Internet Merchandising Systems

Does Your Hotel Website Really Produce Sales? Can Revenue Management Make a Difference? - By Neil Salerno

I think it's time to slow-down, sit-down, and evaluate the impact of the Internet on hotel sales. For the past several years, hotels have been scrambling to have a meaningful presence on the Net, but few hoteliers appear satisfied with the results. For many hoteliers, it's been a challenge to measure sales results from their websites. Many have not been able to establish benchmarks to determine what success on the Net looks or feels like.

Exposure and Conversion

There are two primary purposes for developing a hotel website, exposure and conversion. Exposure, through search, is obviously most important. A website needs to be designed to follow search engine guidelines, if it can't be easily found, it's worthless. It may be attractive, but few people will ever see it.

Franchised hotels are beginning to understand that it is beneficial to have their own proprietary sites, only about 22% of hotel searches are done by brand name. For independent hotels, having a professionally website is absolutely essential.

Once a site is found, it must be designed to convert visitors into reservations. The design is critical because the site's navigation and text content must be designed to drive visitors to the hotel reservation booking engine. I don't buy the idea that most visitors view the information, pick up a phone and call-in their reservation. This may be true is some circumstances, but that should not be needed to justify having a website. Real-time online reservations are still the goal.

Recognizing Success on the Internet

One of the wonderful benefits of Internet marketing is the fact that success or failure is almost entirely measurable, but most hoteliers are not using the data available. The amount of data which is collected about your website is enormous. Unfortunately, it seems like many hoteliers have focused almost entirely on the number of site visitors, alone, to evaluate their site.

Measuring the number of site visitors, on its own, is a poor way to evaluate a website. The key is to get the 'right' visitors to your site, people actually looking for a hotel. Some, unknowing or unscrupulous web marketers can manipulate keywords to dramatically increase visitors, but the additional traffic doesn't usually lead to online reservations. A good web marketer works hard to drive 'relevant' traffic to a site and that takes talent.

Online search engines place a premium on the concept of relevant traffic. In the early years of the Internet, search engines created Meta search tags, which could be attached to each web page. These tags would be used to identify each page with words which most closely define that page. They soon found that there were many unscrupulous marketers who would simply add irrelevant and general key words to improve search results for their websites.

This created an enormous problem, search results were muddled and unreliable. Someone searching for hotels might find websites selling anything from car stereos to Viagra, simply because someone added the word 'hotel' to their site's search tag keywords. Several search engines fixed this by improving their search algorithms to search the entire web page for the use of those keywords within the body text. This made it more difficult to add irrelevant key words. In addition, search engines now review each website page for the relevancy of search words as compared to the site's title and description.

Visitors, Page Views, and Reservations

For most hoteliers, there are three main criteria to review, visitors, page views, and reservations. These are pretty much self-explanatory, but, if your web marketer isn't providing this information, get it. When using this data, create a month-by-month comparison, hopefully against last year or your monthly budget forecast.

1. Number of new visitors - This measures search engine optimization effectiveness.

2. Number of page views and average number of pages per view. This measures website optimization & site stickiness.

3. Number of reservations made. Thirty percent, or more, of your total room sales. This measures website sales structure.

Of course, there are pages and pages of additional site data, which your website marketer uses to make improvements to your site. Search engine optimization is a continual function to use data to shape and reshape your website based upon website analytics data.

Revenue Management Can Make a Huge Difference

Obviously, the goal of your site should be to produce online reservations. The factor which most website marketers can't control is the inventory and rates being offered on your booking engine.

The main purpose of your website is to drive visitors to your online booking engine. If your hotel is using revenue management to drive the profit line, these same principles should apply to your website rates and inventory. As it has been said many times, consumers buy value, not rates.

The rates on your website often define your product. Deep discounts are not necessary if your site facilities and amenities create value. Get smart about your website sales results.

Contact:
Neil Salerno, CHME, CHA
Hotel Marketing Coach
www.hotelmarketingcoach.com
NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com

Shanty Creek Resorts Increase Website Bookings, Boost ADR with Maestro Multi-Property, Multi-Module PMS with Integrated 'Web Connection' Real-Time Guest Self-Serve Tools

Three-property resort group streamlines all operations with Maestro PMS on a single database for exceptional service, faster booking and profitable up-sell; hotel staff productivity soars with Diamond Plus real-time Web Chat Help and On-Demand Training

At HITEC Visit NORTHWIND-Maestro PMS at Booth #240

Shanty Creek Resorts in Michigan, is a multi-property resort with everything for recreational and business travelers. Its three unique Village properties with more than 500 hotel rooms, suites and condo units, four championship golf courses, two ski mountains, five dining outlets, spa and executive conference center, create the ultimate four-season destination.

To make it possible for guests to research options and book rooms, packages, activities and amenities across three hotels online, the property partnered with NORTHWIND-Maestro PMS to implement a multi-property, multi-module hotel software technology platform fully integrated with the 'Web Connection' suite of online management controls, guest self-serve options, and marketing tools. NORTHWIND-Maestro's 'Web Connection' is the complete eBusiness suite of online profitability tools featuring the ResWave booking engine and new eMarketing tool to maximize revenue, enhance guest service and lower the cost-per-reservation booked directly on the hotel website.

