*HeBS Receives two 2008 Summit International Awards. Read more here.
*Hospitality eBusiness Strategies Receives "Official Honoree" Distinction for the 12th Annual Webby Awards in 2008 - the only award within the hotel category this year. Read the press release here.
Hoteliers often ask HeBS how they can monitor the Internet chatter surrounding their hotels and whether or not they should pay for services that offer this type of monitoring. What hotel review websites should you monitor? How often should you check for reviews about your hotel on these websites? Should you provide a rebuttal for reviews? These are just a few of the questions hoteliers ponder on this subject. This article offers a free, quick, and easily implemented action plan for monitoring reviews about your hotel.
The slowing economy is affecting the hospitality industry in a number of negative ways: commercial bank credit is extremely tight, energy and food prices are on the rise, leisure travel consumers are staying home, and companies are re-assessing their corporate travel budgets. Smith Travel Research reports that year-to-date (January-April 2008) occupancy rates in North America fell by 1.9%; in Europe by 0.7% and in Asia Pacific by 3.1%, compared to the same period a year ago. What should hoteliers do in an unstable and uncertain economic environment? What are the strategies that would help alleviate the adverse impact of negative growth in occupancy? What action plan should hoteliers follow at this time? What should hoteliers do to survive and succeed right now?
In the increasingly dynamic online travel industry, hoteliers are challenged with keeping up with changes while also keeping an eye on the fundamentals. What are hoteliers doing to reach their customers on the web? Why are they spending their budget on some Internet marketing practices over others? Where is the most business coming from on the Internet-the hotel's own website or third party intermediaries? In the recent Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices in Hospitality, HeBS set out to answer these questions and identify trends in online marketing in hospitality. For the second year in a row, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) in New York City presents the results of the 2008 Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices in Hospitality.
Web 2.0 continues to generate much attention in the online travel industry. Inquiring hoteliers want to understand the status and future of search engine marketing and other Internet marketing formats in this new Web 2.0 environment. Are search engines becoming obsolete? Are Web 2.0 sites going to replace the search engines as an advertising media? Will online travel consumers abandon Google as a travel planning and research tool and shift their attention to Web 2.0 sites such as TripAdvisor.com and social networks like YouTube.com? Must a hotel engage in such strategies?
Midway through 2007, hoteliers are already planning their marketing budgets for 2008. In the past few months, HeBS has been bombarded by hoteliers requesting information on some of our favorite topics, including the latest trends in Web 2.0, paid search marketing, eCRM, web analytics and ROI tracking, marketing strategies, technology acquisition, and other topics that influence online marketing budgets. We have collected and summarized these commentaries below. Refer to this article as you prepare your own marketing plan and budget for 2008.
The Internet has become the main distribution channel in hospitality—over 2/3 of all hotel bookings in the US will be directly influenced by the Internet this year. Understandably, Internet marketing has become a priority for many hoteliers who are shifting advertising dollars to the online world from traditional media and GDS advertising. This rush forward may have come at a cost to hoteliers who rely on professional marketers to sort out this dynamic and highly complicated landscape of Internet marketing. This article is not about avoiding snake oil salesmen and Internet hucksters – those should be self evident – it’s about asking the tough questions when evaluating Internet marketers who will be in charge of managing your most important revenue channel.
What will happen to traditional and online distribution channels in hospitality in the next few years? How will the direct web channel outpace competitors and third-party intermediaries? With online travel growing, how do hoteliers get their fair share? These questions reflect important trends in the marketplace. Consider how these trends will impact your hotel, resort, and brand. By understanding current Internet marketing trends in hospitality, including travel consumer expectations and perceptions, hoteliers can enhance their web presence, and utilize the Internet as the most cost effective and up-to-date sales and marketing channel.
The Internet has transformed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in hospitality. A large majority of your customers are planning and booking their hotel stay online. In fact more than two-thirds of them will do that this year: 1/3 of all bookings in hospitality in North America will be generated from the Internet (30% in 2006), and at least another 1/3 will be directly influenced by online travel planning. How do you nurture, grow and retain your customer base when the competition is just a click away? How do you prepare for the future in this very dynamic and transparent online environment? How do you beat the competition for the most lucrative customer segments? By building a comprehensive eCRM strategy and creating interactive mutually beneficial relationships with your customer, any hotel company can ensure its survival in this new environment.
