Instagram Strategies Transforming Switzerland's Luxury Hospitality Scene
Instagram Strategies Transforming Switzerland's Luxury Hospitality Scene
Located in the heart of Europe, Switzerland is well-known for its beautiful landscapes, which contribute towards its top-tier tourism.
Switzerland’s hotel and tourism sector has always been an important part of its economy. A report carried out by Mordor Intelligence valued the sector’s 2024 market size at $5.38 billion, which is estimated to reach $6.05 billion by 2029.
With an average of more than 35.1 million overnight stays recorded between 2005 and 2022, it’s no surprise that luxury brands are seeking advanced ways to reach their target market.
Below, we explore the changing landscape of Switzerland’s luxury hotels and resorts. How is Instagram helping luxury hotels to engage with guests, boost reservations and create a distinctive brand image? Read on to learn more…
How influential is Instagram for Swiss Hospitality businesses?
Many high-end Swiss hospitality businesses are using Instagram. With one billion active users worldwide, Instagram provides these businesses with a great place to share their stories, insights and experiences with their audience. The platform allows premium resorts to showcase accommodation, cuisine, and landscapes in an eye-catching way.
Visual storytelling:
Instagram places a lot of emphasis on visuals. Thanks to this emphasis, hotels have found the ideal place to show off their unique appeal. By posting high-quality images in correspondence with carefully crafted text, you have the power to reach even more potential customers.
Aspirations crafted in pixels:
Instagram is a great place for highlighting a lot of information. The Stories feature is particularly useful for this, as you can create a series of ‘Stories’ in one go. The good thing about Stories is that they disappear within 24 hours, so they don’t overwhelm your page. Many hotels are using this feature to connect with followers on a deeper level. Stories are also great for building brand equity, brand loyalty, and brand preference.
Instagram is equally as powerful simply by posting photos (as opposed to stories). It enables you to reshape how you present your brand, as you invite your followers on an adventure.
How can you successfully showcase your luxury hospitality business on Instagram?
There are a number of strategies you can adopt to successfully showcase your high-end hotel or resort. Examples include:
Influencer collaborations: Work with travel influencers and lifestyle bloggers to generate excitement around your brand. Make sure these influencers share the same values as your hotel. Their real-life testimonials and first-hand experiences help you to reach new audiences, resonate with potential guests and maintain brand identity.
Behind-the-scenes glimpses: As mentioned above, Instagram Stories are a great tool for building relationships, strengthening brand awareness and increasing followers. Ideas for content include:
· Showing behind-the-scenes preparations
· Chefs in the kitchen preparing a dish
· Examples of personalised services (e.g., a guest’s favourite chocolate placed on their pillow before their arrival).
Strategic hashtag campaigns: Hashtags play a key role in creating connections on Instagram. When carefully crafted, memorable hashtags become a part of your hotel's online presence, leaving a lasting positive impression. They not only make your content more accessible, but also cultivate a feeling of closeness with your guests.
Choose between a mixture of industry-specific, location-specific and branded hashtags. This will help you to expand your reach and attract a wider audience.
You could:
· Create unique and memorable branded hashtags that capture the essence of your hotel or resort
· Leverage trending and popular hashtags within the premium travel and hospitality niche
· Incorporate location-specific hashtags to tap into the appeal of your destination, and entice potential guests there
You need to strike a balance between popular and niche hashtags. This ensures visibility while maintaining relevance.
Also, it’s important to regularly monitor and adjust your hashtag strategy based on the latest trends, seasons, and evolving interests of your audience. This will help you to stay at the forefront of the Swiss luxury hospitality scene on Instagram.
User-generated content (UGC): Encourage your guests to become brand advocates. You can do this by encouraging them to share their experiences on Instagram, and then reposting this content. This is known as user-generated content, and it is a very powerful tool. When you use UGC, it demonstrates to potential guests that they can trust your hotel, as people value the experiences shared by their peers.
Interactive content
Engagement is key! You should make use of Instagram’s interactive features – including polls, quizzes and Q&A sessions, to actively involve your audience.
Some ideas include asking for their input on:
· Potential menu items
· Room designs
· The next signature cocktail
Turning your followers into active participants creates a sense of community. It also makes guests feel like their opinions matter.
Personalised communication
Instagram’s direct messaging feature is a powerful tool that allows you to communicate with your followers on a more personal level. From responding to inquiries and providing tailored recommendations, to sending out exclusive offers to loyal followers, you can make good use of direct messages to build a personal connection with your audience.
Employee spotlights
Beyond architecture and amenities, your resort should spotlight on employees who contribute to the overall guest experience. By spotlighting employees (including staff, chefs and concierge), this brings a human touch to your brand. It also creates a stronger connection between your audience and the people who work hard behind the scenes to deliver these amazing experiences.
By combining tradition and innovation, your hotel or resort has the power to offer more than simply a place to stay; it can provide immersive experiences that continue to change how people think about luxury hotels and resorts around the world.
What strategies can you use on Instagram to increase the success of your businesses?
