Often overlooked when one is tweaking bids and refining keywords lists within an AdWords campaign, is the importance of landing pages. You can have the most appropriate keywords, be targeting the best possible traffic and have perfectly crafted and compelling advert copy, yet lose reservations because your landing page is not effective. Making changes on your pages together with tweaking your campaigns, will improve the account and convert good click-through rates into lucrative reservations. Here are three simple steps you should follow to make sure you do this for your hotel.
1.Are your users getting what they want?
When a user clicks on your sponsored link advert, they already have specific expectations about the page they are being transferred to. If you’ve stated ‘beautiful golf courses within walking distance’ or ‘10% discounts online’, it is essential that these promises are repeated in a prominent position on the landing page. Cohesion of messages creates synergy between the sponsored link advert and the hotel and its facilities. If you fail to meet these expectations, your landing page will fail to resonate with the user. This, in turn, leads to a higher than necessary abandonment rate and far fewer reservations. To decipher which pages may be letting you down, you must critically analyse your adverts and their landing pages, and re-work the positioning of your “call to action” phrases where necessary. Google analytics will give you bounce rate statistics per landing page – this is valuable information and allows you to evaluate the effect that re-working your landing page has on your abandonment rate.
2.Are you using ‘call to action’ ?
A ‘call to action’ is a phrase that entices a web visitor to do something, for example the statement “buy now” is a call to action. Website visitors clicking through with the intention of making an enquiry or reserving a room on your web site, can falter if clear ‘call to action’ phrases are not used on the landing page. Hiding contact forms or ‘reserve online’ buttons amid unnecessary on-page clutter, dilutes the impact of the call to action. You must add a very clear call-to-action, such as a large button - this will increase web site conversions by giving the reader a clear path through to the web booking engine.
If your landing page has more than three or four paragraphs of text, or is otherwise quite ‘busy’ due to graphics, make sure you use ‘calls to action’ consistently throughout the page. You should not leave your website visitor scrolling back up and down the page in order to find the online reservation link. Remember you have paid for that click; therefore you must give your hotel the best chance of converting that click into a reservation.
3.Have you performance-tested your adverts?
Testing performance is a pretty simple piece of advice, but it is surprising how many advertisers let this basic good practice guideline fall by the wayside after the first flush of enthusiasm has passed. Testing a landing page’s effectiveness can be as simple as trying two different page titles or as complicated as changing form layout, number of fields, content length and style.
Getting the most out of your landing page will often also hinge on how visitors got there in the first place. So, while you’re in a testing frame of mind, you could at the same time check the messages used within the advert text. Typical parameters include changing titles, the inclusion of different special offers and discounts, and using varying ‘call to action’ phrases.
Following these three simple steps will ultimately optimise each of your landing pages and secure your hotel an increased return on investment from your paid adverts on Google. These activities are equally important to consider within best practice SEO. Whilst they may not turbo your organic rankings, they do play a positive role within your digital marketing strategy in its entirety.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides hotel reservations and digital marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offers Google AdWords account management, online reputation management and social media management. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com. Please direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
Monday, November 23, 2009
Effectively manage your hotel’s reputation in the 21st Century
Long gone are the days of private complaints from guests. The birth of web 2.0 media has taken visitors’ complaints into the public forum of the internet, meaning that a hotel’s reputation is under scrutiny by all prospective guests. Guest comments and ratings are now openly accessible, yet countless hoteliers are not tracking what is being said. Published negative reviews can have a detrimental effect on your reservation levels because customers are able to apply a more thorough set of criteria and gain (what they believe to be) a truer picture of a hotel as it is based on past experiences. The 21st century traveller is savvy and far more driven to comparison shop. Review sites such as TripAdvisor provide visible quality measurements and yet a majority of hoteliers are missing out on the value these insights provide – to learn from these reviews and to respond effectively to them.
According to TripAdvisor, 57% of consumers read reviews before deciding to book a hotel. Other statistics put the total influence at around 40% to 65%. Statistics aside, with around 24 million consumers reviewing hotels on TripAdvisor alone every month, it is clear that the amount of guests relying on other people’s opinion, is growing. Though hoteliers do consider reviews to be important for their reputation, many do not monitor and track what is being said about them on the internet. But is tracking alone enough? To combat negative reviews and ensure hoteliers protect their hotel’s good name, action must be taken. For many smaller properties, the problem lies in stretched resources - without adding hotel reputation management to everyday activities. Reputation management requires a commitment of time, time to track reviews and to create management responses or, where necessary and for more escalated cases, to communicate via telephone with the said reviewer.
Understanding negative reviews is vital for successful reputation management. If time and time again the same problems rear their heads, it is vital action is taken. Often, negative reviews are rooted in the hotel simply not meeting the expectations of the traveller. Perhaps the resort is described and rated as a 4 star on the website, but it simply does not measure against other 4 star hotels and therefore causes disappointment. Reviews can be very insightful in terms of the expectations of the visitor – expectations that may have been set by the website content. Hoteliers should be prepared to be flexible and adapt according to the feedback they receive from past guests. However, only by tracking reviews and dialogues about the hotel, can the hotel achieve this.
