Case Study 2: Hotel & Resort Owners – How to Thrive During the Pandemic?

In the face of rising hospitalizations from coronavirus infections, in mid-march, the Canadian government announced the closure of all non-essential businesses and shelter at home orders for all except essential workers. Furthermore, it announced a slew of restrictions and mandatory quarantine for visitors entering the country. 

Although these measures affected almost all businesses, the hotel industry was the hardest hit. With a lockdown in place and mandatory 14-day quarantine for tourists entering the country, Canadian tourism became unattractive.

Even though these measures helped control the spread of the virus initially, we recently saw a second surge in infections and hospitalizations.

With a second wave of COVID-19 hitting the country hard, hotels and resorts across Canada are facing the same challenges all over again. Quebec and Ontario are the hardest-hit provinces and have already shut down all non-essential businesses including hotels and resorts.

The hotel industry depends on tourists (both local and from overseas) for revenue. With travel on a pause and huge overheads to bear, the hotel industry is facing its biggest challenge yet and their very survival is at stake.

What can hotel and resort owners across Canada do to better handle the side effects of the pandemic? How can they equip themselves to survive another lockdown?

Hotel digital marketing is the first logical step to take during these tough times.

And that’s what we did for Hotel Spa Excelsior. Located in St. Adele, a 3-hour drive from Montreal, the owner quickly took matters in his hands and hired us to revamp the hotel’s digital marketing strategy.

The Challenge

The hotel had been around for over 30 years when the new owner took over a couple of years ago. Each year, the hotel would welcome thousands of travellers from all over Quebec and across Canada.

The client generated most of their bookings from returning customers and word of mouth helps bring in new clients. However, when the pandemic hit, many Canadians deferred or cancelled their travel plans indefinitely and revenues took a nosedive.

Things came to a standstill and the client could no longer depend on word of mouth marketing. They had to do something quickly and needed to attract travellers from the surrounding areas.

Their website was dated and badly needed an update. If they had to have any chance of keeping up with the competitors, the hotel had to amp-up its digital marketing strategy!

Our Recommendation

We proposed that the client invests in a modern website that showcased how well-managed, clean and safe the client’s resort is. Furthermore, we designed a hotel digital marketing strategy to reach a broader audience and improve website conversions.

Our Hotel Digital Marketing Process for Hotel Spa Excelsior

Step 1: Research and Planning

We performed an in-depth site audit and took the time to understand the client’s requirements, their business, customers and their goal.

Once we understood the client’s requirements and the scope of the project, we put together a web design questionnaire to gather information such as the resort’s unique selling points (USP), customer testimonials and why customers should choose them.

We then provided photography instructions so the client’s team could take photos of the resort. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to travel digital marketing.

Turnaround Time: 1 week

Step 2: Initial Design Concepts

We began phase 2 of the hotel digital marketing process building the wireframe of the website. We designed the wireframe based on logic and psychology of user experience.

We offered three design options for the client to choose from.

Turnaround Time: 1 week

Step 3: Web Design

Once the client finalized the design they liked, we designed the remaining pages of the website. To do that, we mapped the typical user journey to understand the information they’re likely to look for from the time they land on the site to making a booking.

The goal was to make sure the visitors are impressed by the client so much that they feel compelled to make a reservation.

Turnaround Time: 10 days

Step 4: Web Development

After all the design changes, we kicked-off the web development stage by building the test site on WordPress. We created the website in English and French to ensure it is more accessible.

We performed in-depth keyword research to identify the most feasible and lucrative keywords. Each page was then SEO optimized to ensure the hotel website shows up in the search engines for the relevant keywords.

We then continuously tested the website to identify any bugs and issues, debugged them and retested the website to ensure we had a bug-free and user-friendly website. We then launched the site to friends and family before revealing it to the public.

Turnaround Time: 15 days

Step 5: Ongoing Marketing

Now that the resort was all set to take bookings online, it time to drive visitors and generate leads.

Our hotel digital marketing team designed and created Facebook ads and Google display ads to drive highly targeted traffic to the hotel’s website.

Enquiries and bookings came pouring in within hours of launching to the public.

In a nutshell, here’s what we did for Kings Buffet:

• Developed a brand new hotel booking website.
• Optimized the site for the search engines.
• Set up Facebook ads and Google ads.

The Results

248 phone calls and a 358% increase in organic traffic in the first 3 months!

Within the first three months of launching the booking website, the client received 248 phone calls directly from Google Ads! What’s more, their bounce rate reduced by 18%, which indicates a higher engagement and a possibility to convert more visitors into leads.

Their Facebook Ads too drove engagement and there were lots of reactions, shares, comments, saves and link clicks, keeping the cost per click (CPC) low.

Key Takeaways

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken up the hotel industry and left them in shock. Although many hotels and resorts closed permanently, like many other businesses, the ones who pivoted and adapted to their changed circumstances survived.

In essence, if you can innovate and pivot your business and invest in a solid hotel digital marketing strategy, you’re sure to find success.  

By launching a user-friendly hotel booking website during COVID-19, Hotel Spa Excelsior found a way to generate revenues and thrive. 

Facebook Ads to offer a great opportunity to increase brand awareness, engage your target audience, drive traffic to your website and generate sales.

Go Digital with Magenta Design

Need help taking your hotel/resort online? Need a flawless booking system? We can help. Our hotel digital marketing specialists will work with you to design a bespoke solution for your hotel or resort.

Contact our hotel digital marketing team today for a free consultation.