10 effective digital marketing strategy for hotel industry [updated for 2025]

Updated: February 2025

In today’s highly competitive hospitality landscape, a well-defined and adaptable hotel digital marketing strategy is essential for hotels looking to attract, engage, and delight guests. With rapid changes in digital technology and shifting guest expectations, having a proactive approach to online marketing is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for any hotel that wants to stay relevant and profitable.

The right digital marketing strategy for the hotel industry helps distinguish brands in a crowded market. As trends in travel and guest behaviour evolve, so do the most effective marketing techniques. Today, potential guests interact with brands across multiple channels—from social media to email to search engines. To capture their attention, hotels need a cohesive strategy that reaches them where they are and delivers a compelling brand experience.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the top strategies you can use to enhance your hotel online marketing strategy and drive direct bookings, loyalty, and brand visibility. These approaches are updated to reflect the best practices for 2025, ensuring that your hotel’s digital marketing efforts are future-proof and capable of adapting to new industry trends.

Understanding the current landscape in hotel digital marketing

Over the past few years, hotel digital marketing strategies have evolved significantly. With the rise of new technologies and shifting consumer behaviours, hotels have adapted their approaches to meet guests where they spend the most time: online. This digital shift has redefined how hotels reach potential guests, turning traditional marketing methods into more targeted, measurable, and efficient digital strategies.

One of the primary drivers of this transformation has been the impact of global events, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions, changes in consumer priorities, and an increased focus on safety and flexibility have all shaped how hotels attract and retain guests. The need for contactless experiences, for example, accelerated the adoption of digital tools, such as mobile check-ins and digital concierge services, which are now integral to an effective hotel online marketing strategy.

Guests rely heavily on online research, booking platforms, and reviews to make decisions. As a result, maintaining an optimised online presence is critical. This includes well-structured websites and active social media profiles. To succeed in the hotel industry in this digital-first era, you must adopt digital marketing strategies that integrate SEO, personalised outreach, reputation management, and data-driven decision-making.

Essential digital marketing strategies for the hotel industry in 2025

To stay ahead in the hospitality market, hotels must adopt a digital marketing strategy that embraces the latest tools and techniques for the hotel industry. From creating highly engaging content to leveraging data for personalisation, the most successful strategies are those that build genuine connections with guests while driving direct bookings.

Here are the top 10 strategies that hotels should consider for a future-focused and guest-centric approach in 2025:

1. Move beyond organic reach on social media

With platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok prioritising content from friends and family, organic reach for brands has significantly declined. For hotels, relying solely on organic posts to reach potential guests may no longer be enough.

• Challenge: Social media algorithms have shifted, making it increasingly difficult for brand content to appear on users’ feeds without paid promotion. While regular posting can still maintain some level of visibility, it is often limited, especially in competitive industries like hospitality. This limited organic reach restricts hotels’ ability to attract new audiences and effectively communicate their brand message.
• Solution: To overcome this, hotels should focus on quality over quantity on social media by creating polished, engaging content such as professional photos, videos, and user-generated posts that highlight unique experiences. Strategically promoting these posts through paid ads ensures your brand reaches targeted audiences, such as leisure travellers, families, or business guests. Retargeting can further enhance these efforts, keeping your hotel top-of-mind for users who’ve already engaged with your content.
• Tip: Invest in sponsored content that resonates with your audience’s interests. Start by defining your target audience segments—such as leisure travellers, business guests, or families—and create tailored messages for each group. Test different types of content, such as carousel ads for virtual hotel tours or short, engaging videos that capture the hotel’s ambience. Paid social campaigns can also be enhanced with retargeting to keep your brand top-of-mind for users who have already engaged with your content or visited your website.

By embracing paid social media strategies, hotels can effectively counter the challenges of declining organic reach and ensure their hotel digital marketing strategy remains visible and impactful.

2. Allocate budget strategically across digital marketing channels

In 2025, an effective hotel digital marketing strategy hinges on smart budget allocation to maximise ROI and impact. Spreading funds too thin across multiple channels can dilute effectiveness, especially for hotels with modest budgets.