There are hundreds of automated review management tools available on the market. These range from free tools to tools that require a monthly management fee. Paying over the odds for an automated tool is not wise, especially if you don’t have the resources available to actually “do something” about what you read. Finding an agency you can trust to manage your online reputation in its entirety, would certainly be preferable, especially since hiring a full-time person on staff would be far more expensive. If you are in the favourable position to dedicate time to reputation management, ensure you follow these vital tips to increase your success:
1. Track what is being said about your hotel online.
2. Respond publicly to the review.
Do – Thank the reviewer for their comments, apologise for any genuine negative experiences, explain the measures you are putting in place to prevent such an occurrence again, make yourself available for an offline chat should the reviewer wish to contact you.
Don’t – Be Angry, derogatory or get personal with the reviewer, do not accuse the reviewer of being a fraud (this may happen, however it is hard to prove and will not solve the issue of the review and your response being public), do not reply publicly offering a discount or complimentary stay – this could encourage abuse. If you do wish to offer this, do it offline and request that you would expect the review to be removed in return.
3. Make appropriate changes within the hotel or to the website to address issues that consistently manifest themselves through your reviews.
4. Advertise that you have fixed the problem! Add this information to the review site if appropriate.
5. Be proactive and encourage your guests to leave their positive feedback when they exit the hotel.
Ultimately, the manner in which you respond to reviews will shape your hotel’s public persona to potential guests. The fact that you are able to do this publicly creates a unique opportunity to address and resolve issues and guarantee you do not have the same problem again. This will lead to better reviews in the future, the power of which should not be underestimated.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides online reputation management services and social media management services to hotels globally.
GlobRes connects hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
According to TripAdvisor, 57% of consumers read reviews before deciding to book a hotel. Other statistics put the total influence at around 40% to 65%. Statistics aside, with around 24 million consumers reviewing hotels on TripAdvisor alone every month, it is clear that the amount of guests relying on other people’s opinion, is growing. Though hoteliers do consider reviews to be important for their reputation, many do not monitor and track what is being said about them on the internet. But is tracking alone enough? To combat negative reviews and ensure hoteliers protect their hotel’s good name, action must be taken. For many smaller properties, the problem lies in stretched resources - without adding hotel reputation management to everyday activities. Reputation management requires a commitment of time, time to track reviews and to create management responses or, where necessary and for more escalated cases, to communicate via telephone with the said reviewer.
Understanding negative reviews is vital for successful reputation management. If time and time again the same problems rear their heads, it is vital action is taken. Often, negative reviews are rooted in the hotel simply not meeting the expectations of the traveller. Perhaps the resort is described and rated as a 4 star on the website, but it simply does not measure against other 4 star hotels and therefore causes disappointment. Reviews can be very insightful in terms of the expectations of the visitor – expectations that may have been set by the website content. Hoteliers should be prepared to be flexible and adapt according to the feedback they receive from past guests. However, only by tracking reviews and dialogues about the hotel, can the hotel achieve this.
There are hundreds of automated review management tools available on the market. These range from free tools to tools that require a monthly management fee. Paying over the odds for an automated tool is not wise, especially if you don’t have the resources available to actually “do something” about what you read. Finding an agency you can trust to manage your online reputation in its entirety, would certainly be preferable, especially since hiring a full-time person on staff would be far more expensive. If you are in the favourable position to dedicate time to reputation management, ensure you follow these vital tips to increase your success:
1. Track what is being said about your hotel online.
2. Respond publicly to the review.
Do – Thank the reviewer for their comments, apologise for any genuine negative experiences, explain the measures you are putting in place to prevent such an occurrence again, make yourself available for an offline chat should the reviewer wish to contact you.
Don’t – Be Angry, derogatory or get personal with the reviewer, do not accuse the reviewer of being a fraud (this may happen, however it is hard to prove and will not solve the issue of the review and your response being public), do not reply publicly offering a discount or complimentary stay – this could encourage abuse. If you do wish to offer this, do it offline and request that you would expect the review to be removed in return.
3. Make appropriate changes within the hotel or to the website to address issues that consistently manifest themselves through your reviews.
4. Advertise that you have fixed the problem! Add this information to the review site if appropriate.
5. Be proactive and encourage your guests to leave their positive feedback when they exit the hotel.
Ultimately, the manner in which you respond to reviews will shape your hotel’s public persona to potential guests. The fact that you are able to do this publicly creates a unique opportunity to address and resolve issues and guarantee you do not have the same problem again. This will lead to better reviews in the future, the power of which should not be underestimated.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides online reputation management services and social media management services to hotels globally.
