Article by Joe Mele of Booking Suite

As generations change, so do preferences and dynamics. Marketers and hoteliers alike have a sense of overwhelming fear as new generations emerge in the ever-growing market. The trick is to embrace these new generations head on. Using what we have learned from past generations, we are able to apply our knowledge to future generations. Each new generation will always be receptive to new cutting edge technologies. They may not all be experts in that new technology, but they will certainly be native users.

We are all aware of the vast spending power of millennials, as well as their projecting impact on the travel industry. Millennials hold $200 billion in buying power (Forbes), and they aren’t afraid to spend it on life’s finest luxuries. Millennials are undoubtedly the now, but who is the future?

Meet, Generation Z. This know-how generation aged 13-20, was born in 1995 or later. Together, they make up 25.9% of the U.S. population and contribute $44 billion to the American economy. Gen Z is exploding with knowledge, as they have grown up with information at their fingertips. They are communicative sharers that use social media as a common form of expression. Fired up with ambition and drive, after watching their millennial siblings move back into their household, they are self-directed and many desire to be entrepreneurs.

They may be too young to book at your hotel now, but their influence on their parents is invaluable. 65% of moms feel their Gen Z child is influential when purchasing family vacations (Sparks & Honey). The teenagers will be pressuring their parents to meet their travel desires, the oldest will be graduating college in a couple years and looking to satisfy that travel itch, and the college students will be effortlessly researching destinations to explore on their study abroad.

Hoteliers, it’s time to get your campaigns in a row, because this determined generation is the future of travel.

Gen Z is growing up in a world of exceedingly innovative technology. The majority of them can’t recall a time before Google, or a world without smartphones. Their perspective of the world is what makes them unique. They think in 4D, wear watches that’s primary function isn’t to tell time, and have never had that feeling of holding a paper map in their hands.

Gen Z is constantly connected, with 41% spending 3+ hours a day on computers for non-school related activities and preferring to use 5 screens at once for multi-tasking (Sparks & Honey). More than eight out of 10 are hooked on social networks and more than half of them think that this is where their social life takes place (Business Insider).

Gen Z favours apps with privacy, like Snapchat, vine and Instagram. Facebook isn’t as popular among this group, with a quarter leaving Facebook in 2014 (Sparks & Honey). 73% of this generation connects to the Internet within an hour or less of waking up (Wikia).

Gen Z is part of the larger, do it yourself (DIY) culture. Even with their youth they have already seen technology become obsolete – DVDs, answering machines, game consoles. Whatever it may be, they won’t risk being out of the loop, which explains why they are independent learners. They are self-educators, and entirely comfortable teaching themselves things via YouTube or Google.

They lack patience, which may correlate with autocorrect. They prefer visuals to text, as they truly communicate through emojis. They are constantly worried about missing out on things, a term dubbed “FOMO” (fear of missing out). All of these distinctive characteristics should be the driving force behind your marketing strategies.

It is key to use what we know about Generation Z and their technology habits to reach them in a way that they understand and can relate to.

Tips for reaching Gen Z

Prove to Gen Z that you understand and embrace social media and you will gain their respect instantly. Not only is it crucial to be especially active on social media, but be sure to stay up to date on their favourite platforms.

Target their FOMO through social media by showing them what they are missing by not visiting your property. For example, post an Instagram or Snapchat feed on your property website with guests shooting down a waterslide into the Mediterranean.

Be part of every step of your guests’ journey. Start by reaching them via social media before the booking process, continue the interactive experience through Instagram competitions during their stay, and follow up via social after they leave.

Use visuals to communicate with them, as visuals are what resonates the most with these sharp guests. Feature live streams, short videos and 360 degree photos on your website. Showcase your property’s sailing expeditions, by live streaming the adventure through your hotel’s GoPro, then distribute the video on all of your social channels. Blurry and non-high definition photos will result in loss of business.

Feed that entrepreneurial hunger by engaging Gen Z through user generated content, or photo contests, and empower them with control through options. If you treat them as producers rather than consumers, you will earn their approval quickly. For example, try running social media campaigns featuring guest-produced photos.

Lastly, speak a language they understand. Stay on top of how they are communicating. If they are using abbreviations in their social media posts, you should do the same. Keep things short and easy to read, as this generation is more likely to absorb shorter text. Communicating frequently and in shorter bursts will do the trick.

Generation Z is the near future. Prepare yourselves now and boost up your social media strategy, because this generation is going to hit the travel industry hard. Like every generation, their consumption patterns and behaviors will always be relevant. They have grown up in a time where technology is taking enormous leaps and innovation is at its strongest. The platforms they use may change and vary, but it is vital to stay on top of this group in order to know the best way to reach them.

The hospitality industry has been evolving into a much more scientific industry for several years. The combined impact of shifting demographics and new technologies are the primary catalysts for this metamorphosis. The Internet provides consumers an opportunity to think of the hotels as commodities. The many changes occurring today are proof positive that this industry is no longer limited to being an “art.” We have officially moved into the John Naisbitt coined “hi tech, hi touch” world. Led by revenue management, but now including distribution channel management, social media marketing, Web 2.0 or 3.0 – call it what you like and more – this industry has been transformed.

A quick summary of hotel pricing

Revenue management is the set of techniques that determine which reservation requests to accept and which to reject to optimize revenue. The principles of revenue management had their origin in the airline industry back in the 1970s, but the concepts are equally applicable to hotels, restaurants, attractions and recreation venues.

The airlines used mergers and supply constraints to avoid commoditization. They simply owned the routes they wanted and pulled aircraft off the runways, which in turn filled flights. Hotel brands, led by Marriott and Hilton in the 1980s and 1990s, delivered a myriad of new brands such as Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. By the 21st century, every major hotel company had a verticality of brands from budget to full-service hotels. Online Travel Agencies, (OTAs) began to sell hotel product at deep discounts and this led the brands to negotiate fees with the OTAs.

Today, it is time for the industry to price based on value perception and not just price relative to a competitor. Understanding the true demand in a marketplace is quite scientific.

Know your customers’ behavior and decision process

Packaging is the answer to the commoditization conundrum. The large amount of demographic and psychographic information available about the make-up of today’s traveler requires analytical skills and creativity to correctly respond to the marketplace. Product choices by consumers are influenced by a model of the consumer decision process. There are two risks that hotel executives must overcome to achieve success in the marketplace:

Performance Risk – the chance that the product may not satisfy the consumer

Financial Risk – the monetary loss from a wrong decision

As for performance risk, loyalty to a chain is a major factor in product choice by consumers. Hotels allow guests to accumulate points that may be exchanged for guest stays and upgrades. The consumer’s perception of the hospitality company and what it stands for is paramount to the success of the venture. Product quality must be exceptional, service must be at the level of “wow” and there must be a compelling value proposition for the consumer to choose your business.

As for financial risk, loss of market share is difficult to regain. Desertion Management may be the single most important marketing strategy in today’s market. Consistent staff services and attitude make a significant difference in competitive advantage in every market segment. Hotels that can train and motivate their team members will have a much better chance of getting repeat business. We will further dissect desertion management later in this article.

Sample formulas for success

My father, Richard A. Rauch, Ph.D. created a multivariate model of consumer behavior that applies here in part. As such, I am borrowing key facets of this model from his work in the field of retailing in the 1990s:

A = B x W x N

A= Attitude toward the business

B= Belief of a consumer that the business possesses a particular desirable attribute

W= Weight of importance of the attribute to the consumer

N= Number of attributes important to consumers

Knowing the millennial traveler, understanding that international travelers represent the single largest growth market in terms of lodging demand and leading your team with strategies that incorporate the trends occurring today is the recipe for success. There are a few key trends that must be monitored and engaged. These include reputation management, innovative technology (think smart phones for both mobile web access and guest check-in) and the sharing economy. Airbnb is becoming a real player in the lodging demand mix.

