Knutson to Speak Today During Online Webinar on Motivating Online Travel 'Shoppers'
Toronto, ON, June 3 , 2009. VFM Leonardo, the world's largest provider and distributor of online visual content for the hotel and travel industry has announced that Bonnie Knutson, a professor in The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University and highly regarded marketing expert will be a keynote speaker today in an online webinar on "How to Stand Out, Inspire and Motivate the Online Travel Shopper".
Ms. Knutson is a professor in The School of Hospitality Business in the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Widely known as an authority on emerging lifestyle trends and innovative marketing strategies, she often consults with business leaders who want to understand and take advantage of changing consumer demands. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and on PBS and CNN. She has also had numerous articles appear in industry, business, and academic publications.
The Webinar, to be held today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, is approximately one hour in duration and geared towards E-marketing Executives, General Managers and Directors of Sales & Marketing at Hotel Management Companies, Individually Branded or Un-aligned Hotels or anyone that wants to understand the value of differentiation and why it's so important for hotels.
For the travel shopper, what differentiates one hotel from another? This is the puzzle you must solve in order to match their needs, preference, and perceptions of value. As Henry Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester, says "To succeed, hoteliers need to fulfill the experience expected by customers, not just think of them as heads in a bed."
"I'm excited to be engaged in a Webinar that will help our industry find new and exciting ways to differentiate their hotels in order to establish a strong position in the minds of active travel shoppers." commented Knutson. "Hotels need to differentiate on something and learn how to identify their hotel's unique attributes. It is also essential to learn how to 'stake your claim' in an online marketplace that gets more crowded by the day." she added.
"As a member of HotelExecutive's editorial board, I have written much commentary over the past few years that touches upon the importance of understanding online marketing. Today's Webinar will focus on some of the most important aspects of online marketing through Web 2.0 and how to use that to your advantage." concluded Ms. Knutson.
The free Webinar is accessible by registering at:
http://www.bulldogsolutions.net/VFMLeonardo/VFM06042009/frmRegistration.aspx?bdls=19786
Joining Ms. Knutson will be Roger Young, Founder of Plan B Hospitality Consulting and who has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry working with Best Western, Holiday Inn, and Ramada hotels. John McAuliffe, Chief Marketing Officer at VFM Leonardo and 20 year marketing veteran will be the moderator of the event.
About VFM Leonardo
VFM Leonardo is the world's largest provider and distributor of online visual content for the hotel and travel industry. VFM Leonardo's content library includes more than one million digital photographs, videos and 360^0 virtual tours for over 80,000 hotels and resorts worldwide. Through VScape, VFM Leonardo distributes this content to its online media network of all four Global Distribution Systems, Pegasus, and 30,000 plus travel-related channels including online travel agencies, travel research and supplier web sites, search portals and major travel intermediaries. VFM Leonardo's online media network includes industry leaders such as Sabre, Galileo, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Yahoo! Travel, Kayak, Google and many more. For more information, visit http://www.vfmleonardo.com.
Media Contact:
Julie Vieth
Communications Specialist
VFM Leonardo Inc.
www.vfmleonardo.com
111 Peter Street, 5th Floor
Toronto, ON, M5V 2H1 Canada
Toll free: 1.877.593.6634
Phone: 416-263-5446
Fax: 416-593-7572
Email: [email protected]
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