GlobRes connects hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Monday, November 2, 2009
On-page optimization tactics that ‘win big’ when it comes to organic rankings
Ensuring your website is search engine friendly, must be one of hoteliers’ most important online marketing considerations. Unfortunately, if this is overlooked during those vital months of website design and implementation, you could be left with a website and no organic traffic. But, all is not lost! Previously I have discussed the importance of off-page SEO techniques to increase your website presence, namely, quality link building through content production and distribution. However, there are also simple on-page tweaks you can make to your website to improve your organic rankings or, in the very least, give your website the best opportunity for indexing by the search engines.
Improving user interaction and user experience, will ultimately increase your search engine rankings. A primary concern of any search engine is the accuracy of its search results. If they send a user off to your web site, will that user be happy to land there? Will your site be relevant to his query? If so, users will happily go back to that search engine, knowing that it can direct them to useful, relevant sites. On-page optimization is a vital component of any successful SEO strategy. It encompasses everything you see on the page; unique page titles, URL structures, meta tags, image labeling, and more….
Do all your pages have unique page titles?
This may be a basic consideration, but unique and accurate page titles are the foundation on which more dynamic search engine optimisation changes are built. As new content is uploaded, page titles can be overlooked. If you have a large site, running through all pages will take time. The title tag of a page tells the search engine and the user what that section of your site is about and, more importantly, will normally be used by the search engine to populate the site’s listing information in the search engine page results (SERPs.) The title can include not only keywords but details of your geographical location – showing search engines and users that this page is relevant to their query.
When checking page titles, take the time to cast your eye over the ‘meta description’ tag. While a succinct summary won’t turbo power your rankings on Google, it will tell the search engine and user what the page is about.
Are your URL structures suitable?
An organised site is one that is easily accessible and easily readable by the search engine spiders. A logical file structure with information arranged into folders should be accompanied by a URL that uses recognisable words and that could be used to ascertain what the page is about. For example, rather than www.thisismywebsite.com/web/docs/page677890/x/0078.html, a URL such as www.thisismywebsite.com/articles/seo-site-audit.html would be far more effective. Site users and search engines would be able to make an educated guess as to the content of the page. The first example is unwieldy, which may also cause problems when targeting backlinks. The second URL can easily be copied and pasted and any missing parts, such as the second half of the title of the page, would be apparent – whereas a structure using parameters and codes, as in example 1, is not easily readable. In this instance, it would not be apparent if a section of the link had been missed when copying and pasting for a backlink.
Is your site navigation as simple as it can be?
Google’s guidelines state that, while its results are shown at page level, their spiders like to have a global overall view of where each page sits in relation to the rest of the site. So, a logical navigational structure will help the search engine build a more accurate view of your site as a whole.
Site navigation can be thought of as the layers of an onion; users peel back each layer to go from one stage to the next and travel deeper into the hotel website. Each time changes are made, don’t forget to update your sitemap (the on-site directory of pages within the site) and the XML Sitemap (the sitemap submitted to the search engines).
Is your content compelling?
Easily the most important of all on-page aspects, a site rich in compelling and unique content, will win big in the search results and with conversion rates. Is your content compelling to the search engines? This requires more in-depth keyword research as you’ll want to be sure you’re including the phrases that searchers will key in when looking for your product or service. Search trends change, so keeping an eye on keywords proving popular will help content appear relevant and up-to-date.
Keyword placement is equally important in content, so check the titles and sub-heads used on each page of information. If newly discovered keywords or phrases, that you have only recently begun to favour, are not prominently positioned on the page, it’s time to get editing. When revising and creating information for the site, look at how you have linked from one page to the other. This anchor text is just as important on-page as it is off-page. Descriptive anchor text guides search engines through a site in much the same way roadside signposts help guide a driver to their ultimate destination. What’s more, the better the anchor text is within a site, the easier it is for customers to find what they are looking for.
Have your images been overlooked?
No matter how large or small your site, you’ll have at least one or two images on show to your visitors. However, there is a lot more to including a photo on your site than simply uploading it with a relevant caption. As a file based addition, an image will have a file name and (hopefully) alt text.
File names and alt tags should be straightforward. Alt tags in particular should describe the image as accurately as possible, so visitors, unable to see the image, still get an idea of what should fill that space. In the case of an image being used as a link through to another page within the site, the filename will perform much the same function as anchor text, making keyword inclusion and relevant information essential.
While basic points, these are easy to overlook as a site develops over a period of time, It really should be checked routinely, to make sure the most is made of the limited optimization possibilities afforded by pictures.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offers hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com. Please direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
Improving user interaction and user experience, will ultimately increase your search engine rankings. A primary concern of any search engine is the accuracy of its search results. If they send a user off to your web site, will that user be happy to land there? Will your site be relevant to his query? If so, users will happily go back to that search engine, knowing that it can direct them to useful, relevant sites. On-page optimization is a vital component of any successful SEO strategy. It encompasses everything you see on the page; unique page titles, URL structures, meta tags, image labeling, and more….