Marketing is all about results. Unlike offline marketing, we can track and analyze ROIs from our online marketing campaign results quickly and accurately over the Internet. There is no medium that allows tracking like the Internet does, yet in hospitality, we didn't adopt these tracking technologies as soon as they were available. Instead we relied on cheap or free analytical tools to provide us with the information that management uses to make decisions. What metrics should hoteliers measure and pay attention to? What are the best practices in measuring ROI from the hotel's marketing efforts? Or ROI from the hotel website? What are the best analytical tools out there?
Over the past few years, hoteliers have been hard at work trying to grow their online marketing revenues. Using techniques like website design, search engine optimization, paid search marketing and email blasts, many have been very successful. However, with all of the new Internet marketing channels now available (ie. Consumer Generated Media, Meta Search) many hoteliers find themselves at a loss, with no clear structure on the best strategy to produce the highest returns. In a recent benchmark study, conducted in conjunction with NYU's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) set out to identify trends in online marketing techniques that have developed in the industry to help grow this distribution channel.
In 2007, over one-third of all hotel bookings will be generated from the Internet in North America. This dramatic channel shift has created unprecedented price transparency and price-driven marketing in hospitality, thus further commoditizing the hotel product. How are hoteliers handling the increased commoditization of the hotel product, especially in the current rate parity and best rate guarantee environment? How can hoteliers de-commoditize their product offerings and provide a unique value proposition to the hotel customer?
This year at least a third of all hotel bookings will be generated from the Internet (29% in 2006, 25% in 2005). Another third of all hotel bookings will be influenced by the Internet, but done offline (call center, walk-ins, group bookings, etc). By the end of 2010, over 45% of all hotel bookings will be completed online (Merrill Lynch). Are hoteliers taking full advantage of this dramatic channel shift? Has the shift increased commoditization of the hotel product? Is there such a thing as customer loyalty in this environment? How can the hotel increase its direct online market share? What are some Consumer Generated Media formats and initiatives to consider, develop and implement? Is there more hoteliers can do to compete and succeed? The 2007 Top Ten New Year's Internet Marketing Strategy Resolutions, presented by Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) for the seventh year in a row provides some of the answers and action steps.
Consumer generated media (CGM) — blogs, discussion boards, review sites, social network sites, etc., has remained a prevalent subject in hotel marketing discussions in the past year. How can hotel and travel marketers use this new medium to their advantage? Should CGM be considered an opportunity to promote the hotel product and be part of the marketing strategy, or is it a threat that needs to be contained? Can a CGM initiative help hoteliers differentiate their services and de-commoditize their product? The ideas discussed in this article could help hoteliers to benefit from the opportunities presented by CGM, and build CGM into the overall Internet marketing strategy.
As many hotels enter the 2007 budget planning season, this article aims to help hoteliers construct a competitive Internet marketing budget. The hotel's overall competitiveness today is determined to a great extent by how well it manages its Internet marketing and distribution efforts. It is not a question of how big the budget should be, but rather what to include and how much to allocate in the Internet marketing budget for a meaningful ROI and online revenue growth. This article takes a closer look at some important aspects of Internet marketing in hospitality and what marketing activities and line items comprise the 2007 online marketing budget. By Max Starkov and Jason Price.
Strategic Linking in hospitality and its important by-product, Link Popularity, are part of hotelier's toolkit for building a robust Web presence and taking advantage of the Direct Online Channel. Strategic Linking achieves two important goals: a) exposes your website to incremental traffic and highly qualified potential bookers, and b) builds your website's Link Popularity, a crucial criteria used by the search engines to determine how to rank the website in the search engine results.
