What the Cornell study shows is that people spend an enormous amount of time researching hotels, performing as many as 150 searches or visiting travel-related sites in excess of 50 times. That’s probably more time than most teenagers spend on Facebook in a week.
And if you focus only on the OTAs, the average consumer makes 12 visits, searches through nearly eight pages each time and spends an hour looking through 90 pages of content.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2011
Last week when Expedia announced that it was spinning off TripAdvisor there was a lot of speculation as to what it meant for hoteliers. At the same time many investors were wondering how owning a piece of the travel industry’s 800 pound gorilla would improve the performance of their portfolio.
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In “How Important is Word of Mouth Advertising“ Nielsen Internet Research was presented showing that consumers around the world place their highest levels of trust in other consumers. Their #1 trusted source? Friends and relatives as always. The #3 trusted source (a fraction behind Newspapers) was online reviews written by people readers didn’t even know! [...]
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There was a time, not so long ago, when large hotels focused marketing and sales efforts on meetings and conventions and the business traveler. Not any more – and this is not good news for small luxury hotels.
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TripAdvisor may be the most controversial service in hospitality marketing today. Some hoteliers love it, while others have issues. No matter what you think, TripAdvisor is making an offer you just can’t refuse. A Business Listing on your TripAdvisor page at half off the regular rate. Sounds like they’re in the hotel business, doesn’t it? In any case, the [...]
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Many readers have ask which Hospitality Marketing Blog posts were the most widely read in 2009. So, by popular request, here is a list of the Magnificent Seven. Please enjoy the practical advice and marketing insights as you gear up for 2010. Hotel Case Study – Prospering in difficult Times – Good news was hard [...]
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The Internet serves as the foundation for most luxury hotel marketing programs today. It’s used to launch relationship building emails and send tactical offers. Press releases must pass search engine optimization tests and advertising, promotional and linking opportunities abound. At the center of all this Internet activity is the hotel’s own web site. So it’s [...]
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As a small luxury hotelier you know the story – nearly every guest who comes through your door will have checked past guest reviews on TripAdvisor before coming. That’s why yesterday’s announcement that TripAdvisor now has over 20 million reviews is so important to you. Last April TripAdvisor had 15 million reviews and two years [...]
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How is this for telling it like it is? “Businesses today exist in an era in which it’s nearly impossible to escape the likelihood of being evaluated.” said Linda Shea, senior vice president at Opinion Research, in a statement, “There’s nowhere to hide.” Like it or not consumers have taken over control of hotel comment [...]
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On a recent [very long] flight I had time for a thorough read through the HSMAI special report entitled, “The Travel Marketer’s Guide to Social Media and Social Networks: Sales and Marketing in a Web 2.0 World.” If you have ever wondered about what was happening in Social Media, what the fuss is all about or how [...]
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