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How Hoteliers Can Optimize Their Digital Marketing Spend During a Market Downturn

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:01:34 +0000

The rise of Chinese travel in the last two decades means that the proportion of travelers affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has surpassed the 2003 SARS health crisis. But the hospitality industry has been through crises before – and proved that hotels that made smart strategic decisions can come out winners in the long-term.

Many hotels, especially those in Asia, are having to make urgent adjustments in their strategies as they try to shore up their profits. But it’s hard to know where to make changes without jeopardizing your revenue post-crisis. That’s why we’ve collected the best advice from hoteliers around the world on how they’ve responded to crises in the past, and how they’re adjusting strategies to win in the time of coronavirus.

How to optimize your digital marketing spend to capture existing demand

Hotels that spend significantly more on marketing in the downturn can get 18.5% higher RevPAR compared to hotels that cut their marketing spend. Whilst all hotels in crisis can expect lower occupancy, data shows that there is a strong positive relationship between marketing expenditures and performance in times of crisis.

Investing your digital marketing budget in revenue drivers as metasearch and retargeting can help you achieve a payoff not only in the tough times but also in the long term.

“The crisis often means there will be limited demand for your rooms. That’s why you shouldn’t invest in the upper-funnel marketing activities aimed at brand awareness and demand generation. Instead, try to capture any demand that already exists,” says Chetan Patel, VP Digital and CRM at ONYX Hospitality Group.

“If a user is looking at your property on metasearch, they already have the intent to book. Invest more on search and metasearch to capture as many of these high-intent customers as possible and lead them to your hotel website.”

In our Hotel Metasearch Handbook, we’ve used the data from over 10,000 hotel partners to find best practices and give you tips on how to optimize your bidding strategy. Download our free guide.

To capture more business amongst the existent demand, you can focus on converting hot leads – customers that have already visited your hotel website. Retargeting is an incredibly effective way to do this – by showing adverts to people who have already been on your direct website, you can try to convince those who are likely to stay at your hotel. Blessy Townes, Hotel Hero and VP & Head of Digital Marketing and Branding at Discovery Hotels, shares that Discovery is “aggressively targeting users who, despite the situation, exhibit travel intent or trip consideration on their digital channels.”

How to reassure your customers – and reduce the number of cancellations

To discourage cancellations and generate high volumes of new business, you need to at least be able to persuade hesitant customers to keep their travel plans – and encourage new ones to book. Use various communication methods, such as website messages, emails and phone calls, to let them know that:

You care about their health and take extra measures at your property
You offer a refund if they choose to cancel their trip

Here’s a great example of a message communicated on the website of our partner hotel, The Peninsula Bangkok:

“Whilst this current crisis is ongoing, we would like to reassure our guests from around the world that their safety and security and that of our staff remains our highest priority. (…) In all our hotels, we are strictly adhering to the advice of local government authorities, following stringent health and safety guidelines and taking the highest level of preventative measures to keep our guests and staff safe.”

For hotels outside of Asia-Pacific, it’s just as important to recognize the general increase in nervousness around travel – even among non-Asian guests.

“We currently aren’t allocating our digital spend to promotions and offers for generating demand,” Justyn Hornor, Hotel Hero and Director of Product Management at MGM Resorts International. “Instead, we’re ensuring our guests are aware that we’re doing a lot to ensure their health and safety at our properties.”

“This includes internal communications to employees, reinforcing healthy grooming habits and spreading general awareness of what symptoms to watch out for. Our approach is to acknowledge the situation and publicly communicate the health measures taken at our properties.”

Telling customers about your efforts around keeping them safe can help reduce the general nervousness around traveling to your destination, but reassuring that they can cancel is what can persuade them to book. The rules around cancellation and refund should be clear and easy to find both on your website and booking engine. Read on to find out how you can adjust your cancellation policy without risking losing on revenue in the long-term.

How to adjust pricing and cancellation policies without jeopardizing your future revenue

“I personally don’t believe in reducing prices to attract business in times of crisis,” says Sunish Sadasivan, Hotel Hero and Vice President of E-Commerce & Revenue Management at Chroma Hospitality. “In the 2008 Financial crisis, we panicked and dropped our rates significantly. When the time came to analyze results, we found that we lost in terms of RevPAR compared to some of the competitors who stuck to their rates.”

