Hotel Marketing
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Posted on Jun 3rd 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Running a successful online marketing campaign is pretty demanding. Most of us are juggling multiple social media accounts, scheduling new content, creating email campaigns, optimising for Google, constantly analysing datathe list goes on. With so much to...
Posted on May 29th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
The power social media and blogs have to raise brand awareness is no longer disputed, but what about their power to inspire action? What is the value of all those impressions if your guests aren't following through and making a booking? Working a compelli...
Posted on May 27th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Reviews have an immense impact on your online reputation and a knock-on effect on booking rates. According to recent research from TripAdvisor, as many as 93% of travellers around the world say their holiday decisions are impacted by the reviews they read...
Posted on May 14th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Engaging with your audience is all about knowing your audience. By using data drawn from Google Analytics, you can find out the key information you need to create strong guest personas for your social media audience, helping you formulate content that is...
Posted on Apr 9th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Google's accommodation search and comparison service Hotel Finder is slowly but surely gaining momentum in the US, and will create another valuable opportunity for you to promote your resort online when it gets rolled out fully over here in the near futur...
Posted on Apr 2nd 2014 by Bryan Marsh
You know that positive guest reviews are essential to your property's success, and as we covered in a recent post, the public is becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to spotting hotels' false attempts to accumulate this all-important feedback online....
Posted on Mar 31st 2014 by Bryan Marsh
How much value do your guests place on the opinions of others online? Have they lost trust in review sites or do they still form a crucial component of the booking process? A new study from ITB Berlin and the Worms University of Applied Sciences has looke...
Posted on Mar 26th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Towards the end of 2012, Google began rolling out its one-stop accommodation planning tool Hotel Finder into standard search results worldwide. Two years on, let's take a closer look at how the service has evolved and its impact on the online travel secto...
Posted on Mar 5th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
With the online travel landscape only becoming more and more competitive, and an array of new marketing tactics appearing almost every week, how do you decide where to focus your efforts to get noticed by your guests in 2014? Here are 3 of the biggest tre...
Posted on Feb 26th 2014 by Bryan Marsh
Your website is your vehicle to showcase your property. It's likely to form your guests' first impression of your business and has the power to drive more bookings than any other component of your online campaign....
Posted on Dec 11th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
When your guests are scouring the web for the perfect property for their next holiday, great hotel photography catches their eye and gets them daydreaming about their break. But what visuals are most likely to get travel shoppers pulling out their credit...
Posted on Nov 21st 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Want to know what the online travel marketing industry has in store for 2014? Here are three key trends we think you should look out for Mobile Travel At the end of last year, Google Travel estimated that around a quarter of all search engine queries rela...
Posted on Oct 28th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Thanks to TripAdvisor's Travel Affiliate Program, content from the world's number one travel site now gets in front of more than 300 million people worldwide, making guest reviews of your resort more readily available than ever. This easy access to a weal...
Posted on Oct 22nd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Last month, Google created waves in the marketing world with "Hummingbird," its most significant algorithm change for over a decade. With the new algorithm, Google has shifted the focus away from a search system based almost entirely on keyword matching t...
Posted on Oct 16th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
One of the most significant changes of Google's recent Hummingbird update is that data scraped from websites is now being displayed on the results page alongside traditional search results content. Now, each time a user makes a search enquiry, Google will...
Posted on Oct 4th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Fake online hotel reviews have been around as long as the web itself, fuelled by unscrupulous marketers seeking to drive bookings, or perhaps simply trying to stay afloat in the fiercely competitive digital world. But a recent crackdown by US authorities...
Posted on Sep 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
There's no denying the power of the online review. Travellers are actively seeking the opinions of former guests when making a booking decision, which means you need to get proactive with your resort's reputation management if you want to shine online. Ma...
Posted on Sep 16th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to maximise bookings this festive season, you've got to start now.With Christmas and New Year's fast approaching, here are some tips for making the most of the busiest booking period of the year. Get Ready Planning and preparation is the first...
Posted on Sep 6th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Your resort's blog is the ideal platform to showcase your property, draw attention to interesting local events and demonstrate the more human, less corporate face of your business. By inviting comments from readers, a blog also opens up the lines of commu...
Posted on Aug 26th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Is your resort visible in Local Search? If not, you better stake your claim fast. Every month, approximately 3 billion search queries are made using local terms according to data from comScore. Luckily, there's plenty you can do to improve your chances of...
Posted on Aug 23rd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to remain ahead of your competitors you need to be constantly creating, monitoring and managing your marketing content across multiple online platforms. So how can you be sure you're focusing your efforts wisely? Here are five current marketin...
Posted on Aug 20th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
The public's trust takes years to win, but in the age of TripAdvisor, a single bad review can shatter even the most glowing reputation in an instant. Where the review comes from is irrelevant. It might represent the genuine gripes of a dissatisfied guest,...
