The hospitality industry is full of marketing trends.
Either you keep up with the trends or fall behind with the competition. Let’s explore some marketing trends we expect to see in 2025.
Some might be familiar from the previous year behind us. If you want to see if we had our finger on the pulse with some trends we predicted in 2024, check it out here.
The good news is we are not facing a lot of micro trends. Lesser fortunate news? These marketing tips ask you to research them in detail.
Luckily, we’ve already done that in this blog. All you have to do is read up on these tips and decide which one works best for your accommodation.
Let’s dive head-first into the future of marketing!
Top 10 Marketing Trends To Expect In 2025
Simply put, marketing in hospitality is very important. This is because the hospitality industry is close to a staggering $5.38 trillion!
A great number indeed, but it suggests something that should draw your attention. The market is saturated.
Building your brand and online presence can help you stand out from the competition. Let’s look into some interesting trends we expect to see in the hospitality business.
1. Augmented And Virtual Reality In The Hotel Industry
While you are still checking in your guests by hand, the Marriott is letting their guests order VR room service.
Their guests are invited to use their mobile app and order a VR headset, which they can use to enjoy a virtual reality experience.
You don’t have to do all that, but let’s explore how you can catch up.
Virtual Reality
The technological revolution has brought on new ways of communicating with guests.
Virtual Reality(VR) is a great way to show guests what they can expect to see before they arrive. With the right software and camera, you can create interactive 3D maps of your accommodation.
This not only draws attention to you and makes you stand out, but it also defines your brand. Providing access to VR on your website creates an image of a high-tech hotel, which is excellent for drawing in leisure travelers.
If you want to create a high technological experience for your guests, a good PMS is a must!
💡 Shining The Spotlight
We’re spotlighting OTA Sync’s Property Management System, which will transform your hotel to the fullest. With the right PMS, you can automate most hotel tasks.
This will make your check-in and check-out processes extremely short. Your guests will love this and your brand will thrive!
Augmented Reality
On the other hand, augmented reality is an excellent tool for the event industry. Lower season means external revenue sources, and organizing events is a great way to approach this.
Augmented reality(AR) is a way to let your future clients check out your venue before coming to you. Are organizers concerned with ideas on how to decorate your ballroom for a wedding? Give them ideas with an AR experience.
VR and AR can help you showcase and enhance the location you are in. This is a great way to show your brand is on top of trends and technology.
2. Social Media Marketing For Competitive Hospitality
Traditional media is losing its power. Social media is on the rise, with predictions that it will have 5.85 billion users expected by 2027.
Remember that email marketing still plays a crucial role in communicating with guests. A key move is to have a good Booking Engine and an excellent Property Management System to create successful email campaigns.
Direct bookings will give you key information about your guests and a good PMS can help you categorize and keep this information successfully. We’re shining the spotlight on OTA Sync’s Booking Engine, which will help you manage direct booking seamlessly.
Let’s explore some ideas on how you can promote your rental business on social media.
💡 Video Marketing
According to Hubspot, 54% of customers prefer to view video content from brands. Video is powerful because it effectively communicates emotion.
Short format video is the best for social platforms. Following trends on Instagram and TikTok can be interesting. Look for popular sounds and meme formats. On the other hand, you can use video marketing to showcase your location, rooms, and amenities.
The most important aspect of video marketing is connecting with the viewer. Consider making an introduction of your staff if they are willing to participate. This is a great way to make a connection with your followers.
💡 Influencer Marketing
Influencers are one of the easiest ways to create a personalized connection through the screen.
However, paying famous influencers to promote your hotel is not the extent of this marketing campaign. You can also pay a much more affordable price to everyday people to create more approachable content.
This is called UGC content creation. It entails connecting with everyday people who do not have a massive platform on social media. They can then create content within your hotel and make a more aesthetic customer success video.
This can be arranged so it’s mutually beneficial. These UGC creators might be happy to create content for you for a free stay in your hotel or a humble wage.
💡 Content Marketing and AI Generated Content
Using artificial intelligence to create content for your hotel can be an interesting opportunity.
AI isn’t limited to generating post descriptions. You can create images to post as well as short video clips.
Using reference images to create video clips using AI is also possible. With some modest editing skills, you can create breathtaking visuals for your marketing efforts.
AI is an interesting tool, but it’s only limited to your imagination. Take inspiration from more abstract forms of art to find interesting ideas and aesthetics.
3. SEO Is Still King
This trend in hospitality isn’t going away any time soon. An astonishing fact is that over 50% of website traffic comes from organic search result clicks! SEO is still on top of the world!
Optimizing for search engines like Google is still important. And SEO can sound very confusing! Hiring an SEO specialist is easy, but let’s review what this key trend entails.
Simply put, Google needs constant new articles to stay a relevant source of information. For this reason, it stimulates blog writing by pushing your website up towards the first page of Google.
So people wouldn’t post a bunch of gibberish and call it a day, it ranks the relevance of the content using keywords.
Use the right tools to look for the right keywords. Some of the tools we can recommend are Semrush, Screaming Frog, or Neuronwriter. Look for trends shaping the market in hospitality right now. These will be great topics for your blogs.
Lastly, don’t forget to create visually appealing images or videos to go with your blog!
SEO is something that will show you results in the long run. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see good progress right away. Perhaps your hotel guests will take their time to discover your blogging efforts.
