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Hotels are always looking for new ways to sell their inventory – often based on anything other than guest behavior. They get surprised when these tactics don’t take off, or when they backfire spectacularly. This occurs so frequently, it’s hardly worth mentioning.

Believe it or not, social media marketing is something every hotel has to get serious about because it can bring a huge difference to your hotel bookings.

The world of hospitality digital marketing is constantly evolving, making it critical for hoteliers to stay on top of search marketing updates. While online travel agencies (OTAs) have been a go-to for attracting new clients and boosting occupancy, metasearch sites have proven themselves as the new big player in the hotel tech industry.

As we’ve been moving into August, social platforms have really been maintaining their always-fast pace when it comes to releasing new updates to improve the experience. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a few key updates that could impact how hotels, resorts, and other hospitality businesses are marketing on social.

This month, the latest digital innovations include a new 'Swipe to Visit' feature in Google image results, A/B testing tools in Microsoft Ads, and the roll-out of advertisements in Instagram's 'Explore' tab. From SEO to design, find out the top five things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing.

We’re halfway through the summer, but while plenty of people are kicking back and enjoying their vacations, the social media development teams likely aren’t doing the same. In the past two weeks alone, we’ve seen four big new updates that can directly impact the social marketing campaigns of hotels, resorts, and other businesses in the hospitality industry. Let’s take a close look at each one.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) commended Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on their bill aimed at protecting millions of travelers by putting an end to deceptive marketing practices by third-party hotel booking sites. Fraudulent and misleading hotel booking transactions have negatively impacted 28.5 million hotel stays and cost consumers $5.2 billion in 2017 alone.

Let’s get straight to business. Direct bookings are every hotelier’s goal in terms of reservations and revenue. While distributing your hotel listing on third parties is unavoidable these days, the best-case scenario is still the one in which travelers book direct and save you the commission. Still, many hoteliers sometimes struggle to increase their number of direct bookings.

Caribbean Hotels are reconsidering using Booking.com as a result of the OTA’s new commission policy which has been branded 'regressive and punitive'.

According to research conducted by TripAdvisor, 96% of travelers consider reviews important when researching a hotel and 79% will read between six and 12 reviews before making a purchasing decision. How can you ensure your hotel remains competitive in the ever expanding landscape of hotel review sites?