“But it can be case-sensitive. We have to reduce rates for some of our hotels to ensure that we are still competitive. However, in markets where our hotels had a better brand reputation, we maintained our normal rates and added on special packages – such as specific targeted offers for domestic travelers.”

Lower-tier hotels were most aggressive in lowering their room rates during the SARS outbreak. Driven by uncertainty, some hotels extended their special rate contracts with corporate clients into the peak season – but this brought down the average room rate even after the removal of the World Health Organization (WHO) travel advisory.

“To be in line with your competition, monitor what’s happening in the market. If you drop your rate too low, you’ll be leaving money on the table – and it can be hard to recover post-crisis!” warns Chetan Patel of ONYX Hospitality Group. “Focus on getting the price right and offer flexible cancellation conditions. If your customers have confidence that they can cancel, they’ll be more open to booking at your property.”

The impact of high cancellation volumes over the next few months can be mitigated with more flexible rebooking policies. Consider waiving change penalties for stays due in the upcoming few months, and allow guests to postpone their stay free of charge.

“In terms of our approach to cancellations, our hotels in China and associated regions have been given the most flexible cancellation and amendment options,” says Sunish. “We’ve handled our other markets on a case by case basis, with most of them allowing guests to amend their stays up to the end of November. In some cases, we’ve even allowed guests to postpone to 2021.”

The crisis also impacts hotels globally, with Chinese outbound air departures at a nearly 60% decrease compared to the same period last year. “Las Vegas has been hit especially hard by the impact of coronavirus,” says Justyn of MGM Resorts International. “We’ve seen large events cancel and our typically large contingent of guests from Asia has dropped to near-zero.”

The US hotels suffering from a significant decline in Chinese travel can also adjust their revenue-driving strategies to compensate for the loss of business due to cancellations. “Those properties that are seeing cancellations could adopt a domestic strategy utilizing non-refundable discounts. You could also try to bundle your rates – and layer on as much non-refundable business as possible,” suggests Katherine Solomon, Hotel Hero and Corporate Director of Revenue Management at Arlo Hotels.

How to drive more business opportunities in alternative markets?

The steep drop in outbound Chinese travel is forcing hotels to look for other opportunities to fill vacant rooms. The hotel occupancy declined by 75% in mainland China over the usually lucrative Chinese New Year holiday period. But it’s not just Chinese hotels that have been affected: even excluding China and Hong Kong, outbound travel from the rest of Asia has declined by over 10% compared to last year.

But the outbound travel drop is an opportunity for hotels in Asia to attract customers from their local markets:

“At Discovery Hospitality, we rely on the local market to replace lost business,” shares Blessy. “We reassure our hesitant guests that it’s safe to travel locally. We also ‘soft-sell’ on social media to project sensitivity and provide inspiration to our followers. Surprisingly, despite the decline in other segments, our direct bookings for January remained strong!”

“We expect the locals to be more resilient – and we expect to be able to attract more of them to book and experience our hotels,” adds Sunish of Chroma Hospitality. “That’s why we shifted our digital advertising spend to the domestic market.” He suggests that participating in local travel fairs and mall sales can also help drive more business locally.

“Locals will still be willing to travel, but there are also some other markets that are less sensitive to this crisis situation. For example, at ONYX Hospitality we still see a flow of tourists from India,” says Chetan. To capture these markets, work out an easier pricing gear towards this market and create extra perks targeted towards these people that you can add on to your direct channels.”

Creativity and entrepreneurship is the key to succeeding in driving more business opportunities in the domestic market. Consider partnering up with local tour operators, adjusting your offers to appeal to locals and using paid media to target local traffic. On your website, ensure that your messages are segmented to target domestic traffic or visitors from less crisis-sensitive countries. In these messages, your direct booking perks should be tailored to appeal to these different audiences. To get you started, we outlined some best practices and examples.

How to come out winners in the long term?

While it might be tempting to cut all costs, history taught us that smart digital marketing budget allocation can help you gain in the long run. Listed above are just some of the building blocks of effective crisis management. The key is to learn from the past, be creative in locating your business-driving opportunities, be flexible with your digital spend.

“While there is little we can do in the way of stopping the cancellations, we’ve been heads down planning for the rebound, “ says Justyn of MGM Resorts International. “We’re watching closely what virologists are saying regarding the spread of the coronavirus so we can anticipate the point when sentiment shifts.”

