There is no more important time than now to make sure that your rate distribution and online experience is understandable, uses good imagery and the descriptive terminology speaks to your target audience. Too many hotels use poor images on their booking engines and tend to create rate and room type copy as if they were selling to hoteliers and not to the general public. Look at your online presence from the guest's point of view. Are you really selling yourself the right way online? READ MORE

Intensifying competition, the proliferation of video and changing travel shopper behavior are a few key drivers encouraging hotel owners and marketers to rethink their existing approaches to online revenue generating activities. Put yourself in the shoes of an active online travel shopper looking to book a hotel in downtown New York for a weekend getaway with friends. As you search the Internet for hotels that meet your buying criteria - price point, room size, amenities, proximity to attractions, shopping and nightlife, you find several comparable hotels and struggle to choose the "right one." What is it that motivates you to choose one hotel over the others? READ MORE

Customer Relationship Marketing more or less evolved from a long line of existing initiatives. It predominantly grew out of database marketing in the early 1980's, most notably with American Airlines' introduction of the landmark AAdvantage frequent flyer program (which ironically itself was somewhat of an evolution of the cultural phenomenon that was S&H Green Stamps) and was quickly followed in the hospitality industry just a few years later by Holiday Inn and Marriott. READ MORE

Because searching for the perfect vacation is not an every day affair, hotels are engaged in a continuous battle to retain customer mindshare both when they are and - perhaps most importantly - when they are not actively seeking to travel. While price is an important facet to the hotelier's marketing effectiveness, it is not one that companies can really hang their hat on. On the Internet, competitors are only a click away and, according to a recent Forrester Research survey, many internet retailers are addressing this challenge by making customer service a priority by investing in live customer service solutions (33 percent) and streamlining their guest checkout process (53 percent) within the next year. READ MORE

Today's world of travel is profoundly changed. Thanks largely to technology, we live in an "It's all about me" world for everyone - from kids with their first cell phone to group tour travelers to celebrities and heads of state. This "make it for me" world was developed by Gen X, who demand it; discovered by the Baby Boomers, who take to it; and is taken for granted by the Millenniums, our future customers. Simply put, consumers expect to get what they want when they want and how they want it. As Dr. Lalia Rach has written, "Knowing me - that's luxury." So why then, do we as hoteliers too often serve up information, offers and incentives to broad market segments with so little consideration of the individual and his or her particular preferences, cultural nuances, age, even how he or she relates to the technology that provide the information? READ MORE

Hotel operators have been, for the most part, aggressive and smart in offering potential customers information about their properties online. In fact, the Web and e-commerce play such a central role in attracting customers, we often don't think about how a Website might actually turn off prospective clients. Hotels in the U.S. generated more than $105.3 billion in revenue last year. That number is expected to grow according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association. That said, here are five Website missteps that that are sure to turn off your customers, before you've even spoken with them. READ MORE

Many independent hotel managers are unhappy with the small amount of business generated by their websites. This should come as no surprise as these websites have poor visibility, and often less than 20 visitors a day. Simple techniques like being present in a few online channels and registering for Google Local Business can dramatically increase the level of visibility of an independent hotel's website. This article suggests 5 simple and 5 advanced tips to dramatically boost the visibility of an independent hotel's website as a first step to create a structured online strategy to ensure e-commerce success. READ MORE

The electronic age has arrived. For some hotels, the Internet has represented just another place to market. They've created a website, added a booking engine, and maybe done some rudimentary marketing. Yet for others, it's a renaissance of opportunity-with a new generation of hotel professionals finding endless ways to capitalize and gain market share. Where does your hotel fit on the spectrum? Are you in the game with a ho-hum website? Or have you put on your boardies, grabbed your board, and popped up to ride the next wave? READ MORE

Travelers who make the Web a first stop when researching hotels and booking reservations aren't just finding your business. They're just as easily being wooed by, and clicking that button to check out your competition. How can hotels measure online success? Now more than ever, it comes down to being able to measure the results of the enhancements you put on your site. Here, I offer seven tricks designed to help you measurably strengthen customer loyalty via your Web sites and lift online reservation rates, even in these interesting economic times. READ MORE

