Best practices in Hotel Internet Marketing and Online Distribution

New York – The slowing economy is affecting the hospitality industry in a number of negative ways: commercial bank credit is extremely tight, energy and food prices are on the rise, leisure travel consumers are staying home, and companies are re-assessing their corporate travel budgets. There are initiatives you can take, however, to stay competitive in the marketplace and continue to bring in strong revenues from your website. What action plan should you follow at this time? What should hoteliers do to protect themselves and succeed in 2008? Here are four steps you must consider taking right now:

-   Unlike the competition, do not cut your marketing expenditure, but re-evaluate your marketing efforts and advertising budget and focus on proven ROI-centric efforts and formats
-   Shift funds from offline to online advertising formats
-   Shift funds from brand-building to direct-response initiatives
-   Track every dollar spent with powerful website analytical and campaign-tracking technology (e.g. Omniture Analytics)

So what should hoteliers do? What marketing initiatives should they avoid right now? Hoteliers should NOT:

-    Experiment with unproven advertising formats
-    Advertise on Third-Party Intermediary Sites (TPIs) –ad cost+TPI commission = total cost of 30%-40%
-    Try “sexy” new media formats (e.g. Social media sites like YouTube, Facebook.com, MySpace.com)
-    Here is what you should focus on right now:
-    Proven, ROI-centric Internet marketing strategies + formats
-    Launching a comprehensive strategy to reach potential customers
-    Launching a Local Internet Marketing Strategy to reach drive-in and impulse-buy customers
-    Launching a Differentiation Strategy as a top priority – identify and promote the unique proposition of your hotel

Take a hard look at what you are doing: are you taking chances with new publications? Do you have a local search marketing strategy? Are you tracking your Internet marketing initiatives all the way to the reservation process? Or are you advertising blindly, with no clue as to what is working and what is not? If you have answered “yes” to the last question, it is time to rethink your strategy.

Source: Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

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