Tell your story: storytelling that drives bookings

A chain has no story. You do. That difference is exactly the reason a guest books with you instead of with the hotel down the street, if you tell that story.

The problem

Say you have 6 rooms in a renovated farmhouse in Friesland. On your homepage it says: "Located in the heart of Friesland. 6 charming rooms, free parking, breakfast included." Factually it's correct. But it says nothing a guest wouldn't also read at the Van der Valk down the street. For a guest choosing between three accommodations in the same region, your text is interchangeable with that of the neighbors.

That's the problem. You list facts while the guest is looking for a reason to choose you. Storytelling (telling your story instead of just listing facts) solves that. Not "6 rooms", but why you quit your job at the hotel chain in 2017, bought a farmhouse and renovated it room by room. Not "breakfast included", but that the bread comes fresh from your own kitchen oven every morning. The facts remain correct, but they get a why and a who. That's what a guest hooks onto, not a list of amenities.

Think about how you choose an accommodation yourself. Three B&Bs, comparable price, comparable photos. At two you read a list. At the third you read that the owners renovated the farmhouse themselves and that the hostess still remembers which room you had last year. Which one do you remember? And more importantly: which one do you book directly, instead of through the platform you were already logged into anyway?

A chain can't do that. They have a brand book and central purchasing, no hostess who knows you by name. Your story is the only thing a platform or large chain can't copy. And it's free. You already have it, you just haven't told it yet in the places where guests look. Learn more about why that story is the core of your brand in creating a strong brand for your accommodation.

Worked example

Storytelling is hard to measure in euros, because you don't pay per click like you do with an ad. What you can show is the difference in impact. Below is the same accommodation, told twice. Left the factual version, right the story version. Same information, different effect.

The costs are the same in both columns: zero euros extra. The difference is in the words, not the budget. The right column gives the guest a reason to remember you and book directly. The left column makes you interchangeable with any other accommodation with 6 rooms and a parking lot.

Note one thing: the right column invents nothing. They're the same facts, told differently. You don't invent passion and fairy tales, you tell what really happened: you bought a farmhouse, you renovated it yourself, you bake the bread. That's the difference between storytelling and marketing speak. Storytelling tells something true in a way that stays with you. Marketing speak polishes something until it no longer rings true. The guest feels that difference within two sentences.

Action plan

1. Write your core story in 150 words. Answer three questions: why did you start this, who do you do it for, and what does a guest experience with you that they won't find elsewhere. Write it like you'd tell a guest at the breakfast table. Not polished, but real.

2. Put the core on your homepage and About page. Your homepage opener is the opening line of your story, not a list. The About page is where the complete story goes: how you started, who you are, why this place.

3. Cut the story into fragments for social. Each post is a piece: the first room you finished, the guest who comes back every year, why you chose this region. You don't need to tell the whole story every time, one fragment per post is enough. How to keep doing that without taking weeks is in a content calendar you can stick with.

4. Make it concrete with details. "Hospitable" is a word everyone uses. "Henk puts the coffee on at 8 and still remembers you had the corner room last year" is a story. Details make it credible, abstractions make it empty.

5. Link the story to a booking. A nice story without a booking button is a missed opportunity. Make sure the guest can book directly with you right after reading, not through the platform. The story attracts the guest, the booking button closes the deal. If that button is missing, you're sending an enthusiastic guest to Booking.com anyway, and you pay commission on a booking that your story brought in.

The core story of 150 words is your starting point, not your ending point. Write that one version first and improve it in practice afterward. Notice guests always ask about the renovation, put that up front. They tell you they came for the quiet, use that word. You get to know your own story best by hearing what guests say about it.

Common mistakes

• Listing facts and calling it a story. "6 rooms, free wifi, located in the heart of Friesland" is not a story, it's a checklist. A story has a why and a who, not an amenities list.

• Using corporate language instead of your own voice. "Experience the ultimate relaxation in our charming accommodation" sounds like every other site. Write like you talk. Skeptical guests see through slick language.

• Making up the story. You don't need to exaggerate or invent things. A made-up "passion for hospitality" the guest can feel. The real story, however ordinary, always works better than a polished story that doesn't ring true.

• Writing the story once and never touching it again. A story on your About page that you never tell anywhere else reaches almost nobody. The story needs to come back on social, otherwise it stays hidden on a page few people open.

• Confusing storytelling with more posts. Five posts per week without a story don't work better than one post with a real story. It's about what you tell, not how often. How to use your story on Instagram for a small hotel is in Instagram strategy for small hotels.

What you can do now

Your story is the only thing the chain and platform can't take from you. Booking.com shows your room and your price, but not why a guest sits at your breakfast table and not in an anonymous chain hotel. You tell that difference yourself, or nobody does. And every guest who books directly with you instead of through the platform saves you the commission you'd otherwise pay.

Start small. You don't need a whole content strategy by tomorrow. First write those 150 words from the action plan. Put them on your homepage and About page, then cut them into fragments for social. That's doable in a morning, and it works better than waiting months for the perfect story. Want to know how your story helps you stand out among other accommodations in your region, read standing out from the competition.

What a shift from platform to direct bookings brings you, calculate it in the savings calculator. And if you'd rather have someone help you put your story on paper and online, we discuss that at marketing for hotels.