95 – How to Attract Weddings to Your Hotel

Just after many years of postponing, partners are eager to tie the knot and the need for weddings is skyrocketing. Host Ryan Embree discusses how inns can posture them selves to capture marketplace share and secure bookings from equally engaged partners and wedding company. Pay attention now!

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Location the place hoteliers examine in and we look at out what’s trending in resort internet marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hello there, absolutely everyone. Welcome to a further episode of the Suite Location. This is your host Ryan Embree, and we have got a good episode for you now. For a subject make any difference that hoteliers have genuinely been lacking out on the past two many years, and I’m positive friends and travelers have as effectively. And that’s weddings. The pandemic clearly experienced a massive influence on team business and that integrated weddings. We noticed a lot of couples postpone their weddings to later on in the 12 months or later on down the line. And it is acquiring a large impact on occupancy. But now as we see ourselves finding even further and more by way of this pandemic and see that type of light-weight at the finish of the tunnel, we see additional and far more men and women now achieving out. And these couples that postponed, they are all set to get married and we’re looking at these guests now come to feel more and additional snug coming and keeping at our hotel.

Ryan Embree:
So that is what this episode is all about: how to entice more weddings to your lodge and how to leverage your electronic advertising and accomplishing it. So in advance of we get started out in this episode, a few quick stats on what we’re seeing with weddings. So this is according to the Knot, “wedding venues in the vicinity of me,” search terms are up 200% given that the thick of the pandemic and there are forecasted to be 2.6 million weddings in 2022. I am positive the hoteliers listening to this are incredibly, extremely content to listen to that information and individuals data. And that signifies a whole lot of occupancy possibility. But once more, these friends, these brides, these grooms, when they come to a decision to possibly make a wedding day block or even decide your resort as their wedding ceremony location, they are likely to be carrying out much more investigation than ever. They are gonna be accomplishing their thanks diligence, especially when the stakes are this significant, when it is your wedding day day, you know, you consider about it.

Ryan Embree:
So, so what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna sort of split this episode up into two one of a kind sections. The very first would be to how to actually use electronic advertising to entice the happy pair, suitable? The brides and grooms that are looking to most likely either yet again, decide your hotel as the wedding ceremony location by itself if you have place and venue space for them, or even if they are looking for a wedding ceremony block, but there’s also the other aspect to it, of our marriage company and what friends that might not have traveled in excess of the past two decades are gonna be on the lookout for in get to make them experience cozy. Because as we’ll communicate about later, if, if they do not sense cozy, there is no wedding block price cut which is heading to make them continue to be at your lodge vs . finding a competitor. No lower price supplied there that, once more, is gonna give you the higher hand.

Ryan Embree:
So we’re gonna discuss about those people two approaches and we’re gonna sort of split it down into what our digital marketing and advertising skills in this article at Travel Media Group is: social media, reputation management, and responding to evaluations. So we’ll start out with name management when it arrives to attracting brides and grooms, and the most effective way that we can do that is as a result of phrase of mouth. By way of situation reports, testimonials from past partners that perhaps have made use of our resort as a wedding location and are extremely, very satisfied with the working experience that they gained. The a lot more modern, obviously, the improved, correct? A bride and groom that had a wedding day experience in 2018 may possibly not be appropriate nowadays in 2022. So you will certainly want to attempt to select a tale or develop a story and convey to a story that’s much more current and is likely to definitely resonate with that bride and groom currently.

Ryan Embree:
You know, you can look for by your community reviews on the internet. Definitely, a scenario review or testimonial, you are going to have to have some form of authorization in get to use that quotation or convey to that tale. But with community evaluations, their expressions and views are previously out there publicly. So applying your status knowledge and on-line opinions, if you arrive across any of those good opinions, you can go ahead and use individuals. Just one factor that engaged couples will glance for when looking for a lodge for their guests to keep in is how you’re managing your company these days, correct? Your service claims a lot about how the pleased couple will be addressed as soon as they appear on residence and how their friends are heading be taken care of. So preserve that in intellect, mainly because you are not just impacting those particular person travelers, but a massive occupancy block, like a marriage block, they are gonna be on the lookout at your reviews to see, yet again, how you are managing your buyers each individual working day to see if this is the style of provider that they want when they’re being for their particular instant. Connect them with suppliers, or have a favored listing that you can provide.

Ryan Embree:
You wanna create as a lot value for this engaged few as attainable. So if you are well prepared on your finish, we know how nerve-racking it can be to approach a marriage ceremony and, and massive activities like this. So if you currently have a favored list of distributors that you do the job with or you know, to make life a tiny bit a lot easier, which is gonna go a lengthy way in separating by yourself from the competitors, and likewise hook up with neighborhood organizations and vendors that might be capable to refer you, appropriate? So you build sort of a partnership there with these sellers, but I will place type of a disclaimer there, really do not just put any person on this most popular listing, essentially do your exploration, do your due diligence and make guaranteed they’re reliable mainly because that standing can occur back again and be related to you. When we converse about responding to reviews, you know, we can appear by means of review knowledge and obtain some truly interesting designs and tendencies that we could use to leverage new marriage ceremony business for our resort.