The hotel industry has gone through crises before – and recovered. After the SARS epidemic was officially defeated, Ctrip reported 82% increase in flights bookings in just one month. If history is to repeat itself, hoteliers in Asia might see a dramatic uptake in Chinese outbound travel when the ban is lifted. When making urgent decisions, remember that your hotel needs to be ready for this rebound period.

“We need to remember that when the market bounces back, it will be more difficult to push the rate up especially when the discounting has been too high in the crisis period,” says Sunish of Chroma Hospitality. ”This is the time for hotels in Asia when each department needs to think of new initiatives to drive revenue and commit not only to surviving but also coming out winners.”

Alisa Voitika is Brand and Content Manager at Triptease. The Triptease Platform is built to help hotels take back control of their distribution and increase their direct revenue. Our platform identifies a hotel’s most valuable guests then works across the entire customer journey – from acquisition to conversion – to make sure they book directly at the hotel. To better understand how you can dramatically increase return on investment with retargeting, watch our Retargeting Webinar Series.

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Alila Hotels and Resorts Partners with Sabre to Increase Website Revenue through Personalized Digital Marketing

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 12:18:10 +0000

A strategic agreement between Alila Hotels and Resorts and leading technology provider to the global travel industry, Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), has helped to enable the luxury hotel brand to record significant incremental growth. Propelled by the need to drive both brand loyalty and individual property personality, the partnership made it possible for Alila to develop a personalized digital marketing strategy for its unique locations.

Since the implementation of innovative solutions from Sabre’s SynXis platform, the partnership has generated overwhelmingly positive results for Alila, including an 82 percent increase in website revenue and a 50 percent growth in web traffic.

With properties located across Asia Pacific, the Alila experience is centered around a deep understanding of the needs of their guests who seek opportunities for intimate cultural interactions within curated, global destinations. “We needed to know how to capitalize on the personalized experiences that we offer at each resort, while promoting the brand,” said Alonzo Kaya, group director of digital & e-commerce, Alila Hotels & Resorts.

“Sabre’s deep industry expertise and cutting-edge solutions allowed us to upscale and align our digital marketing efforts and ensure that our investments provide a centralized source of data for all of our guests. This partnership gives us the ability to produce offers personalized to the guest profile, which has led to significant revenue growth for numerous properties,” he added.

Previously working within a highly siloed environment, Alila Hotel and Resorts chose to overhaul their digital strategy. Leveraging the consultative expertise of Sabre’s Digital Experience (DX) and powerful SynXis platform helped uncover discrepancies within their digital booking process which gave Alila Hotels & Resorts the ability to develop and execute a strategy to drive direct online bookings. This proved to be an essential step to centralize customer data and promote tailored experiences to key guest segments. Ultimately, taking full advantage of their own data helped the Alila brand appeal to a demographic who is motivated, not by price, but by the draw of handcrafted luxury.

“Today, Alila Hotel & Resorts can run targeted digital marketing campaigns, designed with the individual personality and performance goals of each property in mind. Instead of competing solely on price to drive awareness, the chain now has the visibility to leverage their data in driving brand recognition and loyalty wherever their guests may seek their next Alila experience,” said Frank Trampert, Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer, EMEA & APAC, Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

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Email Advertising: The Key to Unlocking Hotel Guest Engagement

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 05:46:57 +0000

With hotel occupancy and revenue forecasts forecast to grow slower than expected over the next year, hospitality brands are working extra hard to attract guests with cool tech to meet guests ever-growing expectations. From mobile keys, booking and check-in to in-room tech like interactive devices, many brands are hoping to woo guests with trendy, innovative experiences.

But, getting their attention among a crowded field of options to even book a room remains a challenge. With so much competition for travelers’ time and attention, it’s hard for many brands to rise above the noise and actually reach their intended audience. Social media remains a popular channel, but with constant changes to platform policies, targeting schemes and content algorithms, its nearly impossible to be certain your message is reaching the right guests. Not to mention, the channel has become so saturated, creating advertising fatigue for consumers.

Amid the innovation frenzy, it turns out that an old standby—email—is reemerging as one of the most engaging “new” channels for reaching target audiences with relevant, actionable content. By creating highly-personalized email advertising campaigns, hotel properties can reach a precisely refined audience to deliver highly relevant content that drives clicks, brand engagement and revenue.

There are three options for executing an email advertising strategy, which can be used singularly or in combination for maximum effect.