Posted on Jul 26th 2013 by Guest Blogger - Ashley Verrill
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and booking channels such as Booking.com, Webjet and Wotif.com have been a boon for the hospitality industry, providing a proven conduit for filling up rooms that would have otherwise stayed empty.......
Posted on Mar 14th 2013 by Ashlee Hume
When was the last time you heard someone say 'I really do love being marketed to'? Probably never. If you take a moment to think about the things you love...chances are your guests feel exactly the same. The idea behind this so called 'loveable marketing'...
Posted on Feb 19th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Google has recently revamped the design of its Analytics interface, streamlining several features that were strewn across different tabs and making it a more coherent, easy to use product. Here is a run through of the most prominent changes....
Posted on Jan 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Guest reviews are a hugely valuable way to improve your booking rate, with research showing that 61% of internet users seek out reviews before parting with their cash online, while as many as 63% say they are more likely to buy from a website that feature...
Posted on Jan 10th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Until recently, good SEO has been all about implementing the same tried and test techniques to get your website noticed by the search engines. Moving forward, getting noticed will be less about keyword insertion and H1 tags, and more about capitalising on...
Posted on Nov 7th 2012 by Lee Tester
What makes a special attractive and sell to your audience? That is the key question. Is it price? Is it the inclusion? Is it the way it is presented? The answer is simple, it is all of them. There is no use advertising or promoting a special on your websi...
Posted on Sep 7th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
A new study has shown that the photos hotels choose to use in their OTA booking paths have a considerable bearing on click through rates....
Posted on Jun 25th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
You're probably aware by now that blogging is absolutely essential to the success of your online marketing campaign. Without regular fresh content, Google will no longer crawl your site, your search engine ranking will plummet, your social media community...
Posted on Jun 15th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Social media may have stolen the limelight in recent years, but email marketing is going nowhere. Although most marketers recognise the ongoing importance of email, certain email best practices, such as Segmentation, have been slow to catch on. Segmentin...
Posted on Jun 15th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Landing pages have become an essential component of every business's online marketing strategy, and your resort is no exception....
Posted on Jun 8th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
From online vouchers to emailed discount codes, the benefits of using discounts in your online marketing campaign should not be overlooked. Here's a look at how you can use this tactic to drive traffic to your resort's website, as well as a few of the pot...
Posted on Jun 5th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
A referral is the natural result of excellent customer service and surpassed expectations. Since people don't give referrals unless they are deserved, a referral is not a foregone conclusion unless you start every decision you make about running your reso...
Posted on Jun 1st 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Established in January 2012, RoomKey.com is designed to give travellers the security of booking their trips directly through a hotel-owned website. The site is a collaborative venture by Hilton, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Choice Hotels, Wyndham, Marri...
Posted on Apr 10th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
The results of a new survey suggest European hoteliers remain dubious of the value of discount websites such as Groupon and Living Social when it comes to driving room bookings....
Posted on Mar 16th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
The resort booking distribution process seems to get more complicated every day, and with so many platforms to keep an eye on, it's more important than ever to understand which elements of your marketing campaign are working for you, and which aren't....
Posted on Mar 14th 2012 by Lee Tester
TripAdvisor is one of the worlds largest independent guest review websites offering trusted advice from real travellers. Operating in 30 countries worldwide, TripAdvisor publicly displays over 60 million reviews and opinions on accommodation and more arou...
Posted on Feb 13th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Experts have cast a critical eye over a recently published Distribution Channel Analysis study produced by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and STR. The 214 page report is the most extensive examination to date of the use of distribution channels...
Posted on Feb 10th 2012 by Ritesh Gupta
With TripAdvisor becoming less dominant/ reliable, brands are beginning to regain some lost influence and the correct management of both mobile and mapping technology will be key to increasing any brand's online reputation, says James Harrower, search mar...
Posted on Nov 11th 2011 by Bryan Marsh
Google has just released the new Think Insights with Google from beta, that sports a new playful look, helpful tools, more studies, the latest trends and exciting videos....
Posted on Nov 11th 2011 by Doug Kennedy
Today's callers have evolved faster than most hotel sales training programs. Hotel reservation agents are fielding a much broader spectrum of sales scenarios than ever before, from callers ranging from ultra-informed to misinformed, having taken virtual t...
Posted on Feb 16th 2011 by eTourism
Website analytics tools can be used to spot potential growth, determine needed improvements for efficiency, draw attention to potential website problems, and point out what went wrong....
Posted on Feb 15th 2011 by eTourism
Now, hoteliers are fully aware of the benefits that the Internet can bring to their business. Well-informed of the far reaching importance of the web, they are motivated to create more awareness of their industry, on top of getting more bookings online....
