The holiday season will soon be upon us! Halloween is around the corner and hoteliers are already putting on their thinking caps for Halloween marketing ideas. This is the time when large numbers of travelers are always on the lookout for the best Halloween package deals, fun events and parties. And, hoteliers need to find the best way to attract hotel guests this Halloween 2017. There are many ways you can use Halloween promotional ideas to keep your hotel restaurants busy and your rooms entirely booked during the holiday season.
Having a mixed bag of Halloween marketing ideas will make your hotel brand stand out from the competition. This is also the season which is one of the biggest for consumer spending and hoteliers must be innovative to encourage immediate bookings and sales.
As we are gearing up to celebrate this spooky month of ghouls and goblins, hoteliers have the task of making this an exciting time for adults and children alike. If you’re wondering how to attract hotel guests, then check out the best marketing strategies to attract customers.
Some ideas to attract guests this halloween
1. Run an Online Contest
Running a contest around the theme of Halloween will help you, the hotel owner, to benefit from the user-generated content. Social media is one of the most suitable platforms to market your hotel’s Halloween updates. Ask your subscribers to post their photographs in Halloween gear. Ensure the participation is easy with relevant hashtags. You can keep it vote-based or select a winner for the Spookiest Costume’ and more. Social media contests such as these will create a buzz and generate traffic towards your site. Retain a separate tab on your website for the participant photos and announcements of winners. Keep information updated across all channels. Online contests are one of the most exciting and appealing Halloween promotional ideas for hotels.
2. Offer Halloween Package Ideas, Collaborate with Local Event Organizers
One of the ways to attract tourists to your hotel property lies in collaborating with local event planners and organizers. Purchase tickets to events in and around your hotel property. Offer these with your room package as complimentary for the holiday season. This will encourage new visitors to explore the locality. Besides, your hotel brand will also get a boost when the event organizer mentions the hotel property on the event promotional material. Look out for craft fairs, pumpkin festivals, mystery tours, spooky hunts, and more to attract the right kind of target group. You can also offer Halloween Weekend Getaway package deals with several add-ons and activities to encourage guests to enjoy the entire weekend at your hotel property. Offer the right incentive at an attractive price to attract guests this Halloween.
3. Lay Emphasis on the Hotel Décor
Hotel owners can let their creativity run loose to create hotel décor that goes with the Halloween theme. Hotels across the world such as the Oxford Hotel in Denver went the extra mile to create a spooky décor. The hotel brand, with its haunted history ensures the decorations supported the theme and this turned out to be an apt Halloween promotional idea to boost the hotel’s visibility and revenue. You can also decorate the outdoors and invite guests to participate for pumpkin carving events, decoration themes and more. Bring on the spooky experience with spiders, cobwebs, ghosts, broomsticks, pumpkins and the works! Have a special Halloween themed menu in place. Guests who visit the hotel will have a memorable experience – the photographs and updates being shared automatically on social media channels giving yet another boost to your marketing and branding strategy. Don’t forget to drop your visiting card in the Trick or Treat goodie bag to be given at the end of the party.
4. Focus on Email Marketing
If you are looking to attract customers this Halloween, ensure you time marketing emails right. This October, run special campaigns that target the organized type of travelers as well as the last-minute planners. Develop the right content and visuals to offer discounts, promo-codes, contest updates, and package deals to your already existing subscriber base. For e.g. create a sense of urgency for room booking with a last-minute Halloween deal available for 24 hours only. One-day discount (e.g.: Scary Low Prices) often turns out to get the right click-through rates with a certain amount of booking. Themed campaigns that run around the ‘Trick or Treat’ concept throughout the month with fun and engaging content will engage subscribers. Keep your final call-to-action message simple and clear. Mention the best available rates to get faster bookings from the online user.
5. Create Engaging Content Online
Halloween is one of the best holiday seasons for hoteliers to connect with users online. Content, videos and images which are witty and funny will score high amongst your online followers. Stay relevant to the Halloween theme and make engaging and interactive posts that will create a buzz online or even better – become viral. Always create posts that are share-worthy – the more the users get engaged and entertained, the more your posts will be shared. Content based on the Halloween theme that is humorous for readers and useful for the hotel brand (e.g. mentioning about your party tickets in a subtle manner) will generate extra traffic as the social media posts get shared online. Funny infographics, online pumpkin hunt games on your website, interesting facts about Halloween are some of the ideas you can use to grab attention online. As long as you can tickle the funny bone, you can be rest assured of grabbing great visibility online.
6. Offer a Glimpse of the Holiday Season
Post in-house videos and updates online. Let users know what’s in store at your hotel for this holiday season. You can focus on behind-the-scenes look that gives an idea about the spookiness level of your ambience on display. Interview staff members, post testimonials, create teasers and more. You can also include quick highlights of the menu in store. Ensure you include interesting updates about your hotel property to give just the right amount of information needed to encourage viewers to visit, dine and stay at your hotel property.
We hope you can use these hotel strategies to attract customers this Halloween. Grab the attention of consumers with the right levels of engagement to make your hotel property stand out. Have you got a trick up your sleeve? We’d love to hear!
