May 7, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

Orbitz has recently launched its Summer Sale promotion and the implications are far reaching. The Orbitz summer sale is similar to those run by their top tier competitors at this time of year, with one exception. Users can enter the promo code SUMMERSALE10 and receive an additional 10% off their room rate. Here’s the kicker:  Orbitz is paying the 10% out of their margin.

Before we discuss what this could mean for the industry, I want to make a couple quick points. Online Travel Agents (OTA) gained significant strength during the previous economic downturn. Hoteliers were desperate for revenue, and these channels offered a new and powerful way to reach consumers. Hotels signed up in droves, and global travel brands like Orbitz ca...Read More

April 24, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

"If we change our meta data structure, launch an aggressive inbound link strategy, reprogram the site in AJAX and focus on keyword density, we should see a nice improvement in page rank."

Come again?

In my experience, search firms excel at confusing their clients with technical terms and phony metrics. As a hotelier, you don’t care if your page rank improves. You care if your revenue and market share grow. So how do you manage these technical firms to success?  First, it helps to understand the basic nature of an SEO (search engine optimization) firm’s relationship with its clients.

Do you ever get the feeling that all of the tech-speak is just smoke and mirrors to cover poor performance from your SEO firm? Chances are you are right. Optimization firms are in a precarious position. Most of their clients do not...Read More

Industries: Sales & Marketing

April 16, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

Does this sound familiar? An upscale hotel or resort spends weeks and sometimes even months creating with painstaking detail a direct mail piece. Copy is written and re-written, photo selection is labored over and unique attributes are debated. Any marketing or advertising expert worth their salt would say something like, “Controlling your brand is critical to its long-term integrity. We must work hard to ensure that every execution, be it a radio spot or a direct mail piece, meets our pre-defined graphic and brand standards.”

True. You didn’t spend all that money on that curvy logo or typeface with a name nobody can pronounce just to have it bastardized with poor creative executions. Consistency is critical, which brings us back to the group working for weeks on a direct mail piece targeting maybe 30,000 consumers. All involved are focused on maki...Read More

Industries: Sales & Marketing, Technology

April 9, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I am frequently asked for new or unique ways to utilize social media to benefit a hotel or resort. While it is fun to think about grand marketing ideas, there seems to be a simple but important application fit for current economic conditions.

Much has been written recently about the current slowdown in the economy and how hoteliers are reacting to protect their bottom line. In a recent article in Business Travel News Online, Bjorn Hanson of PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested:

“Hotels also will continue to increase the fees and surcharges imposed on guests, Hanson said. In 2007, the industry collected US$1.75 billion in such fees and surcharges as minibar restocking fees, baggage holding fees, Internet service and increased fax charges, he said.”

This direction is to be expected. If history repeats itself, when the economy tigh...Read More

Industries: Sales & Marketing, Technology

March 18, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Welcome to the inaugural eMarketing Muse blog. I am honored at the opportunity to post my thoughts every week through the Hotels magazine Web site. Interaction is pivotal to the success of this blog. Throughout my posts, I will be asking for comments and examples from you, the reader, making this an interactive forum designed by hotel operators for hotel operators.  

In this initial blog post, I will talk about the use of blogs and other “social media” applications by the hospitality industry. According to Wikipedia, Social Media uses the “wisdom of crowds” to connect information in a collaborative manner. Over the past 12-18 months, the industry has woken up to this wave of new media. Many forward-thinking writers and ...Read More
Industries: Sales & Marketing