Do all your pages have unique page titles?
This may be a basic consideration, but unique and accurate page titles are the foundation on which more dynamic search engine optimisation changes are built. As new content is uploaded, page titles can be overlooked. If you have a large site, running through all pages will take time. The title tag of a page tells the search engine and the user what that section of your site is about and, more importantly, will normally be used by the search engine to populate the site’s listing information in the search engine page results (SERPs.) The title can include not only keywords but details of your geographical location – showing search engines and users that this page is relevant to their query.
When checking page titles, take the time to cast your eye over the ‘meta description’ tag. While a succinct summary won’t turbo power your rankings on Google, it will tell the search engine and user what the page is about.
Are your URL structures suitable?
An organised site is one that is easily accessible and easily readable by the search engine spiders. A logical file structure with information arranged into folders should be accompanied by a URL that uses recognisable words and that could be used to ascertain what the page is about. For example, rather than www.thisismywebsite.com/web/docs/page677890/x/0078.html, a URL such as www.thisismywebsite.com/articles/seo-site-audit.html would be far more effective. Site users and search engines would be able to make an educated guess as to the content of the page. The first example is unwieldy, which may also cause problems when targeting backlinks. The second URL can easily be copied and pasted and any missing parts, such as the second half of the title of the page, would be apparent – whereas a structure using parameters and codes, as in example 1, is not easily readable. In this instance, it would not be apparent if a section of the link had been missed when copying and pasting for a backlink.
Is your site navigation as simple as it can be?
Google’s guidelines state that, while its results are shown at page level, their spiders like to have a global overall view of where each page sits in relation to the rest of the site. So, a logical navigational structure will help the search engine build a more accurate view of your site as a whole.
Site navigation can be thought of as the layers of an onion; users peel back each layer to go from one stage to the next and travel deeper into the hotel website. Each time changes are made, don’t forget to update your sitemap (the on-site directory of pages within the site) and the XML Sitemap (the sitemap submitted to the search engines).
Is your content compelling?
Easily the most important of all on-page aspects, a site rich in compelling and unique content, will win big in the search results and with conversion rates. Is your content compelling to the search engines? This requires more in-depth keyword research as you’ll want to be sure you’re including the phrases that searchers will key in when looking for your product or service. Search trends change, so keeping an eye on keywords proving popular will help content appear relevant and up-to-date.
Keyword placement is equally important in content, so check the titles and sub-heads used on each page of information. If newly discovered keywords or phrases, that you have only recently begun to favour, are not prominently positioned on the page, it’s time to get editing. When revising and creating information for the site, look at how you have linked from one page to the other. This anchor text is just as important on-page as it is off-page. Descriptive anchor text guides search engines through a site in much the same way roadside signposts help guide a driver to their ultimate destination. What’s more, the better the anchor text is within a site, the easier it is for customers to find what they are looking for.
Have your images been overlooked?
No matter how large or small your site, you’ll have at least one or two images on show to your visitors. However, there is a lot more to including a photo on your site than simply uploading it with a relevant caption. As a file based addition, an image will have a file name and (hopefully) alt text.
File names and alt tags should be straightforward. Alt tags in particular should describe the image as accurately as possible, so visitors, unable to see the image, still get an idea of what should fill that space. In the case of an image being used as a link through to another page within the site, the filename will perform much the same function as anchor text, making keyword inclusion and relevant information essential.
While basic points, these are easy to overlook as a site develops over a period of time, It really should be checked routinely, to make sure the most is made of the limited optimization possibilities afforded by pictures.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offers hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com. Please direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
Monday, September 21, 2009
Understanding your competition’s online strategy is the first step in topping it
Many hoteliers, especially those new to online marketing, advertise and market blindly but are baffled when very little is achieved. A fatal mistake that many make, is to ignore the competition and consequently focus their attention in the wrong direction. In order to be successful, it is vital to know who your hotel’s competitors are and what it is they do online. By going through this exercise, you ensure that you have a point of comparison and information that can be used to your advantage. Analysing your competition’s website presence and the online marketing tactics they use, enables you to explore your marketing strategy’s effectiveness comparatively and act upon any discoveries which, in turn, will enhance your success.
There are many competitor analysis tools available online, however these can be complex to use. Here are a few simple tips to get you started without investing in technology. A full competitor analysis based on these concepts should always be conducted prior to planning your hotel’s online strategy. This way you can incorporate your findings into your strategy and ultimately plan a much more targeted and successful approach.
1. Identify who your competitors are - Brainstorm your known competitors. If you have been in the hotel any length of time, it is highly likely that the “other” hotels are well-known to you, especially the local ones. Look up their websites and make a note of their web addresses.