Hotel websites are often designed by those who know nothing about the hospitality industry and without taking into account fundamental search engine marketing and online distribution principles. Hoteliers often try to resolve this problem by hiring Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vendors for a quick fix of the hotel website, believing this will boost search engine rankings and increase online revenues. However, these quick fixes are often construed as spam, and only a fully optimized website can produce the desired online revenues and position your hotel company ahead of the competition. SEO vendors do not address of two crucial criteria used by the search engines...
By Max Starkov and Jason Price, August 2006, HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing
A number of online booking engine vendors have launched different versions of a one-screen booking engine (as opposed to the traditional multi-step booking engine –see Marriott.com, Expedia.com, etc). The one screen booking engine is often presented as the latest cutting edge technology that immensely increases the conversion rates on a property website. Hoteliers are justifiably confused and often ask us to provide an opinion on this hot topic. Find out whether the one-screen vs. multi-step booking engine is the way to go.
By Max Starkov and Jason Price, June 2006, HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing
By Jason Price and Max Starkov. The ease and ubiquity of blogs and their application in hotel marketing deserves a closer look. Must we act on such bold statements as "blogs are the future" and "a blog is a marketing must"? Also, what are the implications for blogs in hospitality? Should creating a blog become part of your own hotel marketing mix? Does hospitality require a different blog strategy than in other verticals? Are there alternatives to blogs? Can a blog help you differentiate your services and de-commoditize your product? What role does a blog serve if at all and what are the pros and cons of developing a blog strategy? The ideas discussed in this article could help hoteliers conceptualize the creation of a blog strategy. HospitalityNet, March 2006.
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. Presented for a sixth year in a row, The Top Tenidentifies major trends and priorities, and provides action steps to helphoteliers stay ahead of the competition and capture new market share with aneffective Internet Distribution and Marketing Strategy. Smart and proactivehoteliers who utilize the Internet to their own advantage will define theindustry winners and losers in 2006 and over the long term. HospitalityNet, January 2006.
by Max Starkov and Jason Price. Online distribution has become the main distribution channelin hospitality. Search marketing is an essential component of the hotel direct onlinedistribution strategy and is one of the many aspects of a robust eMarketing strategy.
HospitalityNet, September 2005
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. Over the next 5 years the merchant model as we know it willdisappear. It will be transformed into a “Commission Override” convergence model.
HospitalityNet, March 2005
By Max Starkov. How can hoteliers establish mutually beneficial relationships with thecustomers to increase repeat business, boost revenues, and retain loyalty?
Hotels Magazine, October 2004, Page 59
By Jason Price and Max Starkov. Email marketing email marketing allows the hotelier to "ownthe customer" in this new online distribution and marketing environment.
Hotel Online, September 2004
By Max Starkov. The RUSH Report, a new strategic report on user satisfaction and websiteperformance in hospitality now available.
WiredHotelier, June 2004
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. Top Ten questions that will define the hospitalityindustry winners in 2004 and over the long term.
HospitalityNet, January 2004
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. Your online distribution strategy and especially itsdirect-to-consumer component will define the winners in these trying times.
Hotel Online Special Report, January 2003.
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. 69% of US leisure travelers prefer to buy onlinedirectly from a supplier while just 27% prefer to buy from intermediaries
(Forrester Research, HospitalityNet, April 2003
By Jason Price and Max Starkov. Travel suppliers in other travel sectors are wellahead of hoteliers in aggressively adopting online distribution.
HospitalityNet, March 2003
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. The Internet has changed the way business travel isbeing negotiated, managed and purchased.
HospitalityNet, February 2003
By Jason Price and Max Starkov. The shift toward online distribution requires hoteliersto develop a comprehensive email marketing strategy to establish interactive relationshipwith their customers.
HospitalityNet, June 2002
By Max Starkov and Jason Price. 69% of US leisure travelers prefer to buy online directlyfrom a supplier while just 27% prefer to buy from intermediaries (Forrester Research)
HospitalityNet, April 2003
By Max Starkov. Internet Revenue Booster™ consulting services launched to help hoteliersutilize the Internet to its fullest potential.
Wired Hotelier, January 2002
By Max Starkov. A commentary on the consolidation in the online corporate managedtravel space and the options facing Worldspan
First Conferences/Eye For Travel, August 2001
