How can you protect your hotel brand on the Internet?

Think that your hotel brand is your online business card and that you must take care not only of what people think of you, but you must also make sure that your brand is not used for any other purpose. For this reason, we explain how to protect your brand on the Internet.

Contenidos

1. Register your hotel’s trademark

During the trademark creation process, there is an unavoidable step for any business: checking whether the associated name or names are already registered. That in the case of Spain can be verified in the website of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. If you are not clear about what you need to know to register your hotel’s trademark and logo, here we explain it.

However, during the phase that we know as the naming of the hotel chain, its sub-brands and products, this step of checking and registration is not always followed, which can lead to certain problems, if for example another user or competitor decides to use the same name. Think that if the trademark is not registered, third parties can take advantage of your good reputation.

2. Register all your domains

Before registering a trademark, during this same naming phase, a protocol is usually followed to identify the availability of associated domains on the Internet. That is, for a hotel chain or independent hotel, it is important to ensure that the domains associated with the brand are still available. Think that on the Internet the law of the fastest prevails, so it may be that some of the domains you would like to use to identify your brand or product are already in use.

Also, a common mistake to avoid is to register only the main domain. Think that, although you are not going to use them, it is advisable to protect both the .com and .es endings, even others if necessary and if they compromise the reputation of your brand. Keep in mind also that, if your hotel business expands to other markets, these domain endings could be useful, even if you were not using them at the beginning.

On the other hand, many hotels choose to have micro-sites or sub-domains of hotels or products linked to the main domain. In these cases you should always think about what positioning strategy to follow and which domain is the one that should gain more authority in the eyes of Google and the users that will be the target of your hotel.

Another strategy of many businesses is to use SEO tactics to position their domains with keywords or keywords related to the sector. Think that while your brand may not include the word “hotel” at the user search level, despite the high competition, it can help you identify your brand with your field of business.

3. Choose your Social Networks

You should think that it is important to follow the same naming format. That is, in all the online platforms you use, it is recommended that you use the name of your brand in the same way. Especially on social networks, where it is generally difficult to control the use of users.

For this reason, it is essential to choose and reserve the name of your brand on this platform by registering accounts during the branding process. Start creating even the hashtags and, if you have more than one hotel, keep in mind that you can choose to diversify the weight of your brand in several accounts, or use only the corporate one.

Remember that in the case of the hotel industry, social networks are one more customer service channel, where your brand’s reputation can be built.

4. Advertise on Google AdWords

In addition, to protect your brand on the Internet, but also to generate brand awareness, it is essential to carry out an AdWords campaign. Think that in the tourism sector, there are many bids for relevant keywords, related to the area in which your hotel is located.

But also, if you have partnership with OTAs or Tour Operators, it is very likely that they also advertise your hotel on Google. So to grab the best position with your name, you need to bid for it in PPC campaigns. This way, your potential clients will be able to hear from you in advanced stages of their buying process, and your existing clients will be able to become more and more familiar with your brand to consider for future bookings.

5. Monitor who uses your brand

It is important to track the web in search of possible misuses of your brand. Remember that the reputation you are building and gaining can be lost by certain associations, when it is easy to avoid in a strategic monitoring process.

To monitor this use you can use some tool that identifies all your backlinks. That is to say, all the inbound links that you are aiming at.