2. Create keyword lists - Compile a list of keywords your clientele would use to find a hotel like yours online. Incorporate your geographical location into your list – many travelers will choose destination before hotel.
3. Search online - Using your keywords list, execute some searches on the major search engines - Google, Yahoo and MSN. The results most commonly shown to your target market, will be listed on the first page. Make a note of the web addresses of the top 10 results. Going forward, consider these your top competition, along with the local “colleagues” you already knew about.
4. Analyse offerings - Visit each of these competitors’ websites and analyse their offerings. Ensure you keep notes summarising each of their services, facilities and special offers. Determine the strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of your target market – How do your offerings compare? Are your rates higher or lower than theirs? Why? What makes you unique to them? What makes them unique to you? How can you capitalize on your unique offerings? This analysis will facilitate a clear definition of your competitive advantages.
5. Compare usability & functionality – Are your competitors’ sites easier to navigate compared to yours? Determine how each website differs to yours and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each.
6. Popularity – Determine how your competitors compare to your hotel in terms of popularity. How can you find out? By downloading the Google Tool bar you can establish their Google Page Rank. Page Ranks are rated from 1 to 10 – 10 being the best. Higher Page Ranks indicate higher quality websites receiving a lot of relevant traffic. Appropriate, fresh and keyword-rich content that is updated regularly, is also a positive factor. It adds value to the site for the user.
7. Links – Identifying what websites your competitors are linked to, helps to establish the kind of reach their sites have in the online world. Remember, in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), relevant and high quality inbound links are weighted heavily in a website’s favour by the search engines. Therefore, if you find a number of great inbound links on a competitor site (and these are also relevant to your site), you should contact the website and ask if they will link to your site too. You will find them highly interested if the link is meaningful. As such, writing a quick press release about your hotel and sending it over, typically results in getting advertising for your property as well as an inbound link to your website. To scope out your competition’s links, you can use www.freewebsubmission.com/linkpopularity.html
8. Keep records – Often, the most helpful way of keeping track of your findings, is by listing them in an electronic spreadsheet. Simply update the spreadsheet each time you gather new information and at the same time you are building a record that you can always refer to.
9. Keep up-to-date – Regularly re-visit your competition’s website to see what’s new and consequently keep important and relevant data in your spreadsheet up-to-date.
During these difficult times, it is vital that hoteliers formulate competitive intelligence, allowing them to stay one step ahead. The cost of acquiring a website visitor is ever-increasing; therefore marketing has to be evaluated from all angles. From the tools and methodology used to attract the website visitor, to the tools used to ensure your site is exactly the place where that visitor converts into a reservation. The internet provides you with a great opportunity for learning about your competition– use it!
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the Guest Connect web booking engine and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with Guest Connect web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
There are many competitor analysis tools available online, however these can be complex to use. Here are a few simple tips to get you started without investing in technology. A full competitor analysis based on these concepts should always be conducted prior to planning your hotel’s online strategy. This way you can incorporate your findings into your strategy and ultimately plan a much more targeted and successful approach.
1. Identify who your competitors are - Brainstorm your known competitors. If you have been in the hotel any length of time, it is highly likely that the “other” hotels are well-known to you, especially the local ones. Look up their websites and make a note of their web addresses.
2. Create keyword lists - Compile a list of keywords your clientele would use to find a hotel like yours online. Incorporate your geographical location into your list – many travelers will choose destination before hotel.
3. Search online - Using your keywords list, execute some searches on the major search engines - Google, Yahoo and MSN. The results most commonly shown to your target market, will be listed on the first page. Make a note of the web addresses of the top 10 results. Going forward, consider these your top competition, along with the local “colleagues” you already knew about.
4. Analyse offerings - Visit each of these competitors’ websites and analyse their offerings. Ensure you keep notes summarising each of their services, facilities and special offers. Determine the strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of your target market – How do your offerings compare? Are your rates higher or lower than theirs? Why? What makes you unique to them? What makes them unique to you? How can you capitalize on your unique offerings? This analysis will facilitate a clear definition of your competitive advantages.
5. Compare usability & functionality – Are your competitors’ sites easier to navigate compared to yours? Determine how each website differs to yours and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each.
6. Popularity – Determine how your competitors compare to your hotel in terms of popularity. How can you find out? By downloading the Google Tool bar you can establish their Google Page Rank. Page Ranks are rated from 1 to 10 – 10 being the best. Higher Page Ranks indicate higher quality websites receiving a lot of relevant traffic. Appropriate, fresh and keyword-rich content that is updated regularly, is also a positive factor. It adds value to the site for the user.
