Comments for Hospitality Marketing Blog http://blog.madiganpratt.com Where small luxury hotels go for hospitality marketing advice on how to acquire and retain profitable customers. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Why I Hate TripAdvisor – sometimes by Shiv http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2009/06/04/why-i-hate-tripadvisor-sometimes/comment-page-1/#comment-934 Shiv Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:07 +0000 http://www.MadiganPratt.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/04/why-i-hate-tripadvisor-sometimes/#comment-934 I would have to agree with Madigan that I hate Tripadvisor sometimes. I am sure it is difficult for Tripadvisor to manage the reviews and their quality as they say “more than 15,000,000 travelers from 190 countries planned trips here this week.” I used to use Tripadvisor as my travel Bible till recently. Being a part of the hotel industry I have learnt to rely on other websites other than tripadvisor. Yes, after a long time, the consumer is able to go online and check reviews about a hotel or their service, but how many are authentic? While I worked for a hotel, I recall a number of guests telling us how they had posted reviews about us that did not appear. Taking a computers IP Number is not helping maintaining honestly. What happens when 2 guests write 2 different reviews from the same computer they used at the Hotel's business center? I feel tripadvisor will use the bad review and throw out the good one! That's how I have started feeling about this website, I can not give them the benefit of the doubt!! As management when we reported abuse about a review Tripadvisor never did anything to resolve it, or even to assist us with it. I am not saying that every bad review is a fake review, but are they allowed to ruin a hotels' business with such carelessness? The impact Tripadvisor has on a hotel today is immense, in fact it is so much that some hotelier feel bullied by them. I think they need to review their system and allow people to write reviews after they have booked a hotel through them or through expedia, their concern website to make sure people writing reviews have actually stayed in these places. Tripadvisor has some authentic experiences but sometimes it acts like a battle field between two or more rival hotels. The people losing out on a real deal are the consumers who are looking and following these ratings to book a hotel. not knowing more than half of the reviews are useless! I wish they would know better! I would have to agree with Madigan that I hate Tripadvisor sometimes. I am sure it is difficult for Tripadvisor to manage the reviews and their quality as they say “more than 15,000,000 travelers from 190 countries planned trips here this week.”
I used to use Tripadvisor as my travel Bible till recently. Being a part of the hotel industry I have learnt to rely on other websites other than tripadvisor. Yes, after a long time, the consumer is able to go online and check reviews about a hotel or their service, but how many are authentic? While I worked for a hotel, I recall a number of guests telling us how they had posted reviews about us that did not appear. Taking a computers IP Number is not helping maintaining honestly. What happens when 2 guests write 2 different reviews from the same computer they used at the Hotel’s business center? I feel tripadvisor will use the bad review and throw out the good one! That’s how I have started feeling about this website, I can not give them the benefit of the doubt!!
As management when we reported abuse about a review Tripadvisor never did anything to resolve it, or even to assist us with it. I am not saying that every bad review is a fake review, but are they allowed to ruin a hotels’ business with such carelessness? The impact Tripadvisor has on a hotel today is immense, in fact it is so much that some hotelier feel bullied by them. I think they need to review their system and allow people to write reviews after they have booked a hotel through them or through expedia, their concern website to make sure people writing reviews have actually stayed in these places. Tripadvisor has some authentic experiences but sometimes it acts like a battle field between two or more rival hotels. The people losing out on a real deal are the consumers who are looking and following these ratings to book a hotel. not knowing more than half of the reviews are useless! I wish they would know better!

