Is Influencer Marketing Effective in Attracting Hotel Guests?

In recent years, social media has become a crucial touchpoint in the traveler's journey of researching and booking accommodation. Just one TikTok video showcasing the beach view, the room, or a memorable hotel experience can prompt travelers to book instantly without much hesitation. Behind this trend lies the growing power of influencer marketing. For hotels, this is not just another promotional form, it is an essential strategy to expand the customer base, strengthen brand awareness, and increase direct revenue.

What Is Influencer Marketing and Why Should Hotels Care?

Influencer Marketing is the practice of collaborating with influential individuals (Influencers) on digital platforms (such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook…) to promote hotel services, products, or experiences through authentic content from their perspective.

Why is this a “powerful weapon” for hotels?

• High Authenticity: Influencers often film room tours, review their stay, dining, and spa services in a natural and relatable way, generating highly trustworthy UGC (User-Generated Content).

• Instant travel inspiration: 58% of global TikTok users say they “want to book a trip immediately after watching a video of a beautiful place” (TikTok Travel Trend Report 2024).

• Reduced decision risk: Audiences feel more confident when seeing real-life visuals instead of polished marketing photos.

• Fast conversion: The journey from video → booking link → payment now happens within minutes, especially among Gen Z in the Social Commerce era.

Traveler Behavior Is Changing and Influencers Are the New “Guides”

TikTok has fundamentally transformed the way people search for information, from travel, dining, to accommodations. Research shows that 29% of Gen Z use TikTok as a primary search engine for travel information (Adobe 2024). Travel-related hashtags like #vietnamtravel, #hoteltour, and #resortreview consistently attract hundreds of millions of views, reflecting a massive appetite for authentic experience-based content.

This fuels the trend of “TikTok made me book it”, where users decide to book a hotel instantly after seeing an appealing video, often without prior planning.

For hotels, this is crucial: An influencer doesn’t just expand your reach, they directly impact the traveler’s final booking decision.

Popular Forms of Influencer Marketing for Hotels

Hotels can diversify collaboration formats to achieve various goals:

Room Tour & Review

• Goal: Direct conversions

• Content: Full stay experience, check-in, room, view, pool, breakfast, spa

• This format delivers the highest conversion rate because viewers can “experience it in advance.”

Food & Beverage Experience (F&B Influencers)

• Goal: Increase walk-in customers & F&B revenue

• Ideal for hotels with well-known restaurants, buffets, or rooftop bars.

Livestream at the Hotel (Live Commerce)

• Goal: Sell room packages/vouchers in high volume

• Trend: Exploding in Vietnam through TikTok Shop Live. Many resorts in China have recorded 3–5× revenue spikes during livestream campaigns (KPMG China 2023).

Long-term Collaboration (Brand Ambassador)

• Goal: Build consistent brand identity

• Suitable for hotels with stylish, youthful, or wellness-focused positioning.

Influencer & TikTok Travel: When Short Videos Become the Booking Trigger

TikTok has become a global “inspiration engine” for travel. According to TikTok Travel Trend Report, 70% of users decide to travel after watching short videos about destinations or hotels.

In Vietnam, many hotels have experienced surges in bookings after being reviewed by trusted travel creators. The power lies in authenticity, entertainment value, and the emotional impact short videos deliver, something traditional advertising struggles to replicate.

For hotels, partnering with TikTok influencers is no longer a trend, it’s a strategic path to attract guests in a video-first era.

Read more: The Secret To Boosting Direct Bookings For Your Hotel With TikTok UGC!

What Hotels Should Prepare Before Working with Influencers

Many hotels collaborate with influencers but fail to achieve results due to a lack of preparation. Here are 3 essential steps hotels should take:

• Define clear objectives

Brand awareness? Short-term bookings? UGC assets?

Clear goals help select the right influencers and set measurable KPIs.

• Standardize the experience & photo spots

Influencers cannot create appealing content if the room or space lacks highlights. Hotels should prepare:

• Quick check-in

• Clean, well-lit, aesthetically pleasing rooms

• Signature photo corners
  This ensures high-quality content and accurate representation of the guest experience.

• Prepare a professional welcome process

Include:

• Room information

• Area highlights

• Service opening hours

• Wi-Fi, parking, filming support

A smooth process boosts content quality and encourages future collaborations.