Leslie Chinn, Shanty Creek Resorts' director of revenue management, said, 'Each of our three 'Village' properties is unique. Cedar River Village is our suite hotel with one- and two-bedroom condos; Schuss Village is our budget property, and Summit Village adjoining our Lakeview Hotel and Conference Center is our flagship. We streamlined property operations by implementing the Maestro Multi-Property Suite that supports all three separate operations on a single database for personalized guest service and faster reservation booking and valuable up-sell.'

Shanty Creek uses the Maestro PMS, Online Booking Engine, Sales & Catering, Condo and Timeshare Owner Management, Work Order Management and Spa and Activity Scheduling systems.

Direct Website bookings and ADR up with Maestro brand-customized booking engine

ResWave offers a guest-centric step-by-step booking process and seamless customization with hotel website look and feel for brand integrity. 'More guests are shopping and booking online and Maestro's integrated solution has helped us increase direct hotel website bookings by five percent and our ADR is up ten dollars thanks to Maestro's easy-to-use booking technology; it is a great leap forward,' said Chinn. 'Our website booking engine is integrated with our PMS so all online availability is accurate and rates are optimized automatically with our Maestro Yield Management system to ensure shoppers see the same rate at every booking touch point. We offer online packages for all three properties with Maestro and update 'Webrates' for last minute booking if we have unfilled demand. The online tools also enable us to book groups online.' Chinn noted that Maestro's booking engine enables guests to increase the value of their reservation by self-serving themselves and including up-sell items when they book stay online.

Staff More Productive with Maestro Diamond Plus Real-Time Web Chat help and On Demand Training

'Maestro's Diamond Plus Service online staff training teaches our agents how to be more productive, saving us time and money,' Chinn said. Real-time Web Chat Support and Live On-Demand Training are part of NORTHWIND's industry leading Diamond Plus Service. NORTHWIND-Maestro also provides live and recorded training webinars, professional Maestro productivity audits and 24/7 live support. 'Maestro's integrated PMS with online guest self-serve booking tools and Diamond Plus online training are valuable tools for our resorts, and they provide great service, too,' Chinn said.


You are invited to attend a HITEC Tutorial Session by Warren Dehan
'How to Meet Emerging Demand for Guest Self-Serve Tools Online'
Tuesday, June 23rd 1:30pm (Tutorial Room A)


For a live demo of Maestro PMS 'Web Connection' Suite featuring the ResWave Booking Engine, please contact the NORTHWIND-Maestro team at 1.888.667.8488 or email info@maestropms.com


Maestro Property Management Solution
Enhance guest service, improve efficiency and maximize online and offline revenue with Maestro PMS, the industry's most robust and flexible solution empowering leading full-service hotels, luxury resorts, multi-property groups, conference centers, condominiums and timeshare properties. Solutions include Front Office (PMS), Accounts Receivable, Analytics and Business Intelligence, Sales and Catering, Multi-Property Management, Condo & Timeshare Owner Management with Web Functionality, Spa and Activities, Web Booking Engine, Real-Time Yield Management, Dynamic Packaging Golf CRM, Guest Experience Measurement, CRO, GDS Two-Way XML Connectivity or Integration, Membership, Work Orders, Fine Dining and Retail POS, Online Table Reservations with Web Booking, Concierge and Guest Experience Measurement. The Maestro PMS is database independent (ODBC Compliant) and may be deployed via Windows, UNIX, Linux, Terminal Services, hosted and Web platforms.

About NORTHWIND - Maestro PMS
NORTHWIND is recognized in the hospitality industry for its 'standard setting' Diamond Plus Service and robust integrated Maestro technology. With over 30 years of experience dedicated to developing technology solutions for the hospitality industry, NORTHWIND is a partner who understands that you need a scalable and flexible PMS that works the way you do. Maestro applications are engineered for operators who need to manage their enterprise in a real-time environment for the utmost operational efficiency, productivity, control and profitability.

About Shanty Creek
Shanty Creek Resorts is a four-season resort encompassing over 7 square miles and offering 72 holes of championship golf, 2 downhill skiing slopes, snowboarding and tubing parks, 21 km of Nordic ski trails, and miles of maintained mountain bike and nature trails. Only 30 miles northeast of Traverse City, Shanty Creek offers three distinct village settings and lodging facilities, award-winning dining, live entertainment and a full-service conference and banquet centers. For information, visit www.ShantyCreek.com.

Contact:

NORTHWIND - Maestro PMS, North America
Ivana Johnston - Sales & Marketing
8300 Woodbine Avenue, 5th floor
Markham, ON L3R 9Y7
Canada
Phone: 905-940-1923
Toll Free: 1-888-667-8488
Email: info@maestropms.com
www.maestropms.com/HOL

NORTHWIND - Maestro PMS Ltd - EMEA, UK
David Warren - Director of Services & Sales
Phone: +44 (0)7877 005080
Email: david.warren(at)maestropms.com
www.maestropms.com/HOL

Shanty Creek Resorts
One Shanty Creek Road
Bellaire, MI 49615
Phone: (800) 678-4111
www.shantycreek.com
Email: bkeller@shantycreek.com


Media Contact:
Julie Keyser-Squires, APR
Softscribe Inc.
180 River Springs Drive NW
Atlanta, GA 30328
Phone: (404)256-5512
Email: Julie(at)softscribeinc(dot)com
http://www.softscribeinc.com
http://www.marketingsnacks.com

WRS Launches Mobile Web Page Service

Worldwide Revenue Solutions Offers Effective and Affordable Mobile Web Solutions

Worldwide Revenue Solutions (WRS), a hotel Internet marketing and search engine optimization company based in Dallas, Texas, is excited to announce its new Mobile Web Page service.

