MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR AIRBNBS & HOTELS
Influencer Marketing for Hospitality Brands: Is It Worth It?
PARTNERING WITH INFLUENCERS AND UGC CREATORS CAN POTENTIALLY INCREASE YOUR HOTEL OR AIRBNB’S BOOKINGS
Hey! Marissa here— owner of Haymaker Marketing. We’re big fan of influencer marketing for luxury vacation rentals and hotels. It’s why we include tailored influencer collaborations for all our hospitality clients in our monthly social media package. Without social catalysts, your Airbnb’s Instagram account will remain stagnant. However, the hospitality world has mixed opinions about using influencers. I know this after a myriad of calls with STR hosts. I also know this, because I asked the hosts of Reddit. I posed a question to them and their replies looked like this:
Host 1: “Whenever I read a request that an INFLUENCER wants to book my place, I raise the prices. These are like a plague, with zero or complete incompetence of understanding the tourism and accommodation industry.”
Host 2: Big NO, influencers are really losers looking for a free stay…”
Though I understand where these hosts are coming from, I disagree. As the owner of an Airbnb and hotel marketing agency, I can assuredly say that they are missing out on reaching a broader audience, on making their property seem luxurious, and on getting more bookings.
Don’t believe me? I’ve got proof.
Want to read more about this Reddit questionnaire? Click here.
WHY YOUR VACATION RENTAL OR HOTEL NEEDS TO DO GIVEAWAY REELS WITH INFLUENCERS
Influencer marketing is included in Haymaker Marketing’s social media management package, but we also offer influencer campaign coaching for hotel owners and Airbnb hosts who run their own social media. That being said, our Airbnb and hotel media agency is slowly building up the research on what works and isn’t.
Do you know what we’ve discovered really works? Influencer Giveaways. Here are some statistics for two influencer stays Haymaker Marketing has sourced, coordinated, and launched.
Influencer Collaboration #1:
This one just went viral, but there was no giveaway.
Stats:
0 new followers (there's no reason for anyone to follow)
201K Views (this is a viral post)
37 comments
501 shares (to friends over DMs)
Influencer Collaboration #2:
This one went viral, WITH a giveaway.
Stats:
2,182 new followers
132K Views (this is a viral post)
10,000 comments
1,123 shares (to friends over DMs)
Needless to say, all Airbnbs and hotels need to work with influencers, and they need to partner with them to do giveaways online. But, how do you even start? How do you get to stats like this?
We can help.
HOW TO DO AN INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIP GIVEAWAY ON INSTAGRAM FOR YOUR VACATION RENTAL OR HOTEL
First, you have to find an influencer. At Haymaker Marketing, we call this sourcing. You can reach out to them on Instagram, use an agency, or hire our team to find them for you. Before you do all of this, you need to think about your ideal guest, and then you need to find a niche.
Who actually stays at your property? Who do you WISH stayed at your property? Whatever influencer you choose needs to tell the story of your ideal guest. So start there.
With that information in hand, start looking for an influencer in your niche. Nowadays, most influencers and micro-influencers have niches—from moms planning family trips, to dog owners, to lifestyle creators with high trust and loyal audiences.
Once you find them, you can negotiate their stay and your deliverables (social media posts, links, ads, etc). We like to start with exchanging two free nights for two collaborative Reels, but we adjust the deliverables depending on each influencer’s style, niche, and engagement.
Now, I’d also like to say that trade influencer deals are becoming less and less common. Most influencers want to get paid for their work (who would of thought!). I highly suggest you try out at least one paid influencer, as they will get you the most bang for your buck! However, they are expensive. As an Airbnb marketing agency owner, I’ve been quoted anywhere from $500- $8,000 for one post on Instagram.
After you find your influencer, you’ll need to discuss terms UP FRONT, and you’ll need to let them know you want to do a giveaway. Make sure this is very clear and even send them the script you’ll want to use in the post. Here’s our influencer giveaway template that you are welcome to steal:
Win a free stay at [describe your hotel or vacation rental]. With a brand-new outdoor sauna, [describe your hotel or STR’s amenities], you will have the chance to experience and capture the full magic of [insert your property’s location].
To enter:
Follow both @yourinstagram and *insert influencer username.*
Tag two friends in the comments
For an extra entry, share this post to your stories
Stay must take place in the [insert your timeline terms], excluding holidays.
This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Instagram.
Let the Airbnb or hotel stay giveaway run for a good week or two, and then make sure you follow up with the winner, including the influencer in that email, so everyone involved knows that you followed through with the giveaway.
I hear it all the time— “Can you guarantee I’ll get more bookings if we use this influencer for our hotel or Airbnb?” I’d love to tell you yes. But the truth is, all marketing has some inevitable risk in it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something (Princess Bride, anyone?).
However, there are ways to track your influencer’s ROI.
You can create a discount code for the influencer’s followers. Then, at the end of the month, you can see how many leads turned into conversions.
You can track the number of hits the influencer’s post got to your direct booking website. This won’t show conversions unless you establish a UTM and use Google Analytics (this can be complicated). However, it will show you if the post was powerful enough to GET THEM TO YOUR DIRECT BOOKING WEBSITE.
However, there is an ROI that every hospitality marketing agency that works with influencers can guarantee:
We can guarantee that a partnership with an influencer with your hotel or Airbnb will increase your brand awareness, it will make your property look more desirable, it will increase your social proof (humans do things because other humans are doing them).
Your property will get more DMs from other influencers. It will get more DMs from businesses wanting to collaborate. Suddenly, you’ll be noticed, and your digital presence will grow, and your property will be established online.
If those ROIs are not valuable to you, I suggest you stay away from influencer marketing. I will also suggest that you don’t UNDERSTAND marketing. If your property is over $400/ night, your future guest will need time to accept that and find your Airbnb or hotel worthy enough to make that investment. When’s the last time you saw an Instagram post for the first time, looked at it for 3 seconds, then spent 1,000 dollars? Never, right?
To read more about this, please check this post on Instagram.
If you want Haymaker Marketing to guide you through the influencer process, you can hire us to be your Influencer Campaign Coach. We will be your guide to landing influencer collab deals, so your Airbnb can be featured on Instagram and/or TikTok.
If you hire us as your hotel or Airbnb’s social media manager, influencer campaign management is included in your monthly rate.