Creating & Maintaining your Hotel’s Visual Brand

Maintaining your hotel marketing strategies consists of various parts. One of these critical parts is the visual brand of your hotel. Here are some guidelines to help you create and maintain your hotel’s image.

Creating a brand

Before any of the fun can begin, you must identify who you are as a hotel. Who are your competitors? What kind of audience do you want to attract? Who is your major consumer? Answering these questions can help you identify who you are as a hotel. It might also help you to think about your hotel’s personality. What does your hotel represent? Is the brand fun, young, and flirty or simple and traditional? Is there something unique about your hotel? Perhaps location or a special amenity no one else offers. Whatever the case may be, once you know who you are as a brand, create your visuals with this in mind. Envision something that matches your hotel’s personality and create that visually! If you hire a photographer, let them know what style of clothing the models should wear, what they should be doing, and what props to use. Match the feel of your images as closely as possible to the types of consumers you wish to attract. You can do this by aligning your vision with the consumers you are targeting. If consumers can relate to your pictures, and picture themselves at your hotel, they will be more inclined to hit the book button.

Brand #1

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Brand #2

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Create consistency

Branding your hotel visually is all about consistency. If you show something different on each web page or post contradicting visuals, your hotel will not build credibility. Instead, this will create a false image that may mislead travelers and ultimately lead to negative reviews. To avoid this, choose one voice, theme, and personality and stick to it! To a person researching a hotel, it cannot be evident to see an alluring image of a model in a bikini poolside and a man in a business suit in the lobby representing the same hotel. Nevertheless, there are ways of showcasing separate features of your hotel in the same visual tone. Use the same filters, subjects, and fonts, time and time again. This consistency will create realistic traveler expectations and build your brand.

Story

Besides being consistent in your images, you must captivate your audience with your hotel’s story. Visually, this may mean posting a series of photos that show something words cannot describe. For example, if a hotel has a meeting space that is used for wedding venues, the following sequence of posts could create part of the appealing visual story of your hotel. You might posts a witty caption with a photo of a laid out wedding dress. This will build anticipation, a sneak-peak if you will. The second photo can be of a bride walking down the aisle to the groom. This showcases that ceremonies take place at your hotel and moves along the story. Lastly, an image of the guest at the reception having a great time with the newlyweds. This culminates in the story on a high note. It showcases how much fun it is to have a wedding at your venue. A simple three-photo series can tell a vibrant story. With a little bit of creativity, you, too, can use this strategy to inject a story into your hotel’s visual portfolio.

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None of these methods should overshadow the hotel. You must stay true to the hotel to maintain the traveler’s expectations. Be creative, show your best side, and be consistent. Apply these key points to strengthen your hotel’s visual brand.