Speaking before a conference of luxury Italian companies, luxury hotel operator Rocco Forte offered a stunningly concise summary of the toxic hospitality marketing strategies used by far too many hotels in these recessionary times. “What happens in a hotel cycle [during a recession] is always exactly the same. Revenue dissipates, occupancies go down, hoteliers then [...]
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Okay, so the research study didn’t actually come out and say it, but anyone reading the recent Market Metrics’ Research on user generated content (aka TripAdvisor) could easily draw that conclusion. For several years Market Metrics has been tracking the rising popularity of user generated reviews. Here are a few of the key findings from [...]
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The Social Security Administration recently held its first conference since 2001 which included 700 attendees at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. Perhaps you heard about it because of the brouhaha raised by ABC News when they offered a totally unflattering report. If not, you can read and see it here. Just in case you think [...]
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As a hospitality marketing professional you and I both know we’re not. But even Seth Godin would be hard pressed to think otherwise after reading the press releases for the new, over-hyped online hotel review site Oyster.com. Essentially, Oyster.com is a hotel review site that sends professionals to stay at and review individual hotels. Purported [...]
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Seismic upheavals are leading to a paradigm shift in hospitality. Companies have clamped down on travel and the AIG effect has battered the meeting and convention business. Leisure travel is exhibiting anemic and last minute booking patterns. The Internet keeps bubbling along serving up what seems to be the social media flavor of the month. [...]
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If you are a regular reader of HospitalityMarketingBlog.com you know I’m a raving fan of TripAdvisor. With over 20 million reviews there’s hardly any guest who enters the door of a luxury hotel who hasn’t first read about the property on TripAdvisor. The TripAdvisor Home Page proudly boasts, “more than 15,000,000 travelers from 190 countries [...]
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What is the most appropriate tone to deliver in your advertising and marketing messages during this great recession? Adweek Magazine was determined to find out. It surveyed nearly 1,500 advertising and marketing members of LinkedIn – the professional social network. The overwhelming answer – Value. In fact, when offered a list of five choices the [...]
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With all the press coverage surrounding social media it’s hard to imagine any hospitality marketing professional who isn’t thinking of adding some sort of social media initiative to their marketing efforts. But jumping in and adding a blog, Facebook page or start Tweeting without doing your due diligence can be a huge mistake. You need [...]
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Once thought to be somewhat impervious to economic downturns, luxury hotels are among the hardest hit in the current worldwide recession. So what should a luxury hospitality marketing executive do – and not do now? That’s what David Wilkening, Associate Editor for Hotel Interactive set out to answer when he interviewed six top hospitality marketing [...]
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That is one of the conclusions hospitality marketing professionals took away from a recent presentation by Peter Yesawich at a hospitality marketing conference last weekend at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. But don’t despair. There is still hope for some hoteliers. Peter was presenting the 2008 Y Partnership/Yankelovich Monitor research when he showed a [...]
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