Mr. Boni

Website / Online Mechandising / SEO

Online Merchandising: The Secret to Selling More Hotel Rooms Online

By Paolo Boni, President & Chief Executive Officer, VFM Leonardo, Inc.

Don’t let the title of this article mislead you - what hoteliers need to do to sell hotel rooms online is no secret. It’s all about better merchandising with content that inspires and motivates shoppers to book. More than just rates, inventory and driving traffic to a booking engine, selling hotel rooms online involves making engaging, detailed visual and written content available to travel shoppers on all the digital channels they use throughout the shopping journey.

Online channels are where hoteliers need to focus their efforts

More than 1 billion people use the internet every day and 91% of US online buyers state that researching online makes them feel more confident about their purchases.(1) The internet offers the simplest way for consumers to find and compare hotels. It also produces the best marketing return-on-investment. It’s time for hoteliers who aren’t exploiting online channels to make that commitment.

Visual merchandising needs to be added to every hotelier’s online strategy

In addition to online marketing and merchandising activities by chains, brands, representation companies, etc., individual hotel properties and management companies need to add one more thing to their list of online strategies: visual merchandising. A successful online strategy should be focused on both driving traffic to websites, but also converting it when they arrive. SEO, PPC and many Social Media activities are primarily focused on driving traffic and creating awareness online, while visual merchandising is what helps convert traffic and close the sale.

As the travel industry recovers, the hotels that will lead the way are the ones that embrace online merchandising now

A webinar we conducted in November 2009, Outlooks for Merchandising Success in 2010, with Henry H. Harteveldt from Forrester Research, revealed some key points that are worth considering.

• 2010 is expected to be “less bad” and more digitally-focused than 2009
  
• US online leisure hotel bookings are currently forecast to increase 7% from 2009 to 2010 (2)
  
• Content has to work harder to connect with a more hesitant consumer and resonate emotionally as well as rationally

All of these learnings lead us to one conclusion about what hoteliers need to do to succeed in 2010: Focus on maximizing conversions. How can you do this? By having relevant content available on digital channels to convince travel shoppers of the value your hotel offers.

How do travel shoppers know how great your hotel is when they’re looking at your online listings?

Simply having a great hotel doesn’t guarantee that travel shoppers will book with you. They make their judgments based on what they see (or don’t see) and read about your hotel online. If your online listings appear drab, undifferentiated and don’t articulate why your hotel is so great, you could be losing business. One way to remedy this is by using content to tell a story that highlights why your hotel is great and how it will makes their stay successful.

The days of getting bookings by displaying a few still photos and standardized text are gone

Travel shoppers need to feel like they are getting to experience your hotel when researching online. High-quality, large high-definition images, zoom, virtual tours with 360 degree spin and videos emulate the experience of actually being in the hotel. Providing visually-rich experiences and the opportunity to examine details more closely online, helps communicate value and increase confidence in hesitant and wary consumers.

Before making a hotel decision, consumers need to be able explore the property and delve into more detail (textual and visual), more closely.(3) This means that in order to encourage travel shoppers to book and feel confident in their decisions, hoteliers need to focus on providing relevant and complete visual information. This includes multiple views and 360 degree virtual tours of the rooms and amenities, zooms on specific details and full-screen viewing options in high-resolution. By delivering the optimal visual experience, hotels can differentiate themselves and increase conversions.

All hotels operate in a competitive environment; smart hoteliers take advantage of that

Travel shoppers will look at your hotel and compare it against your competition, so you need to know who you’re up against in order to increase sales from your online efforts. Evaluating your hotel against your online competition will reveal ways to improve your position in the marketplace. Start by focusing on the one or two hotels that are your primary competitors and ask yourself:

• Why are we competing with them?
  
• What content do they have available to travel shoppers?
  
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?

**“Video has helped justify the value of expensive products by explaining the unique features and benefits.” (4)

When a travel shopper clicks through to your hotel details on a third-party travel website or visits your own website, what content absolutely needs to be there to grab their attention and convert them?

