View all posts: Hospitality
The Role of Online Booking Solutions as Critical Travel Content
Miles has just published an updated and expanded version of its white paper, “Online Booking Solutions” for Destination Marketing Organizations. The 2017 edition of this Miles white paper highlights the critical role hotel information plays in travel and destination decisions.
Travelers may yearn for experiences when they travel to a destination – but a comfortable bed (at an affordable rate) is also on their mind in considering where to go. Information on hotels and places to stay have consistently been shown as one of...
OTAs: Their Rewards & Risks in Hospitality, Part 2
Part 2 of a two-part blog: Building a smart and profitable mix of online bookings.
In Part 1 of this two-part blog I looked at how OTAs have created both opportunities and real risks for hospitality – especially independent properties. I highlighted four challenges: yield, control (of the guest and their information), pricing and tax.
For these reasons, independent properties need to build a sensible mix of online business – a balance of both direct and OTA bookings depending on the market, guest and season. For most properties, a smart balance means OTAs representing 20-50% (and ideally no more) of their online bookings.
Unfortunately, many independent properties are poorly prepared in skills, focus and budgets to build a...
OTAs: Their Rewards & Risks in Hospitality, Part 1
The growth of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) over the last decade has posed both real opportunities and major risks for the hospitality industry. These positives and challenges are particularly pronounced for independent properties around the world – both larger hotels/resorts and smaller, owner operators. Such properties, regardless of size, often lack the digital marketing skills and knowledge to effectively build a strong online presence of their own. This gap has been seized by OTAs – sophisticated digital intermediaries that market these businesses online and command a commission (and other benefits) for doing so.
However, building a balanced approach to online distribution – especially with the right mix of direct vs. OTA bookings – is critical to driving success...
You Can Have My Parents
You want my parents.
Every hotelier would want my parents.
They travel for pleasure… a lot. At least six times each year, often more. They leave in a car from Florida with no return date and are gone for weeks at a time. They drive because they enjoy the flexibility to stay an extra day here, or take a detour to explore something new over there. They are a DMO site’s dream.
They have been to every national park, almost every state, and have regions they love and loyally return to year after year. As I write this, they are spending a week in Maine showing my sister and her family their favorite places… restaurants, attractions, scenic drives…and, importantly, resorts. The same...
Four Quick Strategies for Improving Conversion
For hotels and resorts, the competitive landscape has become increasingly ugly over the last 18 months. Organic traffic growth has significantly slowed (see Kim Palmer’s recent post on this subject for more). Competition in the PPC marketplace has cut purchase power. Increasingly aggressive OTAs spend millions convincing customers not to book direct. Even companies that have up until recently been considered partners are implementing programs that leech both traffic and dollars away from the hotel.
What’s an independent hotel to do?
In the face of these challenges, hoteliers are increasingly turning to optimization techniques to maximize their conversions on the traffic they already have,...