7. Links – Identifying what websites your competitors are linked to, helps to establish the kind of reach their sites have in the online world. Remember, in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), relevant and high quality inbound links are weighted heavily in a website’s favour by the search engines. Therefore, if you find a number of great inbound links on a competitor site (and these are also relevant to your site), you should contact the website and ask if they will link to your site too. You will find them highly interested if the link is meaningful. As such, writing a quick press release about your hotel and sending it over, typically results in getting advertising for your property as well as an inbound link to your website. To scope out your competition’s links, you can use www.freewebsubmission.com/linkpopularity.html
8. Keep records – Often, the most helpful way of keeping track of your findings, is by listing them in an electronic spreadsheet. Simply update the spreadsheet each time you gather new information and at the same time you are building a record that you can always refer to.
9. Keep up-to-date – Regularly re-visit your competition’s website to see what’s new and consequently keep important and relevant data in your spreadsheet up-to-date.
During these difficult times, it is vital that hoteliers formulate competitive intelligence, allowing them to stay one step ahead. The cost of acquiring a website visitor is ever-increasing; therefore marketing has to be evaluated from all angles. From the tools and methodology used to attract the website visitor, to the tools used to ensure your site is exactly the place where that visitor converts into a reservation. The internet provides you with a great opportunity for learning about your competition– use it!
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the Guest Connect web booking engine and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with Guest Connect web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hotels cannot afford to lose lucrative bookings due to online booking ignorance
It is astounding that, despite the current climate, hoteliers are still missing fundamental requirements in terms of the usability and functionality of their website and website booking engine. Even more frighteningly, many hoteliers are missing the vital ingredient that promises to increase their reservations – the capacity for instant online sales! The absence of a web booking engine on your website means that visitors experience a pre-historic process which leaves them unengaged, irresolute, on occasion confused and likely to abandon your website! With hoteliers fiercely competing for relevant website visitors and with the cost of acquiring them ever increasing, it is flummoxing that some hoteliers insist on dragging their heels, sticking with a relic booking model that will not convert traffic into the maximum number of bookings.
In a hospitality index report published recently, it was demonstrated that 40% of website visitors did not complete their booking due to navigation problems. Research also shows that the booking process can take up to 12 clicks. This does not bode well with the 21st century traveler – an effective booking process should rely on a few quick and simple steps. It has been established that the more experienced a customer is, the less likely he is to abandon a booking because he is more familiar with online booking processes. However, many of those booking online are first-time customers with no experience. To lose these customers due to a complex and lengthy process, will have a huge impact on conversion rates; therefore this type of shopper must be catered for.
Hotel websites that do have a web booking engine installed, are not exempt from high abandonment rates. I have seen web booking engines stuck behind vaguely entitled menu bars or behind two or three unnecessary pages, making it hard to find. Again, the customer is relied upon to click around the site to find the online reservations system. The web booking engine must be easily accessible. Ensuring there is an obvious link to the web booking engine, which is clearly titled on the home page, will eliminate any confusion. Moreover, having a “quick book box” on the first page will allow any potential guest to quickly and effortlessly check availability for their travel dates.
There is a plethora of web booking engines available on the market, but they are not all equal in their ability to convert “lookers” into “bookers”. The Guest Connect Booking Engine is an example of a web booking engine that has proven to deliver a significantly higher level of reservations. Furthermore, in an independent usability study among consumers Guest Connect received a score of 95 percent, higher than any other similarly tested engines. Extensive market research, hotel customer feedback and technical innovation during the launch period have ensured the Guest Connect web booking engine meets traveler’s usability needs. Key features that add value to the booking process for consumers range from multiple language capability to its consistency with the theme of the website. Installation of such a reputable web booking engine enables hoteliers to track all marketing efforts and gain a clear understanding of return on investment for specific advertising initiatives. These statistics are invaluable and easily acquired from the web booking engine data. With more and more room sales happening online, this type of quantifiable process may eventually replace traditional reservation processes, making it crucial that hoteliers come to grips with it.
Your hotel’s web booking engine plays a pivotal role in converting website traffic into reservations. Therefore, having a relic process that relies on your website visitors chasing you for booking confirmation or counting on them to click around to find your web booking engine, is going to mean you lose out on valuable bookings. Today, travelers are looking for immediate access to information, rates, policies and they want instant electronic confirmation that their booking went through. By ensuring your web booking engine meets these requirements, you are setting the foundations for a good web experience and consequently the start of a good relationship with your future and invaluable guest.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the Guest Connect web booking engine and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with Guest Connect web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
In a hospitality index report published recently, it was demonstrated that 40% of website visitors did not complete their booking due to navigation problems. Research also shows that the booking process can take up to 12 clicks. This does not bode well with the 21st century traveler – an effective booking process should rely on a few quick and simple steps. It has been established that the more experienced a customer is, the less likely he is to abandon a booking because he is more familiar with online booking processes. However, many of those booking online are first-time customers with no experience. To lose these customers due to a complex and lengthy process, will have a huge impact on conversion rates; therefore this type of shopper must be catered for.
