Hotel Business Review Archives

“People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy!” These wise words are the mantra of sales authority Jeffrey Gittomer and have far-reaching implications for the hotel and travel industry. The statement also illuminates the many reasons why personalization is such an essential tool for hotel marketing. By successfully and meaningfully cross-selling and upselling their guests at their online destinations, hotel marketers can dramatically improve guests’ experiences at their actual destinations. Everything you need to know is here in Maxymiser's 5 key Do's and Don’ts of personalization.

Your conversion ratio of looking for a room to booking that room with you will depend on how well you sell your guest that confidence. You need to be certain that your online presence will give today’s traveler the information they need to book with you. You have to know what that shopper will see as they will see it. Take off your hotel operator goggles and look at your online position and the competitions position from the consumer’s viewpoint.

Managing electronic channels effectively has never been so important. Do hotels need direct connects? The term “direct connect” implies that the demand touch point will have a direct electronic connection into a hotel’s inventory and rates, either through the central reservation system (CRS) or the property management system (PMS). However, given the volume and variety of demand touch points in today’s market, a strategy of exclusively direct connects is not only expensive, but also incredibly inefficient.

The internet has changed the way people around the globe research and book their holidays. There are more channels, more offers and more opportunities than ever before. Amidst all of this, how do you know where and how to connect with shoppers and get them to book your hotel? Hotel marketers can no longer ignore the reality that consumers are conducting extensive hotel research on multiple sites. Asking guests the age old marketing question, "Where did you hear about us?" doesn't give us the depth we need to know exactly how they came to book. It has become far more complex than that.

The hotel industry is continuing its recovery with strong growth in both global hotel revenue and bookings, according to data we're reporting in Pegasus Solution's monthly report, The Pegasus View. Driven by demand and assisted by rate growth, leisure hotel revenue jumped nearly +15% early this year over the same period in 2010. With growth in business and leisure bookings expected through mid-year, it's more important than ever for hotels to maintain control of their websites in terms of the look (design and branding), the feel (booking process) and availability (mobile and metasearch).

Online advertising, social media, email, mobile - there are so many online marketing activities for hoteliers to manage in order to keep pace with travel consumers. One thing that is catching on in the industry is visual merchandising. It's not something that you do in isolation; rather, it fits in with many of the marketing initiatives that you already have underway. But what exactly is involved? How does it help hotels connect better with online travel shoppers and ultimately convert them to guests? What are hotels doing?

In this schizophrenic booking environment, it's more important than ever to analyze your booking process to understand where your reservations are coming from, and where opportunities to generate more business exist. At HEDNA's Winter Conference, we not only agreed that the voice reservations channel was not dead, but also laughed that there may be an opportunity to sell rooms for mobile through iTunes since the payment mechanism already exists. Simultaneously, we're seeing reports of consumers fleeing the online booking process for the security of their travel agent, while monthly data from Pegasus shows revenue through the leisure channel setting records from growth over 2009.

Hoteliers will tell you that dealing with online travel agencies (OTAs) is a necessary cost of doing business. Yet, in recent history, they have been much more than that for hotels – in fact, for some hotels, particularly in 2009, OTAs were an essential marketing channel for staying alive. However, 2010 has been a different story, and 2011 will be an even more different story.

There are so many ways to engage a potential customer or a repeat customer. Any Web site must combine technology, content and creative in order to lead the consumer into the Booking Tunnel. It is how you apply the integration of these to support a guest experience focused on conversion at every phase in the consumer buying cycle. I would work on creating more of a vortex than a tunnel.

Many independent hotel managers are unhappy with the amount of business generated by their websites. This should come as no surprise, as increasingly sophisticated consumers are looking for easy ways to decide and book, but many times official websites have confusing displays and lack competitive pricing and special offers. The last article of the series on how to pursue a structured online strategy lists six simple tips to ensure best success for offers on your website. These tips coupled with creativity and discipline to manage rate parity will allow you to create an offer strategy that ensures e-commerce success for your official website.

The lodging industry is always evolving and many new concepts have emerged to meet new market demands. In the last ten years the model of the Condo Hotel has gained worldwide popularity, especially during the last real estate boom. Condo hotels are typically categorized as a property where condo ownership and traditional hotel amenities are combined. There is also the older, more traditional condo rental community, where an onsite or offsite rental company manages a large number of units and rents them for their owners. This article tries to pin point some of the challenges and the best practices related to the booking of rental units owned by a 3rd party online.

Many independent hotel managers are unhappy with the amount of business generated by their websites. This should come as no surprise as many of these websites have been designed as "online brochures" and lack the features to incent visitors to book. Creating a sales-focused website is not trivial: there are many important details that must be taken into account. Some high-end marketing agencies have focused on delivering custom solutions to four and five-star hotels; smaller, independent hotels have traditionally relied on freelance web designers and developers to keep costs under control. Now, a few vendors provide integrated solutions that enable a high-end web presence that is focused on maximizing the number of online bookings on a small hotel budget.

The overriding goal is a satisfying user experience. However, any hotel or hotel chain must first ensure that the booking engine not only reflects the proper image of the property but allows the property to manage their revenue management strategy as well. Then of course there is the issue of usability. If the engine is too confusing or dysfunctional no amount of wonderful images or descriptive text will help...

No one would dispute that OTA’s and Hotel Suppliers are irrevocably tied together, but over the years the love-hate relationship has gone through several evolutions, each of which has borne out a valuable lesson. Obviously the ultimate goal for a supplier would be to have every booking come through its .com. This hasn’t happened, and it most likely won’t ever happen. The primary reason? Today’s travel buyers like to shop and see what’s out there. With the economy as it is, more than ever, the ones that are making travel plans are taking every step necessary to shop for a rate that will allow them to stretch their dollar as far as they can. When there are fewer travelers, which is happening now, the tension escalates even more because the Online Travel Agency and the Hotel Supplier are fighting even harder for that dollar.

Smart hoteliers go above and beyond what's required to provide their guests with an exceptional, personalized experience that leaves travelers feeling welcome and important. Yet, hotel executives often miss the mark by not extending this best-in-class experience throughout all of their communications channels, including the booking process. By providing a cohesive, easy and pleasant encounter from start to finish, you can arm your guests with unforgettable memories that will build customer loyalty and word-of-mouth exposure that likely cannot be replicated by a marketing campaign.