Hotel brands can partner directly with email newsletter publishers—everything from travel industry publishers, mainstream media like newspapers and magazines to partner brands that send regular campaigns to subscribers. Hotel brands can place native CPC-based ads within those newsletters to engage readers and drive brand awareness.
Brands can also join an email advertising network, similar to a digital ad exchange. Hotel brands can upload their creative to the email ad network, and the platform takes care of dropping the ads into publishers’ newsletters based on subscriber demographics and targeting.
Brands can insert partner ads into their own newsletters to monetize their own campaigns. For example, a hotel property may include ads for local attractions into their campaigns to create a new revenue stream and offset the cost of creating and sending those campaigns.

What exactly makes email advertising a winning strategy for growing guest engagement and revenue? Here are four key benefits:

It’s precisely targeted.

CPC-style email advertising uses a combination of known subscriber data, behavior data and demographics to deliver precisely targeted, relevant content dynamically to each subscriber. Unlike social and web-based targeting that are based on relatively vague data, an email address represents a unique personal identifier for the recipient.

For example, where tracking cookies can get jumbled if more than one person uses the same device or browser, email addresses are seldom shared. That means hospitality brands and their advertisers can track precise user behavior tied directly to each individual’s email address.

And, unlike blanket sponsored sends, where a single brand sponsors the campaign distributed to the entire list, dynamically targeted email ads are personalized for each subscriber. For example, if the New York Times sends a campaign, different ads would automatically populate for different subscribers—a reader who’s been researching tropical destinations would see an add for the Hyatt resort in Jamaica, while a reader with an interest in golf might see an ad for the Monterey Marriott.

It’s reliable.

With social media advertising policies and algorithms changing on what seems like a weekly basis, it’s difficult for hotel brands to make certain their content is getting in front of their desired audience. With email, hospitality providers can own the relationship with the subscriber. There is no question about whether the email will reach the right audience—once whitelisted, if the email is sent, it gets delivered to the recipient. Period. No third-party gatekeepers to depend on.

That means, if you send your own campaigns with partner brand advertisements included, your adverting partners are guaranteed delivery of their creative. And, if you place ads in another publisher’s campaigns, you can be sure your creative is reaching the right audience.

It’s trusted.

Email is the preferred channel of brand communication for over 80% of consumers, far outpacing Facebook, a distant second at just 38%. And, because trust is a major factor in purchase decisions for more than two-thirds of adults, and trust is extremely valuable for travel operators, it’s a win-win. Trust in the sender is the No. 1 reason people open and read emails, regardless of the content.

And, that trust in the publisher is conveyed to the advertisers who place ads within email: two-thirds of email users are more likely to click on ads in emails that come from publishers they trust. Hotels can capitalize on consumers’ inherent trust of the channel to drive engagement and monetization.

It’s easy.

For hotels brands that operate their own e-newsletter programs, adding native partner ads can be as simple as dropping a short HTML snippet into existing templates. The email monetization provider takes it from there, filling the space with targeted, relevant content from advertisers based on your subscribers’ known interests, behavior and demographics.

For hotel brands that want to advertise in email, all it takes is providing your creative to the email publisher of your choice or partnering with an email monetization ad network. Joining an ad network allows you to reach far more publishers, hence more subscribers, than you could by forging individual deals.

Some platforms even integrate with Google Ad Manager, making it easy to consolidate and manage your entire email and web programs all in one interface.

Using email advertising to connect with potential guests is a powerful strategy that can help your offers and content rise above the noise of over-saturated social media. By leveraging this trusted channel to precisely target and personalize delivery of relevant content, hotel brands can better attract their audiences’ attention to drive engagement, revenue and ROI.

Jeff Kupietzky serves as CEO of PowerInbox, an innovative technology company helping companies monetize their email newsletters through dynamic content.  Before joining PowerInbox, Jeff served as President and CEO at Oversee.net, managing worldwide operations and building Oversee’s owned and operated portfolio of domain names into one of the world’s largest, establishing the company as the leader in Internet real estate.

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Viewabl Launches Turnkey Solution To Ensure ADA Compliance For Hotel Websites

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 20:22:24 +0000

Less than 1% of hotel websites are ADA compliant, which means they are failing to meet regulatory standards of inclusivity for a diverse range of users. This is frequently due to cost, complexity and misinformation.

To address this challenge, Viewabl has released a first-of-its-kind software that ensures ADA compliance for hotel websites.

