Branded hotels are in a unique digital marketing predicament.

On the one hand the brand is a marketing organization and can open doors and steer demand to the branded hotel that is far out of the reach of any independent hotel.

The investment in a brand affiliation provides the competitive benefit of attracting national and global travelers, brand-loyal guests, and Fortune 500 business travelers. Yet with all the good intentions of the brand, tremendous revenue opportunities still exist for any branded property above and beyond the core focus of the major brand.

The branded hotel faces fierce competition from savvy independent properties in their market and properties from other major brands. But that is not all. Increasingly important is finding ways to differentiate from and compete against other branded properties from the same brand on brand.com, search engine results pages and online media. For example in New York City, a Marriott-branded property competes with 125 other Marriott-branded properties, while a Hilton-related property competes with 51 other Hilton-related properties. In Chicago, there are 80 Marriott-related properties and 66 Hilton-related properties.

So how can a branded hotel level the playing field and compete successfully against independents and other branded properties?