]]> Comment on Pros and Cons of Deal Sites by Martin Soler - wihphotel.com http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/10/05/pros-and-cons-of-deal-sites/comment-page-1/#comment-842 Martin Soler - wihphotel.com Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:07:14 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=766#comment-842 I quite agree with you on this. The point is different deal sites for different types of hotels. Jetsetter for luxury has worked great. Groupon I am not too certain about etc. One strange point however is that selling cheap tends to attract lots of bad complaints. It's something I noticed as a GM the cheaper I sold my rooms the worse the reviews were. It never made sense but that's the way it was. About loyalty, I think loyalty is becoming less and less stable. With internet the average (yes average) user visits 10 different hotel websites and 17 travel sites to find his hotel. Unless the hotel has amazing service they have no chance for loyalty. It's not going to come from Google. I quite agree with you on this. The point is different deal sites for different types of hotels. Jetsetter for luxury has worked great. Groupon I am not too certain about etc.
One strange point however is that selling cheap tends to attract lots of bad complaints. It’s something I noticed as a GM the cheaper I sold my rooms the worse the reviews were. It never made sense but that’s the way it was.

About loyalty, I think loyalty is becoming less and less stable. With internet the average (yes average) user visits 10 different hotel websites and 17 travel sites to find his hotel. Unless the hotel has amazing service they have no chance for loyalty. It’s not going to come from Google.

]]> Comment on Leisure Travel Turns Up The Internet Advertising Volume by Madigan Pratt http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/09/29/leisure-travel-turns-up-the-internet-advertising-volume/comment-page-1/#comment-841 Madigan Pratt Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:05:48 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=755#comment-841 Yolande. When trying to get the most out online marketing don't forget to make your hotel more user friendly to people searching the mobile web. A mobile website with booking engine would help. Yolande. When trying to get the most out online marketing don’t forget to make your hotel more user friendly to people searching the mobile web. A mobile website with booking engine would help.

]]> Comment on Leisure Travel Turns Up The Internet Advertising Volume by Yolande Nieman Bell http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/09/29/leisure-travel-turns-up-the-internet-advertising-volume/comment-page-1/#comment-839 Yolande Nieman Bell Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:36:17 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=755#comment-839 Marketing and sales budgets have been in constant decline over the past 3 years. However working in a medium sized hotel outside of a major city that is very reliant on local trade as well as national customers makes for a difficult transition from traditional marketing such as advertising to online marketing. Although a social media strategy has been implemented to promote local events many consumers still like the idea of traditional marketing which we use from an awareness point. In order to grow revenue we will be forced to move to the majority of our budgets being spent online. This will mean that we will miss those consumers who are not proficient in social media however our research does suggest that the majority of our consumers would have some type of online activity. Marketing and sales budgets have been in constant decline over the past 3 years. However working in a medium sized hotel outside of a major city that is very reliant on local trade as well as national customers makes for a difficult transition from traditional marketing such as advertising to online marketing.
Although a social media strategy has been implemented to promote local events many consumers still like the idea of traditional marketing which we use from an awareness point. In order to grow revenue we will be forced to move to the majority of our budgets being spent online. This will mean that we will miss those consumers who are not proficient in social media however our research does suggest that the majority of our consumers would have some type of online activity.

]]> Comment on The Travel Business is Funny by Brian Hayashi http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/09/02/the-travel-business-is-funny/comment-page-1/#comment-832 Brian Hayashi Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:45:03 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=736#comment-832 There's an old retail saying about driving traffic versus driving sales: malls would have an event, which would drive traffic, but all the commotion interfered with their frequent shoppers, who started to think their loyalty to the property wasn't being valued. Today, there are many who will tell you the best way to improve a 50% discount on your rooms is by offering a 60% discount. The reason? The daily deal business model was designed around search engine optimization, which became more "efficient" as search engine marketing became more prevalent. The conceit of their model is that hospitality does not adequately recognize the cost of a new lead. Unfortunately, most of the brainiacs trying to pitch you don't understand revenue management, at least not yet. There’s an old retail saying about driving traffic versus driving sales: malls would have an event, which would drive traffic, but all the commotion interfered with their frequent shoppers, who started to think their loyalty to the property wasn’t being valued.

