Hospitality Email Marketing Strategy

You're polishing templates and celebrating open rates, but the bookings aren't following. That differential is the symptom of a deeper problem: you have email tactics, not a hospitality email marketing strategy.

When email is executed right, it engages guests and returns real revenue. Getting there means you have to think critically before you act creatively.

This article looks under the hood of why you send what you send. We share the thinking and the findings that have worked for our hospitality clients.

Think Critically Before You Design

Hospitality clients understand that email is part of the sales process. As an agency, we've moved past pitching why email matters. What clients rarely know is what to expect from this touchpoint.

In early conversations, the discussion typically fixates on the design rather than the strategy. That's where our email marketing services come in to change the focus.

General email platforms like Mailchimp have evolved fast, with slick video tutorials that make drag-and-drop design look effortless. The onboarding process with an email platform's assigned 'client success manager' is a quick walkthrough that provides basic tech know-how, but you are often left with a host of tutorials to navigate afterward. Over the years, point-of-sale booking platforms have even expanded to include email marketing, which is a huge value to any property because of the direct integration of guest data and the growth of your email database. The interface enables dynamic segmentation based on factors such as guest purchasing behavior and preferences. More on that later, but even with email, these platforms still have limitations, offering only basic templates and drag-and-drop builds.

The email platform is a tool, not a strategy.

Those do-it-yourself tools help you build a basic email, but don't consider how to build an effective strategy. Hotels want to connect with guests meaningfully and expect a return on their investment.

To get there, put the brakes on design and define why you're sending anything at all. That's the brand strategy work that comes before any template.

Before you research platforms, answer a few key questions first. This thinking defines what you need to execute an email that earns the ROI you want. It also guides which platform is right for you.

Define Who You Are Talking To

Your strategy starts with your list: who's on it, how they got there, and how you can segment them.

Email databases in hospitality consist primarily of past hotel guests. If your property collects data at restaurants, spas, and other outlets, those emails belong on the list too. Website sign-ups add more contacts.

Direct bookings give you complete contact information. Reservations from OTAs require the Front Desk Agent to be diligent about asking for an email address at check-in. A front desk team that prioritizes active data collection raises the odds that the next booking comes direct.

It's fair to assume your database already knows, or has experienced your brand at some level, as an overnight guest, in the restaurants or spa, or has inquired about it through a newsletter sign-up. That familiarity is an advantage and should boost your open and click rate.

Benchmarks help you set expectations. Revinate's 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report analyzed 1.8 billion hotel emails and split performance by campaign type:

• Recurring, automated campaigns (OTA winback, birthday, cancellation recovery): 56.6% open rate and 15.17% click-through rate.
• One-time campaigns (newsletters and one-time promotions): 32.2% open rate and 2.37% click-through rate.

Read the open rates with one caveat: Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates them, so treat the click-through rate as the truer signal for your list.

While the gap makes a strong case for automation, having both recurring and one-time campaigns is a smarter strategy. Behavior-triggered automations are highly specific in targeting and messaging and run automatically so you have a revenue-generating campaign running in the background. Some examples of automated campaigns include email sends based on booking anniversary or a cancellation recovery. One-time campaigns include a monthly newsletter-type email that promotes packages, events, and general awareness.

If you're developing a new hotel property, you may need to grow your database to announce your opening. We've found partners that provide access to highly qualified lists, but purchased lists can produce lower open rates than the engaged groups above, so weigh them carefully during the opening phase. Organic sign-ups to your email list are really valuable and can be initiated through digital advertising and social media, so there are many ways to start building, and continue growing, your audience.

Who's on the List?

Not all contacts are created equal. You need a system to tag and store data about each contact so you can segment as needed. When you send information, access, or messaging that speaks to someone's likes or past behavior, they're more likely to engage.

Let's look at hospitality. Hotel-native platforms like Revinate, Cendyn, dailypoint, and For-Sight connect directly to your booking engine, PMS, and POS, which general tools like Mailchimp can't do. That live integration lets you segment on real guest data and send the right email, at the right time, to the right person.

We've built exactly these segments for our own hospitality clients inside platforms like Revinate. Say you want to fill the shoulder season, and you know the average booking window is three months. You could email past guests who booked a previous shoulder season, roughly three months before it starts.

Now take it further. Target only past shoulder-season guests who also booked a spa treatment, ate in the restaurant, or live in the drive market. We want every opportunity to get granular when it makes sense.

If you rely heavily on OTAs, you won't have access to this data — which is one reason to encourage direct bookings. EHL Hospitality Business School puts OTA commissions at 15–30% of booking value, and up to 30–40% with add-ons. A direct booking costs roughly 4.5% by comparison.

