Sometimes I feel we talk ad nauseum about the same channels for driving website traffic. In all this chatter, we may be overlooking the most important and most profitable source of website traffic:

Past guests

• Past guests are easier to bring back to your website
• Past guests are usually much, much more profitable

As marketers we tend to spend most of our time creating communications aimed at reaching new audiences – people who have never heard of us before. Huge amounts of time, money, and resources are used to capture new web traffic.

That can be a mistake.

Past guests are easier to bring back

If someone stayed at your hotel and had a good experience, there's a good chance you can bring them back to your website.

The great thing about communicating with these people is that you usually have additional data you can use to personalize and customize the messages. This extra information can be used to make your offer more relevant, and more likely to convert into a sale.

Look at the first time someone comes into contact with your website or your hotel as a golden opportunity. If you provide them with what they're looking for, they're going to remember you. They'll want to come back. Having people in this frame of mind makes it easier to hold their attention long enough to share what you have to say.

This is much more profitable

Various industry research studies indicate it costs somewhere between 5-8 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to sell something to an existing one.

If this is the case, shouldn't our priorities reflect this? I advocate – and personally practice – the strategy of spending the majority of time connecting with my current audience.

Yes, reaching out to new readers and customers is important – but make sure your priorities are in the right place.

How to get people coming back to your website

Start as soon as they leave your hotel. Give information. Provide value. I know of a few hotels that prepare a "departure package" with flight details, info to make the departure go smoothly…and of course the opportunity to stay in touch.

Create a continuity system with value. Create a reason for people to come back. Make your site sticky. Something that makes people keep coming back to see what's new. This requires a lot of hard work and creativity – but make that your goal.

Get them connected in social media. If these people are part of your social network, you have the opportunity to connect on an ongoing basis. Maybe that's following you on Twitter. Maybe it's subscribing to your blog. Try to get them plugged in somehow.

Reward their loyalty. Most hospitality organizations have some type of loyalty rewards program. Extend that tactic to the web. Reward your frequent website visitors with special privileges.

This goes back to thinking like a concierge

Offline, your concierge probably is one of the most important people at your hotel for cross-selling and up-selling guests to additional revenue opportunities.

Online, we need to adopt this concierge mindset to expand the profitability of each guest. Adopting a mindset of service not only encourages more people to interact with you online, but it's also more profitable.

Failing to educate people on the various products and services you provide leads to missed revenue. A study by The Forum Corporation of North America confirmed that 88% of customers value being advised on products and services that better meet their needs. Are you doing this?

Plan your online marketing program around this

Attracting new website traffic is vital for business growth, but the real money is in reselling to your existing customer base.

About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry. 

www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com