Instead, the focus should be on high-impact platforms like social media, SEO, email marketing, and programmatic advertising. Allocate resources strategically: prioritise paid social ads for leisure and business travellers, invest in SEO to improve organic traffic, and use programmatic ads to target specific audiences, including retargeting campaigns for engaged users.

Typical budget allocations for hotels in 2025

To avoid budget dilution, hotels with a below-moderate advertising budget should consider budget allocation similar to the below (image 1):

 Image 1 - Recommended digital marketing allocation for hotels in 2025

By focusing on these high-impact channels, you can optimise your digital marketing strategy for the hotel industry and effectively use your budget to drive direct bookings and increase brand visibility.

3. Leverage email marketing in your hotel digital marketing strategy

Email marketing is one of the most effective techniques in a hotel digital marketing strategy, enabling hotels to connect directly with guests, drive repeat bookings, and foster loyalty. While some may view email as outdated, it remains a powerful channel for targeted communication with your guests.

When used correctly, email allows hotels to reach their customers in a more intimate way than most other digital channels. Guests often rely on email for travel updates, exclusive offers, and personalised recommendations. With the right approach, email can become a top revenue-generating channel for hotels, keeping guests engaged after their stay.

• Personalised outreach: Rather than sending generic messages, try to understand your audience better by segmenting your email list based on guest preferences, demographics, booking history, and behaviours. For example, a guest who booked a family suite may be interested in special offers for families, while a business traveller may value updates on business services or weekday promotions. Personalised, relevant content improves open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately, conversion rates.
  • Segmentation tips: Create audience segments such as past guests, loyalty programme members, and first-time visitors. Send tailored content, like seasonal promotions for previous guests or loyalty programme updates that appeal to each group’s needs and interests.
  • Dynamic content: Use dynamic content blocks that adapt based on guest data. For instance, show images of family-friendly amenities to guests who travelled with kids, or highlight corporate facilities to business travellers.
• CRM integration for data-driven campaigns: Integrating a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool like Hubspot with your email marketing platform can significantly enhance your hotel online marketing strategy. A CRM provides valuable insights into guest behaviour and preferences, helping you create data-driven email campaigns.
  • Automation for efficiency: Set up automated email workflows, including welcome emails, post-stay thank-you notes, and anniversary offers. These automated campaigns nurture guests over time, keeping your hotel top-of-mind and encouraging loyalty without requiring manual effort for each email.
• Measuring success: Track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to evaluate and refine your email campaigns. High engagement metrics often indicate that your content is resonating with guests, while low engagement may signal the need for more personalised or relevant messaging.

By incorporating these email marketing strategies into your hotel digital marketing strategy, you can maximise guest engagement, increase direct bookings, and build long-lasting relationships that contribute to your hotel’s success.

4.  Decrease OTA reliance by boosting direct bookings

Relying heavily on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) can take a toll on hotel profits. OTAs charge substantial commissions, often eating into revenue that could be invested in enhancing guest experiences. While OTAs provide valuable exposure, especially for new or smaller hotels, they usually dominate the booking process, reducing a hotel’s direct connection with its guests. A well-executed hotel digital marketing strategy can help shift this balance, driving more direct bookings and establishing stronger guest relationships.

So, what's the solution?

It's actually not too difficult. Here's a look at an example marketing workflow (image 2) that the OTAs use to entice users to make a booking:

Image 2 - Typical user journey originating from Google / other search engines

While the above scenario is very simplistic, a large percentage of bookings taken by OTAs will follow a similar route. The above also helps us to identify potential opportunities for hotels to disrupt the OTA booking flow. It's obviously difficult for hotels to play a role in the booking process unless they have the ability to understand that a guest is looking to make a booking. We've highlighted the two areas where hotels can influence the booking process (in orange in image 3 below):

If a hotel manages to get a potential guest to its website during any one of those two stages, the hotel can start to deploy its user journey or booking workflow similar to the example below (image 4):

Image 4 above shows how a guest's search and booking intent ties into hotel digital marketing opportunities, including email, social media, and search. But there's still one major advantage that the OTAs have over hotels, especially if that guest has never stayed at the shortlisted hotel before. The way that OTAs track the behaviour of those in their database takes advantage of the latest technology and provides real insights into how the average traveller books hotels.

