How to Get 5 Star PR for Your Hotel

You’ve got a great property in an idyllic location and a strong team of handpicked staff providing a top-notch service. But despite your best efforts, guests aren’t beating down the door to stay at your hotel.

Why?

There are many possible reasons why business may be quieter than you’d like. But one factor affecting many hoteliers today is the sheer amount of competition out there.

Due to the proliferation of low cost airlines, more people are travelling today than ever before. For the stat lovers, 1.1 billion of us travelled abroad last year, which was 51 million more than 2013; and that number is projected to double by the end of 2015.

That’s a lot of people to accommodate.

To cope with demand, new hotel developments have been springing up all over the place, and there’s no sign of it slowing down. This is a double-edged sword for hoteliers: on the one hand, there are far more potential guests than ever before. But on the other, you need to work much harder to get your potential guest’s attention.

This is where Hotel PR comes in.

The power of Hotel PR

 Public relations is well proven in the hospitality industry. It’s an extremely cost-effective way of promoting your USPs, establishing third-party credibility, mitigating negative reviews and getting your name in front of industry big wigs.

Here are a few top tips for maximising PR for your hotel.

1. Have a story worth telling

Public relations is all about connecting with the public. And nothing does that better than a great story that connects potential customers with your business. Every hotel has a story to tell – what’s yours? Sharing stories about events, history, interiors, location or even what’s on the menu, gives potential customers insight into life at your hotel.

You also need to think about what makes your hotel unique and what you do better than any other hotel. Do you have state of the art conference equipment? Or do you offer special facilities for children or pets? How about a unique interior? What’s the point of pride in your business? Make this a focus of your PR campaign.

In every story you tell the media, make sure you emphasise what sets you apart from the competition.

2. Connect on social media

One of the best ways to land a mention (or maybe even a feature) of your business in the media is to connect with the journalists, bloggers, and influencers who cover topics in your niche. Luckily, social media is a great facilitator. Now you have access to a whole slew of influencers who you can easily interact and develop relationships with. By connecting with these industry experts, you can ensure your hotel is top-of-mind when an opportunity for a story comes along.

3. Stage a PR Event

The press (and public) love an attention-grabbing PR stunt. If you’re wondering what I mean, here’s an example from the Ibis Hotel Group. They created a robot that painted an artistic ‘expression’ of the sleeping patterns of its guests. It was fun, wacky and ultimately pointless, but it garnered a huge amount of attention on YouTube and social media.

If you go down the PR event route, make sure it’s engaging, on-brand, and thought-provoking. It could be as simple as organising and hosting a charity event, (which is great for your CSR) and could get you some column inches in the local paper. But if you want national reach, you need to come up with something much bigger and more original and will need to engage a PR pro.