Responding to the surge in Internet users browsing from their mobile devices such as iPhones, BlackBerries and other smartphones, WRS is now developing mobile-specific, optimized Web sites for hotels, resorts and more at approachable rates.

According to a report by Gartner, Inc., the sale of smartphones, that is mobile phones with advanced Internet interactivity, made up 13.5 percent of all mobile device sales in Q1 2009, up from 11 percent in 2008, and totaled over 36 million units. Meanwhile, modern travelers, businesspeople and leisure consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on these devices for Web access due to sophisticated browsing functionality and ease of use.

The number of users willing to make both major and minor buying decisions over a mobile device is expanding, and the brand new Mobile Web Page service by WRS helps clients speak to this underserved market.

A standard optimized Web site attracts users with stylish graphics, flash animations, dynamic buttons and content-rich pages. This is ideal for desktop computers and laptops where the user has the luxury of a large display screen and multiple windows. However, images and animations load slowly on mobile devices, and the small screen can make navigating a standard Web site confusing and frustrating.

The WRS Mobile Web Page is a scaled, simplified version of a current Web site developed specifically for mobile Internet users. Once the Mobile Web Page is in place, proprietary WRS technology attached to the original Web site will detect when a visitor is using a mobile device and automatically display the Mobile Web Page. This way, the new mobile page benefits from the search engine rankings of the original site.

WRS Mobile Web Pages feature a streamlined design focused on the clear, concise content that mobile Internet users most desire. In the case of hotels and resorts, this includes property details, an optimized short description, room amenities, social media links and clear click-to-call and click-to-reserve buttons. Additionally, Mobile Web Pages by WRS are fully "trackable" through Google Analytics so hotel operators can easily assess the value of their Mobile Web Page.

With the number of mobile phone users projected to surpass four billion in 2010, WRS president Linda Ghaffari couldn't be more excited about this new offering:

"WRS was founded as a 'one stop shop' for hotel and resort owners looking to get the most out of the Internet, and state-of-the-art, fully-optimized Mobile Web Pages are the obvious next step. With a mobile-specific Web page by WRS, owners will enjoy unrivaled access to this vast and largely untapped market."

For more information about Mobile Internet Optimization services and the WRS Mobile Web Page, contact WRS at info@wrsol.com or the Web site at http://www.wrsol.com/

About Worldwide Revenue Solutions
WRS is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company in Dallas, Texas, founded by Aziz and Linda Ghaffari. WRS is a privately-owned hospitality Internet marketing company developed as an online marketing partner for hotels to optimize revenue from Internet and brand resources. WRS offers over 50 years of combined hospitality industry experience, dedicated to search engine optimization, social networking, search engine and tactical online marketing, content research and writing, web site design and development, as well as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) execution and Social Media management. For more information on WRS and its services, call 972-424- 2200, e-mail info@wrsol.com or visit our Web site at http://www.wrsol.com/

5 Creative Steps Hotels Are Taking To Beat The Recession - By Neil Salerno

The recession has stimulated many hoteliers to use some creative ways to drive sales. Their focal point is to create ways to capture sales in the most cost-effective means possible, with the quickest results possible. Let's face it, few hotels are flush with money right now.

I think we can all agree that a well-designed website is the most cost-effective hotel marketing tool, ever conceived. Hotels that don't take full advantage of this marketing tool are way behind the curve. Every hotel, motor Inn, lodge, bed 'n breakfast, resort, or Inn; franchised or independent, benefits from having a presence on the world-wide web; every lodging facility needs a functioning website, but that's only the first step.

Many hoteliers have learned to use their proprietary, individually-owned, websites as a promotional tool and not just an online brochure. Because of this, they will continue to out-pace and dominate their competition. Not just because they care enough to have a good functional site, but because they understand that the information on a hotel website needs to be continually managed, promoted, and enhanced to get the most out of it.

With the potential of having a few thousand monthly site visitors, smart hoteliers are using that opportunity to, not only display their hotel features, but also to give visitors reasons to stay in their market area and thus, their hotel.

You May Need To Change Your Website Paradigm

If you are not already a believer, you may have to change the way you view your hotel's website. Too many hoteliers consider mission accomplished when their site is published, but this should only be the beginning of your Internet marketing effort. A website that just sits there, without a consistently strong promotional effort, will continue to underperform.

The real winners in Internet marketing understand that a well-designed hotel site is only the palette on which to build their promotional efforts. You've done everything necessary to get visitors to visit your site, but what is your site's sales message? Why do travelers visit your hotel's location? Do you really think that all you need do is to tell visitors about your facilities, amenities, and service? Not in this competitive marketplace.