Hotel websites that do have a web booking engine installed, are not exempt from high abandonment rates. I have seen web booking engines stuck behind vaguely entitled menu bars or behind two or three unnecessary pages, making it hard to find. Again, the customer is relied upon to click around the site to find the online reservations system. The web booking engine must be easily accessible. Ensuring there is an obvious link to the web booking engine, which is clearly titled on the home page, will eliminate any confusion. Moreover, having a “quick book box” on the first page will allow any potential guest to quickly and effortlessly check availability for their travel dates.
There is a plethora of web booking engines available on the market, but they are not all equal in their ability to convert “lookers” into “bookers”. The Guest Connect Booking Engine is an example of a web booking engine that has proven to deliver a significantly higher level of reservations. Furthermore, in an independent usability study among consumers Guest Connect received a score of 95 percent, higher than any other similarly tested engines. Extensive market research, hotel customer feedback and technical innovation during the launch period have ensured the Guest Connect web booking engine meets traveler’s usability needs. Key features that add value to the booking process for consumers range from multiple language capability to its consistency with the theme of the website. Installation of such a reputable web booking engine enables hoteliers to track all marketing efforts and gain a clear understanding of return on investment for specific advertising initiatives. These statistics are invaluable and easily acquired from the web booking engine data. With more and more room sales happening online, this type of quantifiable process may eventually replace traditional reservation processes, making it crucial that hoteliers come to grips with it.
Your hotel’s web booking engine plays a pivotal role in converting website traffic into reservations. Therefore, having a relic process that relies on your website visitors chasing you for booking confirmation or counting on them to click around to find your web booking engine, is going to mean you lose out on valuable bookings. Today, travelers are looking for immediate access to information, rates, policies and they want instant electronic confirmation that their booking went through. By ensuring your web booking engine meets these requirements, you are setting the foundations for a good web experience and consequently the start of a good relationship with your future and invaluable guest.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the Guest Connect web booking engine and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with Guest Connect web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Create an online marketing strategy for your hotel to maximize your web exposure
Whilst traditional marketing in the forms of radio, TV, print advertising and public relations can be effective for brand promotion and brand reinforcement, the direct impact on generating hotel bookings is limited and the bookings it does generate cannot be measured accurately. Alternatively, online marketing allows you to target potential guests who are actively looking for hotels like yours. Online marketing encompasses varying activities ensuring you target potential guests based on their needs and requirements matched to your hotel offerings. Instead of casting your net wide you are pin-pointing your audience guaranteeing a return on investment that is better and measurable.
Online marketing includes a range of activities that should be considered for your hotel’s marketing strategy. Every hotel is different and needs to be treated accordingly; therefore a blend of website development, search engine optimisation, social media and pay-per-click advertising should be used where appropriate.
Hotel Website Development:
Your hotel’s website is the digital image of your hotel. With most travelers turning to the internet to find suitable accommodation, your website is the first impression a potential guest will get of your hotel. Therefore its importance to drive online sales must not be underestimated - hoteliers must cast a critical eye over the website, its design & format, content, page titles, and images. From a user-friendly perspective it must be easy to navigate around, from a technical perspective it must be search engine friendly and quick to load. I see hotel websites every day that are completely aesthetically unappealing – ranging from bad colour schemes, invisible page titles, poor quality images to overly flashy with no substance. In this “digital era” this is tantamount to internet suicide. Choose your website developer carefully, hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. Website development can vary in cost depending on your agency choice. The return on investment anticipated for a good website redesign means that if it is required, you should invest that money. In a HeBS case study a redesigned hotel website paid for itself within 3 months in online sales.
Search Engine Optimisation:
Having a search engine friendly website is the first step towards search engine visibility. Ensuring you have a search engine friendly website means the search engines are able to index every page. It is the indexing process that determines the sites value and relevance for search terms. Therefore, you must go further than simply making your site index-able. You must proactively encourage the search engines to return to the site by updating your website with fresh and exciting content regularly. You must also create inbound links to your website from other relevant sites – if no other sites are linked to yours the search engines will register that no other sites find your website valuable or important. Distributing PR about your hotel to destination related websites and a selection of social media and travel blogs is a quick, easy and effective way to start. Hotel SEO can be managed and delivered in-house if you have the resources, but for most hoteliers handing over these activities to professionals means time is better spent elsewhere.
