Hotel Marketing

I've been following Groupon since Seth Godin first drew attention to it many months ago. I find it a fascinating concept, not so much because of the marketing power it appears to contain, but because of the incredible fees and discounts it seems to be able to bring to the market.

It all makes me wonder if you hoteliers are looking the other way while somebody else makes off with your margins?

Let's face it guys, you let the OTAs do it ten years ago. Now it looks like it's going to happen to you all over again.

Continue reading "Does Groupon and voucher promotion really work?"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Changes to the way Google manages adwords bidding will change the online landscape for hotels.

The relaxation of brand related keyword bidding means that - yet again - the online travel agents will take ownership of the high ground.

Some industry professionals are recommending you mount your own Google Adwords campain based on keywords related to your own brand. Stating that it will work out cheaper than the cost of commission on OTA sourced room sales. Of course, their approach is slightly coloured by the fact that many of them actually sell Adwords campaign management services.

Here's a few points for you to consider before you take the Adwords plunge. It may be that the OTA becomes your friend in all this turmoil...

Continue reading "Google Adwords for Hotels - Compete or Contribute?"

Posted by HotelBlogger

You've all seen the statistics:

"50% of bookings will be made online..."

"millions of hotel customers look at Tripadvisor every day..."

...blah, blah, blah.

Of course, online is good, online is a wonderful market opportunity for you.

Be careful though, because there is a danger that you might confuse "online" with "fully automated" and make a complete balls of selling your hotel.

Continue reading "Is online automation losing the sale for your hotel?"

Posted by HotelBlogger

"what's the point in wearing your lucky rocketship underpants if no one asks to see 'em?" - Calvin & Hobbes

Calvins' lucky rocketship underpants were very close to his heart. Of course, they were actually closer to his backside, but we'll not let that get in the way of today's post, will we?

He was very proud of them: They brought him luck and they had rocketships on them.

What really got on Calvin's &%$@s was the fact that nobody else showed any interest in them.

You go to all that effort...

Continue reading "Are you wearing your lucky rocketship underpants?"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Inspiration for today comes from my pal Jane - who delivered a nice presentation this morning on, er... presentation.

She mentioned something you might be familiar with - the fact that we've all sent a message using technology - an email, a text or a blog post - that has been misinterpreted by the recipient.

It struck me that the internet is indeed a "desensitised" medium. So you need to be careful what you say.

Continue reading "Customers can misinterpret what you say on the internet"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Do you work in hotel sales?

Do you want to know how to start increasing sales at your hotel?

Here's a tried and tested approach. I first learned it from a fascinating hotel sales guru in 1994. Before the Internet.

It is still every bit as valid today. And it still works.

It works for room sales, banqueting sales, restuarant sales, leisure club sales.

So if your general manager or regional sales manager is hammering you to improve your sales figures. This is what you do. In the order specified.

Continue reading "The secret of how to increase sales at your hotel"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Here's the thing.

"Marketing" on social media can generate a lot of heat but no light.

Before all the social media zealots get in touch to rip me limb from limb, let me explain what I mean...

Continue reading "Social Media - never mistake activity for results"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Taken from a conversation held last week with a prospect - as we tried to identify why his marketing wasn't working for him...

"We tried advertising last year. It didn't work. So I don't want to try it again."

What a pity. Because advertising can work - if you give it a chance.

Continue reading "How to give your advertising a chance of success"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Let's start with a caveat, before I get messages from people blaming me for the accident they've just had...

No sane person will take a silly risk which could end up in disaster. Taking ill-considered risks is a job for the stupid, egotistical (I'm thinking bankers here) or anyone who doesn't have enough understanding of "self preservation".

There are two types of risk: Risks to be avoided (those with a serious impact) and those which you can learn from. Obviously, the former type of risk means that it's likely you won't last long enough to learn from it.

...stick with me, I'm coming to the marketing lesson shortly...

Continue reading "The peril of being risk averse"

Posted by HotelBlogger

How far in advance do your customers book with you?

A day in advance? A week? A month? A year?

Do you measure it? If not why not?

Control over the booking window may appear to be tricky for you to establish, but it doesn't need to be. It really depends on how much you understand about your customers, their reasons for booking and the value they expect.

Late booking is an internet phenomenon which is fed by the fact that many hotels don't take the time to understand customer buyer behaviour. As a result, these hotels have less advance bookings than hotels with good marketing systems. A feature of this is panic "late availability" pricing on the internet.

If people know they can get good prices if they wait until they can hear your pips squeak - why should they book far in advance? Late availability pricing encourages customers to delay their purchase decision, then rewards that delay with a discount.

Is that really the way you want to run your hotel??

Continue reading "Booking windows - you get the behaviour you reward"

Posted by HotelBlogger

...if I could only reach you,
that would really be a

BREAKTHROUGH!

Ahhh, Freddie Mercury. What poetry.

How much work do you put in to reaching out to your audience?

On the face of today's advertising, I'd suggest the answer might be, "not a lot".

Continue reading "If I could only reach you - if I could make you smile..."

Posted by HotelBlogger

I noted with some disappointment yesterday that Google are testing a price comparison feature using a combination of their maps and adwords products you can read about their plans here.

My disappointment isn't with what Google are planning - they've got the technology and the market opportunity appears to be a strong one - my worry is that the hotel industry will do what it always does when threatened with downward pressure on price...

Continue reading "How to deal with price comparison websites"

Posted by HotelBlogger

It seems Google maps is going to become a price comparison site for hotels. I'll blog about this in another article when I've had a chance to think about it. But it's disappointing to think that, yet again, what could be a really useful route to market will probably get poisoned by "low price" promotions.

As all good hoteliers know (and so do your customers) - it is not all about price. Price becomes a default decision criteria when your marketing isn't up to the job.

So. Do you qualify for higher prices?

Continue reading "Do you qualify for higher prices?"

Posted by HotelBlogger

Interesting article fell into my mailbox this morning.

Interview with man from Google

The question about "predicting user perference" caught my attention. Not least because the following words formed part of the answer:

"The biggest unsolved problem therefore becomes this: how can we reduce the time to perfect fulfillment of the users’ online travel needs?"

I'm interpreting this (and forgive me if I've misinterpreted what's being said) as: "The biggest problem is working out what people need".

And I need to ask what is for me an obvious question. Who is running your marketing?

Continue reading "Google says "travellers want compelling offers at time of search""

Posted by HotelBlogger

Well that's got today's alliteration out of the way.

It's amazing how many hotel websites use alliteration (consecutive words starting with the same letter) and think it will be entertaining. It usually isn't.

Inspiration for today's muse comes from my new pal Andrea. She's a skilled copywriter who tells me that,

"...every word on the page has to earn its living."

On the web, you can't afford to dress pages up with fine words and fancy formats. You can put them there if you like of course - it's your website after all. People just don't read 'em.

Continue reading "Be ruthlessly relevant and decisively different"

Posted by HotelBlogger