Years ago, a very wise general manager once told me that "everyone wants a deal" and that sure holds true today. The location of your hotel as compared to where visitors want or need to be is one's first value-based decision. Your website provides an opportunity to promote packages and "special offers" to people visiting your site.

Promote Reasons To Visit Your Destination

Travelers visit a destination and stay in a hotel; not the opposite. Connect your hotel to the reasons why people visit your area. Some hotels have found this formula and are benefitting in two ways; first, from increased traffic to their site through search and second, from increased online reservations by providing promotions and packages as a value-added solution.

There are some good examples of this on the Internet. One example, a major brand hotel in the Northwest, is among those leading the way. They have a search and content optimized website on which they are promoting room packages, banquets, weddings, and restaurant promotions.

Everyone, including the general manager, food and beverage director, sales, revenue manager, and even the property controller contributes ideas to optimize website sales content. They collaborate with their website developer on a regular and consistent basis to keep their hotel in a dominant position in their market.

Another example of hotel creativity is a small limited-service hotel in Belize. This hotel uses local attractions and social events to package their rooms and location into a powerful sales message.

Collaboration - Two Minds Are Better Than One

Create a collaborative relationship with your hotel website developer. Any website designer, worth his/her fee, should be eager to help you develop your website into a productive site which optimizes search, maximizes links, promotes packages, and generates reservations.

Just about any site designer can create an attractive website; the true measure of their work is how well they support your promotional efforts with timely updates and additions to your site. Collaborate with your site developer for ideas and to add some additional insight into what is happening in an ever-changing marketplace. A good site developer knows what people are searching for so you can take advantage of those searches.

Using Revenue Management Techniques To Keep Your Site Current

Be aware of what is going on in your marketplace. Any hotel which is using revenue management techniques knows that the key to managing rates and inventory is to know what's happening in your market, now and into the future Revenue managers routinely look for opportunities; your website is the perfect vehicle to reflect market changes in the form of packages and promotions.

Revenue management "best practices" includes the collection and analysis of market data and allows hotels to anticipate fluctuations in the market; your website should reflect these opportunities.

Take the "Mystery" Out of Internet Marketing

Consider the Internet as a living, breathing advertising medium, not too unlike that full page ad in the New York Times that you've always dreamed of affording. A prime difference is that, if your site is properly developed, your site will have a much bigger relevant audience with a much lower cost per capture. Internet marketing is much more than simply posting a website.

These are some of the simple, but essential, steps to maximize the results from your online promotional efforts..

Contact:
Neil Salerno, CHME, CHA
Hotel Marketing Coach
www.hotelmarketingcoach.com
NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com

The expanding role of user-generated hotel reviews - By Jonathan Barsky and Lenny Nash

The role of user-generated reviews is exploding. TripAdvisor(TM) attracts nearly 30 million monthly visitors and 88% of these visitors are influenced by content they read. Word-of-mouth adds a layer of credibility and is more effective than other more formal forms of promotion.

Why is this important? Because with an increasing number of user-generated reviews and people reading and acting on them, the impact of guest satisfaction and dissatisfaction is multiplied and has a quicker economic impact. It used to be said that an unhappy customer would tell 3 others about their poor experience; now they tell 3 million (with less effort). The guest experience has never mattered more.

Market Metrix research has demonstrated that beyond the additional revenue that repeat customers provide, their word-of-mouth communications translate into significant profits for the hotel. In one example the positive word-of-mouth from a happy customer was worth $1,559 in profit for an upscale hotel. This additional revenue highlights the growing value of customers both while they are on property, and after they check out.

Who reads hotel reviews?

According to the latest Market Metrix Hospitality Index(TM) results, one in five hotel customers read a review about a property before booking that hotel. Luxury guests (25%) and Timeshare guests (23%) were more likely to read a review before purchase, perhaps due to the variability among these properties. Casino guests were least likely (14%) to read reviews, which may be due to the high rate of repeat guests in this segment.


Guests who read a review prior to their stay were more satisfied with their experience (+2) and were more likely to recommend that hotel (+4) compared to guests who did not read a review. This is not surprising. Reviews often provide guests with clearer and more realistic expectations for their hotel experience. Younger leisure travelers and women are more likely to read reviews prior to hotel selection.

Among luxury hotels, more Le Meridian guests read reviews prior to their stay (32%) compared to guests of other luxury brands. Interestingly, Le Meridian also had the lowest rate of loyalty for the same period suggesting that reviews are helpful for new or uncommitted guests.

Did you write a 'customer review' based on your stay?

On average, 9% of all guests wrote reviews about their hotel stay. Although these persons reported twice as many problems, they were more satisfied (+4) with their stay and much more likely to recommend the hotel (+10%) compared to persons who did not post a review of their stay. This is consistent with TripAdvisor's claim that more than 80% of their user reviews are positive.

More Timeshare guests wrote about their hotel experience (15%) while guests of Midscale w/o F&B hotels were least likely to write reviews (7%). Among luxury hotels, more Waldorf Astoria guests wrote reviews about their stay (18%) compared to guests of other luxury brands (11%). Waldorf Astoria also scored highest in guest loyalty for the same period indicating a logical connection between happy guests and more (positive) reviews.

