A hotel marketing blog answers the questions guests ask before choosing a hotel: what can you do in the region in autumn, how do you get there without a car, which walks work with a pushchair, where can the dog come along. Whoever answers these questions brings the guest to their own website before they land on a booking platform. A hotel in Parpan ranked on page 1 for "Affordable stays in Lenzerheide" just two weeks after launch.
Nobody books a hotel before knowing what they want to do at the destination. Trip planning starts with questions to Google: "What to do in Lenzerheide in October", "Walk with pushchair Graubünden", "Hotel with dog eastern Switzerland". Hotels that answer these questions reach the guest before they open a booking platform. That is the real benefit of a hotel blog: not more visitors, but visitors who land directly with the hotel.
Direct bookings as the goal
Every post in the hotel blog has the same purpose: to guide the guest from the question to the hotel's booking page, without a detour via a platform. For that, every post needs three things:
- The answer to the question, honest and with local knowledge that no platform has.
- The hotel as the starting point: "The tour starts ten minutes from the hotel", "Breakfast from seven for early risers".
- A link to the booking page, at the end and once in the text, with a specific anchor such as "Check rooms for the hiking weekend".
What a direct booking saves the hotel compared to a platform booking depends on the contract. That figure belongs in the internal calculation, not in the blog.
Proof from Graubünden
The Grischalodge in Parpan launched its blog on 25 July. A little over two weeks later, the post on "Affordable stays in Lenzerheide" ranked on page 1 on Google, and within under three weeks nine posts were online. This is a single case with its own circumstances, not a benchmark for every property. But it shows that regional topics in a tourism region can become visible quickly if they appear regularly. The details are in the Grischalodge use case.
Topics grouped by guest question
Region and activities
- What can you do in the region when it rains? The honest list, with opening hours.
- The five best walks from the hotel, by duration and difficulty.
- Region in autumn: what's open, what's closed, what only works now.
- Shoulder season: why May and November are the quietest weeks and what you can experience then.
- Events throughout the year: a calendar that's updated every year.
Travel and practicalities
- Travelling by train: connection, final stretch, luggage, pick-up.
- Travelling by car in winter: passes, snow chains, parking at the hotel.
- Travelling by electric car: charging station at the hotel or in the village.
- What belongs in the suitcase for a week in summer, in winter?
Families
- Walks with a pushchair: which routes actually work.
- What children love in the region: playgrounds, swimming pools, animals, cable cars.
- Family room or two rooms: what the hotel offers and what's cheaper.
Dogs
- Holidays with a dog: which walks, cable cars and restaurants allow dogs.
- Dog at the hotel: what the hotel offers, rules, costs.
Season and offer
- Skiing with children: which slopes, which ski school, how the day runs.
- Wellness without skiing: what a winter weekend without slopes offers.
- Affordable stays in the region: when prices are lower and why.
- Early booker or last minute: when booking pays off, without discount promises.
Season: publish early enough
Guests plan months ahead. A post about skiing with children that appears in December comes too late. Rule of thumb from practice: seasonal topics should appear two to three months before the season, so they're visible when guests are planning.
| Publishes | Topic | Season |
|---|---|---|
| February to March | Hiking, families in summer, getting there | Summer planning |
| May to June | Autumn, shoulder season, events | Autumn planning |
| August to September | Skiing, winter travel, wellness, dogs in winter | Winter planning |
| November | Affordable stays, early booking, rainy-day programme | Filling gaps |
After a year, Search Console shows when the posts are actually being read, and the plan is adjusted.
Multilingualism
Many hotels have guests from several language regions and from abroad. The temptation is great to publish every post in three languages. It's better to blog consistently in the language of the most important guest group first, and add a second language only once it's maintained just as consistently. Which technical and content rules apply, from hreflang to the question of whether to translate or write afresh, is explained in the post Multilingual blog in Switzerland.
Rhythm and implementation
One post per week is the benchmark, fewer during peak season, more during the shoulder season, since there's time then. Topics come from guest questions at reception and from search queries about the region. If you don't have writing in-house, you can outsource it; a blog system like BlogPilot reads search queries about the region, creates the topic plan and submits the posts for approval. Local knowledge, such as which mountain hut is open when, has to come from the hotel.
What to do with this
Note down the questions asked at reception and by phone for a week. The three most common ones become your first three posts. Add a post about getting there and one about the next season. Include the booking link in each one, and after three months, measure how many direct bookings come via the blog.
Frequently asked questions
Is a blog worthwhile if most guests come via booking platforms?
Especially then. The blog reaches the guest before they search on the platform, and leads them to a direct booking. Every booking that comes this way instead of through the platform saves the commission. How much that is depends on the contract and isn't covered in the blog.
Should a hotel write about itself or about the region?
About the region, with the hotel as the starting point. Guests search for "hiking Lenzerheide autumn", not "Hotel Example rooms". The post answers the question, names the hotel as the place the tour starts from, and links to the booking.
What language should the hotel blog be in?
First in the language of the most important guest group, usually German. A second language is only worthwhile once it's maintained consistently; a half-translated blog does more harm than a single-language one. Which guidelines apply to multilingual blogs is covered in the linked post.
How quickly does a hotel blog bring bookings?
In the case studied, a post reached page 1 after just over two weeks, but that's a one-off. Experience suggests the first movement after six to eight weeks, with noticeably more enquiries usually from the fourth month onwards. Seasonal topics need to be published early enough accordingly.