The science of hospitality permeates all areas of operations

Millennials have become the fastest growing customer segment within the hospitality industry. Lobby bars and hotel restaurants are wide open with combination work, play and eat/drink spaces designed with this millennial customer in mind, one who is a “party of one” but “hanging out together”. Millennials also have no problems speaking up. If what they are seeking is not handled to their liking, they will turn to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp or TripAdvisor to voice their complaints.

Customer service must include enabling guests to be self-sufficient. As an example, if a guest wants to find information using his/her smart phone, providing an app or mobile website that accommodates that information will appeal to many. The rise of this digital traveler requires the hotel industry to balance the expectation of personalization while enhancing the need to remain independent. Customer service must also be genuine and provide great, high quality recommendations delivered by a truly caring team member. “WOW” customer service is the only way to ensure repeat business.

International visitors have been talked about for two years but these travelers are here now. International leisure travel has increased markedly due to the visa waiver program introduced in 2012 and this is moving more international tourists to travel to the United States. With the new “10 year visa” agreement between the U.S. and China signed recently, we will be getting more than our fair share of Chinese travelers. Considering the average Chinese traveler spends a week in the U.S., huge incremental demand is created. These Chinese travelers average spending is over $1,000 per day when traveling abroad, excluding accommodations.

Booking more profitable business is critical as more revenues result from strong increases in occupancy levels, average rates and revenue per available room (RevPAR). More than ever, it will be vital for hotel owners and operators to stay on top of the distribution landscape that is expanding beyond OTAs, including popular sales vehicles such as meta-search, flash sales and mobile channels. Beyond simple awareness of the different mediums available to sell hotel rooms, hoteliers must know the costs of the variety of distribution channels and the returns expected from each. Hoteliers must preserve rate parity and their brand by utilizing the most cost-effective distribution channels, instead of using desperate measures to sell inventory.

Innovative technology, mobile check-in, and seamless connectivity across platforms and devices are no longer the future, they are the present. Today, mobile apps are being used as everything from a digital concierge to accessing big data. Geo-location can make it easy to sell guests something that is literally right in front of them. In a recent survey by Software Advice, guests desired local restaurant and hotel restaurant discounts when looking for deals as well as maps with coupons for other deals. Most importantly, when looking at the face of a changing consumer today, technology innovation is paramount. As most have heard, Starwood and Hilton will be having guests check in via mobile phone later in 2015

The sharing economy is a new reality hoteliers are still grasping to embrace. Over the past few months we have seen jurisdictions attempt to regulate this reality as evidenced by the San Francisco City Council implementing new legislation providing a legal avenue for Airbnb.

While the Santa Monica City Council has decided to enact new regulations to ban rental sites that offer short-term vacation rentals in the city and other jurisdictions are aggressively looking to manage this phenomenon, Airbnb is a powerful force.

The science of marketing

Digital marketing is required to both acquire and retain guests. And believe it or not, only a real quality revolution gives you the competitive edge, because as mentioned above, brand loyalty is very limited in today’s millennial dominant hospitality market. Since hospitality businesses do not hold customers captive, the only way we can prevent “desertion” is to continually outperform the competition. In addition, by soliciting feedback from the “deserters” or former customers, we can dig out the weaknesses that really matter. As Bill Gates says to his executive team, “tell me about the problems, not our successes.”

Real time marketing and providing content on an ongoing basis will dominate the industry. Although it would be unwise to discount the impact of traditional marketing, real time marketing must take place on a regular basis and incorporate guest-generated content, especially via social media. This must be a crucial component of the marketing mix. In addition, Facebook pages need to take advantage of custom apps that can highlight a hotel’s unique features, characteristics, and charm. Video campaigns on social media, when done properly, are proving to be successful for hoteliers looking to generate guest engagement.

The growth of mobile is a game changer in that the amount of time between looking, booking and staying is reduced. And everyone has a phone that doubles as a camera for instant social media “Kodak” moments. Anyone attending a conference today will be exposed to the trends of personalization, big data, omni-channel/multichannel campaign management, marketing automation and location-based services. Measurement of all of these will dictate what gets utilized.

The path forward

The transition from art to science in hospitality has caught many by surprise and unfortunately, these are the people that are falling behind. There will always be a place for great customer service, but today’s travelers require both great service and current technology. It is crucial that you understand the hospitality industry as it is today because if you continue to only focus on the art, you will be missing out on capturing more business and increasing your profitability.

The Author - Bob Rauch

You hear this all the time but what is so special about Norfolk Island?

Holidaying on Norfolk Island is a little like entering the Tardis. As you fly over the island on arrival, one of the first impressions is that it is way too small to support a whole community. There are many cattle properties in Australia that are far bigger than Norfolk Island!

However, when you start exploring, you are amazed at how much there is to see and the variety of things to do. If you are a beach holiday person, take your pick of five secluded spots for you to enjoy relaxing on pristine sands and immersing yourself in crystal waters. You want to snorkel? Then there is a glorious lagoon, Emily Bay, with a soft coral reef, or Slaughter Bay right next door; an offshore island; and several rock pools to explore.

If bushwalking is your thing, meander the winding roads, or the tracks through the national parks and reserves that pass through a surprising variety of country from rainforest to steep cliff-sides. There are some great masseuses on the island too, so after a day of trekking through native tree ferns and Norfolk Island pines, relax with an aromatherapy, reiki or deep tissue massage.

For those who want to investigate Norfolk’s eerie convict past, world heritage listed Kingston is absolutely free to wander through and there are bus tours, self-guided ipod tours and museum tours to help you get the most out of your time here. For those researching genealogy, the heritage resource centre is a must.

Golfers, bowlers, tennis players, archers and shooters are all catered for. There are annual sporting events in each sport and facilities available for casual games. Keen anglers will love the fishing charters that run on every fine day and inevitably return laden with their catches.

There is the Bounty story that concluded with the mutineers’ descendants claiming Norfolk Island as their new homeland over 150 years ago. Attractions, tours, and cultural exhibitions pay homage to this fascinating heritage.

But there is still more to Norfolk Island! This little Tardis keeps producing its treasures like a magician pulling rabbits from a top hat! Galleries and gift shops display the fabulous creativity of the resident artists. Numerous cafes and restaurants make the most of the fresh produce at their doorsteps with delicious results. And there are boutiques, jewellery shops and local markets to provide for those who need their retail fix.

There is more to Norfolk Island than you can imagine, so come and enter the Tardis and choose your favourite kind of holiday.

By Frederic Gonzalo - 24 June 2015

Will 2015 go down in history as the year when we reached a tipping point for online travel distribution? There are certainly some key developments happening that should keep a couple of travel and hospitality marketers awake at night. Here are four major situations to take into consideration.

Google (finally) makes a move

For years now, ever since it acquired ITA software back in 2010, pundits have been speculating when Google would actually jump into travel distribution as a pure player. It released Flight Search and Hotel Finder in beta, then across various countries in North America and Europe, but always as a third-party traffic referrer rather than seeking direct transactions. After all, it is estimated that Priceline and Expedia both contributed to five percent of Google’s worldwide advertising revenues alone in 2014, so why would Google want to alienate two (or more) clients in the process of competing head on with them?

Well, according to Skift, it is now possible to book direct through Google, as shown with the example of the Hudson Hotel in New York and explained in the article And Then the Earth Shook: Google Enters Travel Booking. Based in Canada, I could not find such similar examples, not even with the Hudson Hotel in New York, but presumably Google will roll out this kind of feature across the globe once it will have worked out the kinks in the process. Or will it?

The jury is still out on this one, but if indeed Google moves in full throttle with booking capabilities for hotels, then airlines, car rentals, restaurants and other hospitality stakeholders are likely to jump in. Time will tell, but this could certainly be a game-changer.

Rate parity no more?

