3 Compelling Reasons to Update Your Hotel Print Materials

Hotel print materials are essential to this industry’s marketing. Everything from notepads, brochures, to flyers has been a part of hotel marketing for decades and will likely be a part of it for decades to come. But like all businesses, your hotel rebrands and changes to catch up with the times. That’s one good reason to update your hotel’s print materials.

Here are three more good reasons to catch up with the times:

1.) Your Hotel Print Materials are Outdated

Your materials may need changing when:

• Branding has changed. If your brand image and strategies has recently been updated, you definitely need new print materials to go with your new look and policies. This will help prevent confusion that might arise when your potential guests see hotel print materials that look different from your website or actual hotel.

• Stylistically passé. Sometimes your brand just works, and nothing needs to be changed. But your materials themselves may have some stylistic elements that look out of date. A flat design might be in one day and gone another. Images might have elements — say a fax machine or a flip phone — that is a dead giveaway to a specific era. If your materials have elements on them that don’t look current, you may consider updating your materials

• Contact details have changed. If your website domain or contact numbers have changed, be sure to change out your hotel’s print materials to reflect this.  Failure to update your contact details can result in a massive potential drop in bookings. Be sure all your materials, from posters to business cards are kept up-to-date.

 

2.) The Design Doesn’t Fit Your Brand

Your hotel materials may not match your brand if:

• They’re poorly designed to start with. No one who wants to be taken seriously wants their brand to be associated with poor design. Poor design can also serve to prevent your hotel’s print materials from achieving their true potential.

• The designs don’t match your house style. This only applies if you don’t have a specific use for materials with a style divergent from your hotel’s brand. Sometimes something unexpected can work. For example, a theme restaurant or cafe in your hotel can get away with different branding. Same with branding for events held in your hotel. In most cases, however, a uniform style will serve to reinforce your brand.

• They’re made from poor quality materials. Expectations are pretty high in the hotel industry, even for small operations. Hotel print materials that feel and look cheap can easily sink your brand. This is true when you have stellar designs and a robust branding effort. Limp, tacky-feeling brochures and door hangers can leave your guests unimpressed. Check out this guide on paper stock to know more about your best options.

 

3.) The Materials Don’t Work for Your Goals and Budget

Your materials may not be working for your hotel if:

• Order quantities aren’t economical.  Get hotel print materials that deliver the most value. Generally speaking, larger order quantities for common hotel materials such as door hangers, notepads, and brochures, are cheaper when calculated per piece. This is true regardless of the stock and other specs used. Take note of the rate your print materials are consumed. As a result, this makes it simpler to order for the best value, but not for the lowest price.

• They are inappropriate for your needs. Each print product works best in specific niches. Using the wrong print product can often mean a higher cost per impression. In other words, you might be wasting opportunities to reach the people you need.  You don’t want to use flyers for functions that might be better served by rack cards. You don’t want to use banners when something like a poster might work better for less.

• Your promotional campaign needs something else. Perhaps it’s the way you’re reaching out to people that may have to be changed.  Perhaps you need to try direct mail rather than handing out flyers locally. Be sure to have some kind of analytics system in place. Consequently, this makes it easy to assess which hotel print materials you need.

What print material is essential to your hotel’s marketing? Comment below!