What should you do?

Hoteliers need to engage every guest on their experience before they speak to the world. Beyond providing great service, hotels need to listen better. And even more importantly, respond to guest feedback instantly.

Consider asking the guest about his experience even before he leaves the property. If, even after you have engaged a guest with negative feedback, he posts negative feedback on a site, respond appropriately either on the blog or site if its conventions permit. If responding on the site is not an option, respond politely to the guest directly and attempt to resolve his problem or provide an appropriate compensation or promise for future visit.

In service recovery, you shift the cost from constantly courting new customers to cutting customer defection. A company's effort to ensure that its customers are satisfied over the long term is rewarded by an increase in profit through repeat business, referral sales, decreased customer maintenance costs, and reduced exposure to price competition.

Jonathan Barsky and Lenny Nash are principles with Market Metrix LLC (www.MarketMetrix.com), a firm that provides multi-channel survey, analysis and service improvement tools and benchmarking data for the hospitality industry. For more information, call (800) 239-7515.

Tripware Allows Business Travelers to Book Directly in Microsoft Outlook!

Tripware, a novel travel service, launches Beta Version for full integration into Microsoft Outlook 2007 calendars. Tripware is for business travelers that plan, book, and manage their own business trips. Tripware focuses on automating the booking process as much as possible so business travelers have a great trip. The entire business trip is managed directly in Outlook 2007.

Tripware, a travel service for self-serve business travelers, has launched the Beta Version of its patent pending travel management software. The software, Tripware OutBook, is a plugin for Microsoft Outlook 2007. OutBook enables business travelers to handle all their business travel needs directly in Microsoft Outlook.

Tripware developed OutBook specifically for people who book, plan, and manage their own business travel. A few other companies have made attempts at full Microsoft Outlook integration; Tripware is the first one to release a functioning Beta Version. Tripware also offers a desktop application for non-Outlook 2007 users.

Tripware OutBook can be downloaded by visiting www.tripware.com. After downloading the OutBook plugin, a business traveler simply enters a meeting into their business calendar, types the city, address, or airport code of their meeting location, then clicks the Tripware Book Trip icon that is already embedded in the appointment window.

Tripware OutBook fetches the user's travel preferences and opens up a booking window inside of Microsoft Outlook. Currently, Tripware allows travelers to customize over 50 preferences, including airlines, hotels, car rental companies, scheduling, and more. For example, if a traveler never wants to fly on Airline XYZ, he would 'blacklist' that airline and it would never show up in the traveler's booking process.

Tripware's products offer more than just booking. The products also offer loyalty program tie-ins, expense report management, and complete itinerary access without ever opening an email or a website.

For those business travelers that want a new and unique way to book and manage their business trips, Tripware OutBook's full integration with Microsoft Outlook 2007 just may deliver on the products tagline: 'Have a Great Trip'.

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release, contact Dean Wright or visit www.tripware.com. Tripware is a trademark of Remotian Systems, Inc. Microsoft (R) and Microsoft Outlook (R) are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

About Tripware
Tripware is a travel service for people who plan, book, and manage their own business trips. The novel aspect of Tripware is that the entire trip process can be done right from Microsoft Outlook. Tripware focuses on automating business travel as much as possible. Tripware also offers a desktop application for use outside business calendars. Tripware has value-added features such as complete itineraries, notifications/alerts, frequent flyer/stay/rental membership tracking, & expense reporting. Founded in 2007, Tripware is headquartered in Mesa, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. Tripware is owned by Remotian Systems, Inc.

Contact:
Dean Wright
Tripware by Remotian Systems, Inc.
602-357-1178 x1006
deanwright@tripware.com

Let's Be Honest, Does Your Hotel's Website Suck? How & Why People Choose Hotels Online - By Neil Salerno

Imagine having the ability to change and update the content of your hotel's website on your own, change text, add information, that would be great. At the onset, it sounds terrific. No more waiting for your site developer to make the changes and additions you requested.

There's only one way to know whether or not your website is doing its job and, that is, to check the number of reservations it's generating. If you have an independent hotel, this is an easy task; your booking engine's analytics should tell you. If it's franchised, it's a little harder because most brands don't want you to know how much your proprietary site is contributing to bookings. Many don't want you to have a proprietary site at all.

Unfortunately, many franchises still discourage the use of proprietary websites and/or measuring your own site's production. It's a matter of self-preservation; they're afraid you won't need them, I guess. A big hooray for enlightened brands like Hilton and Preferred Hotels, which support the use of proprietary sites for their hotels. It makes common sense; proprietary sites can do what franchise sites cannot. Only a little more than 20% of searches are performed by brand name, anyway.

Is Your Website Producing Business? (Do you know?)

More and more hoteliers are turning to the Internet to sell their hotel rooms, food, beverages, and other facilities. But, the question is just how effective is that website to attract visitors and book business? It is amazing how many hoteliers have no idea whether or not their site is actually producing business and appear satisfied with only knowing how many visitors the site gets.

Would you hire a sales person and not measure how much business he or she books? Would you be satisfied just knowing how many people they talk to? I doubt it.