The software provides content management system (CMS) services that ensure websites are 100% compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

As compliance issues become more complex, many hotels are struggling to keep up. Viewabl meets strict Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AAA code and content updates to provide a seamless solution for hotels and those with disabilities. It offers easy integration into new and existing websites, as well as dashboard access for content management, editing and updates – without ever breaking compliance or WCAG standards.

Viewabl allows hotels to achieve ADA compliance in just two days, without a costly and lengthy audit, development and remediation process.

ADA-related lawsuits are on the rise, with hotels frequently being sued for website violations due to non-compliance. Viewabl offers peace of mind for hotels with third-party audit tools and automatic updates that keep websites current as standards change.

Founded by CEO Patrick Ahler and CTO Will Song, a Honolulu-based team who have decades of combined digital, revenue management and hotel industry experience, Viewabl has cost-effective monthly and annual plans for small and large hotels across the U.S. – all with no subscription or cancellation fees.

Viewabl can be used directly by hotels as well as by hotel marketing companies on behalf of their clients.

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“Without Rate Parity, You Better Stay Away from Metasearch!” A Discussion with Jan Sammeck of Deutsche Hospitality

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 22:25:01 +0000

TRIPTEASE recently talked with Jan Sammeck, Director of eCommerce at Deutsche Hospitality and author of Online Marketing for Hotels, about the steps hotels can take to build an efficient long-term spending strategy on metasearch in anticipation of the upcoming webinar “Rethinking Metasearch: Why Hotels Have Got It Wrong” (click here to learn more and to register).

Jan was asked about his views on effective metasearch management, the growth of Google, and some classic meta mistakes hotels make.

How valuable is metasearch to Deutsche Hospitality?

Its value is very high. At Deutsche Hospitality, we see that metasearch conversion rates are among the highest of our channels. Today, meta is one of the most effective online marketing mechanisms for generating direct bookings.

With that in mind, how much of their budget should hotels allocate to metasearch?

Practically, there should be no limit to the absolute value of your budget. More importantly, you should continue to spend it as long as you generate a satisfactory ROAS. Or, the inverse of that, the Cost of Sale (COS). For example, if a COS of anything below 14% is acceptable for your hotel, you should spend as much budget as you can on metasearch without exceeding this prohibitive level.

What’s more effective: managing metasearch bids in-house or using a partner?

There are some positives to managing meta auctions in-house. For example, you could respond quicker to rapidly-changing bids than a traditional agency that normally does weekly or monthly bid adjustments. Having knowledge about the meta set-up and management can also mean less dependence on agencies in terms of possible cost-saving, given that your personnel costs are lower than the agency fees.

To be successful on meta, you need the right talent – and it is hard to find. Metasearch management done correctly can also be extremely time-consuming. This time could be invested elsewhere with higher returns, so you need to calculate the opportunity cost of having a meta manager in your hotel vs using a partner’s services.

For hoteliers, the appeal of working with tech partners is that they can ‘set it and forget it’. Of course, it can be easier to keep an eye on your hotel’s results on metasearch without having to go through the nuts and bolts of bid management.

What is the impact of a passive approach to meta bidding (no participation)?

It’s simple: not participating in meta auctions means missing out on direct bookings. Even if bidding can be pricey, meta-allocated bookings can still cost you less than bookings through OTAs.

A passive approach is equal to leaving money on the table, which OTAs will grab.

Is Google the right metasearch channel for everyone?

I believe that Google will continue to dominate the market. So, yes, right now it is the right distribution channel for every hotel – but only under the condition that Google is the dominant search engine in your hotel’s respective region.

But don’t forget about local metasearch sites – if they are popular amongst your guests, you should be adding them to your distribution mix. The distribution budget should then be allocated based on the ROAS generated on these sites.

How much budget should hotels allocate to metasearch?

How do you measure success on meta?

At Deutsche Hospitality, we apply the metrics of ROAS/COS to each meta channel and see whether it fits into the overall COS for any particular hotel’s direct booking revenue.

What are the biggest meta mistakes a hotel can make?

Not having your rates in check! Without rate parity, you better stay away from metasearch. Also, I see some hotels being passive at managing their bids on metasearch, therefore not fully exploiting their revenue potential for this number-one distribution channel or wasting money on clicks that cannot convert!

To find out more about how to build a bidding strategy that marries high volume with high return, join Jan for a webinar on August 28 at 4pm BST. Click here to learn more and to register.

