The Ultimate Checklist for Opening Your Hotel

Posted on by Taylor Kennedy

INTRODUCTION

Opening a new hotel has so many moving parts, from development to construction to promotion and room reservations. When starting a new hotel, one of the top goals should be showing guests why your property is unique (compared to others in the area). As time goes on, additional goals may include increasing occupancy and profit, increasing brand recognition, strengthening guest loyalty and improving/maintaining your reputation.

Here is the ultimate checklist guide to managing all the tasks that come with opening your hotel.

ADVERTISING & MARKETING CHECKLIST

  • For traditional advertising such as TV or radio, contact ad reps to start reserving media time at least 6-8 weeks in advance
  • Begin advertising on social media about one month out from the opening
  • Make sure the hotel is on your local chamber of commerce and/or CVB website
  • Design branded elements, including in-room cards, sales sheets, meeting room info and restaurant menus
  • Create a timing sheet for grand opening party that assigns hotel staff to tasks
  • Collect business cards during grand opening event, which can be used in future email marketing

SOCIAL MEDIA CHECKLIST

  • Setup consistent social media handles across all channels
  • Make sure the “About” page has all the correct talking points about the hotel
  • Pin most important messages to the top of the page on Facebook and Twitter (e.g. grand opening event)
  • Create a Facebook event for the grand opening party 
  • Create a template or guideline of how to respond to online comments/reviews
  • Create an account on review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Business
  • Set up an email marketing account

PUBLIC RELATIONS CHECKLIST

  • Due to long lead times of some publications, send the press release of your grand opening at least one month in advance
  • Send your press release to local media (e.g. business reporters) as well as industry publications such as LODGING or Hotel Business
  • Brainstorm 2-3 talking points and use them in your media training with your designated hotel spokesperson, typically the hotel general manager
  • Create a media fact sheet that includes information such as the construction company, cost, timeline, etc. 
  • Set up private media tours in advance of the grand opening
  • Take photos and video of the grand opening event and share them with the media and your social media accounts
  • Add your grand opening event to local event listings
  • Set up Google Alerts to track any mentions of your hotel

COVID-19 RELATED CHECKLIST

  • Post on social media, write in your e-newsletter, create a tab on website and create signage explaining how your hotel is taking COVID-19 precautions (e.g. photos of hand sanitizer stations, etc.) 
    • Promote features of your hotel that are related to health and safety precautions such as self-check-in kiosks, touchless bathrooms and motion-activated lighting
  • Create and post signs around the property detailing your sanitization protocols
  • Implement protection and social distancing protocols (e.g. putting stickers on the floor that are six feet apart, separating seating areas, adding hand sanitizing stations, etc.)

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