We also don't recommend extracting data from your POS and uploading it to separate software. There are solutions built for hotels, and our team is happy to point you toward a few that have worked for us.

Choose the Right Type of Email

Before you write a word, decide what the email is for. Most hospitality sends generally fall into three buckets: general brand awareness, promotional announcements, and information shares.

• General brand awareness
• Promotional announcements
• Value-added information shares

Knowing the intent lets you set the tone, the call to action, and the metrics you'll measure. Let's walk through each type, per segment, with the ROI you should expect.

General awareness emails reinforce your brand in an aspirational way. Think Instagram meets email, which makes them easy for resorts with amenities to showcase. Send seasonal photos of your best amenities, or share an award, accolade, or press piece.

The ROI here is all about the long game. You're putting your property back in a guest's thought process so they start daydreaming about a return visit. Invite them to follow you on Instagram, read your blog, or view your packages.

Promotional emails that announce an offer or package are the easiest type to tie to ROI. A limited-time package drives bookings and an exclusive Chef Tasting Dinner sells tickets. People pay for exclusivity, and your ADR will thank you for it. Remember that promotions aren't synonymous with discounts. Offering exclusive experiences and bundling them together can be a value to the guest without lowering the cost. You don't want to train your audience/guests to wait for the next deal or discount but rather build the guest’s anticipation for what’s coming next.

Information share emails are exactly as they sound and the ROI is bringing your property into a guest's daily life at home. Share a mixology tutorial, a recipe from the head chef, or skincare tips from the spa. House this content on your website, blog, and social so it works as an ongoing resource.

Hotels can weave all three types into a newsletter-style email or a more in-depth digital magazine. That approach feeds your ongoing email initiatives, so it rewards a well-planned communications planning calendar for at least the next three emails. It takes more thought, but it earns a higher click-through rate.

One note: stay-related emails like booking confirmations and cancellations also matter, and we'll cover their strategy in a future post. The types above are meant to be sent outside those transactional messages.

Map the User Experience After the Open

After you settle the intent and the message, map what happens the moment a guest opens the email through each content touchpoint. Walk through these questions with your team:

• What is/are the call(s) to action, and what are you asking the recipient to do after opening?
• How many click opportunities are there, and what can be clicked?
• If the email promotes a package, promo, or blog, does the link land on the correct page?

That last point is where deals quietly leak. If a guest clicks and lands on the wrong page, the strategy breaks and it negatively affects the experience with the brand. The website and digital experience on the other side of the click matters as much as the email itself. The same goes for the readiness of the front desk or reservations team. The content you share in your emails (and social media, for that matter) has to be supported if a guest calls.

Trace the experience from open, to click, to the ROI you're after. Setting those expectations lets you measure success — booking revenue from a package promotion, or click-throughs and time on site from a blog.

Your message rarely lives in one channel. The same content usually applies to social, blogs, and digital ads, so reuse it to reinforce the message wherever you can.

Measure What Actually Matters

An open isn't a win by itself, and a high click-through rate isn't proof of success. Measure whether the email did the job you designed it to do. Ask these questions of every send:

• Why is your company sending this — a one-time event or an ongoing commitment?
• An open can be unintentional, so what do you actually want the reader to do next?
• What action triggers the real ROI, and is beating an average CTR enough?
• Did the email positively represent your brand?

Getting Opens vs. Earning Bookings

Here's the choice in front of every property. You can send emails, or you can build bookings.

You can chase opens, or you can earn ROI. A hospitality email marketing strategy is what separates the two.

The payoff is real when the thinking comes first. According to Litmus, email drives an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent — higher than any other channel. That return follows the strategy, not the template.

So think critically about who's on your list and what you want them to do, then act creatively in how you say it. Think Critically. Act Creatively.™

Ready to turn opens into bookings? Let's talk strategy, or reply to Thinkers@SmarthinkingInc.com and we'll get to work.

Hospitality Email Strategy FAQs

• What are effective email marketing strategies for hospitality businesses?

Start with strategy before design. Know and segment your list, match each send to a clear intent, map the experience after the open, and measure ROI rather than opens alone.

• How do I segment a hospitality email list?

Tag and store data on each contact, then use booking-engine and POS integration to target by past behavior. For example, email past shoulder-season guests who also booked a spa treatment or live in the drive market.

• What mix of email types should hotels send?

Use three types: general brand awareness, promotional announcements, and value-added information shares. You can weave all three into a newsletter-style email planned on an editorial calendar.