More than just the way they look, too many hotel sites are not designed to be found through generic search nor are they designed to drive reservations. In the last few years, many website designers have gravitated towards building websites for hotels. Unfortunately, many of them have no hands-on experience with hotels to understand how and why people choose a hotel online. It's also sad that many of them don't know how search engines work either.

Destination-focused Websites

In several past articles, I referred to some hotel sites as nothing more than online brochures. A hotel online brochure is a site, which only covers information about the hotel itself; that makes it dead-in-the-water from a search standpoint. Someone who designs such a site, doesn't understand how travelers use the Internet to find and book rooms.

Few people choose a hotel before choosing a destination. The fact is that most travelers first select a destination, attraction, or activity, then select a hotel within the scope of that destination. Hotel online brochures mention little, if any, information about the destination features nearby. Yet, this is the most important search findability information on your site. Selecting a hotel is most often the "second" decision made by travelers.

A Matter of Value

The location, not the address, of a hotel plays a very important role in the process of determining value. Most travelers do not choose a hotel by facilities and rates alone, it's value that counts. How convenient the hotel's location is, as compared to where they need or want to be, is their primary value decision.

It's Also a Matter of Search Findability

Just designing a website that looks great is a small part of a site designer's responsibility; almost any site designer can make an attractive site. You've read a lot about a site's search ability or findability; to me, the most important part of any site. Many site designers appear to have been enlightened about the use of title and description meta tags; important search elements, but we still see a lack of understanding about keyword search tags.

Many search engines, like Google, search for keywords within the body text of each web page. This is why keywords are useless unless they have been incorporated within the site's content. Remember, content is king. Researching and using popular keywords is essential to generic search. Generic search incorporates location attributes; trip types, such as meetings, weddings, etc; and popular attractions or activities.

Getting on page one of generic searches is an achievable goal for all hotels; the ultimate goal is to be within the first three generic search results. Pay-per-click advertising is a great tool for sponsored search results, but is too costly if generic search is ignored.

Competition has never been keener than it is today and the vast majority of travelers are using the Internet to decide where to go and where to stay. There is markedly less incidental travel since the recession started; making productive hotel websites more important than ever before.

Promoting your hotel through the Internet does not end with the publication of your website on the web, it only begins at that time. There are many hoteliers that are successfully marketing their hotels online through packaging, special promotions, holiday activities, and guest comments. Are you?

Contact:
Neil Salerno, CHME, CHA
Hotel Marketing Coach
www.hotelmarketingcoach.com
NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com

Business Goes On - Hotel Sales Tips for an Uncertain Market - By Leora Lanz

In a tough market, every room night counts. While this downturn may seem more painful than in the past, business goes on and you need to be out there. Here are several ideas to keep your sales efforts strong.

In a tough market, every room night counts.

These days, as we struggle with how to best market our hotels, do we continue to create promotions and spend money on advertising when customers simply aren't traveling? Do we advertise the way we normally would? Or do we lay low, ride out the storm and spend when things pick up?

We saw negative cycles during the Gulf War and after 9/11, when those hotels that were active in sales were the first to feel the positive impact of the upturn. Maybe they cut their advertising spend or specific areas of marketing budgets, but sales and promotional efforts remained active as they introduced new opportunities for clients.

While this downturn may seem more painful, business goes on and you need to be out there. Here are several ideas to keep your sales efforts strong:

DIRECT SALES & THE PERSONAL TOUCH:
Start calling customers to thank them for their stay and to see if there's anything you can do to enhance their next visit.

Hotels can learn a great lesson in customer service from other industries, which make courtesy calls and practice personal outreach. "We noticed you returned something in September and just wanted to make sure you were happy and had the items you wanted. And...remember all our replacements for returns get free shipping, so when you want to reorder, just let us know and we'll waive the shipping." Your customers will certainly spread positive word of mouth about you when you make an effort like that.

Build personal relationships with your customers. Stop emailing and pick up the phone to have an actual conversation with clients. Talk about what worked or didn't in the past and how you can gear up for next year. They'll appreciate the unexpected personal outreach.

Now is the time for operating departments to put their sales hats on. Every manager in your hotel should contribute to the sales effort. Coach them on how to ask vendors where their company's managers stay when in town. Where do they hold meetings and holiday parties? Offer incentives for each piece of business that operations managers generate.

INCREASE PUBLIC RELATIONS EFFORTS:
The hotel business will always be a people business that relies heavily on personal relationships. With members of the media being bombarded with pitches from all sides, you may think that setting up face-to-face media visits is a public relations tool that has passed its time. But press visits are still a valuable tactic that can set the stage for building relationships and garnering significant coverage.

Consider inviting travel writers to stay overnight and experience (or re-experience) your product first-hand - and reap the benefits of the resulting publicity. The Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis organized a press trip when it opened under a new flag and with an extensive renovation. Ultimately, the effort resulted in substantial editorial coverage in the hotel's feeder market cities. Hotel owners worked closely with the local CVB to organize activities for the media guests and the city reaped the benefits of press coverage as well.

Various convention and tourist offices also organize press efforts each year - either with visits to media in different geographic markets, or targeting specific niche media. Partnering with them is always a good idea.

