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Hospitality Marketing is a vital part of promoting your hotel, restaurant, theme park, resort, etc. To continue to gain more customers or keep the ones you currently have you will need to consider implementing some of these marketing strategies. There are six hospitality marketing strategies outlined in this article so look and see which one is right for your business. They include experiential marketing, personalization marketing, influencer marketing, video marketing, content marketing, and remarketing.

Even though using beacon technology for proximity marketing is still in its infancy in the restaurant industry, this technology has already demonstrated some of its potential by virtue of increasing labor and overall operational efficiency while boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. Beacons can help increase restaurant and bar sales, improve customer service, and provide more value for their customers, which should lead to customer loyalty. The possibility of applying beacon technology in the restaurants and bars opens a window of opportunity to engage diners and also enables restaurants to create more tailored experiences for them. Restaurants can use beacons to send alerts to people nearby about many table/seat availability and encourage them to make reservations or walk in. Or if the restaurant is very busy, restaurants can send the menu to their phones, so they can browse it while waiting for their tables. Restaurants and bars can build profiles of returning customers and provide offers based on past preferences. Thus, returning customers can benefit from improved and personalized customer service. During quiet hours or days, restaurants and bars can efficiently manage their staff and service, because of the data they have been collecting using beacons. Diners can even pay for their meal or drinks using their mobile device without having to wait for the waiter to come over and accept their method of payment.

This articles talks about what beacon-based proximity marketing is and its usefulness in restaurants.

Beacon technology has been around for a long time - prior to 2013 - but cost kept it unpopular. Initially only real big hospitality players had this tech. Now cost is no longer a limiting factor, but companies are limited to customers/potential customers who have a compatible app or the companies own app already on their phone, so they can push the proximity messages.

The major hotel chains are influencing legislation and also now requiring employee safety devices (ESDs) to make the workplace safer for employees (i.e. room service attendants or housekeepers) who find themselves alone in guest rooms with ill-intentioned guests. ESDs can also be appropriate for large resorts with beach personnel, activities personnel, or other positions that find themselves in enclosed, or remote areas with less security. Not every hotel has a security department that can constantly monitor cameras and ESDs. Will these devices present more strain on hotel wireless networks? That depends. Hoteliers need to consider whether these devices will be provided by or monitored through their keylock vendor, through their guest room entertainment vendor, or through a wireless provider. Could there be a benefit to an ESD interface with the PMS? I'm not finding an obvious answer. Hotels, varying in room count, are providing ESDs that range from whistles to wireless to BLE or RFID enabled. Hotel owners and management companies have the responsibility to research the most appropriate solution for their hotel without undermining the safety and privacy of their employees and their hotel networks.

The relationship with OTAs should be about finding the right balance (or mix of business) for your specific hotel. A commonly held point of view is that OTA commissions are exorbitant (in dollars, or as a % of revenue), but shouldn't we be glad if they sold a room we were not going to sell otherwise?

This article shows how important sustainability is in the hotel industry and how innovation and technology can help companies sustainability efforts. Even though technology like the smartphone has a huge footprint on the environment, they can be used to help in sustainability such as hotels using the smartphones that guests already have to perform some functions without having to use paper. Mobile phones can also be adapted to help in running of smartrooms to improve customer experience and also reduce the footprint on the environment.

A quick read but very enlightening statistics about generational feelings and loyalty to green technologies in hotels.

It is becoming more common for hotels to become more sustainable and green in there business practices. Guests are finding these practices to be expected more often that none. Hotels are now becoming more efficient on there sustainability efforts by utilizing technology in order to reduce costs as well.

This article talks about the different ways that proximity marketing enhances customer loyalty programs to increase customer trust and loyalty. Proximity marketing is a marketing technique involving the localized wireless distribution of promotional content in specific geographical proximity. One of the ways that it can benefit customer loyalty programs is through laser-focused targeting. This kind of marketing is precise because it allows you to target potential customers close to the area, which will enable it to be a more personalized communication. Another reason is that it helps improve customer experience through the use of QR code coupons for customers, resulting in improved customer engagement and experience. Another reason, this one is used by Marriott International, is utilizing beacons. The beacons transmit in-hotel discounts and offer to loyalty program members through the hotel app. The key to proximity marketing is that customers need to remain engaged, in the area, and new marketing techniques like those described above can absolutely help.

Beacon technology is an important part of a personalized eMarketing strategy. The technology pings guests through an app to solicit a financial transaction. This increases app engagement and app retention and increases brand loyalty when done right. This article points out some uses for beacon technology beyond the obvious goal of driving sales into hotel restaurants, spas, or golf courses. Hotels have been successful using the technology in tracking hotel assets (i.e. luggage carts and room service trays), to tracking vendors on property, to determining which employee is most able to quickly deliver an item to a guest. I think beacon technology, when integrated with a PMS, could be used to increase loyalty program enrollment by identifying non-member guests and prompting them to enroll at opportune times during their stay (i.e. right after check-in or just prior to check-out).

With travelers becoming more aware of sustainability and its benefits, many sectors within the hospitality industry are modifying their product to be sustainable. Using green computer technology like contactless check-in rather that key cards which overproduces plastic for the key cards used. Hotels are also using automation and AI like having an automatic power shut off when a guest leaves their room and smart showers limiting shower length.