Alisa Voitika is Brand and Content Manager at Triptease.

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SalesAndCatering.com Expands Hotel Client Roster, Partners with 3D Visualization Provider

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 22:24:17 +0000

Hospitality technology solution provider SalesAndCatering.com has announced that Berkshire Hotels Group has added its STS Cloud Sales and Catering System at its two hotels in Massachusetts. The Fairfield Inn by Marriott Williamstown and HI Express Great Barrington now use STS Cloud hotel sales and catering software for all sales and meeting space booking and account tracking, ownership reporting, and sales team evaluation.

The New England properties have active business and leisure markets year-round with corporate clients, transient business, and weddings in the warmer months and skiing groups in winter. They join hundreds of other properties and multi-property hotel groups that have deployed STS Cloud, a full-function, cost effective sales and catering software system.

Last month, SalesAndCatering.com announced a new partnership with 3D visualization provider Visrez. The partnership enables hotel company users of the STS Cloud system to provide clients with realistic event graphics and floor plan diagrams to help close more business. Visrez is a widely-used platform which generates 3D floor plans, interior visuals, virtual reality and interactive maps for the hospitality and events industry.

With no site visits, room set-ups or photo shoots required on property, Visrez developed a powerful graphics tool that generates compelling visual assets off-site which can be updated at any time. Visrez is widely regarded as the leader in 3D Visualization in hospitality offering a suite of products which are used by leading hospitality brands worldwide.

SalesAndCatering.com is a collaboration between Simple Solutions, Inc., the company behind STS-R, a full-featured sales and catering system, and Bluebuzzard, the makers of ProposalPath, a popular online proposal solution.

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New CMS Feature from Vizergy Keeps Hospitality Clients Ahead of the Competition

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:01:05 +0000

Vizergy, the hospitality industry’s leading provider in digital marketing software solutions, just released a feature that will keep their clients ahead of the competition.

The new feature, Vizergy’s Website Performance Analysis, is built directly into their proprietary Content Management System (CMS) to quickly analyze websites for any performance issues. Website pages are loaded dynamically into the latest Google Chrome web browser to be analyzed and then a detailed audit report is automatically generated with any performance issues found. The performance analysis focuses on general issues such as JavaScript and 404 errors, SSL issues, accessibility/ADA issues, and page speed.

“The ever-changing landscape of search marketing requires diligence to ensure that websites are meeting the newest standards for optimal performance,” says Robert Arnold, Vizergy’s president.

“This new feature makes the industry’s best platform even better by instantly analyzing and identifying issues related to page load speeds, security, and perhaps most importantly ADA compliance, an issue affecting every hotel and brand group. The tool provides real time insights and a road map to take action to remedy issues quickly.”

In any industry, specifically hospitality due to the large volume of site visits, it is important to regularly check a website’s performance. Issues with a site’s load speed, accessibility, or security could drastically affect a user’s experience and in turn, affect a property’s direct online revenue. By utilizing the Vizergy Website Performance Analysis as a digital tool, users can maintain an optimized website and identify any performance or accessibility issues that may arise.

Utilizing the Deque’s AXE API, the Vizergy Website Performance Analysis will identify if their site follows the WCAG 2.X and Section 508 specifications without having to rely on a more cumbersome tool. Explanations of negative issues are provided with exact locations and descriptions of issues to help achieve upmost compliance.

Users can fully customize the Vizergy Website Performance Analysis by choosing location, pages, resolutions or any specific issues a user wants to analyze. Once an analysis is run, users are redirected to a results page where the list of issues, if any, were found. Results can be exported to Excel and include a date/time stamp when the analysis took place, and the specific options selected. All reports are saved within a Performance Analysis History page that houses all past reports.

About Vizergy® Digital Marketing

Vizergy serves the world’s hospitality industry with conversion optimized website design and fiercely competitive tools to maximize revenue. Our formula for success includes cutting-edge technologies, proven digital marketing programs and the best professionals in the industry. At Vizergy, hospitality marketing is not only our mission, it’s our sole focus.

For more than 20 years, Vizergy has relentlessly developed and deployed the best marketing technologies and talent to serve thousands of hospitality clients with excellence. The company deploys complete travel life-cycle marketing solutions from responsive website design and development, to proven award–winning digital marketing programs, reservation solutions, media planning and deployment. Vizergy’s platform has long been touted as the #1 digital marketing system for hospitality clients, easy to deploy, turnkey and SMART, empowering clients to win in today’s complex and competitive hospitality industry.