CREATE PACKAGES THAT HIGHLIGHT YOUR AMENITIES:
As travel patterns change, sales, marketing and public relations hotel activities need to be modified to appeal to travelers' specific needs. The media is not only interested in covering seasonal promotions that offer considerable savings, but packages that tie into a particular lifestyle or trend.

For example, consider the popularity of traveling with pets. Various hotel brands have rolled out doggy welcome mats with creative amenities and packages. Components run the gamut from pet welcome amenity bags and special dog-friendly guestrooms, to pet entrees available from room service and other creature comforts.

DEVELOP PROMOTIONS TO REWARD YOUR GUESTS:
Create promotions and packages with value-adds worthy of a press release to post to your website and distribute with a wire service. It may even garner more results than a print ad.

The Ramada Mall of America in Minneapolis and the Holiday Inn Express in Boynton Beach are each offering an "in-state resident rate" to encourage locals to visit on the weekends. In addition, the new Hotel Indigo Chicago-Vernon Hills, a suburban property, has positioned its indoor pool as a weekend escape for the local market. The hotel has also used local radio to get its name out there, create a "local resident rate" and encourage locals to visit.

The new High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid helps air travelers by picking up their baggage fees to encourage them to stay at their hotel and not worry about the number of bags they travel with.

BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR WEBSITE AND ONLINE MARKETING:
Social blogs enable hotels to communicate to clients more frequently, obtain higher rankings, spend less money and have a higher ROI.

Use social media to increase your website foot print. Create your own blog with newsworthy items posted on websites which link back to your hotel. If guests link back to your hotel, they can learn about packages and take advantage of special rates offered. This will also enable the hotel to increase its database, which can, in turn, be used for email marketing campaigns.

If your hotel is located in a destination which may have experienced a hurricane, tropical storm, or other act of nature, use this medium to communicate updates on your hotel so guests understand that the hotel is in good shape, or in the midst of clean up, etc.

CONDUCT SALES CALLS TO BUSINESSES IN YOUR OWN COMMUNITY:
Reach out to your local community to book wedding, family reunion and church meeting business.

A limited service hotel in the South East U.S. recently sent its General Manager, Director of Sales and Executive Team to visit more than 200 retail stores, real estate and professional offices within a 3-day period. Every store or office manager that the hotel team met with received a basket of cookies and flyers promoting various rates and packages. They were also invited to attend a poolside cocktail party at the hotel the following week. Nearly 40 people attended the party and one guest immediately booked a wedding room block for an off peak month!

KEEP YOUR SALES TEAM MOTIVATED:
Motivating the sales team is important, particularly during a tough market when sales managers tend to receive more rejections than signed contracts from clients who have cut back on meetings and business travel.

A franchised hotel in the Midwest recently instituted this incentive: The individual sales call quota for each month is 100 telemarketing calls. The Director of Sales challenged the team to increase their telemarketing calls by 25%. Each person who met or exceeded the goal would be awarded a 4th day off during the Memorial Day weekend. Everyone exceeded the goal, booked additional business and enjoyed an even longer holiday weekend!

Whether your hotel is located in a major metropolitan area or smaller suburban locale, is a resort or airport property, and whether you enjoy the benefits of cooperative marketing from your franchise or flag (and particularly if you are an independent hotel), be sure to use your creative selling thinking cap to stay vocal during this down cycle.

You'll be right up there at top of mind when the cycle turns. Let HVS Sales & Marketing Services assist you during these challenging times to prepare you for the up cycle.

With contributions from Eydie Shapiro, Barbara Fischhof and Eve Harris

Microsoft Bing Goes Live

Farecast to become part of Microsoft's Bing Travel
Farecast, the Seattle-based travel price prediction service, becomes part of Microsoft's Bing Travel Wednesday when the company launches its new Bing.com search engine incorporating content previously found on Farecast.live.com and MSN travel.

Microsoft designed Bing as a general search engine to compete with Google and Yahoo, but for some types of queries, including travel, it's positioning Bing as a destination site for booking flights, hotels, etc., and publishing travel content including blogs and traveler forums.

Farecast predictions on how likely airline prices are to rise or fall are incorporated into searches for the lowest fares.

Have You Answered the Call for Mobile?

E-site Marketing and SynXis Mobile Solutions Offer a Simple Approach

Measuring the effectiveness of online marketing activities was the number one concern expressed by hoteliers at a series of summits hosted recently by SynXis, the Sabre Holdings business that provides complete hotel distribution and Internet marketing services globally.

More than 250 of SynXis' customers attended five global revenue and distribution summits around the world to share ideas and best practices for staying competitive in a difficult economic environment. Summits were held in Washington DC, Denver, London and Hong Kong, with a special session for gaming properties in Las Vegas, with each discussing regional trends.

SynXis customers including chains, independent hotels, casinos and value-added resellers gathered to listen to SynXis experts speak on the topics of: revenue management, pricing strategy, GDS marketing and Internet marketing, including strategies for leveraging social media as a distribution channel. Throughout the summits customers were polled on a variety of topics and the presentations were adjusted to address the specific outcomes. Several notable trends emerged:

- Where there once was a clear delineation between revenue management and marketing responsibilities, it appears a convergence is taking place with two-thirds of the attendees responding that they oversee and/or influence both revenue management and marketing activities.