Ryan Embree:
And what I imply by that is on the lookout by way of assessment sentiment data that our overview reaction crew skillfully goes in and hand tags overview sentiment from your on the net comments and see what data could be important to marriage ceremony get-togethers, this kind of as location, event space, parking, food and beverage, onsite facilities. If you start out to see designs and tendencies that could be essential to a bridal social gathering, you can use that to leverage bookings more than your level of competition. Or if you’re noticing one thing that seems to be to be a unfavorable development that could have an influence on your wedding parties that are being with you, make certain that people are fastened and dealt with just before they turn into a greater situation and, you know, influence the working experience and kind of give a unfavorable popularity snowball influence going there. So, and then an additional idea that you can do is when you’re responding to testimonials, if you discover that a overview came from a wedding knowledge, so irrespective of whether it be the wedding guest, whether it be the bride, the groom, the mother and father of the content pair, react to them making use of search phrases and phrases that, first, will assistance you with your research optimization for the assets when it comes to weddings, but also getting in a position to talk instantly to that wedding day, that tends to make a relationship there.

Ryan Embree:
And when upcoming bride and groom or wedding day planners are examining people critiques, you’ll see that they genuinely linked to that party and, and really could make that all the much more exclusive when you do that. So make absolutely sure you’re responding to these evaluations when they appear in and, and in fact bringing up the event by itself. So social media is enormous, we know, right? This is a enormous prospect to communicate to wedding planners, to chat to long run brides and grooms, engaged partners about the type of experience that they can anticipate when they are on home. So once more, social partnerships, social contests, with close by venues and desired companions, possibly providing an engaged few an chance to occur out to the house prior to the wedding. What would it sense like if you booked with us? Arrive expertise our wonderful company so that we can give you form of a glimpse of what you can expect when you’re on residence.

Ryan Embree:
If we can currently get started walking them by the system of, this is what I visualize for my working day, this will definitely support us set ourselves in the very best position to earn that block and win that reserving. Highlighting the content couple on social media, definitely there is gonna be some permissions that are gonna have to have to be granted, but you believe about it. Believe of how substantially engagement, likes, and shares you are gonna get if you share a photo of the delighted pair at their marriage ceremony, correct? Every person that was remaining on property 100 per cent will be absolutely sure to at least like that picture and perhaps get some followers from that and develop our hotel’s audience. Hashtags are large as properly. So if you are gonna be highlighting the pleased pair request if you could include their hashtag, or if they have a hashtag that they’d like to integrate. Once again, that’s just gonna additional your arrive at, expand your viewers there.

Ryan Embree:
A different great idea is to build social posts that reply routinely questioned questions about weddings at your assets pertaining to factors like perhaps shuttles to wedding venues close by or to the airport. So advertising and promotion the fact that your hotel, for weddings on web site, will do welcome luggage and respond to any sort of pricing thoughts there, all over again, that could presently begin people today down the process and really begin setting anticipations for what that major day could suggest for remaining at your home. A different place that you definitely want to explore if you have not currently is Pinterest, suitable? So bride and groom are generally wanting for inspiration for their large day, they are hunting for innovative thoughts on what they can do and how they can make it their own. Pinterest, in accordance to Pinterest, Pinterest, 60% of their end users are women of all ages. So brides could be wanting for venues.

Ryan Embree:
They could be wanting for thoughts of layouts for their location and could attain some inspiration if you’re commencing to upload shots of your home, rooms, features, venues, vacant, and embellished gatherings. And then naturally we preferred to link that proper back to our web-site or give them a contact details to possibly build a highway there of connection for scheduling. So, you know, an additional fantastic plan is also to offer checklists, appropriate? I outlined this in advance of, we know how demanding it is to strategy an full wedding ceremony. So why not download a checklist, build a checklist branded to your hotel, you know, chatting about the ways that you want in order to reserve a hotel block or what that resort practical experience checklist could appear like. These means and insights could be massive for a bride or groom on their exclusive working day, wanting to get some more data and come to be extra economical. So downloadable branded checklists on social media, complete good thought. We also wanna use our social media channels and platforms in diverse approaches, appropriate?

Ryan Embree:
Instagram, for illustration, this is most effective, best employed to share high good quality pics and movies of your location room. It is a quite beneficial put. So we truly wanna place our very best foot forward out there when it will come to the social material that we’re sharing. Twitter should really actually extra concentration on those swift bites. And while, answers to FAQs, neighborhood tips or cancellation guidelines, you know, we know through the pandemic, how considerably which is fluctuated points have seemed to calm down, but if there are any form of local limits, Twitter is a great way to share those sort of updates. Fb, you can share photographs, bulletins, updates, and even join marriage ceremony themed groups and share that assistance of your know-how. So all those checklists that we were being talking about just absolutely terrific concepts for Fb. And then LinkedIn, your focus on audience shifts there, ideal? We genuinely want to be promoting our lodge on LinkedIn to wedding planners.