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The Hotels Network Unveils New Solution to Help Hoteliers Outperform OTAs and Competitors on Google Ads

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 01:52:37 +0000

The Hotels Network has unveiled a new solution designed to help hotel brands tackle a growing challenge that is affecting the hotel industry: competitive brand bidding. The new solution, dubbed SEMcheck, aims to provide hotel marketers with the insights they need to better understand competitor activity on Google Ads so they can protect their brand online while optimizing their SEM campaigns.

Created specifically for hotels, SEMcheck uses big data techniques to monitor thousands of searches globally. The tool automatically detects any entity who is bidding on your hotel brand name or other relevant keywords, enabling users to monitor keyword search results in real time. One of the key differentiators of SEMcheck is that it not only provides details of competitor ads such as ad copy and average CPC but critically, a screenshot of the actual search results.

The feedback from hoteliers already using the tool has been extremely positive, with many citing how it helps their teams save time while enabling them to check live search results from anywhere in the world for a particular target audience. Users also highly appreciate the ability to see at a glance how their performance compares in the interactive dashboard.

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Radisson Hotel Group Unveils Its New Global Meetings and Events Platform

Sat, 25 May 2019 03:39:20 +0000

Last year, Radisson Hotel Group (known until last year as Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group) announced that it would embark on a comprehensive five-year strategic plan which includes investments into platforms and technology. The company appears to be making good progress.

Meetings and events were to play an important part in the plan. The company has invested heavily in its meeting venues at its 1,100 hotels worldwide, including such hotel brands as Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson. This week, it announced the launch of its new technology platform, called Radisson Meetings.

Implementation of the state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and distribution platform has already been completed in 55 properties across 11 countries in EMEA. It will be progressively rolled out globally across the group’s portfolio by the end of the five-year operating plan in 2021.

Importantly, with the launch of Radisson Meetings, the company automatically offsets the carbon footprint of every meeting or event taking place at its hotels worldwide, at no cost to attendees or organizers. To do this, it has teamed up with FirstClimate, one of the largest carbon offsetting organizations in the world.

For each meeting, the carbon footprint is calculated and then offset through First Climate by supporting projects that combat climate change and have a positive sustainable development contribution in Peru, Kenya, and India or invest in wind energy in Turkey and the USA. All selected projects are Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard certified. Radisson Meetings focus on ongoing efforts to minimize food waste and eliminate single-use plastics.

Last year, as part of its plan, the company also announced that it would be launching a unified technology platform, dubbed Emma. Developed in partnership with several leading technology companies, Emma would provide end-to-end capabilities with the goal of improving operational efficiencies and increasing revenue growth in addition to enhancing guest services.

Now Emma is gearing up to make her big debut on the global hospitality stage. Scheduled to roll out next month, the technology will encompass such core hotel functions as reservations, property management, revenue management, guest loyalty, sales, meetings and events, food and beverage, business intelligence, analytics and performance reporting. The technology is being billed as an all-in-one PMS that can handle property management, a central reservation system and loyalty platform.

According to a company spokesperson, Emma will provide on-property access to better data on guest preferences, providing a 360-degree view of guests relationships at an individual level. Profile information regarding past stays and purchases will enable properties to create a more relevant and personalized guest experience. There will also reportedly be more options for loyalty members to redeem points for products and services during their stay.

Emma is expected to be fully deployed by the end of next year, will include fully-integrated customer relationship management capabilities to manage accounts, guests and marketing campaigns. Emma will provide more transparency into the group sales process and enable meeting planners to book space and catering directly online. It will also centralize billing for corporate clients.

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Meliá Hotels: How Social Media Is Fueling the Brand’s Global Revenue Growth

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 22:23:32 +0000

Last month, Meliá Hotels International, the Spanish hotel chain with more than 350 hotels in 40 countries, announced that it achieved a 1.7 percent improvement in RevPAR performance globally last year. During that same period, the company’s global sales increased by 9.7 percent, which, for a hotel company that size, is impressive by any measure.

Much of the credit belongs to Meliá’s advanced digital marketing activities, including its social media activities. Approximately 60 percent of the hotel brand’s global revenues are now digital. More than 12 percent of the online traffic to Meliá’s booking website stems from the brand’s presence on Facebook and Instagram. In certain regions, such as EMEA, that number is as high as 17 percent.