Posted on Jan 30th 2011 by eTourism
The online community is very powerful that it can drive change - both for the better and for the worse. When your online network grows and your relationships with them expand, they turn into loyal brand advocates and guardians....
Posted on Jan 25th 2011 by eTourism
The seven truths of email - the most powerful tool for marketing, branding, direct response, and building customer relationships - can be used to evaluate your tools and resources. Electronic mail (e-mail) provides the hospitality industry a flexible and...
Posted on Jan 13th 2011 by Bryan Marsh
Without a steady stream of traffic to your blog, there's little opportunity to engage your audience and convert readers to raving fans. So it might just be one of the biggest questions of all time: How can my resort's website get more traffic?...
Posted on Nov 24th 2010 by eTourism
Marketing experts always emphasise the need to regularly create fresh and original content that it's easy to overlook the potential of previously published or posted content....
Posted on Nov 24th 2010 by eTourism
Email marketing has always been an effective way to reach out to existing and prospective guests. It's organic, as these people voluntarily signed up to receive your news and updates. So how do you grow the number of people who have given you permission...
Posted on Nov 10th 2010 by eTourism
Christmas holidays are coming up so it's time to brush up on your Internet marketing strategies if you want increased bookings before the year ends....
Posted on Oct 11th 2010 by eTourism
Recent trends prove that having a good online marketing strategy may well have its advantages when it comes to acquiring resort bookings....
Posted on Oct 6th 2010 by eTourism
If you're not generating enough leads and conversions, your CTA might actually be the problem. So how do you know if your CTAs may actually need a little makeover?...
Posted on Sep 23rd 2010 by eTourism
It always feels good to have a happy guest. It means that you have lived up to your guests' expectations. As a resort manager, you can turn these happy guests into your resort's very own online cheerleaders....
Posted on Sep 20th 2010 by eTourism
Every minute, people all over the world upload a total of 20 hours of videos in different channels such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc. As a resort manager you need to ask yourself "How are we keeping up with the growing popularity of videos"?...
Posted on Sep 8th 2010 by eTourism
Keeping a resort blog is a lot more work than most people might initially think. But after a while of blogging and not receiving comments you begin to think, don't they like my blog?...
Posted on Sep 7th 2010 by eTourism
How different is your database from the rest? Like others, yours contain thousands of contact details of past, current and potential guests of your resort"all gathered by you to help build a strong relationship with them through occasional newsletters an...
Posted on Aug 24th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
To date, there are about 1.8 billion internet users all over the world. They could all be your potential customers. How do you reach them?...
Posted on Aug 23rd 2010 by Bryan Marsh
Landing pages have become a standard marketing practice for anyone attempting to increase conversion. But to be effective, there's a bit of art and science to what makes a landing page work, so testing and tweaking will always be required....
Posted on Aug 17th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
While a lot of hotels or apartments sign up on Facebook and Twitter to broadcast their latest service offerings, they forget that to create a strong following, they must first learn how to listen....
Posted on Aug 16th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
Not getting the desired number of leads from your hotel's e-newsletter? Chances are, your e-newsletters share the same problem as most: readers don't find it interesting....
Posted on Aug 13th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
From travel itineraries to personal stories or even fun hotel trivia, hotel operators can repurpose their content into something that their prospective guests can access even while on the road....
Posted on Aug 12th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
Even in the rise of social networking sites, email remains a critical channel to embrace for B2B marketing success for any hotel, apartment or resort. However, it's a channel that's poorly treated due to our excitement at the extreme ROI potential of soc...
Posted on Jul 21st 2010 by Bryan Marsh
It is seemingly the important question being asked by Resorts and Internet Marketing campaign managers; Facebook Group or Page? There has been recent discussion as to benefits of Pages and Groups for Resorts wanting to increase their Facebook and subse...
Posted on Jun 28th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
The internet has truly turned mobile. The popular trend in today's society is mobile internet, and everywhere we look resorts are jumping on the band wagon. Mobile internet allows people to access websites on their mobile phones, literally anywhere " buse...
Posted on May 26th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
Hotels are becoming increasingly more image conscious, especially when it comes to guests who post their reviews online. Some hotels have started to use information locations, dates and usernames that appear online to discover the identity of a guest....
Posted on May 24th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
Popular location-based consumer service, Gowalla is set to assist InterContinental Hotels Group by incorporating mobile devices into their Hit it Big Summer promotion....
Posted on Apr 28th 2010 by Bryan Marsh
"Web 2.0" is the growing trend in online communities. It involves businesses using online content made by web users, as opposed to traditional publishers. This new trend ultimately incorporates online technologies focused on social media and interacting...
Posted on Dec 20th 2009 by Bryan Marsh
A few weeks back I bought myself a new Amazon Kindle. Amazon have only recently opened this to the Australian market - my Kindle congratulated me for being one of the first in Australia to purchase, cool! One of the reasons I got this Kindle was to follow...