For example, if a user already exists on the OTAs database (along with hundreds or millions of other travellers), it is very likely that every action including website visits, searches (locations and dates), email (opens and clicks) are tracked in a consolidated and sophisticated CRM tool. In addition, other touch-points such as mobile sites or mobile application visits, telephone calls, and even SMS interactions will all be tracked using the same tool. This data is then analysed and manipulated so that timely messages to each guest can be communicated to drive revenue.

This is a significant advantage for OTAs as most (not all) hotels do not have access to this type of information. Therefore, even if a user is searching for a hotel within a city for the very first time, if they land on the OTA's website (and are a part of the OTA's customer database), this user can be tracked and communicated to in a highly personalised way via app messaging, email and social media - even if they did not complete the booking or add any personal contact data during the process. Hotels generally don't have databases of this size and magnitude, let alone the tracking capabilities to automate this type of mass, yet personalised, communication.

What do hotels need to do to keep up with OTAs in 2025?

There are two things, and none of them should break the bank! The first is to license a marketing automation platform that allows the hotel to start tracking and behaving like an OTA when targeting guest bookings. Example platforms used by our clients are HubSpot or IBM's Watson Marketing platform.

The second is to invest in data collection opportunities. OTAs have the advantage of owning large databases purely from previous guest booking activity, but hotels need to work harder. Unless your hotel is part of a large international group of properties, it's unlikely that you have a database that will help you attract new guests. That's where tip number 5 becomes important.

5. Develop engaging, valuable content for a strong hotel digital marketing strategy

A crucial element of a successful hotel digital marketing strategy is developing valuable content that engages potential guests and builds long-term trust. High-quality content improves your hotel’s visibility and showcases your brand personality, setting you apart from competitors. In 2025, guests are looking for experiences rather than just places to stay; content is the key to communicating your hotel's unique experience.

Importance of content 

Content marketing is a powerful way to strengthen your hotel’s online presence and establish your property as a go-to choice in your destination. Quality content builds trust with guests by offering helpful information and showing them the unique aspects of your hotel and the local area. Additionally, content plays a significant role in SEO, helping your hotel rank higher on search engines for relevant queries, which can drive more direct bookings. When guests encounter content that resonates with their travel needs and interests, they are more likely to feel connected to your brand and inspired to book directly through your website.

Types of content to include 

Developing engaging, high-quality content is essential for a successful hotel digital marketing strategy in 2025. Valuable content boosts your hotel’s visibility and SEO, builds trust, and showcases your unique offerings, setting you apart from competitors. Modern travellers seek experiences over just accommodations; content is the key to effectively communicating these experiences.

Focus on diverse content types that resonate with guest preferences:

• Blog Posts: Write about local attractions, travel tips, or seasonal events to engage potential guests and improve SEO.
• Videos and Virtual Tours: Showcase amenities, room layouts, and unique features to create a strong visual connection with potential guests.
• Guest Stories and Testimonials: Highlight authentic guest experiences to build trust and encourage bookings.
• Destination Guides: Offer tips on dining, cultural spots, and hidden gems to position your hotel as a local expert while driving SEO traffic.

Content offers to attract and engage potential guests

Creating content that encourages guests to engage with your brand is an excellent way to build relationships before even visiting your hotel. Consider offering exclusive content or downloadable resources that provide genuine value:

• Insider tips and guides: Offer a downloadable “Insider’s Guide” to your hotel’s city, packed with unique local tips, recommended restaurants, upcoming events, or seasonal activities. Promote this guide on your website and social media as a free resource in exchange for an email address. This approach captures leads and introduces guests to the idea that your hotel provides exceptional, personalised service and insights.
• Promotional offers and seasonal packages: Craft content around special or seasonal offers highlighting specific experiences, such as a winter wellness retreat, a romantic getaway package, or a business traveller bundle. Use this content as a social media ad and website banner to attract visitors and entice them to book during specific seasons.
• Exclusive member content: Encourage loyalty by offering exclusive content to subscribers or loyalty members. For example, create a monthly newsletter with a “Behind the Scenes” look at your hotel, such as staff highlights, upcoming renovations, or sneak peeks of new menus. This type of content makes guests feel valued and increases brand loyalty.

