Win over Travelers By Highlighting the Value of Your Independent Hotel

For independent hotel owners and GMs, winning over travelers has never been more challenging. Without the same resources as major chains, independent hotels may struggle with online visibility, branding and channel management.

When marketing is a blend of brand voice and professionalism, decision-makers need a lot of character and consistency to rise above the well-known chains — particularly if you charge a premium for your high-quality rooms. Below, we’ll look at how to highlight your value to your target audience with the right approach.

Independent hotels offer unique value to travelers 

Hotel groups and chains rely on uniformity to tempt travelers back again and again. To compete, boutique hotel owners have to lean into their differentiators and use them to their advantage. Let’s say that all your rooms boast unique themes. Your marketing should drive home how your rooms appeal to your ideal customers. 

Independent hotels often offer travelers amenities and custom add-ons that they can’t find anywhere else, whether it’s doggy daycare or flexible workspaces for business travelers. In addition, smaller hotels have more freedom to embrace local culture and regional charm. 

These differentiators do more than create memories — they drive business results. Satisfied guests become advocates, sharing their unique experiences and driving both referrals and direct bookings. 

3 independent hotels winning over travelers with unique guest experiences 

Independent hotels can offer their guests distinct amenities, and travelers will pay a premium for the pleasure — anywhere from 15 – 20% more than standard chains. Let’s look at three independent hotels providing their guests with unique experiences. 

1. Caldwell House Bed and Breakfast 

Caldwell House in Salisbury Mills, NY, offers guests a pie turn-down service. This add-on, known as “Pie on Your Pillow,” may deliver travelers anything from pecan to cherry to fudge, and it’s a huge hit with hungry and road-worn travelers. Pie enthusiasts can all agree that there’s nothing like finding a home-baked treat in your room when you need it most. 

2. Weekapaug Inn 

In Westerly, RI, travelers come to enjoy the town’s natural beauty and local experiences. To accommodate their guests, the Weekapaug Inn offers both nature classes and a hunter-borrower closet. Thanks to this complimentary closet, travelers don’t have to load up with bulky gear or pay for each item they need. They can also attend the classes to learn more about the area’s habitats before venturing out for the day.  

3. Lennox 

Lennox in Miami Beach boasts a number of luxury amenities for its high-class travelers, including a private beach area, sleek boardrooms, and an Instagrammable pool. Perhaps its most discerning feature, though, is a champagne vending machine stocked with Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée. Apart from being fun and photo-worthy, this unique feature helps the brand stand out from other luxury hotels.  

A marketing strategy is key for highlighting your hotel’s value 

The best marketing strategies instantly convey your value to travelers. Imagine if you knew nothing about the Caldwell House except that the hotel offers “Pie on Your Pillow” as a service. The perk instantly brings to mind a quaint, homey inn where you’ll get more than a 24/7 coffee station. 

Once you’ve landed on a headline differentiator, whether it’s popcorn delivery, meditation classes or your hotel’s sustainability commitment, your marketing and branding efforts can reflect the unique benefits. 

Of course, marketing is more than just web pages or flyers about cooking classes and nature walks. From pricing to promotional timing to brand voice, hotel owners and managers have to understand how and where to compete with surrounding hotels. 

If you’re struggling with this, you might want to take a deeper dive into your competitive set — the handful of hotels that directly compete for your target customers. Ideally, you should rank each business, so you can compare apples to apples. Once you understand how your competitors price and promote, it may be easier to spot a better angle or establish a more distinct niche for your brand. 

5 marketing tips for independent hotels 

Boutique hotels typically have more creative freedom when it comes to their marketing, but this comes with a few key downsides. While you may have more space to express your brand, it’s also easy for your message to become muddled and confuse potential guests. 

Travelers have to make so many decisions about what to do and where to go when they travel, and a clear, consistent brand voice can cut through the noise, giving them a straightforward, obvious choice. 

That said, here are some effective marketing tips that can really help you get ahead. 

1. Highlight what makes your hotel special

From digital marketing campaigns to branded decor, all of your marketing channels should reflect the personalized service guests can expect. As you work through each distribution method, including social media, email and your website, consider how to appeal to different demographics. 

For example, if your hotel offers wellness classes, you might largely target fitness enthusiasts on your homepage and meditation gurus via social media. 

Tip: Map your unique amenities to specific guest segments for targeted marketing.