Ryan Embree:
So make positive your content’s interesting to other gurus and offers the impact that marriage ceremony planners want to do the job with your venue. It is effortless to do. You have done it ahead of. And all those recommendations and scenario scientific tests that we talked about at the starting of this episode, which is a great discussion board to set that there and then, you know, get resourceful with your social media. Present the honeymoon suite, go live, it’s possible talking about when a person textbooks a wedding ceremony at your venue, walk them as a result of all those ways when possibly displaying off the honeymoon suite for the delighted few, accomplishing an event on LinkedIn for solely for wedding planners. This could be a great chance to get a good deal of publicity quite, very quickly. So get imaginative there. And then for these that, that really want to commit their digital presence to attracting weddings, develop a landing webpage on your site.

Ryan Embree:
On that landing web site, make absolutely sure we’re using the particular keywords, yet again, so you appear greater in search final results when people today are doing investigate. Substantial top quality shots, films of your hotel’s marriage ceremony location, again, both empty and adorned. We never wanna just give just one plan of what a marriage could seem like. We also wanna give the opportunity to engaged couples to consider what their unique day would search like at your venue. So again, both of those adorned and non embellished photos of the venue, that is tremendous, tremendous crucial to take into consideration. And then carrying out factors like a drone movie, digital excursions for the engaged couples to really get a sense of what your location delivers and what they can assume and what your company from out of town are heading to assume. So speaking of friends, you know, that’s the next portion that I required to discuss about on this episode, due to the fact more people today are now heading to be eager to travel to weddings.

Ryan Embree:
Maybe a pair many years in the past, or a 12 months back, we bought that marriage invite and we experienced to seriously sit down and think whether we are heading to attend that or brides and grooms, when they had been setting up their weddings actually took into account how quite a few people today they ended up inviting. Now, some of those people fears have subsided and perhaps attendees and travelers are sensation far more assured about traveling to weddings, it’s possible outside the house of their condition, that they may possibly have explained no to in the previous. But all over again, they’re going to be undertaking investigate very differently, particularly those visitors that have perhaps declined other weddings in the past. So what that indicates is they are gonna be looking at your standing more durable and, and magnifying your reputation nearer than they have in advance of. And that price reduction, that wedding ceremony block lower price, once more, there’s not a price tag in the world which is gonna be sufficient to persuade them to remain at your resort if they really do not sense risk-free.

Ryan Embree:
So trying to keep an eye on your reputation is likely to be essential to securing extra wedding ceremony block bookings for your resort. And then social media is a great put to established anticipations for those friends that may possibly not have traveled yet again for decades, perhaps when they traveled very last in 2018, they recall all those big breakfast buffets. Some lodges have brought that again. Some of them are however easing into it and some transitioned for excellent. Make absolutely sure you exhibit on social media and review responses the place your lodge falls in that spectrum. Mainly because the largest issue that we see with resorts receiving adverse testimonials from company is when expectations are not thoroughly set, not that they are not fulfilled, they are not appropriately set. Another issue you want to preserve in intellect is on the lookout at evaluations from wedding visitors who’ve stayed at the property. Notice if they mention location or proximity to the community wedding ceremony venues that may well be in your location.

Ryan Embree:
So repeating these keywords can enable you seem increased in research outcomes when an individual searches resort in the vicinity of so and so wedding ceremony venue. So if you are following to a park wherever a great deal of weddings are getting place, if you’re repeating that in their review responses and expressing, indeed, we’re in short proximity to this park, your resort will occur up larger on that lookup when other wedding blocks or visitors are undertaking study and striving to figure out where by to keep there. So at the end of the working day, we have missed weddings so considerably in this, in this lodge industry. And we’re so pleased to see, we know there is a growth on the other side of this as we get into the spring and summer period, and yet again, I’ve talked about it on this podcast before, it’s going to be the inns that placement them selves right now that are gonna secure the most bookings.

Ryan Embree:
And 1 of the most critical points that you want to do is make positive that you have a solid digital presence online that is telling a incredibly obvious narrative about your track record, social media tale. It is gonna be all those inns that seize those bookings and attract much more weddings to their houses. So at Travel Media Group, we are the gurus in digital advertising and marketing remedies for accommodations, popularity administration, overview reaction, social media, and self-importance internet sites. So for all of your digital advertising wants, make sure you really feel no cost to reach out to us. If you’re fascinated in finding out about how we can enable build posts for you to catch the attention of extra weddings to the residence, we have received a excellent customized social answer that you have listened to about on this podcast. Aid boost and increase your reputation online so that you can be in the finest posture to seize much more of these weddings when engaged couples are seeking to reserve and decide on a venue for their home. I am genuinely excited about this, this forthcoming wedding day season.

Ryan Embree:
We know there’s a great deal of engaged couples out there. So if you’re fascinated in mastering a lot more about how Travel Media Group can aid you attract additional weddings to your resort, attain out to us, go to our internet site. We have received a whole lot of facts there. We have bought a great weblog on precisely what we talked about currently. Thank you all for listening to this episode of the Suite Spot, and we will chat to you next time.

Ryan Embree:
To be a part of our loyalty method, be guaranteed to subscribe and give us a five star ranking on iTunes. Suite Place is generated by Journey Media Group with cover art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you liked your remain.