Another seismic wave we are seeing comes from Europe, where online travel agency Booking.com lost its battle against hotel unions and government agencies with regards to rate parity contract provisions. After legal decisions came through against Booking.com in Italy, France and Sweden, the popular OTA has announced it would review its contract provisions across Europe, with Expedia following suit shortly after, presumably to avoid costly litigation that would inevitably ensue.

The consequences of this decision? Here are a few:

Hotels can now offer a rate on Expedia, and a different one (higher or lower) on Booking or any other online travel site.

Hotels can not, in theory, offer a lower rate on their own site than what is offered on an OTA site, but they can provide lower rates via a different channel (phone or walk-in) for corporate, groups or loyalty members.

Since rates can and will vary across different OTA sites, hotels highlighting a “best price guarantee” on their own site will stand out even more than in the past, in theory.

Of course, the impacts of this development are being felt in Europe only at this stage, but one would think there will presumably be lots on industry pressure and lobbying for similar action to take place in North America, Asia and across the globe where Priceline and Expedia dominate the landscape.

TripAdvisor goes holistic

Another player that keeps ramping up its influence in the online travel sphere is TripAdvisor. The popular review site, now boasting more than 225 million reviews and reaching an estimated 340 million unique visitors per month, has been on a acquisition spree for the past couple of years. Beyond showcasing reviews and rates for accommodations, restaurants and attractions, it also provides booking options for tours and activities through its purchase of Viator, along with vacation rentals and packages.

More importantly, its Instant Booking feature now allows users to book directly from TripAdvisor, rather than from OTA sites that traditionally provided rates available on the site. After a slow start in 2014, TripAdvisor has since inked deals with major hotel chains, including Accor, Best Western and Marriott. And as can be seen from this recent ad aired in the US, TripAdvisor is clearly sending the message to book on TripAdvisor, rather than simply look!

OTA consolidation

Last but not least, let’s remember that 2015 marks the year when Expedia gobbled two major competitors in the online travel landscape, Travelocity and Orbitz. Which basically means we are left with an OTA Duopoly: Priceline vs. Expedia. We may therefore have the illusion of choice, but it really comes down to that reality. A similar scenario is occurring in the hosteling world, where Hostelworld dominates this niche after acquiring its biggest competitor, HostelBookers, back in 2013.

Expedia v Priceline

But it may also be worthwhile peeking at what’s happening in China, too. China is the world’s second largest travel market and fastest-growing international outbound market, with an estimated 250 million travelers. So it’s interesting to see how heated the OTA landscape is on the domestic front already. Earlier this year, Expedia sold its share in Elong, a popular site in China, while Priceline is going the other way, investing $500 million in 2014 in the leading Chinese OTA Ctrip, adding another $250 million earlier in 2015.

Observing what is happening in the bustling Chine online travel distribution landscape is key, since we all know the world order is set to change in coming years, at least from a travel standpoint!

I have the good fortune to travel frequently. I have just returned home from 10 weeks in Europe, staying in lovely hotels and cruise ships across several countries. For the most part, I was treated to wonderful service, yet I must get something off my chest – because with unhappy frequency, I encountered hotel service staff with something missing from theirs. I speak of the humble staff name tag.

I found that some notable hotels I stayed at did not require their associates to identify themselves with name badges. Call me old fashioned, but I like to be able to use the name of people I’m addressing. Let me give you three instances of where I was caught out, resulting in situations that made me feel awkward and uncomfortable.

At Cromlix Hotel in Scotland, we had the same server for breakfast three days in a row. She introduced herself on Day 1, addressed me and my wife by our names each day, and provided us with first class service. Unfortunately, I could not remember her name after our initial encounter, and I was embarrassed to have to ask again. I know this is a small property, but isn’t the point of first class service to make things easy for guests?

One evening while I was staying at The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, the hotel was hosting a black tie event in its ballroom. As I was leaving the men’s room, a formally dressed man kindly held the door open for me. I had to ponder, was this gesture made by a respectful member of staff, or a polite, but smartly attired guest of the function? Perhaps this was not a big deal in the scheme of things, but again, awkward.

A final anecdote was a request I had for concert tickets of a concierge at London’s The Savoy. The un-name-badged concierge informed me that it was too early for the ticket office to be open, but that I should stop by after breakfast. Of course, when I returned, he was away from the station, and I could not precisely identify to the person handling the desk at that time who it was that had been helping me previously.

I encountered several more hotels, such as The Beaumont in London, where name tags were not a part of the uniform. And at still other properties, I found that the associates wore identifying badges, but the managerial staff did not. Surely those in charge were not trying to remain anonymous?

In discussing this badge-less trend, I’m told by others in the industry that some brands are doing this because they are aiming for a more casual, informal vibe, or that they’ve trained staff that they must make the effort to verbally introduce themselves to guests. In the name of personalisation, I guess?

Here are a few reasons why I don’t think that theory cuts it.

Guests may appreciate the attempt to personalise their stay, but then the onus is on the guest to recall names of staff – it should really be the other way around.

Depending on the culture of the country you are in, some staff may be hesitant to socially converse with a guest.

If you are in a country where the primary language is different from your own, a name may be hard to grasp if you hear it, but cannot read the spelling as well.

Better still are name tags that identify the languages the wearer speaks, so guests can choose to address them in their native tongue.

What about emergency situations? If there is a need to evacuate, will it be easy to identify who is in charge?

In big hotels with hundreds of staff, colleagues may not even know one another. Mandatory name tags work not only to promote team building, but they also provide a security dividend by deterring potential intruders.

So on the safety as well as the service front, I think the trend of moving away from the use of name tags in hotels is not a good one. The logo next to your name represents who you are as a business and says something about your view of hospitality and guest service.

I’d love to hear what others think on this topic. Please share your thoughts on the pros and cons of names tags send to [email protected]  

About the author

Fritz GublerFritz Gubler is the President of eHotelier. He has many years of experience across the globe in a wide range of roles in the hospitality industry. Read more about his background in the About Us section of eHotelier.

Over the past few years, marketing companies have been focusing their efforts on attracting the Millennials. The Millennials are the fast-paced, tech savvy, creative generation born between 1980 and 1999. The Millennials, also known as Generation Y have the largest generation population and will take up most of the work force in the next 5 years.

With so much attention on Millennials, the former largest generation, the Baby Boomers, have been placed on the back burner when it comes to marketing. As a hotelier, one cannot overlook this still-important generation group.

The Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are still spending money and they are still traveling. Actually, in 2015, the Baby Boomers plan to do the most traveling – Boomers are responsible for 80% of travel spending and spend over $150 billion a year on travel.

Though Millennials are the future, Baby Boomers still play an important role in travel spending and hoteliers should work to attract more Boomers to their rooms. There are specific ways to effectively market to Baby Boomers, but first hoteliers must understand the qualities and needs of this target audience.

According to a recent study, by 2017, 50% of the total U.S. population will be Baby Boomers. With such a large population available, hoteliers should understand what the Baby Boomers want. Understanding the characteristics of Baby Boomers will help hotels market to them more effectively.

• One of the most important things to remember about Baby Boomers is that they are not “old” and actually see themselves as being forever young.

• Baby Boomers can also be just as tech savvy as Millennials so don’t underestimate their connection to technology. That being said, Boomers still value face-to-face interaction more than other generations.

• As opposed to their parents, Baby Boomers see travel as a necessity, not a luxury.

• Boomers are also willing to spend more for luxury and convenience.

• Another unique attribute to Baby Boomers is their focus on family. Taking family trips and connecting with their loved ones is something they hold dear.

• Baby Boomers are fans of active relaxation. This means, instead of lounging by a pool to relax, they prefer activities like golfing, hiking, massages, and wine tasting tours.

• There is also the idea of the “Bucket List” that is unique to Boomers. They are looking for great experiences and memories to create, so risk and adventure are high on their list.

