The voice of your brand: Crafting a tone that resonates

What would your brand sound like, if it could speak? 

Developing a distinctive tone of voice isn't just about choosing the right words; it's about crafting a personality that connects deeply with your audience on an emotional level, building a truly memorable hotel brand identity.

With 62 per cent of customers saying they have a relationship with a hospitality brand, and 58 per cent saying they choose their favourite brands based on emotional reasons, it’s clear that tone of voice is a crucial part of any hotel brand strategy. Here’s what you need to know.

Know your target audience

You want your brand voice to resonate powerfully with the right people. Before you can speak to them, you need to truly understand your ideal guest. Speaking their language, reflecting their aspirations, and addressing their needs will ensure your message isn't just heard, but felt. Here's how to gain those crucial insights:

Market research

Use industry reports and surveys to better understand the current landscape. Are there shifts in traveller preferences towards sustainability, unique local experiences, or cutting-edge technology? How can your brand's voice reflect these evolving values? Market research can help you uncover specific niches within the sector that you can speak to authentically - such as a focus on culinary experiences or a growing interest in a certain aspect of history or culture in your location. Finally, gather in-depth customer feedbac. Listen to direct comments, and analyze online reviews to understand what your current guests truly value and what they envision for future experiences.

Competitor analysis

How are your competitors positioning themselves? Examining their communication isn't about imitation; it's about strategic differentiation.  By understanding how they speak to their guests, the personality they portray and their strengths and weakness in communication will all help you craft your own original tone of voice and hotel brand identity.

Web analytics

Analytics tools like Semrush and Google Analytics can help you identify a treasure trove of market trends and patterns. By looking at what your potential guests are searching for online, you’ll know what they’re actively seeking. Analyse the keywords and questions guests are searching for. This reveals their direct needs, pain points, and interests related to hotel stays. You can also see which types of content (blog posts, landing pages, service descriptions) resonate most with your audience. Finally, use online tools to help you track user journeys and see how guests are navigating your website. 

Social media analytics

Dive deeper into social media to find out what travellers are saying to each other online. Analytics tools can measure social content to identify trends and patterns to better understand what guests are talking about, sharing and reacting to in real-time. Sentiment analysis is all about understanding the emotional tone of conversations around destinations or even your own brand. Trending topics help you identify popular destinations and experiences, while analysing influencers can help you see how they are interacting with their followers, giving you ideas about how you can authentically communicate online. 

Create buyer personas

Once you've collected the data, your next step is to translate it into tangible, relatable representations of your ideal guests. Creating detailed buyer personas makes it so much easier to craft a natural, impactful tone of voice because you can vividly picture the person you're speaking to. Each persona should represent a key segment of your target audience, enabling you to adapt your messaging for maximum resonance.

Start with broad buyer personas

Create a broad foundation, starting with the guests you already have. Where do they come from, and what do they have in common? What do you continually hear from them about their experiences? Look at general age ranges, locations and income ranges. Analyse their common travel patterns, whether they’re solo adventurers or family travellers, see what feedback, reviews and comments they have incommon.

Drill down on details

This is where you refine your broad personas into highly specific profiles, it’s a key element if you’re in the process of hotel expansion or targeting particular market segments. Consider educational background, profession, relationship status, and specific geographic locations. Look at what hobbies they may have outside of travel, what media they consume and what needs and wants drive their travel decisions.

Research in-depth

If you can understand not only what they’re looking for but why, you’re getting to the bottom of what they really value. Understanding their psychological motivations is key to understanding how to speak to them. How do they research and choose hotels? What influences their booking decisions? What kind of brands do they already trust and admire? How do those brands communicate?

Use negative personas

Asmuch as you want to know who you’re talking to, you also want to know who you’re not trying to attract. For example, if your hotel is a luxury adults-only establishment, appealing to families or budget-conscious students is not necessary. Trying to be too open can dilute your messaging and inflate your marketing spend. By eliminating groups, you can keep your focus specific.

Make your brand human

By assigning human attributes to your brand, you’ll find that you talk naturally, like one person to another. This helps to create messaging that emotionally resonates with the guests you’re trying to attract. It's about infusing your brand with personality and warmth.

Start with the foundations

Humanising your brand is part of creating a solid hotel brand identity. Work from the inside out, practice what you preach and build a good culture in your team that will trickle down to your guests.

Define core values

What are the core beliefs and principles that make your brand unique? Defining core values is a key part of your hotel brand strategy, and will help you to define its human attributes. For example, if a core value is "Innovation," your brand's voice might be forward-thinking and curious. If it's "Comfort," your voice might be nurturing and reassuring.

Use personal, approachable language

Professionalism doesn't mean you have to be overly formal and stiff. Aim for language that feels natural, like a friendly conversation. Use contractions, avoid jargon, and opt for simpler sentence structures where appropriate. Guests want to feel understood and spoken to directly.

Speak to your audience

Use the same language that your core audience uses to make a connection - it’s called mirroring. If your buyer persona is a young, adventurous traveller, a slightly more casual and energetic tone might be appropriate. For a luxury business traveller, a sophisticated yet efficient voice would be better. But remember, what engages one demographic might alienate another.

Inject humour where appropriate

We love to laugh. Don’t be afraid to let your hotel brand have a sense of humour, even poking fun at itself occasionally. It won’t be appropriate to every situation, but it’s a sure-fire way to inject a sense of humanity. Of course, ensure humour is appropriate for the situation and for your brand itself. For example, a luxury, serene spa might opt for subtle wit, while a vibrant, boutique hotel could be more overtly playful.

Create an 'About us' page

For as long as humans have walked this Earth, we have told stories in our own way. It’s a way to create connection. Craft an “About us” page to show the real faces behind the brand. Take the time to make it authentic and you’ll create a real connection with your audience. Don't just list achievements. Share your brand's origin story, its purpose, its passion, and the people who make it special.

Maintain an active blog

This is an ongoing opportunity to speak in your brand’s tone of voice and to highlight things you want potential customers to know about you. Combined with smart hotel storytelling and SEO, it also helps bring traffic to your website. Remember, consistency is key. Every blog post should be a chance to speak directly in your brand's established tone, whether you're offering travel tips or destination insights, and you can use it to highlight¡ your brand values, from sustainability to a commitment to food experiences.

Put it into action

Defining your hotel brand's core values and truly understanding the nuances of your target audience are the essential first steps in crafting a compelling tone of voice. And this voice can then build a powerful emotional connection with potential guests.

At Peregryn, we can help you to create a distinctive and engaging tone of voice for your hotel brand. As experienced hotel brand strategists we know how to draw out what makes your hotel brand original and develop a distinctive brand voice for you. From expert copywriters who can infuse personality into every sentence, to content marketers who understand how to deploy your voice across channels, we know how to ensure your hotel brand speaks volumes.

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