Tips for Hostel Blogs

For anyone who doesn’t have a blog for your hostel’s website yet, here are some suggestions for getting started.
If you do not have a blog, your hotel website is dead

It is a well-known fact that search engines put a high value on dynamic and fresh content. They are looking for websites that are constantly adding new information relevant to their field or related to their brand.

This should actually be fairly easy for a hotel. Tourism and travel is an amazingly dynamic industry, especially when looking at what is happening in a destination or the property itself.

So what could you write about?

Suggestions for content from the article:

• Interesting events, festivals, or trade shows that your guests can attend
• Tips on local restaurants and bars
• Local shopping recommendations based on places that your current guests like
• News about what’s going on in your property (events, renovations, awards, etc.)

To this I would add:

• Concerts
• Theater productions
• Art exhibitions
• Sporting events
• New business openings
• Particularly interesting guests

Stylistic suggestions from the article:

• Create lists - “Top Five, Top Ten and Top 20 lists get plenty of retweets”
• Choose a captivating headline to make people curious
• Write your blog as if you were explaining something to a friend – not a boring press release
• Put your staff in the spotlight with a fun photo of each one. Have them tell about their favorite places in town

Make sure that you create original content, though, and are not simply punching out lists and articles for the sake of blogging. Make the blog an extended arm of your hotels atmosphere and style. Give it a unique spin.

Instead of focusing only on main attractions and points of interest, highlight personal recommendations, unknown gems and hidden secrets of your destination. Bars, restaurants and shops within walking distance of the hotel are always well appreciated.

It also helps to include peculiar/funny/cute/amazing pictures that will grab people’s attention. Just be sure that you have the right to use the photos.

What other tips or ideas can you give for creating interesting hostel blogs?