Growing up with the Watergate Scandal and the Vietnam War, Baby Boomers are equipped with a distrust for organizations and institutions. Being authentic in your message is necessary to attract them to your hotels. Don’t oversell the luxury of your rooms or the surrounding area of your hotel or use cliches because Baby Boomers will see through them and look elsewhere.

Also, Boomers like to associate with people like themselves so reflect your Baby Boomer-friendly environment in your ads by displaying inclusive photos and copy on your site and social media.

Because Boomers value family, make your hotel copy and social media posts multi-generational. Show them something that’s fun for the 50+ crowd as well as their grandchildren.

Although Boomers are tech savvy, having an easy booking process and making communication with your hotel simple will definitely woo them into choosing a room in your hotel. According to Hospitality Marketing, one of the most important things to remember is to keep your marketing campaigns simple. Appeal directly to the Boomers’ wants and needs and show them what your hotel has to offer without extra fluff and pizazz.

Once you understand the Baby Boomers and use your knowledge to market to them effectively, your hotel will benefit from this valuable generation segment.

By - Frederic Gonzalo

May 4, 2015

Have you ever wondered why people bother to write a review on sites such as TripAdvisor? There are many who think customers that take some of their valuable time to write up a review about a hotel property, a restaurant or an attraction, must be because there was something wrong or they want to share their frustrations. Think again!

Back in 2013, when TripAdvisor conducted its first massive TripBarometer research, surveying over 65,000 of its users and business owners, it found that 74% of travelers left a review “to share a positive experience with friends and network”. In its most recent TripBarometer research with 100,000 travelers and business owners, released in March 2015, it found that 83% of users left reviews “to share information and feedback with fellow travelers and give back”.

Here are a few key findings worthy of mention:

• 75% of reviews are 4 or 5 star reviews while 1 or 2 star reviews represent less than 10% of total!

• 70% of reviews came from three leading sites: TripAdvisor, Hotels.com and Booking.com

• The global average rating, on a scale of 1 to 5, was found to be… 4.04 stars!

• On average, hotels respond to only 36% of reviews left on sites where management responses are allowed.

In other words, reviews tend to be generally positive. But that last statistic is the real shocker, and it reminds me of a different one, related to how many businesses are said to be managing their account and responding to reviews on TripAdvisor: 32%. As in, less than a third of business owners bother to manager their online reputation!

If you are going to respond, do it fast

Thankfully, for travel brands that get it and take the time to manage their presence on review sites, things are looking up. After all, online reputation management is now considered a key differentiator for travel brands in their marketing strategy, with impacts on customer service and delivery, public relations, sales and even recruiting. After all, consider that there are now 315 million unique visitors per month on Tripadvisor alone, all potential readers of that scathing review… and glowing remarks, too! When management answers, it not only gives context to the user’s review, but also shows good customer care and following up. In fact, we know that:

• 84% of users say it makes them feel good about a property when they see a management response to reviews

• Yet, 64% of users will have a negative impression about a property when management response is condescending or inappropriate.

In other words, it’s important to answer, but there is a tone and manner to ensure professionalism. Just like you would answer to a client at front desk… except here, you have 315 million potential readers, every month!

With more than 315 million unique visitors per month on TripAdvisor, the quicker a brand responds to reviews, the quicker these potential readers will have both sides of a given situation, complaint or praise.

One of the first reviews I wrote on TripAdvisor, back in 2011, was a 3 star review that had been read by close to 2,000 people after just one week! I never did get an answer to this one, but as you can see, the earlier, the better, since the longer management waits before responding, the more people are seeing a one-sided version of a review…

Should you answer all reviews?

The silver lining here is that, according to the most recent study by TripAdvisor, business owners who do manage their account and answer reviews, seem to have gotten the memo: they answer fast. In fact, over 60% of businesses claim to read reviews as soon as they come in, compared to 19% who check their reviews daily and 12% who check them on a weekly basis. Do they answer every review that comes in?

As much as some may want to, it often boils down to a lack of resources and time to effectively answer them all. Revinate suggests answering according to the following rule of thumb:

Said differently, you should absolutely answer every 1 or 2 star review, answer every other 3 star review and discriminate amongst the 4 and 5 star reviews to see which one you should answer, depending on content and context. It’s a different story on OTA sites, in particular Expedia, where management responses aren’t published, so why not take advantage of this possibility on TripAdvisor, Yelp or Booking.com?

Despite the Australian dollar dipping to a low 85 cents this morning, its lowest in four years, it hasn't stopped Aussies from travelling overseas at twice the rate foreigners are coming down under.

According to a report in the Herald Sun, September departures averaged 30,000 compared with 17,000 short-term arrivals.

While Bali remained as the top holiday destination for Australians taking the chunk at 12% of departures, USA, New Zealand, UK and Thailand rounded off the top 5.

New Zealand was the biggest source market for international arrivals with some 3770 Kiwis arriving every day in September, according to the paper.

While travellers from China also spiked at 2000 tourists a day for September, up 7.3%, it shows a dip in total annual growth which has dropped to 10.5% calling for tourist visa reforms.

“This is another indication that Australia is missing out on Chinese visitors, with the national China Tourism Academy estimating that outbound travel by Chinese tourists will grow by 20% this year,” TTF chief executive officer, Margy Osmond said.

“While Australia is getting 10.5% growth, our rivals are doing much better, with Chinese visitors to the US up 23% and to Canada up 30% in 2014.

“These countries are among those which have made it easier for Chinese tourists to visit by streamlining their visa application processes.

“Australia’s outdated visa process for China means we are being left behind as our rivals move to improve their competitiveness by modernising their approach.

“For example Malaysians wanting to visit Australia can apply for a visa online, pay $20 and receive almost immediate approval.

“But Chinese visitors must fill in a complex form on paper, pay $130, provide significant documentary evidence and wait three weeks to find out if their application has been successful.

“Australia needs to reform its visa processing to ensure we are not placing unnecessary barriers in front of legitimate visitors wanting to come here.

“Unless we do that, we risk continuing to lose market share to countries which have recognised the opportunity the Chinese travel market represents and have taken steps to prioritise growth from that market,” Osmond said.

The travel industry is full of acronyms, and here are another 2 that are going to be heard a lot over the coming years.

1. P2P - The rise and rise of Peer to Peer. On the back of AirBnB's continued success, peer to peer is now evidently entering other elements of the travel experience. It's now possible to not only dine like a local, but to dine 'with' a local. Perhaps the holy grail of authentic travel is to actually immerse with locals in at home dining experiences. It is here already and growing.

2. Look out because the MAMIL has arrived. MAMILs - or middle aged men in lycra - are growing in numbers, so much so that other activities such as golf are seeing direct impacts. And this is possibly a good thing for the travel industry, with cycle travellers on average reported to spend 20% more than their non bike counterparts. Is cycling the new tour bus?

This week we are giving away a little piece of Norfolk Island throiugh a competition with Woman's Day

http://www.womansday.co.nz/lifestyle/family/2014/11/win-a-trip-to-norfolk-island/

Photo courtesy of Thinkstock

Advertisers no longer interrupt consumers—they complement them.

This extends to the travel industry and beyond.

The growth of online marketing, personalized marketing and mobile app use has changed the way travel companies do business. While TV ads and billboards are still relevant, online marketing rules these days.

Just ask Frank Vertolli and Ryan Fitzgerald, co-founders of Net Conversion, a digital marketing and analytics company. Or Evan Schwartz, CEO of ActionX, a mobile app and cross-screen retargeting company.

While online marketing is nothing new, Vertolli, Fitzgerald and Schwartz—who serve a variety of travel companies—all agree that it has reached a new level over the past 12-18 months. The digital marketing world is extremely competitive now, and the best companies have learned that it’s not just about following consumers around (or retargeting them) while they search the Internet—it’s about being as relevant as possible to targeted consumers.