One of the things that hospitality marketers got "right" before many other industries is the practice of maintaining wonderfully detailed customer records and databases. The problem, however, is many hospitality marketers still haven't learned to use email marketing to its full capacity and they continue to rely primarily on ad hoc email campaigns and direct mail to reach their audiences. By doing so, they completely fail to use the great data they have while it's still fresh, leading to disappointing results. To succeed in today's environment, hospitality companies must do better... READ MORE

The revolution in marketing and business affairs that has placed the customer at the epicenter of all strategic and tactical thinking has become so mainstream that the acronym CRM can be tossed around in television advertisements (see Microsoft's recent ads) without any need for further explanation. From top to bottom, sector to sector, it has become increasingly clear that everybody "gets it" and that the voice of the customer has its place at even the highest level of decision-making. This is particularly true of the hotel industry, where loyalty is king and customer feedback goes a long way towards the maintenance of competitive advantage. But even the most sophisticated combination of clickstream data, usability reports, and attitudinal information might not be enough to know your website visitor completely. READ MORE

It goes without saying that probably the most important people who visit your web site are those that are there to make a reservation. Satisfying their needs quickly and allowing them to get the information they need to complete the reservation process will translate into increased revenue, increased customer loyalty and a high probability that your visitors will refer friends and associates to your web site. One of the first things you must do to make your site "look to book" friendly is understand who is visiting your site and for what purpose. Put another way, what percentage of your total visitors are bookers as opposed to lookers? In a recent report we published with HSMAI and Cindy Estis Green, information from our own client database revealed 41% of all website visitors to hospitality websites come with the intention of making or changing a reservation. Think about that number. Four out of every ten visitors to your site are there to make or change a reservation. What is disturbing is that 21% of the people visiting your site to make or change a reservation abandon the site before completing their purpose of visit. READ MORE

It may seem like too simple a solution, but when you get right down to the basics, the best way to learn what your customers and web site users really want is to ask them. Off-the-shelf behavioral tracking solutions can help you watch what your customers and visitors are doing but to really understand what is going on in their hearts and minds, you have to communicate with them. You have to listen to them and one of the best ways is getting feedback from them - feedback from potential customers as well from your most valued visitors - the online bookers. On the net, the user is king and you should be using your site to engage them in a dialogue. You can't assume by simply watching what they do that you know what they are thinking. Even more important, every opportunity you give your customers and visitors to interact with you is another opportunity to extend your relationship with them and increase lifetime customer value. It builds goodwill and fosters a sense of community that is so critical if you want to increase visit frequency to your site. READ MORE

A recent research report from The Boston Consulting Group estimates that 65% of all online consumers bail out of a transaction and abandon a shopping cart before the transaction is completed. Since there is not that great a difference between making an online purchase and making an online reservation - both requiring the use of a credit card, it is probably a fair guess that the Boston Consulting Group estimate for shopping cart abandonment is not far off the mark for the hospitality sector. In fact, feedback from 34,000 visitors to hospitality web sites captured in The Rush Report on User Satisfaction & Hotel Web Site Performance published by Hospitality e-Business Strategies confirms that the overall "look to book" ratio in the sector is approximately 65/35 - For every ten people who visit your site only three actually make a reservation. Imagine how the numbers might look if you could move that look to book ratio to fifty/fifty. Do the math and I'm sure you will agree reservation abandonment is one of the most important issue facing hospitality web sites today. READ MORE

In the past, whenever a customer had a question online, companies were quick to offer them FAQs, and perhaps an email address. While these self-help strategies are fine for handling routine questions, they are ineffective at turning undecided prospects into customers. The days of using the Web as an interactive brochure are long gone. Hotels need to do much more to assure they turn online lookers into bookers. In addition, now that the competition is just a click away, customers will not hesitate to leave your site (and your brand) if they do not get quick resolution to their problems. READ MORE