If you want to know more about promoting your hotel on search engines, we have just the blog for you!
4. AI Is The Future Of Hospitality
Our favourite guests are the ones that return to our accommodation. Once we have created brand loyalty, we know we did hospitality right. How do we achieve this?
Besides making sure their travel experiences were amazing, we have more tools to our disposal. This is where AI steps in.
What AI has to offer:
- Tailored Guest Experience
- Smart Rooms
- Facial Recognition
- Automated Booking And Pricing
- Customer Support
We will focus on AI enhancing guest experience. With its never-ending data analytics, AI can give you all the information you need for creating a personalized guest experience.
With information about who your target audience is, you can tailor your amenities to their needs. Are there a lot of workationers at your hotel? Prepare the best spa experience to help them unwind!
AI is a part of the emerging trends that you don’t want to miss out on. If you want to know more about how AI can help you, we have a blog on that as well!
💡 Shining The Spotlight
If you have a spa as part of your hotel’s offer, OTA Sync has your back! With its Spa&Wellness Module, you can relax as happy customers come rolling in!
5. Mobile-First Strategies Are Key for Hotels
One of the most important hotel marketing trends to watch in 2025 is mobile-first strategies.
Allow your guests to mobile check-in and look into location-based marketing. Targeted promotions are not too far behind from this. Geofencing will allow you to push special offers to potential guests near the property.
Here are some ideas on how to implement these trends.
✅ Your Accommodation’s Website Has To be Optimized For Mobile
Make sure your website is optimized. This means ensuring it’s easy to navigate while using mobile devices or tablets. Don’t forget to check that your design adapts to different screen sizes.
Using a good booking engine will help you drive more direct bookings. We recommend OTA Sync’s Booking Engine that will seamlessly blend into the design of your website.
✅ Mobile Booking And A Guest Experience App
Booking through your website on mobile is not the end of optimization. Make sure guests can easily manage their booking through mobile.
A great feature is a Guest App that can help guests enjoy all your amenities. We recommend OTA Sync’s Guest App.
✅Mobile Check-In/Check-Out
This is a real sign of the times. Nothing says “future” like using your smartphone to skip long lines at the front desk. Even creating a digital key for their room can be something to call home about.
What a great way to create a modern reputation for your hotel!
6. Voice Search Optimization Is Shaping The Future Of Hospitality
Voice search is a great, quick way to look up things on a search engine. Surprisingly, 31% of smartphone users use voice search at least once a week.
Voice search doesn’t require the customer to even open a search engine. Voice search can be done through the smartphone’s virtual assistant.
Here’s how to optimize your hotel website for voice search:
- Focus your keywords on local search.
- Adapt keywords to focus on speech.
People will ask specific and direct questions when using voice search. Thinking about what you would say when looking for a hotel will help you immensely.
7. Branded DMs As A Social Media Strategy
Messaging your guests directly through social media is one of the marketing trends shaping hospitality marketing. Direct messaging can include SMS, web messaging, and social media.
Hubspot’s marketing report predicts that branded dms will have the third highest ROI.
Here’s what you can do about it!
Incorporate branded DMs into your annual marketing plan and set KPIs. With social media marketing, the most important thing to remember is: consistency is key.
8. Guest Journey Campaigns Help Hospitality Brands
Most people think the guest journey starts when someone books a hotel room and ends when they check out. The reality is, it goes beyond that.
A big focus in digital marketing this year will be expanding our knowledge on the customer journey. This is one of the trends shaping the future of hospitality management.
Targeting guests after check out can help you raise brand loyalty. It can be as simple as sending out an email on their birthday with a small discount on their next stay.
9. Sustainability Is Still Amongst Travel Trends
This one has been amongst most hotel marketing strategies for a while now. Mentioning on social media platforms your hotel is green isn’t going to get you far these days.
What customers want is an authentic experience that won’t damage the environment. A great way to achieve this is supporting small local businesses. By sourcing your ingredients locally, you have a great asset for your brand.
A big part of your reputation management can be looking for sustainable and reusable cutlery. Package should also be biodegradable.
Amongst other marketing ideas to make your hotel brand green, think about putting your logo and a short slogan on packages. This is a great way to raise brand awareness.
10. Socially Responsible Brand Values
90% of consumers seek sustainable travel options, according to the Expedia Sustainable Travel Study. This means being green isn’t touching base anymore.
One of the biggest efforts a brand should make to keep the brand socially responsible is to increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion amongst their staff.
Making sure your hotel is accessible for differently abled people is also a big part of your journey towards a better brand.
These changes are small but can give you a great impact.
How Can OTA Sync Help?
OTA Sync is an all-in-one cloud-based software solution for managing hotels and apartments. Because of cloud-based technology, costs are drastically reduced, daily tasks are automated, and the overall efficiency and revenues of the property are increased.
OTA Sync software is suitable for medium and small hotels, boutique hotels, hostels, guesthouses, and apartments. The company has over 2.000 satisfied users in 17 countries around the world.
There are four complete solutions for managing hotels and apartments:
For a free trial, click here.
🚨Special Offer
Want to stay on top of things and receive special offers and discounts? We’ve got you!
OTA Sync rewards smart hoteliers by giving out special discounts. To receive yours, click HERE!
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