Why Online Brand Image is So Important in Hospitality

Running a business in the hotel industry is always a challenge. From unending guest expectations to internal hospitality management issues, there is contant transformation to stay consistent in the business to provide a seamless guest experience.

Today, guests have tons of options when it comes to picking the right accommodation. Factors that trigger these options could be price, location, customer service, reviews, or even a random cocktail presentation on the hotels’ bar, that was shared by someone that person doesn’t even know and accidentally came across on their social media. Therefore the value of the asset that was created on digital platforms are increasing day after day.

Being able to create an online brand identity is often thought to be something that is only acquired by those world-famous hotels with a heritage. The truth is, in today's digitized and globalized world, every hotel can build and manage its own online brand image to drive towards more successful results.

In this article, we will discuss why the online brand image is so important for hotels. But first, let’s find out about what branding means for the entire hospitality industry.

Hotel Branding in Hospitality Industry at a Glance

Hotel and hospitality branding reflects everything from the values and the identity of the hotel to guests’ perceptions and experiences. It basically means who you are and how you want to be seen by your potential guests.

One of the most important things in this industry is taking the time to invest in seamless online branding empowered by a good digital customer experience strategy so, let’s find about what makes branding so crucial.

The Importance of Online Branding

Digital channels like guest experience platforms and online booking agencies are transforming themselves into a modernized outlook. With the improvement in online technologies, hotel brands are trying to upgrade their identity towards maximizing guest experience.

An effective online branding strategy allows guests to remember you and differentiates you from your competitors. With the use of the internet and especially social media, a solid online strategy needs to express your values to build further reputation

There are some vital features that make online branding important for hotels. To list some of those

Helps You Stand Out From The Competition

There are some brands that everyone chooses time and time again, like Starbucks. Some coffee shops might serve cheaper or even better coffee. But at the end of the day, people would always pick Starbucks out of all coffee shops. It’s because they always stand out from the competition with their consistency and always deliver what their customers want.

Potential guests would like to interact with organizations with a reputable and trustworthy brand than those that don’t..

Online branding in hotels serves for the same purpose. Some hotels, might offer more than your hotel or even be more cost-friendly with the same exact services and amenities they offer. As long as the organization stands out from the crowd, customers will continue to use their choice on that side.

Promotes Recognition and Impression

In a world of competition, creating a recognizable brand makes the organization familiar to the guests. It’s the best way to get noticed in a big market and is quite successful when people are able to recognize the organization through any sort of characteristic that separates it from the others.

A hotel that reflects itself well and presents its services and benefits correctly in the online world would make a huge difference when noticed. That’s going to improve the positive impression on the potential guests and would likely increase the odds of picking your organization among the competition.

Creates Quality and Value

Is the hotel providing a unique service? Does it offer a landscape that’s going to create huge value for the guest? Most guests would pick luxury over modestness if they are going to accommodate in a hotel.

Every single asset that the hotel provides is going to demonstrate the quality of the brand and is likely to bring excitement to the guest experience to potential guests who are still on the exploration stage. Using these assets in online branding and guest engagement empowers the value of the organization and the quality of the service it offers.

No matter the size of the organization, building a long-lasting and excellence-focused brand for consistency can’t go wrong. To do this, organizations are investing in creating a strong brand that will get their potential guests’ attention.

Hotel managements try to provide the best product and service for their guests for them to feel great and made worth-every-dime spending.

Helps You Build Trust

Research shows that 70% of people are likely to trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know, while 92% of people are trusting non-paid recommendations than any other form of advertising.

Building a branding strategy towards trust is a key factor in improving the guest experience to its maximum. In the past few years, the very first step of guest engagement starts online.

Effective interaction on online travel agencies (OTAs) and digital guest experience platforms for a trusted online branding would both increase the power of trust factor on organizations’ behalf and to boost demand with the right strategy.

Also one of the most important factors in building trust are the guest reviews and hotel reviews from the people who previously accommodated in the particular hotel. Those reviews would reflect the organizations’ legitimacy on OTAs and digital guest experience platforms.

Reinforces The Story

Humans have grown with stories and would still love a good story. Stories lead to a better understanding, and comprehension and build further trust. Online branding is a blessing to contribute to the widespread of the story's popularity.

Creating a strong brand story for the organization that touches its’ values, mission, and heritage and shows the potential guests how passionate and dedicated the organization is. A meaningful story embraces the beginning to build a long-lasting relationship with the brand and is likely for the guests to experience full connection and devotion to the hotel.

Social media accounts, web pages andguest engagement platforms, are great online channels to present your story for the beneficial factors of online branding.

Here’s How Guest Engagement Platforms Can Help

As important as setting up the right online branding, it carries crucial importance to be able to announce and spread it to make sure it reaches the right amounts of potential guests. .

Especially guest engagement platforms like Webee, with 99% of active user engagement is the golden key to deliver online branding to your guests.

Operating in 23 countries and working with 180+ hotels, we provide a full cycle of hotel/guest experience, with our pre-arrival, arrival, and post-arrival solutions.

Thus, every step of your guests’ journey is designed for success. You can boost your ROI, hotel ranking, increase your revenue and develop your business into a next-gen mobile guest experience to maximize guest satisfaction and online reputation to its peak.