Given these statistics, it’s clear that social media has become an immensely valuable channel for Meliá Hotels, perhaps just as valuable as the hotel brand’s own website in terms of originating business and driving traffic that ultimately translates into bookings and sales revenue.

Currently, Meliá Hotels has more than 7 million social media followers. That number continues to grow by leaps and bounds — 15 to 20 percent a year, on average. More than five million of these followers are on Facebook. Meanwhile, the company’s Instagram followers are quickly approaching one million.

The company has more than five million followers on Facebook.

Of the more than 100 million photo and video posts that users share each day on Instagram, an estimated 5 million fall within the travel category. According to estimates, engagement with brands on Instagram is more than 10 times higher than on Facebook, more than 50 times higher than on Pinterest, and more than 85 times higher than on Twitter.

With more than 500 million daily active users on Instagram, and over 60 percent of users logging in daily, the influencer market on Instagram is expected to be worth upwards of $2.5 billion by the end of this year. It’s no surprise, then, that Meliá has been investing heavily on Instagram as a channel for fueling influencer marketing growth.

Last year, an average of 10,000 sessions per week came from Facebook and an average of 1,200 sessions per week came from Instagram in addition to 500 or so Stories per week on that social network. Meliá also has a sizable presence on YouTube as well as Twitter. The latter channel is used primarily for handling customer service queries and responses.

To that point, the company recognizes that each social channel serves a fundamentally different purpose. Each channel functions differently, reaches different target audience segments, and needs to be managed differently, with a tailored and unique approach to content management. In the case of Instagram, the Stories feature has been a primary focus of Meliá’s activities. Instagram tends to be the most effective channel for engaging the millennial segment.

An average of 1,200 sessions per week came from Instagram in addition to 500 or so Stories per week on that social network.

Social media influencer management gets complicated at a certain scale. In early 2017, Meliá implemented an “influencer marketing policy” to manage the qualification, selection and reporting process. Today the company has a network of more than a thousand influencers across its six brands, including 40 influencer activations for its Me By Meliá brand alone.

Together these influencers generated 1.7 million interactions in social media last year. Different influencers create campaigns that resonate with with niche audiences, ranging from business travelers to vacation seekers interested in luxury resorts, to families that may be more budget-minded.

Some user-generated content gets repurposed into marketing campaigns. The marketing team frequently inserts user-contributed images into its email and digital advertising campaigns and also on its website.

Employee management on social media also gets complicated at a certain scale. At last count, Meliá had more than 400 social media accounts, including 165 social media profiles for its individual hotel properties.

To centralize content management for all these accounts, the company partnered with HootSuite to develop a library of pre-approved content. Meliá now has the tools it needs to centrally control how content is distributed, globally and locally, across multiple organizational levels and regions. while ensuring brand compliance and consistency in messaging.

Instagram tends to be the most effective channel for engaging the millennial segment.

Meliá Hotels encourages its employees to act as brand ambassadors by engaging with people on social media. Employee advocacy drove more than 142 million social media impressions last year, attributed to more than 61,000 posts shared by company ambassadors.

One of the accounts belongs to the company CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, who maintains a high-profile presence of his own on Twitter and LinkedIn, engaging with followers and answering questions about travel, tourism and lodging with the hashtag #AskCEOMelia.

CEO Gabriel Escarrer engages with followers and answer questions about travel, tourism and lodging with the hashtag #AskCEOMelia.

Meliá uses a range of performance metrics to meticulously track and measure success. Obvious metrics include follower growth as well as the number of sessions coming from social media to the company’s booking website. The company looks at revenues by week, individual social campaign performance, as well as how different content posts are performing in terms of clicks and traffic.

Traackr is used to evaluate influencers and and other tools are used to measure the number of sessions from each channel. An attribution model measures the all-important conversion rates (i.e., guest bookings that originated from social channels) at a granular level.

By immersing itself in the trials and tribulations of social media, encouraging employee participation, building communities of influencers, implementing the right technology tools and content creation and management processes, and monitoring and measuring performance each step of the way, Meliá Hotels has achieved a level of user-generate engagement and brand advocacy that may well exceed that of any other major hotel brand.

The road to social media success can be rife with challenges. For Meliá, the investment in time and effort is already translating into significant revenue growth, if the newly-released year-end performance numbers are any indication.

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