“The days of interruptive advertising…that’s not how it’s done anymore,” Vertolli said. “Now I think relevance is the new criteria. You don’t want to interrupt consumers; you want to complement them with ads that are specific to them. If you want to stand out from the noise, it used to be scream louder. Have a funnier commercial or a more insane offer. Now it’s relevance. Be as relevant as possible to that user and they will reward you with attention to your ad. With the travel industry, as with everywhere else, targeting is key. The stakes just keep getting higher.”

Personalized advertising has taken on a new meaning these days. Hotel companies, airlines, OTAs, tour operators—you name it—enlist the help of companies like Net Conversion and ActionX to learn as much as possible about potential customers as possible. Based on which keywords travelers use when searching, travel companies can tap into travelers’ mindsets (for example, a budget-oriented traveler will use words such as “cheap hotels” or “deals”). They’ll then retarget travelers using, for example, banner ads. Every page the traveler goes to, there’s that same ad or company flashing on the screen.

Different types of ads will cater to different types of travelers. Business travelers will generally see a more straightforward advertising approach, Vertolli said (quick-hit details like rate, destination, proximity, cost, what’s covered, etc.), while leisure travelers will generally see ads that “pull more emotional strings.”

Video marketing has really taken off, especially when it comes to leisure travel. Post a 30-second YouTube clip of travelers enjoying that luxurious hotel stay or a complimentary outdoor activity and watch the interest skyrocket, Fitzgerald said.

“Travel is such an experiential thing,” Vertolli said. “Nothing can tell the story as much as video does. Now with Internet you can have a more specific video with a more specific audience.”

There are even a few tricks of the trade when video marketing.

Ever notice some travel ads show people enjoying themselves but don’t show their faces? There’s a reason for that.

While people want to see other people like them enjoying travel, showing the back of people’s heads in ads “is better because then you can imagine it's you and your family,” Vertolli said.

Beyond that, as Fitzgerald noted, online video marketing is much more measurable than TV ads with the use of analytics, which can be helpful when you need to present your results to an important chairman or investor.

Online video advertising is also leading to fewer 3D and virtual tours of such things as hotel rooms. Why have a 3D or virtual tour when you can show the real experience with video? Vertolli said virtual tours used to be popular because they used less bandwidth, but, given bandwidth isn’t as much of an issue anymore as Internet speeds increase, 3D and virtual tours are waning across the Internet.

Of course, people access the Internet in many different ways today. Schwartz’s company, ActionX, specializes in mobile app advertising, which is mighty useful for travel companies these days.

Schwartz said companies simply focused on getting travelers to download their apps. Now, companies want more.

When developing ActionX, “We heard the same thing from our e-commerce and travel clients, which was, ‘Thanks for driving all these app downloads, but we need revenue,’” Schwartz said. “It’s a big focus area for a lot of brands because they spend a lot of money building their apps and their audiences are just naturally going to mobile.”

Schwartz said ActionX not only uses personalized ads to drive business for travel companies, but it also makes sure these ads are rich in content (photography, deals, etc.), “making the ad itself shoppable.”

“It’s not just a little tiny rectangle,” Schwartz said. “You are getting a lot of content before you click into the app so you can start shopping right away.”

Schwartz, Vertolli and Fitzgerald all gave kudos to the travel industry for building some of the best apps out there.

It makes sense for the travel industry to be leaders in mobile app development, too. Travelers are naturally mobile people and they sometimes need to book on the go. The competition among marketers during these moments can be fierce, however.

“You need to find (the traveler) right away because they are going to book something in, say, 15 minutes,” Schwartz said.

One only has to look at the business ActionX is drawing from the travel industry to understand the level of demand from the segment.

“For our business, we’ve seen a lot of growth in the travel category,” Schwartz said. “That’s why we’ve built a multi-screen platform (cross-screen retargeting) to reach people across the whole purchase journey,” from the desktop to the tablet to the smartphone.

“Mobile is exploding,” Fitzgerald said. “Either last year or this year was kind of the tipping point.”

But mobile app marketing still has plenty of room to grow, Fitzgerald and Vertolli said. While some companies have made the booking experience practical and easy on a mobile phone, the grand majority still has yet to come around. It can still be painstaking for travelers to book everything on a mobile app. Many companies are developing apps to at least provide travelers with a phone number to call when they want to book on the go.

Of course, the highly publicized introduction of Apple Pay this week may change everything, as Fitzgerald noted.

“Basically what that means is you can book a hotel through your phone with your fingerprint without using any credit card information,” Fitzgerald said. “That, for me, is even easier than a phone call.”

Given the direct and specific approach marketers can make now via online targeting—and the ever-evolving tools they have at their disposal—less time and money is being wasted on advertising, which means the sky’s the limit for travel business.

In fact, online marketing may simply be standard across the globe soon.

“In five years, nobody’s going to say ‘digital marketing’ and nobody’s going to say ‘online marketing,’” Fitzgerald said. “People are going to say ‘marketing’ and that’s it because there won’t be any differentiation anymore.”

There is a perception in the marketplace about the facts around the ROI of content marketing. That it’s impossible to calculate. The fact is that finding and proving the (ROI) of content marketing can sometimes be tricky. However, it doesn’t have to be if you ask the right questions.

Here's How

Here’s what you need to know to calculate the ROI and prove that it’s working:

CPL - cost-per-lead = What does it cost to get a lead? For example, we work with an independent insurance agency by helping them with their monthly email newsletter. Their monthly investment for our services is $295 for each newsletter. The email newsletter we send for them gets approximately 20-30 quotes per newsletter. (In the Insurance industry, quotes are exactly what they are looking for) So their CPL is less than $15 per quote.

CPA - cost-per-acquisition = What does it cost to acquire a paying customer? This is the next level after CPL. This number will include all the costs to acquire the lead plus the costs to turn that lead into a customer. Costs such as commissions to salespeople, travel and entertainment, a CRM system, etc.

Average Revenue per Customer = What is a customer worth to you? Every industry is different depending on purchase frequency, lifetime value of a client, average order size, etc. For example, we work with quite a few senior living communities. Their Average Revenue per Customer can vary from $2,000/month all the way to $10,000/month. Let’s go in the middle and say $5,000. So that locations average revenue for one customer in a year is about $60,000.

Now let’s deliver the cold hard facts and prove that content marketing is working. This will enable you to get away from the “truthiness” that seems to plague content marketing and its effectiveness.

Let’s take the independent insurance agency example. Their CPL with the email newsletter service is about $15. They told me that their average customer revenue is about $1,000 (they said it’s typically higher, but let’s just use $1,000). The investment for Mingle Media’s monthly email newsletter program is $2,270 ($500 setup fee + $295/m for a 6-month term).

We gave them this forecast in our proposal to them (based on previous experience) to help with their decision and we’re absolutely nailing these numbers for them. This model assumed that their average customer revenue was $1,000 (it’s higher) and that they closed 20% of the quotes generated (that % is way higher, but we like to under-promise and over-deliver).

So what’s their ROI?

Over the course of 6 months they get 165 new quotes. Of those 165 quotes, we assumed a 20% close so 33 new deals. 33 x $1,000 = $33,000.

In this scenario, they made an Investment of $2,270 to get a Return of $33,000. There are other expenses to consider to get the CPA, but wouldn’t you agree that spending $2,270 to get $33,000 is a healthy ROI? Perhaps I can answer that question by telling you that they are very happy with our email newsletter service and we have already started on other digital marketing projects for them.

Imagine being able to take these numbers to the naysayers. Do you think their perception of content marketing will change?

In this example, we used an email marketing service to prove that content marketing works. Because of the massive amount of analytics tools available to every business, you can do the same thing with other forms of content marketing.

