STAAH Blog
  • Home
  • MANAGEMENT
    • The Role of a Hotel Revenue Manager:…

      Why Every Hotel Needs a Channel Manager…

      Program Konsorsium Hotel: Bagaimana, Mengapa & Berapa…

      โปรแกรม Hotel Consortia: อย่างไร ทําไม และค่าใช้จ่ายเท่าไหร่?

      ตัวจัดการช่องทาง Channel Manager คืออะไร และทำไมผู้ให้บริการที่พักจึงจำเป็นต้องมี?

  • Marketing
    • Smart Hotel Distribution: What Every Hotelier Needs…

      The Ultimate Guide to Turning Negative Reviews…

      6 Social Media Trends Hoteliers Must Leverage…

      ไอเดียโพสต์โซเชียลมีเดียที่กําลังมาแรงสําหรับโรงแรมในปี 2025

      Xu Hướng Nội Dung Mạng Xã Hội…

  • Tips & Trends
    • What Is a Hotel Booking Engine and…

      Seamless Integrations: Enhancing Hotel Operations with Advanced…

      Smart Hotel Distribution: What Every Hotelier Needs…

      Maximizing Hotel Revenue: Advanced Channel Manager Strategies…

      The OTA Balancing Act: How a Channel…

  • News
    • Cloudbeds and STAAH partner to enhance channel…

      STAAH Achieves Prestigious Seamless Product Badge from…

      STAAH Product Updates You Can’t Miss –…

      Thoughtful Thursday – Reporting for Properties: Converting…

      Thoughtful Thursday – Matrix – Revenue Control…

  • Success Stories
    • Kenyan hospitality group’s smart switch to STAAH

      Bookings rise beyond expectations for boutique UK…

      The Komu Boosts Direct Revenue by 25%…

      Online Revenue Jumps 50% for Mangkuluhur Residences…

      23% more online bookings for Vivatel Kuala…

  • Resources
    • All BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH Connectivity News e-Books Events Podcast Quiz Testimonials Webinars

      Connect with Expedia – Expand Your Reach…

      Alexa+ could earn “top-of-the-funnel” spot in travel…

      STAAH & Hotelbeds: A Powerful Partnership Driving…

      STAAH’s new eBook to guide hoteliers through…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Captain Mihir Deepak…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Dia Mirza

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Avijit Arya and…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Mauro Risch

      Connect with Expedia – Expand Your Reach…

      Alexa+ could earn “top-of-the-funnel” spot in travel…

      STAAH & Hotelbeds: A Powerful Partnership Driving…

      EMPOWERING CHANNEL PARTNERS: THE POWER OF CONTENT…

      STAAH’s new eBook to guide hoteliers through…

      STAAH ReviewMinder Playbook

      STAAH GDS Playbook

      The Expert Guide to Drive More Direct…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Suwamana Wahyu Putra…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH With Matthias Dybing And…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Vikramjit Singh and…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Suhail Kannampilly and…

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 17 January

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 10 January

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 20 December

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 13 December

      The Domain Hotel and Spa, Bahrain

      Pramana Experience (Indonesia)

      Merusaka Nusa Dua, Bali (Indonesia)

      Acappella Suite Hotel (Malaysia):

      From Search to Stay: Maximize your Visibility…

      STAAH Webinar: From Search to Stay: Maximize…

      STAAH Webinar: Manage Revenue Mastery: How to…

      STAAH Webinar: Manage Revenue Mastery: How to…

  • Free Demo
LATEST
The Role of a Hotel Revenue Manager: Responsibilities,...
Kenyan hospitality group’s smart switch to STAAH
What Is a Hotel Booking Engine and Why...
Bookings rise beyond expectations for boutique UK property
Seamless Integrations: Enhancing Hotel Operations with Advanced Channel...

STAAH Blog

  • Home
  • MANAGEMENT
    • The Role of a Hotel Revenue Manager:…

      Why Every Hotel Needs a Channel Manager…

      Program Konsorsium Hotel: Bagaimana, Mengapa & Berapa…

      โปรแกรม Hotel Consortia: อย่างไร ทําไม และค่าใช้จ่ายเท่าไหร่?

      ตัวจัดการช่องทาง Channel Manager คืออะไร และทำไมผู้ให้บริการที่พักจึงจำเป็นต้องมี?

