Operating in an industry still dependent on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), hoteliers often face a dilemma: getting noticed while controlling marketing costs. This is particularly challenging even as projections show direct digital bookings will overtake OTAs as the dominant channel by 2030. As a result, relationship marketing, particularly email marketing, remains underutilised despite its vast potential. With global email marketing revenue projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027, the channel’s growth shows no sign of slowing down. However, artificial intelligence (AI) now offers a unique opportunity to reinvigorate this channel, driven by several factors: the evolution of the GDPR framework promoting consent-based relationships, social media fatigue, and a growing need for more authentic and relevant guest engagement.
New Traveler Expectations: Personalization and Engagement
Travellers today seek unique experiences that feel personalised and aligned with their interests—in fact, 90% of consumers now expect brands to understand their preferences and anticipate their needs. And brands that meet those expectations see tangible rewards, with studies showing an average 20% increase in sales when using personalised experiences. In hotel marketing, this means moving away from generic messaging and embracing strategies that reflect audience behaviour and preferences. Offering unique experiences and delivering timely, branded content that resonates on a personal level is becoming essential for strengthening engagement and long-term guest loyalty.
CRM Challenges for Hoteliers
Despite this growing expectation, many hoteliers still struggle to fully leverage their CRM systems. Internal resource shortages, lack of integration between existing tools, and competition with major market players limit their ability to deliver consistent, personalised campaigns. This challenge is particularly pressing given that 97% of website visitors don’t convert on their first visit—highlighting just how important it is for hoteliers to reconnect with guests through timely, targeted follow-ups.
How AI supports Smarter Hotel Marketing
AI helps hoteliers streamline email marketing and deliver more personalised, relevant messages at scale. Through intelligent automation that responds to traveller behaviours, hoteliers can send timely and engaging branded communications. Features like behavioural insights, dynamic content, and A/B testing greatly simplify campaign management and drive better performance. Personalised email campaigns can sit alongside other high-performing digital touchpoints—like metasearch, where 72% of bookings driven have been shown to be incremental*—amplifying the impact of an integrated digital strategy.
The Renaissance of Newsletters: A More Relevant Channel Than Ever
Another phenomenon accompanying this digital revolution is the resurgence of newsletters. While the social media era promised deeper brand-audience interaction, over the past year, we’ve seen a comeback of emails, with the “newsletter” format becoming a key tool for corporate communication. This trend is fuelled by social media fatigue, where information overload and the loss of personalisation often lead to frustration. Additionally, the implementation of GDPR has strengthened consumer trust in email interactions by ensuring clear consent and respect for personal data. And when done well, the results speak for themselves—emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened than those without, underscoring the importance of thoughtful, tailored content even before the message is read.
More than just a promotional tool, the newsletter has become a privileged channel for establishing a more authentic and deeper relationship with customers. It allows hoteliers to foster a genuine conversation with their travellers, offer valuable content, respect their preferences, and create lasting brand connection—a valuable endeavour, given that repeat customers typically spend over two-thirds more than new guests.
New Horizons for Hoteliers
With the combination of AI advancements and email regaining favour, hotels have a new opportunity to take back control of guest relationships. Hotels that have adopted multichannel, AI-supported strategies have seen up to 4x more direct bookings** compared to using display ads alone—showing how email, when combined with tools like SEM and retargeting, can significantly boost performance.
With the right approach, hoteliers can run high-impact, personalised branded campaigns without the complexity. This marks a new chapter in hotel marketing—one where hotels can compete with confidence, connect more meaningfully, and drive performance through smarter consumer engagement. A new era of smarter and more authentic hotel marketing is underway.
About Sojern
Sojern is the leading marketing platform built for hospitality, designed to boost growth and profitability for the travel industry. The Sojern marketing platform is a set of easy-to-use software and services that delivers unrivaled traveler insight, intelligent audiences, multichannel activation and optimization, and a connected guest experience—all in one place. More than 10,000 travel marketers rely on our platform annually to find, attract, convert and engage travelers. Founded in 2007, Sojern is headquartered in San Francisco, California with teams in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific.
