5 social media post ideas for hotels

Whilst the social media marketing landscape is ever-changing, some trends remain relevant over long periods of time.

Why? Well, ultimately, marketing and hospitality are about people. AI can be important, and social media platforms can come and go, but at the end of the day, it is about people marketing and selling a product to other people.

Over the years at Founders Media, we have worked with hotels of all sizes: from properties with more than a thousand rooms and multinational serviced apartment brands, to some of the biggest names in hospitality, such as Hilton and Marriott, as well as family-run independent hotels with fewer than 10 rooms. We have experience working with hotels in more than 20 countries around the world. Given this, there are still some post ideas that are almost guaranteed to generate stronger engagement than others.

Your team

The most common theme across the markets and brands we have worked with is that posts featuring your team will, more often than not, perform well on social media. In some cases, this is likely because many hotel employees use social media and are therefore more likely to engage with a post about a colleague or friend. However, I also believe these posts perform well because humans respond to other humans, whether consciously or subconsciously. Guests may also remember team members with whom they had a particularly positive experience during their stay. Another benefit of posting about your team is the value it can bring from an HR perspective. If you are looking to attract new employees, it can only help for them to see the people they might be working with on social media.

Needless to say, this type of post typically performs best on LinkedIn. However, I see no reason not to share it on Instagram or Facebook, too. You could use an image or a Reel, depending on how comfortable the person is in front of the camera. There are many creative ways to approach this, depending on the individual's confidence and your hotel's brand.

Quick-transition reels

Saying that “videos perform better than images on social media” may sound like a broken record from five years ago. However, it still seems to be the case, with some exceptions, of course. Similarly, saying that ‘people's attention spans are decreasing because of social media’ may sound rather repetitive. Let's take advantage of both and create a fast-paced Reel with quick transitions. You could make it using images, video clips or a combination of the two. The beauty of this approach is that you can even reuse images or video clips you have used before (within reason).

We have tried this idea with hotels and businesses in other industries several times in recent months, and it has performed well each time.

For example, you could create a quick tour of your hotel using one-second or half-second video clips of different areas, such as:the exterior and entrance, the lobby, the F&B outlets, the elevator, the corridors, rooms, any bar facilities you have, gym or fitness facilities you may have, and even a bit of your local area. You can showcase all of these in just a few seconds, creating a fast-paced Reel that gives viewers a quick overview of your hotel.

Your location

I have a theory about why posts featuring a hotel's location often outperform other types of content: I believe it is because, whether or not you use hashtags, the algorithm may show this content to a wider audience. More people are likely to search for information about your destination than specifically for hotels in your destination. For example, far more people search for London or a particular part of London on social media than search specifically for London hotels or places to stay in the city.

So, what could you post?

Depending on how well-positioned your hotel is within its destination, you could create content such as:

Where to enjoy a rainy day whilst staying with us.
Three attractions within a 10-minute walk of our hotel.
General tourist-style content.
You could take a more analytical approach by researching which specific areas of your destination receive the most attention on social media, then creating content around them.
Taking inspiration from the second idea in this article, you could create a fast-paced Reel featuring different parts of your destination.

The possibilities are almost endless, but the best ideas will depend on the size and character of your destination.

A… I?

At the time of writing, it is becoming increasingly common to open social media and find pages filled with nothing but ChatGPT-generated posters and flyers. As with anything that can be seen as a shortcut, ChatGPT and other AI tools can easily be overused on social media. That being said, we view AI optimistically, provided it is used sensibly and it is not immediately obvious that a picture-perfect scene has simply been generated with a quick prompt.

So, what's the content idea? Use AI within reason.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a hotel, either taking a photo or video of a room myself, or attending an on-site photo shoot, and wished we had models available to feature in the content. (And yes, I have volunteered myself, but I do not wish to inflict that on too many people). This is where AI can help. With even a simple prompt, you can add a realistic-looking guest to an otherwise ordinary photograph of a hotel room. Here are a few examples: