Hotel Marketing

I can't stress strongly enough the need to do your arithmetic before using Groupon.

For those of you who believe the damn silly Groupon marketing proposition and are about to believe everything their sales people tell you, set up your kamikaze discount and join the race to the bottom - here's a cautionary few words from the Economist this week...

"In a move that is likely to delay its long-awaited initial public offering yet again, Groupon, an online-coupon website, cut its sales figures by more than half, from $1.52 billion in the first half of 2011 to $688m. The firm cited an "error in presentation" in previous filings as the reason for the change in the latest submission. It had wrongly taken its sales to include the amount it has to pay to merchants when its coupons are redeemed."

It would seem that Groupon can't count either.

Is this a case of the blind leading the blind? Or is the whole idea really an "error in presentation"?

Posted by HotelBlogger

I can't stress strongly enough the need to do your arithmetic before using Groupon.

For those of you who believe the damn silly Groupon marketing proposition and are about to believe everything their sales people tell you, set up your kamikaze discount and join the race to the bottom - here's a cautionary few words from the Economist this week...

"In a move that is likely to delay its long-awaited initial public offering yet again, Groupon, an online-coupon website, cut its sales figures by more than half, from $1.52 billion in the first half of 2011 to $688m. The firm cited an "error in presentation" in previous filings as the reason for the change in the latest submission. It had wrongly taken its sales to include the amount it has to pay to merchants when its coupons are redeemed."

It would seem that Groupon can't count either.

Is this a case of the blind leading the blind? Or is the whole idea really an "error in presentation"?

Posted by HotelBlogger

I can't stress strongly enough the need to do your arithmetic before using Groupon.

For those of you who believe the damn silly Groupon marketing proposition and are about to believe everything their sales people tell you, set up your kamikaze discount and join the race to the bottom - here's a cautionary few words from the Economist this week...

"In a move that is likely to delay its long-awaited initial public offering yet again, Groupon, an online-coupon website, cut its sales figures by more than half, from $1.52 billion in the first half of 2011 to $688m. The firm cited an "error in presentation" in previous filings as the reason for the change in the latest submission. It had wrongly taken its sales to include the amount it has to pay to merchants when its coupons are redeemed."

It would seem that Groupon can't count either.

Is this a case of the blind leading the blind? Or is the whole idea really an "error in presentation"?

Posted by HotelBlogger

The CAP code is in place to protect us all from the influence of naughty marketers.

Naughty marketers aren't always deliberately naughty. Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes they are just plain ignorant.

For an example of ignorance, see what happened when someone raised a complaint about a recent De Vere Hotels email campaign.

The campaign obviously assumes that the target market is stupid and that people won't check and research prices and offers. That's a mistake.

Failing to ensure the point of differentiation really existed in and between the offers. That's a mistake.

However when CAP raised the matter with De Vere they received no response. That is not only against the CAP Code, it is also just plain ignorant in my opinion.

As marketers we all make mistakes. The biggest one you can make is to ignore the regulator when they have reason to pull you up. It sets an unfortunate tone...

Posted by HotelBlogger

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Posted by HotelBlogger

If everybody does the same thing when it comes to marketing, how do you differentiate your hotel from your competitors?

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Posted by HotelBlogger

...they run up the white flag and run a "flash" sale.

Sad isn't it? Those rooms of yours that are worth "£200 of anybody's money" at the height of the season are suddenly worth less than a fart in a high wind.

So worthless in fact, that the illusion of websites like Groupon Getaways, who have worked out yet another way to sell you snake oil, appears attractive.

Are your marketing skills really so infantile that this makes sense? On any normal day, if your sales team came to you with the following promotional idea, what would you do?

"We want to cut your prices in half, then give someone else half of what's left over so we can sell a few rooms!"

You'd shoot them wouldn't you?? They certainly wouldn't touch the sides on the way out of my office door.

Invest some time and money in proper marketing skills. Get your finger out, find some customers and make them some offers to become YOUR customers. Spend some money to acquire some marketing skills - it might be the only thing standing between you and oblivion - if you think running a third part flash sale is a healthy passtime, oblivion is closer than you think.

Posted by HotelBlogger