• Essential facts and information about your hotel and surrounding area
  
• Content that communicates what differentiates your hotel from others in your market
  
• Relevant content for different segments and personas

In terms of impact on booking decisions, video trumps written reviews and photos posted by guests online. A study by Forrester Research revealed that for 56% of travelers, hotel videos have a positive impact on booking decisions, for 45% traveler-written reviews on third-party sites have a positive impact on booking decisions and for 44% pictures taken by travelers posted online have a positive impact on booking decisions.(5) The ultimate experience includes a combination of rich, professional content and guest-produced reviews and visuals.

There are different types of videos, all of which are influential on different segments of shoppers and at different stages of the travel shopping process.

• Professionally-shot videos that promote your hotel and the surrounding area. Attempting to shoot promotional videos yourself and placing them out of context risks making your hotel appear low-budget. The [Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia City Center] has a great collection and variety of media available on online travel agencies as well as video sharing sites. If you do a video search on Google for the Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia you will find their professionally-shot promotional video on a number of video channels.
  
• Hotel produced video clips about special promotions, events taking place at your hotel, nearby dining and shopping, or interviews with guests produced using a digital camera, video camera or flip camera.
  
• Guest produced videos and photos are inevitably going to be posted online. But, not all guest videos are created for the purpose of a review or will be detrimental to your hotel’s image. When there is a plethora of other content (professional or hotel-produced) available online, travel shoppers may be less likely to make their decision based on guest produced content alone. Search engines index videos and photos, so it’s easy for you to monitor the content that guests post online. Their videos and photos can provide you with good insights into the guest experience at your hotel and you can manage your reputation appropriately.
  
• Virtual tours allow guests to explore your hotel’s features and amenities from different angles and views. Having zoom and full-screen high-definition images allow consumers to fully explore the details and features your hotel offers.

Rich media (simply put, any content that moves) is more influential on hotel booking decisions than still images

That said, having high-resolution digital photos of your hotel available online on your own website, your blog, photo and video sharing sites, social media sites and of course, online travel agencies and review sites along with richer forms of media and written descriptions is still necessary.

Think of OTAs as marketing vehicles versus reservation engines

By not having content, let alone listings on OTAs, hoteliers are preventing themselves from selling more hotel rooms at higher rates through other channels, including their own. A study conducted by Cornell University in partnership with Expedia and JHM Hotels in fall 2009 found that while listed on Expedia, hotels received a 7.5 – 26% lift in bookings on other channels (call center, brand.com, other sites) and were able to attain higher rates (approx. 2-3%) on those channels.(6) Learn more about it on VTV Channel. This is why ensuring that your hotel is well-merchandised on all digital channels and marketing vehicles is an effective way to sell hotel rooms online.

By distributing visual content to thousands of sites and linking to it from your social media accounts, hotels can not only improve their positions in search results and drive more traffic but also increase the likelihood of converting that traffic and increasing reservations. What hoteliers need to do to sell hotel rooms online is focus on better merchandising online by making engaging, detailed visual and written content available to travel shoppers on all the digital channels they use during the shopping journey.

References:

(1) eMarketer, The Future of Online Retail Doesn’t Look…Too Bad, June 24, 2009
(2) Forrester Research, Hotels Will Rely on the Web to Survive 2010, November 3, 2009.
(3) Adobe Scene7 Viewer Study, What Shoppers Want, January 2010.
(4) Adobe Scene7, Video: How It’s Changing Online Shopping, September 2009.
(5) Forrester Research, Q4 US Travel Online Survey, 2009.
(6) Cornell University, The Billboard Effect: Online Travel Agent Impact on Non-OTA Reservation Volume, October 2009.

Paolo Boni has lead VFM Leonardo’s vision and strategic direction since 2001. Under his leadership, the company has expanded globally and now has over 80,000 hotels, over 30,000 travel related website partners worldwide and the largest online visual content distribution network for the travel industry. As a recognized travel industry expert, Mr. Boni frequently speaks at major travel conferences on subjects relating to online travel marketing, online hotel merchandising and rich media. He holds an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School and a B.A. Economics from McGill University. Mr. Boni can be contacted at 1-877-593-6634 or press@vfmleonardo.com Extended Bio...

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