Whilst your first reaction to a downturn in the economic climate is that you should reduce your advertising budget, in reality this is the wrong thing to do. All that will happen is that your potential customers won't know you exist and will book into one of your competitors instead. Think about how you search for things that are out of your area - you choose the easiest, most publicized route more often than not.

What you need to do is increase your hotel's marketing efforts without it costing a fortune. Make every single penny count so that you boost your occupancy rate without draining the bank.

These simple tips will help you with this task.

1. Find some a hotel directory that will advertise your hotel's information. They usually charge less than places like Yellow Pages but are more often found in the search engine results, so you'll have a cheaper advert that brings in more trade. Most of these directories will also give a link back to your own web site, which helps get your hotel found in searches.

2. Add more information to your own hotel web site. The search engines like to see relevant information that is regularly updated. Make sure your specials are up to date. Write about things to see and do locally. Encourage your guests to put up their comments and maybe even mention you on their Facebook page.

3. Team up with other local businesses. If your local restaurant will offer special deals then you can help promote each other - you keep menus for their restaurant in reception, they send passers by to your hotel. And get yourself on the list of accommodation for your local sports ground so that visiting fans know you're in town.

4. If you (or your receptionist) are normally close to your computer, think about adding live chat to your hotel website. This could be a proprietary program iif you want but it doesn't need to be. Lots of your customers have Skype or MSN messenger installed. Let them know they can chat to you with these simple programs in case they have any unanswered questions.

5. Make sure your rooms offer great value for money. This is marketing at its most basic but is so often forgotten. It doesn't cost much to add a few extra touches to your rooms which will turn them from a good to a great place to stay. These can be visible touches like a chocolate on the pillow or invisible touches like an internet connection that doesn't cost your guests a fortune to connect.

6. Check out what your successful competitors are doing. If you're friendly with them, then just ask. If you're not able to do this, search for them online and find out what they're doing that keeps attracting customers. Then do the same yourself, only do it better!