Switzerland's luxurious hospitality sector isn’t simply about providing comfort. It’s also about providing tailored, out-of-this-world experiences, and Instagram plays a vital role in showcasing this world.
Some specific strategies you can adopt include:
Cuisine: Swiss cuisine is a blend of different flavours, and Instagram provides the perfect platform to showcase the culinary expertise found in many luxury hotels. With curated posts, your establishment can reveal its offerings or special culinary events, as well as the journey your ingredients have travelled to get to diners’ plates. The objective of highlighting your cuisine is to encourage people to visit your establishment and create excitement around your brand.
Exclusive packages and events: Instagram has become a platform where Swiss luxury hotels can promote their services, packages and events. Many hotels go beyond the ordinary by organising concerts amidst alpine landscapes and curating unique experiences in collaboration with local attractions. Through captivating visuals, these promotions aim to tease guests and create a feeling of excitement and exclusivity.
Showcasing your Unique Selling Point:
Is there something unique about your hotel that could help you to stand out from the crowd online?
Take the example of Villa Honegg, a five-star, 23-room resort located in the Swiss countryside.
Their heated outdoor swimming pool has become so popular that, according to Forbes, the hotel hasn’t had to pay for advertising since 2011. The hotel’s general manager, Sebastien Klink, states that social media is their advertising. Does your hotel have a truly unique selling point that could be highlighted on Instagram? Then start posting about it!
Striking a balance:
Many Swiss hotels have found a good balance on Instagram between tradition and innovation. Their curated posts go beyond highlighting the physical spaces; they capture the essence of Swiss luxury. Each image, story and hashtag contribute to a story that goes beyond the boundaries of a hotel room, offering an experience for digital travellers.
What other steps can your hospitality business take to elevate its success?
Engagement Metrics: Achieving success on Instagram goes beyond counting followers. It involves thoughtful engagement with metrics such as likes, comments and shares, which play a huge role in determining your success.
Your luxury establishment needs to pay attention to these metrics. As you navigate the complexities of posting, you’ll soon come to understand what’s working well, and what isn’t. Each ‘like’ serves as a nod of approval, while every comment holds even more value, as it enables you to interact with your followers on a deeper level.
The valuable data available on Instagram provides you with detailed insights that are designed to guide your hotel in refining its Instagram strategy. By carefully following these insights, you’ll be able to tailor your posts based on your audience’s preferences.
Booking Conversions: High-end Swiss hotels view Instagram as an experience and a direct avenue for making reservations. By integrating booking options into your Instagram profile, you effectively turn admiration into action.
Interested users can easily transition from being captivated by the visuals, to making a reservation. The ability to track booking conversions directly tied to Instagram campaigns provides a way to gauge the platform's impact on your revenues. Each booking shows the influence and strategic engagement of curated content.
Brand Perception and Loyalty: Beyond the metrics, it’s important to consider the way that people perceive your brand and their loyalty towards it. As such, you also need to go beyond the numbers.
To do this, you should focus on gathering qualitative feedback, analysing direct messages and using sentiment analysis to truly understand how people perceive your brand. It's not simply about being noticed; it's about being embraced and supported by a committed audience. When you create a community of dedicated followers, those followers actively advocate for your brand, creating trust, loyalty and lasting connections.
Shaping the Future: Swiss luxury hotels are embracing the challenges of Instagram and looking ahead to the future. They understand that keeping up with changing metrics, refining strategies and staying innovative are essential for success.
The stories of triumph on Instagram are not fixed; they are constantly being adapted to keep up with the ever-changing needs of consumers. Through every post, interaction and strategic decision, Swiss luxury hotels are working hard to ensure their Instagram narrative remains engaging and meaningful.
Are you ready for the future of luxury hospitality?
Switzerland’s luxury hospitality scene needs to embrace the ever-evolving world of Instagram by creating meaningful connections with their audiences. Your brand needs to go beyond simple marketing. Instead, it needs to transform its online presence by adding a human touch to the world of luxury.
In the digital landscape, authenticity and connection are vital. When you successfully master the art of Instagram, you invite guests into an immersive and personal journey of high-end hospitality.
Through your presence on Instagram, your hotel will not only cater to the desires of modern travellers, but could also set new benchmarks for global luxury hospitality.
Elevate your Instagram strategy to new heights with EWM
Looking to excel on Instagram? Want to know how to transform your guest experience and redefine the essence of hospitality? Look no further than EWM. With our cutting-edge solutions, our team will help you to unlock the full potential of your hospitality business on Instagram, and elevate it to new heights.
EWM specialises in crafting tailored digital marketing solutions. Through our services, we ensure that our clients can effectively leverage Instagram to enhance their brand visibility and engage with their target audience.
Our team can help you foster a deeper emotional connection between your hotel and its Instagram audience, ultimately driving brand loyalty. Through strategic planning, we can position your luxury property in front of the right audience segments, driving both engagement and conversion rates.
Contact the EWM team to discuss your precise digital marketing needs.