Today, there are many who will tell you the best way to improve a 50% discount on your rooms is by offering a 60% discount. The reason? The daily deal business model was designed around search engine optimization, which became more “efficient” as search engine marketing became more prevalent. The conceit of their model is that hospitality does not adequately recognize the cost of a new lead. Unfortunately, most of the brainiacs trying to pitch you don’t understand revenue management, at least not yet.

]]> Comment on The Travel Business is Funny by Joe Buhler http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/09/02/the-travel-business-is-funny/comment-page-1/#comment-826 Joe Buhler Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:27:04 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=736#comment-826 What did Pogo say in that famous cartoon?: I have seen the enemy and it is us! Yes, the collective travel industry so enamored with the idea that travel services can only be sold successfully at a cheap price. Especially those involved in online travel have spread that fallacy since day one! Of course, the consumer will respond and then wait for the lowest deal before buying. The very few who know how to sell based on value and aspiration are the ones nobody writes about, but they know who they are and don't need it anyway. What did Pogo say in that famous cartoon?: I have seen the enemy and it is us!
Yes, the collective travel industry so enamored with the idea that travel services can only be sold successfully at a cheap price. Especially those involved in online travel have spread that fallacy since day one! Of course, the consumer will respond and then wait for the lowest deal before buying.
The very few who know how to sell based on value and aspiration are the ones nobody writes about, but they know who they are and don’t need it anyway.

]]> Comment on The Perils of Marketing on Price by Hospitality Marketing Blog » Blog Archive » The Travel Business is Funny http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/08/23/the-perils-of-marketing-on-price/comment-page-1/#comment-822 Hospitality Marketing Blog » Blog Archive » The Travel Business is Funny Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:04:12 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=713#comment-822 [...] _uacct = "UA-3822561-1"; urchinTracker(); « The Perils of Marketing on Price [...] [...] _uacct = "UA-3822561-1"; urchinTracker(); « The Perils of Marketing on Price [...]

]]> Comment on The Perils of Marketing on Price by mstone http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/08/23/the-perils-of-marketing-on-price/comment-page-1/#comment-816 mstone Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:01:11 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=713#comment-816 Great little recap. Successful selling is about value; the key is - getting the value proposition and message right and getting it communicated to the right audience. Too many businesses turn to discounting because they fail to be honest with themselves about who they are and what their real value proposition and audience really is. Great little recap. Successful selling is about value; the key is – getting the value proposition and message right and getting it communicated to the right audience. Too many businesses turn to discounting because they fail to be honest with themselves about who they are and what their real value proposition and audience really is.

]]> Comment on Is Your Hotel Prepared for Google+? by Madigan Pratt http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2011/08/10/is-your-hotel-prepared-for-google/comment-page-1/#comment-815 Madigan Pratt Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:35:38 +0000 http://blog.madiganpratt.com/?p=678#comment-815 Robert, I just read a report saying 84% of G+ accounts are inactive. Sounds like a lot, however 80 percent of Twitter users have Tweeted fewer than 10 lines, and 40 percent of users have never sent a single Tweet. G+ is new - give it some time. Madigan Here's a link to the article: http://gigaom.com/2011/08/19/inactive-accounts-google-plus-infographic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29 Robert,
I just read a report saying 84% of G+ accounts are inactive. Sounds like a lot, however 80 percent of Twitter users have Tweeted fewer than 10 lines, and 40 percent of users have never sent a single Tweet.

G+ is new – give it some time.

Madigan

Here’s a link to the article: http://gigaom.com/2011/08/19/inactive-accounts-google-plus-infographic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29

]]> Comment on How Long Will It Be – Before WiFi Is Free? by chrisp http://blog.madiganpratt.com/2010/09/08/how-long-will-it-be-before-wifi-is-free/comment-page-1/#comment-814 chrisp Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:06:38 +0000 http://hospitalitymarketingblog.com/?p=331#comment-814 Its best to use a vpn for sensitive info on a open Wifi Hotspot Its best to use a vpn for sensitive info on a open Wifi Hotspot

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