Nearly half of affluent American travelers prefer visiting travel service providers’ websites to those of online travel agencies (OTAs), says a survey by market research firm MMGY Global.

Half of affluent travelers say that travel service providers’ sites offer the greatest convenience and the best prices.

Among well-to-do travelers, nearly a fifth books through travel service provider sites. Roughly one fourth of them books by phone with a travel service provider. Less than a third of affluent travelers books via OTAs.

UPDATE: MMGY Global clarifies:

A travel service provider is a business that primarily provides travel services – such as airlines, car rentals, hotels, resorts, traditional travel agents, tour package providers, tour guides, etc. Service providers that involve travel but not primarily, such as taxis or restaurants, are not included.

The behavior is in stark contrast with travelers who have middle class incomes, who roundly prefer using OTAs.

The MMGY Global survey conducted in February 2014 and published today was of 1,250 active travelers with an annual household income of $125,000 or more. Half were between $125,000 and $249,999, and half were above that level.

Upscale needs: Exclusive, custom, bespoke

Affluent travelers’ favorite source of travel inspiration and advice — after family and friends — is print travel magazines.

About 40% of affluent travelers use travel magazines at the idea and planning stage. About 30% rely on the advertisements in those magazines. Newspapers, guidebooks, online materials, destination websites, TV — all came in significantly lower.

More than 30% of affluent travelers visited a TripAdvisor-style user-generated site or blog during the past year for information about a destination or a travel service provider.

Among these online researchers, 75% said they prefered to read individual reviews rather than rely on a rating alone. Only one in five of them said they trusted online reviews more than the opinions of their friends and family.

High-priced trips

The affluent market is a rich vein to tap for travel agencies. Travelers who earn $250,000 or more annually took an average of 6.2 leisure trips in 2013.

That’s “significantly more” than the 4.7 vacations on average taken by those with an annual household income between $125,000 – $249,999 last year, says MMGY Global.

Offering free WiFi comes at a cost to the hotelier, but so do all amenities like a swimming pool, water and heating.

These costs are recouped in the cost in the room. In the hospitality industry businesses need to stay competitive. Consumers have come to expect free WiFi connections to be available wherever they go, be it in hotels, retailers or coffee shops.

Allowing your customers to connect their WiFi enabled devices (tablet, phone, laptop etc) to the internet with a frustration-free connection could boost your revenue and essentially pay for itself and here are a few reasons why.

The cost is minimal and can be absorbed into either the room rate or other forms of capital expenditure with the organisation. However the real cost is that of potentially not reaching maximum occupancy. While free WiFi can be seen as a cost, it is commonly established that giving guests the freedom to select your hotel is made much easier when you advertise a free WiFi service. Only a true WiFi hotspot can allow hoteliers to have a free WiFi service with total ease yet derive value from it in a number of different ways.

One common method is monetisation, however there is a fine line before advertising becomes a hindrance to the core free WiFi service that all hotels strive to provide. The delivery of a stable, reliable and accountable free WiFi service gives hotels the freedom to use a Hotspot that works for them and is the secret to success, as it can keep guests and hoteliers alike happy.

Customer demand

Technology is all around us, and the increase in WiFi-enabled gadgets will continue to rise. With one in three travellers admitting to specifically searching out a hotel to stay in that provides a good WiFi connection, can you afford not to?

Guests and visitors online commonly carry more than one WiFi enabled device. Addressing this need alone can be a challenging one that can have cost implications. The guest will demand the freedom to use more than one of their devices. The challenge appears when the Internet connectivity, usually broadband or fibre, is being dominated by a minority of guests (or even just one). A quality hotspot service can alleviate this issue using a matrix of controls to provide and manage a free WiFi service that ensures the guest user experience is a positive one.

With the plethora of different WiFi enabled devices carried, the need to adapt to the end users needs is paramount. A quality hotspot will give the guest the freedom to have a similar experience on any of their devices whether tablet or smartphone, Android to Apple. Familiarity and ease of use ensure customer demand is translated into a productive and pleasant part of their stay.

Marketing tool

Offering a competitive WiFi connection can sometimes be seen as a big upfront cost but one of the biggest advantages is being able to use it as a marketing tool for your hotel.

The migration from charging for WiFi, coupled with the ever decreasing WiFi revenue can be at times daunting for the FD or GM. However this should be seen as an opportunity to focus on the core product - namely occupancy. Free WiFi seen as a marketing tool can achieve just that.

Most hoteliers would agree that no two guests are alike. Giving choice in the form of product differentiation is a perfect way to provide guests with value and increase satisfaction levels. This can be adapted to how free WiFi is offered to guests. Having a customer login experience that is part of your guest journey can be integrated in a marketing centric manner. Allowing guests and visitors to login using their Social Media account can not only act as free marketing for your business but also be part of your bigger digital marketing plan, whilst delivering simple and reliable free WiFi to your guests.

A WiFi hotspot can provide you with valuable data about your customers. This amazing insight can be useful for your internal marketing both short and long term. With an ever growing audience of WiFi users at your establishment, this can be translated into an increasing amount of intelligence about your customers. Focusing on the right audience, your focus can be fine tuned into providing a better experience for your guests, giving them the right reasons to remain repeat customers as well as encouraging new value purchases enhancing the bottom line into a healthy margin. Gathering data can be quick and simple. For example, each customer can be prompted to fill in a few details before joining your network or you can even use it to pop up promotional offers in front of the customers eyes when you have their full attention.

Hotel reputation

The facilities hotels offer has an effect on the reputation of the hotel. Offering free WiFi means guests are more likely to leave positive reviews and recommend your hotel to others.

Some hotels are of the opinion if they offer free hotel internet then customers will stop buying in-room entertainment, or indeed that nothing should be considered free as they’re running a business. Hotels need to evaluate what market share they’re possibly losing by not offering the service and that choice depends on your brand and your typical customer or market share you have as to what strategy you employ.

One simple fact to leave you with: advertising your Free WiFi on the booking engines (tick box) gives you a wide audience, otherwise missed.

Bal Rana is the founder and Business Development Manager of Freedom Hotspot. Bal is a veteran in the IT industry with 18 years of experience. His passion for all things wireless and the desire to make technology accessible to everyone, led to the founding of Freedom Hotspot in 2003. Carrying the beliefs that WiFi Hotspot technology is ultimately in the business of connecting people in a way that is feasible and sustainable, Bal works tirelessly to provide a seamless solution.

With the Call for Entries being announced for the video-based 2014 Accommodation Achiever Awards now is a good opportunity to consider incorporating a video element to your online marketing strategy. Video production does require a more orchestrated effort in terms of outlay, but the results can be well worth it. CRISTIAN TRWILLO, Director at Creativecreations.tv (AAoA Silver Partner) explains why using video as an effective communication tool can provide the required level of differentiation for your online and social media profiles.

The advantages video gives as a marketing tool are the simplest and the most effective. Unlike text and a couple of still pictures, video captures two of the three ways people process content best, sight and sound. Even as you’re reading this, someone might be talking to you and so your attention is split. Watch a film or a television commercial, and suddenly the environment you see before you is around you. In that moment everything else is secondary and the amount of information that can be communicated to your audience is staggering.

While another business's clients have to wade through a plethora of text, a business that uses video communicates almost three times as much content through the visual. Adding to this the written audio element, it is no wonder text based communications rind it extremely difficult to compete on the immersive factor that is so intrinsic to video.

Facts about video;

• A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words

• The chances of getting a page one listing on google search increases by 53 times with video

• By 2017 video will be 90% of all internet traffic;

• Over 1 billion unique users visit YouTube every month; and

• Online videos are 100% more socially engaging.

Video marketing can get you:

• More click throughs;

• More exposure;

• More social engagement;

• 46% more conversion lift; and

• 139% more brand impact.

