The proliferation of online marketing has recently aggravated a problem quite typical of small and medium-sized tourist businesses: the lack of a properly designed and implemented marketing strategy. A significant share of hotels are especially prone to dealing with marketing in a fragmentary manner, resulting in the utilisation of their marketing budget in a rather ineffective way. The presentation will focus on the significance of strategic marketing planning and will describe a practical six-step guide about how a hotel can develop a strategic plan that will be helpful in maximising the efficient use of the available marketing budget and in achieving the hotel’s market objectives.