For the past 15 years, hotels, resorts and hotel brands have commissioned the building of their proprietary websites. They turned to hospitality specific design firms, advertising agencies, website design shops and nephews working out of their parent’s garage. Initially, it was enough to simply slap together a site with nice pictures and a booking engine. As property websites became a larger and more important source of business, hoteliers’ needs changed. They wanted sites that could grow and remain current. They wanted to update packages on a regular basis, post job offers, speak to the current weather or season; essentially, t ...read more
I frequently talk with hotel executives from General Managers and Directors of Sales & Marketing to Directors of Revenue Management about running promotions. I can’t tell you how much push back I get from hotels who say they don’t feel they have to run a promotion or discount their rates in any way. “Discount” really should be a four letter word. At least it is in the minds of most hoteliers and especially those running luxury properties. Here’s the deal and some things to consider… First and foremost, travelers of all types are looking for a value or a deal. This includes luxury travelers too. Think about the wealt ...read more
As marketers, GCommerce loves to generate and analyze performance data. Getting a better understanding of which initiatives are working, and which are missing the mark affords us the ability to refine our focus and generate the best possible ROI. Tracking however is still a very imperfect science. Reviewing one metric or one source of data often leads to narrow analysis. When decisions regarding spending on media are made based on one metric or one source of data, money is left on the table. We have come to understand that the hospitality industry too often falls into the narrow metrics trap. The past 18 months have seen a dramatic rise in ...read more
We have a quick test for you. If you have an iPhone or a Blackberry, access your hotel website and note what you see. Hotels and travel sites typically pay very close attention to their website’s effectiveness but may completely ignore the way the site is viewed on mobile devices. 87.4% of Americans have a cell phone subscription and nearly 85% of mobile devices on the market are web enabled. According to a recent study, by the end of 2011 one out of two Americans will have a smartphone. You cannot ignore this vibrant market place. A recent look at a city center hotel showed 20% of overall website traffic coming from smartphones, an ...read more