  • Marketing
    • Smart Hotel Distribution: What Every Hotelier Needs…

      The Ultimate Guide to Turning Negative Reviews…

      6 Social Media Trends Hoteliers Must Leverage…

      ไอเดียโพสต์โซเชียลมีเดียที่กําลังมาแรงสําหรับโรงแรมในปี 2025

      Xu Hướng Nội Dung Mạng Xã Hội…

  • Tips & Trends
    • What Is a Hotel Booking Engine and…

      Seamless Integrations: Enhancing Hotel Operations with Advanced…

      Smart Hotel Distribution: What Every Hotelier Needs…

      Maximizing Hotel Revenue: Advanced Channel Manager Strategies…

      The OTA Balancing Act: How a Channel…

  • News
    • Cloudbeds and STAAH partner to enhance channel…

      STAAH Achieves Prestigious Seamless Product Badge from…

      STAAH Product Updates You Can’t Miss –…

      Thoughtful Thursday – Reporting for Properties: Converting…

      Thoughtful Thursday – Matrix – Revenue Control…

  • Success Stories
    • Kenyan hospitality group’s smart switch to STAAH

      Bookings rise beyond expectations for boutique UK…

      The Komu Boosts Direct Revenue by 25%…

      Online Revenue Jumps 50% for Mangkuluhur Residences…

      23% more online bookings for Vivatel Kuala…

  • Resources
    • All BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH Connectivity News e-Books Events Podcast Quiz Testimonials Webinars

      Connect with Expedia – Expand Your Reach…

      Alexa+ could earn “top-of-the-funnel” spot in travel…

      STAAH & Hotelbeds: A Powerful Partnership Driving…

      STAAH’s new eBook to guide hoteliers through…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Captain Mihir Deepak…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Dia Mirza

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Avijit Arya and…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Mauro Risch

      Connect with Expedia – Expand Your Reach…

      Alexa+ could earn “top-of-the-funnel” spot in travel…

      STAAH & Hotelbeds: A Powerful Partnership Driving…

      EMPOWERING CHANNEL PARTNERS: THE POWER OF CONTENT…

      STAAH’s new eBook to guide hoteliers through…

      STAAH ReviewMinder Playbook

      STAAH GDS Playbook

      The Expert Guide to Drive More Direct…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Suwamana Wahyu Putra…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH With Matthias Dybing And…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Vikramjit Singh and…

      BLAAH BLAAH @STAAH with Suhail Kannampilly and…

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 17 January

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 10 January

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 20 December

      STAAH Weekly Hospitality Quiz: 13 December

      The Domain Hotel and Spa, Bahrain

      Pramana Experience (Indonesia)

      Merusaka Nusa Dua, Bali (Indonesia)

      Acappella Suite Hotel (Malaysia):

      From Search to Stay: Maximize your Visibility…

      STAAH Webinar: From Search to Stay: Maximize…

      STAAH Webinar: Manage Revenue Mastery: How to…

      STAAH Webinar: Manage Revenue Mastery: How to…

  • Free Demo

7 Hotel marketing strategies to adapt in a COVID world

1 September 2021
woman her colleagues background

Guest behaviours have dramatically changed with the pandemic. How has your strategy evolved with this shift?


In this blog, we look at some hospitality trends arising from the pandemic and some tips on how you can outsmart your competitors and attract guests to your property by adopting these trends.

Before we dive into guest behaviours, a key change in the industry has also been increased competition. The lines between hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and everything in between is blurring as properties scramble for attention from a highly diminished audience set. The only way to survive this hyper-competitive environment is to quickly start working towards short-term wins while keeping their eyes on longer-term, sustainable success.

1) Revenge travel is a thing … you need to cater to it

After months of being cooped up in their homes, pent-up demand is to be expected. It is playing out as “revenge travel” as they book the next holiday. To capitalise on this a few critical action points for hotels are:

  • Be flexible with your cancellation policy and booking terms.

Things can change overnight, and lockdowns are common. Guests need to be assured that forward booking is not a sunken fund should the next lockdown be announced.

  • Sell an experience, not just a room.

Getting out of their homes after months, people are looking for rich outdoor experiences – go big or stay home is the emerging theme for travel in 2021 and beyond. Combine your property’s amenities with local attractions to create packages your prospective guests can’t ignore.

