Hotel stories

May 24, 2019 | by hi-gloss

Stories, they are everywhere. Everyone has a story, so does your brand. Yeah, seems obvious or even basic, but with so many options for distributing content, brands are often distracted and miss the mark. Posting and updating myriad social channels is great, but what about your own storytelling platform? Let’s not call it a blog, but you get the point.  Some hospitality brands are already telling their stories in ways that changes the look and feel of traditional hotel websites, and it’s about time.

The average consumer – including you – gets inundated with direct and integrated advertising campaigns on every media screen they view. Telling stories more creatively and with actual useful information is helpful to drive engagement to your potential guests and keeps your customers in the loop. Whatever CMS (Content Management System) you use to create your website, the user facing design and delivery coupled with thoughtful stories will easily set you apart from your competitors. Crafting stories within the context of guest experiences and destination amenities are important touch points for consumers. Aside from the friend’s and family based recommendations usually sought by consumers when making decisions on where to go and what to buy, if you can reduce the amount of places the consumer has to search to find this information, you are providing convenience.

However you want your hotel guests to feel when they arrive, your website should reflect the same branded experience and sentiment. Make your website a cohesive narrative, always telling stories to drive engagement and build anticipation. Avoiding the urge to perpetuate a hard sales pitch, storytelling feels more native and organic, non-threatening. Turn your blog into a digital publishing hub where users will be compelled to subscribe to your content, because they find it insightful and valuable. Some brands accomplish this by using beautiful fonts and images, subtle animations and layout behaviors to deliver the content experience. Simply put, your user experience should be user-friendly and always on-brand and people-centric.

Beyond the data driven and formulaic content strategy, choosing a human sensibility and imaginative approach to storytelling can yield more brand stickiness. It’s all about being genuine. How will you help your guests create memorable moments? Airbnb’s “Experiences” are stories within themselves. They are designed to add value to guests that will be talked about long after they leave. How will you create those coveted “one for the ‘Gram” storied moments? Your guests are eager to share content and experiences, but only if they are worth sharing. Whether on premise or as they read or view content that resonates – it should not feel forced. Taking the time to dive into how you will align your stories with your branded experiences is important for crafting authentically. Always think people first instead of forcing a brand persona.

A purely informational and booking website is now at most basic – very traditional. While your reservations system is important, your content and stories is what really sells. What if you made your website more about the stories lived on your property, rather than the property itself? Last time we checked, RedBull.com had no photos of an actual can of RedBull. The stories and experiences of the people who lived it is really all that matters. How will you present those stories? You can take a traditional marketing approach or pivot and experiment with a  microsite or more. Whatever you do, don’t stand still, the people are always on the move and so are their stories. Now it’s up to you on how you want to tell those experiences.

Fontainebleau Miami Beach is telling their stories via a new content site developed and designed by hi-gloss; Stage.fontainebleau.com. A property rich in history offers a view into all it has to offer.

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