Benefits of video:

• Online video is one of the most valuable and effective means of promoting your business, no matter whether you are a small business or a multinational company;

• Video grabs attention like nothing else. People are more likely to watch a visually stimulating video about your products than they are to read a text document;

• Viewers can access video from virtually everywhere thanks to portable devices and widely available, low-cost, high-speed inter-net connections; and

• Online videos can create awareness to the viewers, online video is interactive, measurable and costs less per view than any form of print media.

While every single bit of information may not be remembered, it is this immersive experience of having engagement that also encourages behavior improving your potential new client’s click-through rate and increases chances of their consideration and awareness of your brand. However, it is also the ease of the medium that still gives video the edge over other traditional communication, tools.

The lower demand of effort on behalf of your audience, coupled with a higher engagement factor than plain text, makes video the most shareable and sociable. This promotes an emotional engagement and lends itself well to the very much prized word of mouth mar¬keting. Once you've nailed down the kinds of elements and emphases you need in a quality video, it is this kind of advantage that helps build your initial investment in video market¬ing into an even more effective, powerful (and potentially more profitable) piece of commu¬nication. Your competitors will be wondering why they hadn’t thought of doing it first.

Not that long ago I read a post about conference speakers who secured their place on the podium by becoming a sponsor for an event.

While this "pay to say" practice was itself met with mixed reviews, what attracted the greatest level of consternation from readers was the fact that attendees were not made aware of this "arrangement." The general consensus was that by not informing the attendees that their speakers had actually paid to stand up before them was misleading, and as such drew into question the creditability of the entire venue.

It is an interesting subject for debate, because even though conference organizers have to provide added incentives to retain existing sponsors, while attracting new ones, there is a risk that events could ultimately be viewed as nothing more that Kevin Trudeau-type infomercials.

So here is the question; if the speaker option is pulled from the table as a sponsor incentive, how do sponsors actually justify paying what in some cases are significant fees to be featured at a conference or event?

In other words, what is the return - and I am talking about tangible return - on conference sponsorships beyond vague references to brand recognition?

Despite my best efforts to seek out actual studies providing this information, I was disappointed to discover that none was available.

Given the absence of any substantive data, I chose to pose the question on one of my other social networking sites. While obviously more subjective that factual, it nonetheless shed an interesting albeit limited light on whether or not sponsorships actually pay-off.

The one common response I seemed to receive is that you need to make a significant number of connections at an event to realize a minimal return in terms of actual sales. One commenter suggested that based on their experience " . . . lead generation at a conference (resulting in a potential sale) is about 2 per 1000."

If this is in fact an accurate number then a sponsor better have a high ticket product or service to sell in order to recoup their investment.

Big ticket sales notwithstanding, how do you measure or calculate the return on your conference sponsorship?

In an attempt to get the answer, I once again did a search using Google and struck information pay-dirt so to speak, when I came across a site that actually professes to have a sponsorship measurement formula.

The first step according to the site is to "understand your objectives," and "define what success looks like." Specifically what would you consider to be a successful outcome or result of your sponsorship participation.

Once you have done this, you would then have to "design a custom measurement program to determine how well your sponsorship is achieving any number of objectives" including;

Enhancing brand imageIncreasing sales/market shareBuilding awarenessIncreasing web trafficGenerating social media buzzIn short, what are each of the above objectives worth to you in relation to your existing business model.

Once again, the above criteria seems to make a great deal of sense but, appears to be long on concept and short on actual formulas.

The reason for this according to the site's owner is that "there can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to measurement," and that "each partnership comprises different sets of objectives and benefits that must be taken into account." This means that the measurement framework has to be done on an individual case-by-case basis.

All of this leads me to wonder if anyone really knows how to quantify the return on their sponsorship dollars. It also leads me to believe that for many, the decision to become a sponsor is based more on the fear of somehow being left out or left behind by the competition, as opposed to an actual calculation. Kind of like cod liver oil in that you take it not because it tastes good but, because it is good for you.

So here is my question to you . . . why do you become a sponsor, and how do you measure (or perhaps justify would be a better word), your investment?

If you ever walk into a room filled with hoteliers or folks working within the hotel marketing field, there are a variety of ways to strike a conversation, but most certainly one topic that will get the discussion to truly heat up: the relationship with online travel agencies, better known as OTAs.

It remains unclear if the likes of Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Booking, Hotels.com or Priceline are friends or foe, but they most certainly represent a must component of the online travel distribution as we know it. And I am not even talking about meta-search engines, such as Trivago, Kayak, Hipmunk or even TripAdvisor, which are a different lot. Some folks embrace them wholeheartedly, while others loathe them with a passion. Yup, it's love-hate relationship, alright!

What's at stake?

Let's be honest, this confrontation between hotels and OTAs has been many years in the making. This perception gap was once again revealed in a recent survey, conducted by Ipsos for TripAdvisor earlier this month. While 95% of global travelers said price was the most important factor in booking an accommodation, only 50% of global hoteliers identified that factor as having the biggest impact on traveler bookings. Go figure!

Travelers seem to enjoy using OTAs as a one-stop-shop where prices are usually ultra-competitive, and user experience is second to none on most devices (desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet). Some online agencies, such as Hotels.com even offer loyalty programs, where you get a free room for every 10 nights booked with them. So what's the fuss? Here are the usual complaints from hoteliers:

    Commission levels: Whenever you make a reservation on Booking.com, the hotel pays out a commission of 15-18%, sometimes more. With Expedia, it's even higher, at 25% or more, depending if you opt-in for preferred display and advertisement. These commission levels are undergoing changes and negotiations as we speak, due to industry pressure from leading hotel chains, but it remains nevertheless the number one issue.

    Restrictive conditions: Hotels, inns, hostels... everybody who signs with OTAs are required to sign complex and details contracts that demand rate parity, rate integrity, and room availability, among key conditions. In other words, a hotel can't show a lower rate on his own website, nor can he make some rooms available on a site while unavailable on another. Some of these conditions are under fire in Europe, in particular in France, Germany and the UK where it goes against anti-competitive laws.

    Online reputation: If a traveler writes a comment, positive or negative, on TripAdvisor or Yelp, hoteliers can respond publicly. It gives context to the situation. But if you have a bad experience and write up a comment on Booking.com? Hoteliers can respond to you privately, but it won't show on the site. So users only see traveler reviews, and not the hotel response. Not good for hotels, nor for site users who don't get the complete picture.

    Loss of direct relationship with clients: The OTAs have developed such brand equity and user loyalty that many tend to book over and over with them. It makes sense when someone is planning a two weeks vacation, to make most reservations on one platform such as Expedia or Booking. But when folks reserve just for one night in a property they are familiar with, some may wonder why bookings are made on the OTA site rather than directly on the hotel website.

In France, hotel associations are grouping together to create a new movement, called Fairbooking. The goal is to educate the population on the merits of booking direct with hoteliers, with upgrades or free breakfast in tow for those who choose to do so. Over 1,000 hotels have joined forces, but is the general public taking notice? This reminds me somewhat of RoomKey, another similar initiative that was started in North America by leading hotel chains. Another well-meaning effort, but it is gaining any traction with the general public if there is no serious advertisement effort to back it up?

The opportunities

Yet, for all the complaining we hear, online travel agencies still contribute positively by bringing in substantial revenues. Here are a few areas of opportunities for those who embrace them:

    The "billboard effect": According to a Cornell University study, hotels listed on Expedia will benefit from reservations directly to their site, simply as a consequence of being seen on Expedia. Incremental reservations will vary from 8% to 26%, depending on the type of hotel - independent hotels are the ones who seem to benefit most! Bearing in mind the substantial amounts of money OTAs are spending online, this reason alone should be enough to consider playing along. Did you know Priceline (through its subsidiary Booking.com) is the second biggest client of Google AdWords in the world? And they are now investing in traditional mass media too, thus educating the general public of their virtues.