Enhancing SEO with content

To ensure your content reaches the right audience, incorporate SEO best practices into every piece. Use keywords naturally throughout the content, particularly in titles, headings, and image descriptions. Optimising content with relevant keywords helps search engines direct travellers to your website, increasing visibility for potential guests.

By creating engaging, valuable content, your hotel's online marketing strategy can cater to every stage of the guest journey, from nurturing to booking. This approach builds trust, increases brand awareness, and attracts direct bookings by showcasing your hotel's distinctive experiences.

6. Implement a nurturing strategy for guest loyalty in your hotel digital marketing strategy

The nature v nurture debate is a long-standing one and "is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behaviour, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture." Depending on your personal beliefs, nature is widely seen as the winner. In the digital marketing world, though, we can use technology to manipulate actions and decisions by using nurturing workflows.

How does it work?

It's fair to say that at one point or another, we've all been 'nurtured' online. This could include automated follow-up emails to enquiries that may have been submitted, retargeting messages (or banners) or any other branded response to an initial action by a user, such as a website visit. While many e-commerce companies use nurturing to great effect (e.g. Amazon), in the travel and hospitality business, the only companies taking advantage of this seem to be the OTAs - but even they don't seem to have mastered the art of customer nurturing.

So, what can hotels do better?

Before we start, it's important to define exactly what nurturing would mean to a hotel and potential guest. In our minds, nurturing is the process that allows a hotel to maintain communication with a potential customer (hotel guest) during the exact stages from initial enquiry/search to final room booking. We've already identified above that there are numerous stages of the booking process typically undertaken by a guest before making a room booking. But what does a hotel typically do to influence a decision during this process? The reality is that most hotels don't tend to do too much.

One hotel that engages in an aggressive nurturing program is Wynn in Las Vegas, which has two properties attached to the same website (Wynn and Encore).

The Wynn nurturing programme has been intelligently designed and leverages the following tools:

• Website including a simple loyalty system
• Social media retargeting
• Extensive email marketing programme

The website is simple in that it allows users to search for availability and prices while highlighting the benefits of a user joining the Wynn Insider program, which is a members-only section of the website where users can obtain additional promotions and offers.

For many guests, the room price is always a strong influencing factor when selecting a hotel room, and the Wynn Insider programme highlights this with a clear and intelligent copy ("Instantly save 15% off"). Enrolment in the Insider programme is very simple and can be completed with ease. In case the user still isn't convinced that they should sign up, there's an instant reminder of the price differential and savings on offer. I expect that conversion from this page will be extremely high.

Once you become a member, the nurturing programme begins. It's clear that the hotel's website has sophisticated user-tracking tools embedded into it. The tools can, therefore, track availability searches (including room type, dates, and number of rooms required) and link these directly to the individual making the search. Just having the ability to track this data produces a large number of marketing possibilities for the hotel, which can be embedded into an integrated nurturing programme that includes the following:

• Social media/Google retargeting adverts that show:
  • Images of the specific room types
  • Prices specific to the dates searched for
  • Happenings / Events at the hotel during the dates searched

• Email marketing campaigns featuring:

• • Price updates for the specific dates mentioned
  • Other incentives on offer - linked to a booking code included within the email
  • Member-only deals

As the hotel knows the target travel dates, they can launch and implement campaigns that relate specifically to those dates. They can also increase the value-adds or promotions the closer the guest gets to the travel date in a bid to close the guest.

This approach is fully automated and is built on simple rules or workflows using a marketing automation tool. Other opportunities, such as SMS and Mobile Push messaging, can also be integrated into these types of campaigns. Trigger-based activity can also be embedded into the nurturing plan. This can include automated emails or other communication that can be triggered if the guest returns to your website (either before or after booking) to create new sales and up-selling opportunities.

How difficult is it to set something like this up?