5 Steps for Hotels to Implement Influencer Marketing Effectively

Step 1: Define clear objectives

Before starting any campaign, the hotel needs to clearly define the goal to be achieved. This objective could be increasing brand awareness in the target market, driving growth in the number of direct bookings during a specific period, increasing searches for the hotel name on tools like Google Trends, or focusing on boosting F&B (Food & Beverage) revenue by promoting restaurants or bars. Defining specific objectives will serve as the basis for selecting the right Influencer and accurately setting KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for measurement.

Step 2: Select the right influencer

The selection of an Influencer must be done carefully, not solely based on follower count. Hotels need to thoroughly consider whether their audience demographics match the hotel's target customer base. Furthermore, the Influencer's experience should be reviewed: Have they previously reviewed hotels, and does their content align with your brand style (luxury, cozy, adventurous, etc.)? Another crucial metric is the actual engagement rate; an account with a high engagement rate, even if small in scale (Micro/Nano Influencer), often yields better conversion efficiency than larger accounts with low engagement.

Step 3: Content agreement

Once a partner has been selected, the next step is to finalize the details of the content to be produced. The hotel needs to specify the number of videos/photos required and the essential camera angles to include (e.g., room, view, pool, breakfast, spa...). Most importantly, CTA Links (Call to Action) must be integrated, including links to a landing page, exclusive discount codes, or the hotel's Booking Engine to drive direct conversion. Finally, agreeing on the right to reuse the content (Content Repurposing) is extremely important, helping the hotel own and utilize the high-quality media assets produced by the Influencer.

Step 4: Measure effectiveness

To determine the RoAS (Return on Ad Spend) of the campaign, the hotel must rigorously track key performance indicators. The main metrics include searches for the hotel name on Google Trends, website Traffic (visitor volume), clicks on the booking link (via custom tracking links), revenue generated from discount codes (promo codes), and the number of direct bookings created throughout the campaign period. Close monitoring helps evaluate which Influencers are most effective and allows for strategic adjustments in subsequent collaborations.

Step 5: Content repurposing

The Influencer has captured beautiful and authentic content, which is a valuable asset the hotel must maximize. Once the campaign concludes, the hotel should reuse this content across various channels. This includes posting to the official Website gallery, sharing on the hotel's TikTok/Instagram/Facebook channels, utilizing it in Email marketing campaigns, or for Paid Advertising (Paid Ads). Content repurposing not only increases the brand's authenticity and trustworthiness but also helps the hotel significantly save on the cost of producing high-quality media.

Influencer Marketing Trends for Hotels (2025–2026)

1. Prominent Content Trends:

• Travel Creators specializing in Local Experiences: Tourists prefer the experience of "living like a local." Videos featuring tours of markets, craft villages, and local eateries are becoming extremely viral.

• 15–20 Second Videos: Short content, fast scene transitions, easy to go viral, and optimized for algorithms.

• Influencers leveraging AI: Utilizing AI to create simulated seascape videos and "sky travel," which makes content captivating and increases reach.

2. Leveraging Technology for Conversion:

• Live Room Sales (Live Commerce): This is set to become an extremely powerful conversion channel in Vietnam. Hotels need to employ professional online salespeople (Live Commerce Hosts) to interact and close deals in real-time.

• Creating Dedicated Landing Pages: Provide a seamless customer experience by directing them to a specifically designed destination page, free from distractions.

• Integrating AR/VR: Allows viewers to "try before they buy" by using filters to view virtual rooms directly on social media, increasing confidence before booking.

3. Optimizing the Direct Booking Channel:

• User-Friendly Booking Engine: Ensure the hotel's online booking system is simple, fast, and displays prices transparently; the fewer steps involved, the higher the conversion rate.

• Utilizing a Channel Manager: Ensure room availability when an Influencer campaign goes viral.

• Fast DM (Direct Message) Response: Since guests may book immediately when their emotions are "high," a quick response to inquiries via direct messages is the key factor in closing the deal.

Read more: Social Commerce - A Booking Channel That Hotels Can't Miss!

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is no longer optional, it is now a core component of hotel marketing. As users increasingly trust authentic content over ads, influencers become the storytellers who deliver hotel experiences naturally, emotionally, and effectively.

With the rise of TikTok and short-form videos, hotels have more opportunities than ever to reach new guests, sometimes from just one powerful video.

If you want to run more effective influencer marketing campaigns, Hotel Link can help you optimize your website, increase direct bookings, and craft tailored communication strategies for each target segment. Contact us today to elevate your hotel brand.