2. Establish a loyalty program 

Part of why national chains dominate the hospitality industry is because they streamline the experience and offer some fairly attractive incentives to return. In fact, hotel loyalty redemption values in 2023 reached a record $1.1 billion. 

Today’s customers want a strong relationship with the brands they choose, and a strong loyalty program can help even the smallest businesses survive inevitable ebbs and flows. While you may not be able to offer the same perks as Hilton or Marriott, with 190 and 203 million members, respectively, independent hotels have the freedom to offer highly personalized service and unique loyalty perks. 

Tip: Track guest preferences to enable personalized welcome-back offerings.

3. Use a dynamic pricing strategy 

Dynamic pricing optimization strategies adjust room rates multiple times per day based on occupancy, customer behavior and market trends. This strategy is one of the best ways to stay competitive because your pricing reflects demand for both your property and those of your top competitors. 

The best independent hotels leverage modern tools like dynamic pricing to reduce their marketing budget, increase positive online reviews and inspire repeat bookings. Plus, dynamic pricing can drastically reduce manual adjustments, so you can focus your attention on guest satisfaction.

Tip: Set clear pricing rules based on occupancy triggers and market conditions.

4. Be smart about OTA partnerships 

There’s no doubt that online travel agency (OTA) partnerships can help you improve your reach. Before booking, 80% of travelers use these sites to confirm their choices. 

The best independent hoteliers combine direct bookings with multiple OTAs and use channel management technology to ensure consistency across platforms. Ideally, you’ll work with at least seven OTAs for the best visibility. Start with the major platforms, such as Expedia and Priceline, and then branch out to find others that fit your niche.

Tip: Start with major platforms then expand to niche OTAs that match your target market.

5. Improve marketing with competitive market insights 

When you understand the competitive landscape and local community, it’s easier to make smarter choices about pricing, distribution and marketing goals. Better data tells the larger story about everything from general market demand to seasonal variations. 

Tip: Monitor market demand patterns and competitor rates to identify revenue opportunities.

Instead of using gut instinct to price each room, you can back up your decisions with billions of daily rates. When you don’t have to waste time manually tracking competitor pricing, you can better maintain profitability by providing a superior guest experience to every traveler. Save up to half your time by combining real-time market data with the best automated pricing tools. 

Want to learn how to leverage data for your hotel? Check out our comprehensive guide! 

Get more time to focus on the guest experience with a solution designed for independent hotels 

The best software solutions automate redundant tasks and empower hotel owners with clear, actionable insights. The Lighthouse platform supports independent hotels with automated pricing to drive more bookings — derived from reliable data.. See how your pricing, channels and marketing impact your bottom line, so you can adjust your strategies based on the ever-changing whims of the travel industry. 

With Lighthouse, you can see how different factors converge and cut way back on operational tasks. Our clients see revenue boosts of around 20%, along with reduced workloads and stronger guest satisfaction. In other words, Lighthouse makes it easier to elevate your unique position in the market and focus on providing a personalized guest experience. 

Small touches, like remembering a guest’s favorite room or amenity, are as important as they are elusive to many hospitality professionals. With more time to devote to guests, you can implement changes that lead to guest consistency and revenue growth. 

To get started with Lighthouse:

1. Start with the essentials: Price Manager and Channel Manager save hotel staff the most time and generate the most value. These tools are game-changers because they immediately free up the time you would spend managing your pricing and marketing channels. 

2. Set your compset and basic pricing: You can set up Pricing Manager and connect your primary channels through Channel Manager. This ensures that your rates stay competitive across every platform. 

3. Leverage AI capabilities: Once you know the basics, you can use AI technology to fine-tune rates across seasonal demand. 

4. Take advantage of Autopilot: The Autopilot feature provides routine updates based on established rules and limits. For example, you might use it to alert you when your hotel reaches 80% capacity for the holiday season. 

5. Focus on guests: The best technology in the world can’t replace the human experience. Lighthouse helps you inspire commission-free repeat bookings by giving you more time to spend delivering unforgettable, personalized experiences.

When routine tasks are automated, independent hotels can focus on creating memorable moments. Lighthouse automates the complexity of pricing and distribution, ensuring you don’t miss a single opportunity. With us, you match the pricing sophistication of larger chains while offering guests more of what they actually want from their travels. 

About Lighthouse

Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways.

Trusted by over 65,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners – their success is our success.