As mentioned previously, the actual process of creating a strong nurturing program isn't difficult. However, it does require investment in technology and an internal determination and culture that supports such an initiative. The beauty of this, though, is that return on investment is clearly trackable and creates assets in the form of customer data and insights on booking behaviours and insights. The first part of this is technology, and tech investments can be made from just US$ 10,000 per year, which will equip your hotel with the tools you need.

If you're not sure of the value of this for your business, ask yourself how much your hotel is paying out in OTA commissions and what the savings would be if there was just a 1% shift in guest bookings directly with your hotel. The second part of this doesn't have a fixed dollar cost amount. Still, it will require key members of your hotel to educate themselves about the benefits of setting up a nurturing programme to increase customer loyalty and revenue.

7. Test programmatic and contextual advertising in your hotel digital marketing strategy

Programmatic and contextual advertising are powerful tools to reach potential guests by displaying ads tailored to user behaviour, interests, and the context of web pages they browse. Programmatic ads use automation and machine learning to bid on ad placements in real time, while contextual advertising places ads based on relevant content keywords. Together, they create a seamless ad experience that can significantly improve visibility and engagement with your hotel’s target audience.

Why programmatic and contextual advertising? 

These ad strategies allow hotels to reach users actively interested in travel or the early stages of planning. By targeting audiences based on interests or seasonal needs, hotels can attract potential guests exactly when they’re most likely to engage.

• Seasonal campaigns: Launch ads focused on seasonal offers, like winter escapes or summer family packages, to engage users searching for holiday options.
• Location-based targeting: Use geo-targeting to reach audiences in specific regions, such as promoting Dubai hotels to UK travellers in winter.
• Interest and retargeting campaigns: Reach guests who show interest in luxury travel or have previously visited your website, reminding them of your hotel’s offerings.

Optimising with real-time data

In 2025, real-time data will allow hotels to fine-tune campaigns instantly. Dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) customises ad visuals and messages based on the viewer’s profile, tailoring content to families, business travellers, or luxury seekers for higher engagement.

Measuring success

Set a test budget and track key metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates to gauge performance. Continually optimise based on what drives the best results to maximise ROI.

By incorporating programmatic and contextual advertising, hotels can strategically position their ads to attract guests, ultimately boosting brand visibility and conversions in a crowded digital space.

8. Collect and leverage guest data

There's a common theme with many of the points above - data. We all live in the information age, and a consequence of this is that we have access to more information and data than ever before. Both consumers and as business people. It's important that hoteliers recognise this and start to market their hotels in a modern, data-driven manner.

Unfortunately, many hotels are still marketing their businesses in the same way as they did 10 or 15 years ago, but times (and opportunities) have moved on. It's, therefore, likely that many of the hotels within your competitive set are still using more traditional marketing strategies, which could present better opportunities at a lower cost to your hotel and, in doing so, a distinct advantage over your competition.

With the rapid advancement of technology, emerging AI tools are proving to be game-changers for data collection and analysis. These tools offer powerful insights into customer behaviour and preferences, enabling hotels to craft personalised experiences that drive conversions and build loyalty. AI-driven systems can now track customer interactions across multiple touchpoints, predict future behaviours, and provide recommendations for more effective marketing strategies.

One of the leading platforms leveraging AI technology for hotels is HubSpot. Not only does it streamline customer relationship management (CRM), but it also integrates AI tools to gather data on guest behaviour across digital touchpoints, such as your website, email campaigns, and social media channels.

HubSpot’s capabilities allow you to segment your audience intelligently, automate workflows, and deliver personalised communication at scale. This data-driven approach enables hotels to build stronger customer relationships, increase direct bookings, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

Incorporating AI tools like HubSpot into your marketing strategy means you can extract valuable insights from the data you collect and use them to optimise your campaigns, making data an even more powerful asset for your hotel's success in 2025 and beyond.

9. Personalise guest communication across channels in your hotel digital marketing strategy

Incorporating personalisation across multiple channels is essential for delivering a memorable guest experience in today’s hospitality landscape. By using CRM data, hotels can connect with guests on a deeper level, offering tailored interactions that reflect individual preferences and needs. For example, pre-arrival messages can include activity recommendations based on past bookings, while a post-stay follow-up could feature a loyalty offer as an incentive to book again. These personalised touches make guests feel valued, increasing the likelihood of repeat visits and fostering long-term loyalty.

Go beyond email

While email is a key channel for personalisation, it shouldn’t be the only focus. Extend personalised interactions across channels, including social media and in-stay experiences. Retarget guests with ads featuring services they previously showed interest in or enhance their experience by displaying a personalised welcome message on digital screens upon check-in. Offering tailored dining or activity recommendations based on past preferences can create an unforgettable, guest-centric experience.

10. Approach influencer marketing thoughtfully

Influencer marketing can be a powerful component of a hotel digital marketing strategy.  It can help reach new audiences and build brand awareness through authentic, relatable content. However, success hinges on selecting influencers whose style, audience, and values align with your hotel's brand and target market. A strategic approach ensures partnerships drive tangible results.

Understand the challenges of influencer marketing

One of the primary challenges with influencer marketing is the need for authenticity. Not all influencers have engaged, loyal audiences, and some may have a following that doesn’t align with your hotel’s target demographic. Additionally, frequent changes to social media algorithms mean that influencer content may not always have the same reach it once did, making it harder to guarantee consistent visibility. Given these factors, it’s important for hotels to vet influencers carefully and ensure they have a genuine connection with their followers.

Selecting the right influencers for your hotel

To make the most of influencer partnerships, choose influencers whose audiences align with your hotel’s guest profile. For example, if your hotel focuses on eco-friendly luxury, a sustainability-focused travel influencer with an environmentally conscious following would be a strong match. Look for influencers who engage with their followers through comments, replies, and stories, as high engagement rates often indicate an invested audience.

When selecting influencers, define clear goals for the partnership, such as increasing brand awareness, driving direct bookings, or promoting specific services or events. Set measurable engagement metrics, like reach, likes, and clicks, to track the performance of each campaign. By establishing expectations upfront, you can ensure that your hotel and the influencer are aligned on the outcomes.

The 2025 outlook on influencer marketing in hospitality

As social media algorithms continue to evolve, influencer marketing is shifting toward deeper, more meaningful partnerships. Micro-influencers—those with smaller but highly engaged followings—are becoming increasingly valuable, as they often have niche audiences that trust their recommendations. Hotels should consider working with micro-influencers in addition to larger influencers to reach specific guest segments more effectively.

In 2025, authenticity and transparency will be more important than ever in influencer marketing. Hotels should prioritise influencers who create genuine, relatable content that resonates with followers, focusing on those who regularly share honest travel experiences rather than sponsored content alone. Additionally, as platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok enhance their features, influencers will have new ways to showcase hotel experiences through interactive content like live streams, short videos, and immersive virtual tours.

By approaching influencer marketing with a strategic and thoughtful plan, hotels can leverage this channel effectively within their digital marketing strategy for the hotel industry, ultimately driving guest interest, enhancing brand credibility, and increasing direct bookings.

A summary

2025 promises to be an interesting one for hotel marketers. For hotel digital marketers, some of the new opportunities available may be easier to implement and justify to line managers and other key decision-makers, but even if you're not a digital native and more of a traditional marketer, it's important that hotels adapt quickly to the changing environment around them. As a hotel GM told me recently, the OTAs only became as powerful as they are today because they understood the internet and digital marketing opportunities much better (and faster) than the hotels did. The consequence is the creation of large competitors they are forced to work closely with to survive.

It's time for hotels to stand up again, to innovate, and take the game to the OTAs.

NEXA, digital marketing and the hospitality industry

Since 2005, NEXA has worked with independent hotels and large groups, providing an extensive range of digital marketing products, services and expertise. Our work includes website creation, management and optimisation, email and social media solutions, performance management, campaigns management and overall digital marketing strategy creation and implementation. Clients include Hilton Worldwide, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Viceroy Hotels & Resorts, One & Only Hotels and Resorts, Jumeirah Group, Premier Inn and Wyndham.

Ready to maximise your hotel’s digital marketing efforts and improve your campaign performance? Use our calculator to get an instant quote and see how we can help you drive more direct bookings and enhance your online presence.