    Copy and paste: I am not suggesting that hotel website ought to copy and paste what is being done on OTA sites, but what's wrong with inspiring yourself from best practices? Some hotel websites are so outdated, yet they insist on presenting certain types of rooms or other details that don't matter much to travelers. Most OTA sites and mobile applications are on their 4th or 5th generation, have great UX and showcase seamlessly what travelers want to see without having to click too many times. Hotel sites should watch, learn and replicate what seems to work, rather than ignore the evolution in customer needs and wants online. Check out the image below for some examples!

Notice a few things that put positive "pressure" on the consumer looking at this hotel listing on Booking.com for New York City:

    There are 21 people looking at this hotel. Is this really true? Who knows, who cares... it must be popular, right?

    Latest booking: 10 minutes ago. And it also says there are 5 rooms left. Gee, I must book fast or I may not get this property...

    Usual price if 657$ but I can save almost 110$ if I book now, since it's "only" 548$. A real bargain (really??), right?

    Free cancellation - PAY LATER. Well, as a consumer, I feel like there is no risk associated with making a reservation. So why not go ahead and book, and I can always cancel later. Most people won't, though.

    Not sure about this room type or the rate? There are 5 more room types available to look at.

These are a few examples of things hotels could do as well on their own website, just looking at one listing. There are lots more many best practices that could be replicated too.

    Direct relationship: While the booking may have come from a third-party, some hotels embrace this as an opportunity to retain the customer by asking their email upon checking-in, either to become part of the hotel loyalty program, or either to take advantage of a promotion. After I had booked a Montreal hotel through Hotwire, the staff at the reception gave me a 25$ coupon for my next reservation, which had to be made online, on their site. Brilliant!

Finally, most online travel agencies have a cookie-cutter approach and standardised offer on hand. Hotels, on the other hand, can highlight their own distinctive personalities through compelling visual storytelling and a dynamic content marketing strategy: blog posts, social media and newsletters, among other tactics. Thus, there is more potential for collaboration than ruthless competition in this relationship, assuming hoteliers play their cards right, have a recent, mobile-friendly website and a content marketing approach to draw travelers online.

By Frederic Gonzalo

Dress the dead horse into a camel and sell it as an innovation. Don't want to innovate?

Read this:

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.

The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.

The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth.Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting a different result”.

By John Buchanan

HNN contributor

REPORT FROM THE U.S.—After seeing complimentary Wi-Fi service become ubiquitous at limited- and select-service hotels, owner-operators of full-service properties are now facing growing pressures from consumers and brands to provide a tiered program that features free, property-wide basic service while charging for premium broadband access.

  "What we're seeing now is more brands responding to consumer demand, because there has been a clear indication from consumers that basic connectivity is something they now expect us to provide (at no cost)," said Bill DeForrest, president and CEO of Chicago-based Spire Hospitality, which manages 22 properties including two full-service hotels under the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand.

  For the past decade, full-service hotels largely resisted growing consumer demands for complimentary Wi-Fi because paid Internet service represented a significant revenue stream for large properties in major cities, said Mark Carrier, president of B.F. Saul Company Hospitality Group, which owns and/or manages 20 properties in the United States, including some full-service hotels.

  More recently, however, major hotel companies that have offered free Wi-Fi for several years at limited- and select-service brands have recognized that free basic Wi-Fi is indeed now a consumer expectation. In response, they have begun developing tiered offerings that satisfy customer demands while also leaving open the possibility of revenue for premium service.

  So far, the free offering has typically been limited to rewards club members.

  The race is on

Marriott International introduced tiered pricing about a year ago at its Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott and Renaissance Hotels properties. Tiered service is now a U.S. brand standard, said Marriott representative John Wolf, and about half of the properties represented by the three brands now offer it. The others will continue to roll it out.   All Gold and Platinum Marriott Rewards members in the U.S. and Canada now receive free high-speed Internet access. If the property offers tiered options, members receive premium service at no charge.

  In January, Hilton Worldwide Holdings—which introduced free Wi-Fi in September 2010 at its full-service properties for Hilton HHonors Gold and Diamond members—introduced tiered service that is now being rolled out in its focused-service and extended-stay hotels.

    "Many of our full-service and luxury hotels currently offer tiered options for guests, and we expect the prevalence of these options to increase across more properties, because it offers guests more choice and control to meet their individual needs," said Hilton representative Blake Rouhani.

  Hyatt Hotels Corporation now offers free high-speed service to its Hyatt Gold Passport platinum and diamond members, and at its full-service Park Hyatt and Andaz brands. At Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt properties, there is tiered service, but both tiers are paid. Typical rates are between $9.95 and $14.95 per day.

  Omni Hotels & Resorts offers tiered service at about half of its properties. "Deluxe" (3mb) service is complimentary for all Select Guest members and $9.95 per day for non-members. "Premium" (6mb) service is $4.95 per day for Select Guest members and $14.95 per day for non-members.

  For now, at least, a major holdout is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. At its full-service hotels, Starwood Preferred Guest Gold members can choose free Wi-Fi as their check-in gift, while Platinum members automatically receive it. Starwood Hotels has no plans to introduce tiered service, according to representative Maire Griffin.

    Upping the ante

In January, Loews Hotels & Resorts announced a tiered Wi-Fi program that includes free basic service for all guests at its 18 North American properties. Although pricing for premium service varies by market, free basic Wi-Fi is now a Loews brand standard.

    About 18 months ago, the Four Seasons Westlake Village, in the suburbs of Los Angeles, also introduced tiered service that includes free basic Wi-Fi for all guests. All overnight guests now receive basic Wi-Fi at no cost for up to two devices. Premium service for up to four devices is $12 per day. All suite buyers who purchase at rack rate receive premium Wi-Fi package at no cost.

    "Our decision was based on consumer demand and also on the understanding that most business travelers now bring at least two devices: a phone and then either a laptop or tablet," said Director of Rooms Billy Cueto, adding that the initiative was taken by the Castle & Cooke-owned property, not the Four Seasons brand.

    "But the brand is aware of and in support of what we're doing and is moving toward this model brand-wide," Cueto said.

  Paying the bills

Although early indicators are that tiered Wi-Fi that includes free basic service for all guests will eventually become an industry-standard model for full-service hotels, it is owner-operators who will pay 100% of the cost, according to DeForrest and Carrier.

  "But what the brands are doing, which I think is the right thing, is providing information on what the consumer wants and things like how much bandwidth you have to provide to meet the standards customers are looking for," said DeForrest, who expects that Spire will begin offering tiered service at its full-service Hilton properties in Jackson, Mississippi, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, by the end of this year.

  "Based on what I've heard from hotel operators I respect, tiered service is a reasonable way to fund the capital requirements of providing (free) basic service and also providing the bigger bandwidth that some customers want and are willing to pay for," he said.   However, he added, based on what he hears from his GMs and anecdotally, only a relatively small percentage of guests will pay for premium service. Carrier agreed, predicting that only about 10% to 20% will pay for broadband.

  "So the revenue you're going to see will probably never cover the costs of providing the free service, but it is going to help offset some of those costs," DeForrest said.   Carrier cited a longstanding rationale from many full-service hotel operators who made money selling Internet access: "Why should I start to give away something I'm making money from?"

    His concern, he said, is that as the growing complexity and costs of state-of-the-art technology continue to increase, there will be new and additional cost pressures put on hotel operators in their quest to meet ever-increasing consumer expectations, including the number of devices that must be accommodated by free service and ever-improving bandwidth.

    "But right now," he said, "I think everyone is just dealing with the challenge that by making (basic Wi-Fi) free as an industry, we have undermined what could have been at least a cost-recovery model. But now it's too late. The ship has sailed."  - See more at: http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Article/13509/Tiered-Wi-Fi-emerges-as-new-industry-model#sthash.6EhNIRGB.dpuf