaging type of videos, also according to Google. However, brands only create 14 percent of YouTube vlogs—86 percent are done YouTube influencers.

The popularity of user-generated conte⁷nt on social media is a huge opening for brands that are paying attention. They can produce low-cost videos with sometimes even better results than brand-generated video, and also tap into the networks of influencers.

Don’t neglect the reach of video content that is starting to spark shares by turning them into sharply targeted social ads. See how Even Hotels turned a guest contest on static photos about wellness into a video with music and special effects.

2. Promote your video on social media and in your digital ads

There are all kinds of videos that resorts and hotels can produce, beyond just vlogs. You can introduce the chef or the concierge staff. You can interview guests with fascinating stories. You can show how travelers enjoy some of the exciting attractions near your hotel. You can even delve into the history of the hotel and the region.

Experiment with new visuals and new concepts. What people want to see more than anything is something that can capture their imagination. Take a look at how Intercontinental hotels converted true stories into native ads.

3. Use video on your website to increase engagement

Did you realize that including a video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 80 percent? That’s what Unbounce found in its video research on the travel industry.

Imagine if just a walk around the property with your smartphone camera could make a huge difference in performance metrics and direct bookings. See how the Boca Raton Resort uses professionally shot video as the header on their homepage.

The drone image is dramatic, so it’s great for capturing people’s attention immediately, and encouraging them to stay on the site and keep exploring.

The images of people experiencing the property are shot so that there is more control over what’s in the background, what the lighting is like, etc, which is easier to do when you are working with a professional on behalf of your brand.

4. Include CTAs to increase direct bookings

The visual decision making process is hard, and online consumers are constantly being distracted. Give them a prompt to move in the direction of their dreams with a call-to-action (CTA).

Instagram video also now allows you to include CTAs, like buttons that read “Book Now.”

0:29

5. Put together a creative virtual tour of your resort

When bandwidth first started opening up on the Internet a decade ago, the first wave of hotels added long virtual tours with no image stabilization. These online videos didn’t get the kind of viewer reception hotels wanted, so they moved on, but the problem was the delivery, not the format. Take a look at how to present your virtual tour the right way and put viewers in the middle of the action.

This virtual tour of Hurawalhi Maldives combined drone footage, underwater video, animation, music and changing video speeds to create an immersive experience.

Stepping Up Your Visual Resort and Hotel Marketing

Family and business travellers alike pay much more attention to images than text, no matter how well-written it is. Using a range of video can help a resort or hotel’s branding, engagement and direct bookings. Stand out from all the other resorts and hotels by showing, not telling, what makes you great.