How to use communication to counteract the (long-term) Corona consequences and prepare for the time after the crisis. Three tips from our tourism and hotel PR agency experience:

Tourism and the hotel industry are, among other sectors, most affected by the worldwide Corona crisis. The renewed lockdown is hitting the industry hard and is causing great anxiety among gastronomes and hoteliers, but also with guests and travelers. As hard as the pandemic is affecting the industry economically, the rethinking forced by the reset can also offer future opportunities and could be seen as the beginning of a new era in the hotel and tourism industry.

As a digital travel and lifestyle PR agency, this means getting creative! We advise our clients on status analysis, strategy development, revision of individual processes and general process management. At the same time, we help them create new perspectives and develop communication measures to prepare for the time after Corona.

What kind of (long-term) impact does Corona have on tourism?

Right now, it is clear that a new health and safety need has arisen as a result of the crisis. This will definitely have an impact on destination choices as soon as Corona and the associated travel bans are over. Whereas before there was an oversupply regarding options and offers, in the future travelers will have an even closer look at their hotel’s hygiene and safety standards, regardless of the current vaccination situation.

Like in the F&B industry, regionality and sustainability are also becoming increasingly important in tourism. Short distances and local recreation offer a feeling of familiarity and security. Mass tourism providers will probably have to contend with massive shortfalls and might have to reposition themselves. Basically, none of us are able to foresee the future.   However, those who act farsightedly, transparently and openly now and don’t avoid clear interaction and communication can also use the situation in a positive way.

Three tourism and hotel PR activities during Corona  

“There is a reason why people say that bad times make the winners of tomorrow”, emphasizes Susanne Drexler, the travel and lifestyle PR agency’s founder and owner. However, in order to succeed, it’s important to become active and to roll up your sleeves. An immensely relevant point in times of crisis is target group specific and open communication with potential customers as well as with the company’s own employees, in order to create trust and transparency. Tailor-made PR strategies and forward-looking concept development are key factors. Our agency specializes in lifestyle, interior, design, tourism and hotel PR. In the following, we present three helpful tips on successful (crisis) PR:

• Fast and open crisis communication

In the current situation both, guests and employees need information and reliable answers to their questions as quickly as possible. Content management plays a very important role here. Using the right tools, you can spread information specifically and quickly via blog, newsletter, social media or your own website. The latter is often the guest’s first touchpoint, therefore, every link shared on Facebook or Instagram should always lead back to the hotel website.

• Optimizing online relations

Now is the time to start projects previously put on hold. For example, improving the website through search engine optimization, investing in digital relations and building a social media presence, or expanding internal smart technologies such as online check-in or digital guest folders.

• Getting creative

A good example of crisis creativity is one of our Prime Connection clients, Best Western Premier Hotel Rebstock. Instead of an annual gift drive to benefit children in need, the employees came up with something completely different during the lockdown: “Unfortunately, we can’t carry out our wish tree campaign this year. We took a long time to think about how to help, and finally came up with the idea of baking cookies with our team. Through selling them, we raise funds that help good causes”, says owner Christoph Unckell. “We are very attached to our Christmas charity event that we organize every year with Sant’Egidio. It usually raises a lot of money and presents, but this time we just didn’t have enough guests to realize it,” the hotelier explains. The cookie campaign realized instead, also received great media coverage resulting from our additional hotel PR agency’s B2B and B2C communication.

Support from a professional PR agency

It’s important to always stay tuned, despite the lockdown and massive restrictions, in order to come up with creative communication solutions as soon as the pandemic is over (hopefully soon). Our hotel and tourism PR agency will support you in setting up individual communication measures such as press releases, statements, social media content or community management. Get in touch with us!