As lockdowns start to lift, hotel bookings are beginning to pick up. Despite ongoing COVID concerns, people are eager to venture out again and this is very good news—as long as travel is managed responsibly, with effective preventative measures in place. With positive signs now visible, lodging operators can look forward to and plan for increasing occupancy rates with more confidence. According to McKinsey's research, the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by 10 years and today's travel consumers have become more digitally and tech-savvy than ever.

Which begs the question: Where lies the single biggest opportunity in digital marketing for hotels in 2022?

Peter O’Connor
Peter O’Connor
Professor of Strategy at University of South Australia Business School

With OTAs' online marketing efforts crippled by the death of third-party cookies, hotels have the opportunity to better leverage their in-depth knowledge of, and data about, the guest to reach out and capture more than their fair share of the recovering travel market. Investments in CRM, email marketing and closeness to the customer should pay off big time as hotels reach back further in the marketing funnel and position themselves in front of motivated customers at the inspiration stage of their decision-making process. Simply being there will be half the battle. And in-depth customer understanding will be what ultimately wins the war.

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