2) Leisure before business

While leisure travellers are going all out to book their dream holiday, businesses are being far more cautious in staff travel. This has meant that the slump in business travel continues. Whilst leisure cannot make up for what’s lost from business travel, you need to make sure you continue to offer the amenities that bring the business travellers to your property. Loyalty has a great value in today’s travel world; you need to retain whatever business travellers still book with you by offering them the amenities and services they have always been used to.

“Work from hotel” presents a new business travel opportunity as professionals seek full or part-time safe places to work.

3) Understand your guest profile

Hotel marketing adapting your strategy to deliver in a COVID world 5Whilst the change has been in the making for some time, the pandemic has quickened the process of guest evolution. Travellers seek experiences that are sustainable and contribute to the local economy. Health and hygiene are top of mind. Business travel, which was the bread and butter for many hotels, is now secondary.

All these changes require property owners to pause, reassess their guest profile for their demographics, geo and interests. The digital marketing and distribution strategy should evolve with these changed profiles.

4) Embrace loyalty

Loyalty programmes are fundamental because it leads to increase sales and customer retention. Use your loyalty programme to remind and deliver your brand’s trust, this will also help you attract repeat guests.

5) Adopt digitalization

While stuck at home, people have gotten more and more used to buying goods and services on the internet; and hotel rooms are certainly no exception. Within a post-COVID travel market, hotels cannot afford to rely solely on external platforms to ensure their digital presence.

This is the time to review your online strategy and your tool kit, including your hotel website and social channels (content marketing strategies). Invest in SEO (search engine) and improving usability to increase bookings.

Invest in the right technology tools to help you strengthen your online presence, including an optimised booking widget on your website and an online review management tool.

6) Prioritise contactless experiences and guest safety

Contactless guest experienceProviding an environment that looks and feels safe and abides by all local government guidelines for health and safety requirements is critical to winning over guests during the pandemic and beyond. Inspire guest confidence with contactless experiences such as online check-in, keyless entry, stand-down time check-out and check-ins for a room, providing masks and sanitisers, etc.


Did you know Contactless guest experience is the future of hospitality? Read more


7) Looking ahead for data

adapt digital marketingUsing last year’s data to benchmark today’s performance doesn’t make much sense. Instead, analysts must look at short-term trends, comparing performance to last month or even last week.

Forward-looking data is important to understand the composite and be able to respond with an adjustment in strategy. Don’t shy away from looking for new sources of data – airline bookings, local travel announcements, etc. This qualitative information is crucial to piecing together a more flexible strategy.


Parting words

Nothing is perfect and there’s no guarantee in such volatile times. Hotels must respond by learning to become much more malleable than they used to be. This means adopting agile management methods, close to that of a start-up, where changes can happen as soon as required by the market.

Meanwhile, look forward to your best response and not backwards at trends. The world is very different from what it was in 2020 or prior.

7 Hotel marketing strategies to adapt in a COVID world was last modified: June 9th, 2022 by Nashi Dasgupta

Related Articles

From Reviews to Revenue: Using Social Media...

Social Media Marketing for Hotels: The Ultimate...

A Quick Guide To International SEO For...

Trending Social Media Post Ideas for Hotels...

STAAH Products

Channel Manager
Booking Engine
Instantsite Website
Gift Voucher Engine
Review Minder


QUICK LINKS
  • About
  • Blog
  • News
  • Resellers
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Help Centre
  • Refer a friend, get NZ $300
PRODUCTS
  • Channel Manager
  • Booking Engine
  • ReviewMinder
  • Vouchers
  • Global Distribution Systems (GDS)
  • InstantWebsite
Solutions
  • Independent Properties
  • Group Properties
INTEGRATIONS
  • All Integrations
  • OTAs
  • PMS
  • Wholesalers
  • PG
  • GDS
  • Metasearch Engines
  • Booking Engines & Conversion Drivers
  • Upselling, CRM & Marketing Partners
  • Su API
CONTACT

Sales Enquiries:
sales@staah.com

Customer Support:
support@staah.com

Billing:
accounts@staah.com

Careers:
people@staah.com

STAAH Limited. 2025 © All Rights Reserved. | Support | Terms | Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy