Are Hotel Marketing Plans a Waste of Time?
read time: 3.5 minutes
Raise your hand if you have ever spent hours crafting a detailed hotel marketing plan only to see it:
gather dust on your desk.
out of date in four months.
easily ignored by your team.
I know you can't see me, but I have two hands in the air right now.
Writing the traditional annual marketing plan is a waste of time.
It's a chore, a bore, and something to ignore.
I've written 40+ marketing plans for hotels.
If I may say so, they were beautiful—the data, the charts, the brand vision, the objectives, and the strategies.
They were helpful; they informed the strategy.
And it was mostly me who referred to them.
Traditional plans don't get the job done in today's marketing world.
Hoteliers need a simpler, more agile, faster way to grow revenue, drive direct bookings, and build guest loyalty.
Let’s unpack why hotel marketing plans often fail and what to do instead.
Why Marketing Plans Don’t Work
They’re Too Complicated
Lengthy documents crammed with data and goals leave little room for actual execution.
Your team rarely consults them because they are bulky and hard to follow.
They Quickly Become Outdated
In today’s fast-changing hotel market, strategies from six months ago may no longer work.
They Lack Focus
Most plans fail to prioritize. You can’t do everything at once.
Or you think you can do more in 12 months than is realistic.
Short on Execution
A plan without immediate, clear steps is like a map with no roads.
What I'm Going to Do Instead. (and I hope you do, too.)
Ditch the 15+ page marketing plan.
Don't get me wrong, you still need a plan.
There's truth to this quote.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Instead, focus on a living framework that adapts as your hotel business grows.
Depending on the size of your team, the following tips can be applied to your area of sales and marketing or your hotel as a whole.
1. Use a Simple, One-Page Plan
Keep your strategy concise and actionable.
Include:
Goal: What do you want to achieve?
Target Audience: Who are you marketing to? (e.g., family travelers, couples)
Key Actions: List 3–5 short-term and long-term specific tactics to achieve your goals.
Metrics: How will you measure success? (e.g., website conversion rate, booking volume)
Curious what this could look like? Grab the template at the end of this email.
2. Identify One Key Revenue Driver to Focus On
When everything is a priority, there is no priority.
What’s your biggest revenue opportunity right now?
Improving your website conversion rate.
Filling shoulder-season gaps.
Is it driving direct bookings,
Increasing repeat stays.
Pick one priority and go all in for the next 90 days.
Repeat for each quarter until successful.
Remember that most activities in one key area improve overall marketing performance.
3. Enable Your Team
Your marketing will only succeed if your team is on board.
Build and review the one-page plan with your team so that everyone understands the focus.
Build out action lists together and assign clear responsibilities and timelines.
Celebrate small wins and milestones to maintain momentum.
4. Implement Agile Marketing Practices
Test and experiment, tweak, and refine as you go.
Review performance weekly or monthly.
Adjust based on data—scrap what doesn’t work and double down on what does.
Ditch the idea that a good plan has to be a complex one.
A simple, focused, and actionable plan will do more for your revenue than any 15-page plan ever could.
In my Bookings Boost Newsletter this week, I shared a free one page hotel marketing plan template and a ChatGPT prompt that will help you brainstorm 3 key objectives that would achieve your priority for the next 3 quarters.
Subscribe to get freebies like this, tips, and all sorts of great extras to boost your productivity and your hotel’s revenue.
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