- In every region, one of the top three biggest areas of concern was measuring the effectiveness of online marketing activities; yet less than a quarter of the attendees use web analytics or reporting as an integral part of their daily business.

- Other top areas of concern for the attendees included: competitive actions, business mix and shorter booking windows. These concerns were consistent throughout all regions.

- More than half of the attendees have experimented with social media for their hotels as they search in this environment for a form of differentiation, increased customer loyalty, and incremental bookings.

Based on these survey results, each regional event was customized for that audience's need, with the end goal being a focus on what each participant can do to immediately generate incremental revenue for their property.

'We found the day enormously beneficial - a day very well executed. The talks were relevant, topical and informative,' commented Duncan Bramwell, managing director for Distribution and Revenue Management Specialists. 'Certainly with this sort of initiative SynXis is demonstrating how it can sell more than just a technology solution; a powerful point of differentiation and advantage.'

"The traditional marketing role has evolved and is today, more fiscally accountable than ever before,' said Bruce Hyatt, vice president, marketing and strategy for SynXis. 'Marketing initiatives need to return a good level of investment and there is a lot of pressure to find new ways and new technology to make and save money for the company. An integrated marketing and distribution strategy is paramount in achieving this success; and SynXis has invested significantly in capabilities that enable us to be not just a technology provider but a true marketing partner to our hotel customers."

About SynXis(R)
SynXis, a Sabre Holdings company, provides complete distribution and Internet marketing services and technology for hotels around the world. SynXis connects hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, third party travel sites and the hotel's own website. SynXis operates full-service global call centers offering private label reservation services. SynXis is the technology source for thousands of hotels, resorts, and destinations, including: Harrah's, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, The Peninsula Hotels & Resorts, Millennium Copthorne, Destination Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts and Jumeirah Hotels.

SynXis' corporate headquarters is in Southlake, Texas, with offices in Bethesda, Maryland, Amsterdam, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. More information is available at www.synxis.com.

Sabre Holdings connects people with the world's greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information is available at www.sabre-holdings.com.With so much being written recently about mobile technology it is not difficult to hear the 'call for mobile.' What might be more difficult is determining exactly how and when to answer. With marketing budgets already in place, and in many cases slashed for 2009, if a mobile presence was not already in the plan, will you have to wait until next year? Like an online booking engine and Website before it, you don't want to be the last hotel on the block to 'go mobile.' Projections from the International Telecommunications Union estimated over 4 billion mobile subscribers at the end of 2008 representing over 61percent of the world's population.

E-site Marketing, a Sabre Holdings company and the Internet marketing arm of SynXis, has introduced its Mobile Website solution that gives hotel properties and chains a simple and affordable way to capture the growing number of consumers using mobile devices. E-site Marketing developed the platform to work in conjunction with the Internet marketing solutions and tools already available through SynXis. A recent PhocusWright study (PhocusWright's 2009 Mobile the Next Platform for Travel) found that when frequent business travelers browse the Web on their mobile devices, 77 percent use it to find local attractions and services and 69 percent use it for maps and navigation services.

'Our customers have been asking us what direction they should take when it comes to a mobile solution for their property,' said Robert Dawson, chief technology officer for E-site Marketing. 'With the vast majority of mobile users still just interacting with maps and phone numbers that functionality seemed like the most logical place to start. Our turnkey solution features one-click on address and phone number that invokes directions map and automatic dialing. We will soon be rolling out our mobile booking engine to help properties take their mobile solutions to the transactional level.'

The SynXis Mobile Website Platform enables hotel Websites to be rendered on all major smart phones and cell phones. The proprietary software automatically detects and redirects visitors that are using a mobile device to hotelier's customized mobile Website. And unlike other freeware available, SynXis' Mobile Website works in conjunction with the hotel's URL which means it can take advantage of existing search engine rankings and linkage partnerships from the mobile device. The proprietary Content Management Tool allows for easy and direct access for hotel staff to update their own mobile website content just like they would the traditional Website. SynXis mobile solutions also include a booking engine, soon to be released, which enables mobile users to check availability and book a reservation using their mobile devices. As an extension of any Internet Marketing program, SynXis can customize a mobile marketing program that includes pay-per-click advertising, local search and opt-in SMS marketing. More customized mobile solutions are also available for the iPhone.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is using the mobile Website platform for many of its hotel websites (eg: http://mobile.rosewoodsandhill.com/) and Corporate Director of Marketing Christine Jackson comments, 'We recognized that our target audience is the exact demographic that is using smart phones to do everything from 'Facebooking' to researching travel, both business and leisure. The new mobile Website solution ensures we don't miss out on these very valuable travelers and provides us an invaluable guest services contact point for guests en-route to our properties."

About SynXis and E-site Marketing
As an integral part of Sabre Holdings' hospitality businesses, SynXis and E-site Marketing provide innovative technology and services in the areas of distribution and Internet marketing, with solutions focused on helping hotels generate revenue and effectively merchandize their properties in all distribution channels. SynXis and E-site Marketing have corporate headquarters in Southlake, Texas and Bethesda, Maryland with offices in Amsterdam, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. More information is available at www.synxis.com and www.esitemarketing.com.