Social Media
Online conversations regarding your hotel continually reinforce its online presence to your target audience. Therefore the importance of tactical social media activities cannot be ignored. Hotels are finding out the hard way that conversations about them are happening online and online communities can be breeding grounds for speculation and rumours. Using social media to manage this risk and to deliver positives to counteract any negatives can be more than just effective in terms of negating any bad press, but also to build your positive “brand noise” and create “brand buzz” around your hotel’s website. Social media is personal and it’s interactive. By utilising this 21st century means of reaching a target audience hoteliers can build deeper relationships that last longer and customer loyalty is reinforced rather than a thing of the past. The Layana Resort in Thailand uses a Facebook page to keep its “fans” updated. The page attracts past and potential guests alike and allows them to share experiences and pictures. It is also the perfect arena for the hotel’s manager to advertise special offers and promotions. This online community is growing daily and is the digital alternative to “word of mouth” the power of which is endless.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising:
Developing a paid search campaign gives your hotel an instant presence in the search engine page results. Best of all you can control where your adverts are positioned on the page with your bid price per keyword. Making your adverts attractive and relevant to the search is imperative to attract the visitor. You must also ensure the landing page of the advert is the most relevant page of your website, and if you have adverts in different languages, the landing page should be the webpage in the corresponding language. For hotels with a global client base cultural search behaviours and buying patterns must be incorporated into both your website and marketing strategy. Pay-Per-Click requires budget investment. It is certainly worth establishing how much you need to be spending to get relevant traffic to your website. Google actually provides you with an online estimator where you can choose your keywords and see how much it costs. Using a professional hotel pay per click agency to plan, develop, optimise and manage your campaigns means you can let the professionals do the work and be kept updated with detailed reports and statistics.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with the web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Online marketing includes a range of activities that should be considered for your hotel’s marketing strategy. Every hotel is different and needs to be treated accordingly; therefore a blend of website development, search engine optimisation, social media and pay-per-click advertising should be used where appropriate.
Hotel Website Development:
Your hotel’s website is the digital image of your hotel. With most travelers turning to the internet to find suitable accommodation, your website is the first impression a potential guest will get of your hotel. Therefore its importance to drive online sales must not be underestimated - hoteliers must cast a critical eye over the website, its design & format, content, page titles, and images. From a user-friendly perspective it must be easy to navigate around, from a technical perspective it must be search engine friendly and quick to load. I see hotel websites every day that are completely aesthetically unappealing – ranging from bad colour schemes, invisible page titles, poor quality images to overly flashy with no substance. In this “digital era” this is tantamount to internet suicide. Choose your website developer carefully, hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. Website development can vary in cost depending on your agency choice. The return on investment anticipated for a good website redesign means that if it is required, you should invest that money. In a HeBS case study a redesigned hotel website paid for itself within 3 months in online sales.
Search Engine Optimisation:
Having a search engine friendly website is the first step towards search engine visibility. Ensuring you have a search engine friendly website means the search engines are able to index every page. It is the indexing process that determines the sites value and relevance for search terms. Therefore, you must go further than simply making your site index-able. You must proactively encourage the search engines to return to the site by updating your website with fresh and exciting content regularly. You must also create inbound links to your website from other relevant sites – if no other sites are linked to yours the search engines will register that no other sites find your website valuable or important. Distributing PR about your hotel to destination related websites and a selection of social media and travel blogs is a quick, easy and effective way to start. Hotel SEO can be managed and delivered in-house if you have the resources, but for most hoteliers handing over these activities to professionals means time is better spent elsewhere.
Social Media
Online conversations regarding your hotel continually reinforce its online presence to your target audience. Therefore the importance of tactical social media activities cannot be ignored. Hotels are finding out the hard way that conversations about them are happening online and online communities can be breeding grounds for speculation and rumours. Using social media to manage this risk and to deliver positives to counteract any negatives can be more than just effective in terms of negating any bad press, but also to build your positive “brand noise” and create “brand buzz” around your hotel’s website. Social media is personal and it’s interactive. By utilising this 21st century means of reaching a target audience hoteliers can build deeper relationships that last longer and customer loyalty is reinforced rather than a thing of the past. The Layana Resort in Thailand uses a Facebook page to keep its “fans” updated. The page attracts past and potential guests alike and allows them to share experiences and pictures. It is also the perfect arena for the hotel’s manager to advertise special offers and promotions. This online community is growing daily and is the digital alternative to “word of mouth” the power of which is endless.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising:
Developing a paid search campaign gives your hotel an instant presence in the search engine page results. Best of all you can control where your adverts are positioned on the page with your bid price per keyword. Making your adverts attractive and relevant to the search is imperative to attract the visitor. You must also ensure the landing page of the advert is the most relevant page of your website, and if you have adverts in different languages, the landing page should be the webpage in the corresponding language. For hotels with a global client base cultural search behaviours and buying patterns must be incorporated into both your website and marketing strategy. Pay-Per-Click requires budget investment. It is certainly worth establishing how much you need to be spending to get relevant traffic to your website. Google actually provides you with an online estimator where you can choose your keywords and see how much it costs. Using a professional hotel pay per click agency to plan, develop, optimise and manage your campaigns means you can let the professionals do the work and be kept updated with detailed reports and statistics.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. GlobRes is also offering hotel website design for free when purchased with the web booking engine.
Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Monday, August 10, 2009
Be creative and maximise your hotel’s revenue, discounting is not the answer!
While hoteliers suffer sleepless nights the debate continues as to whether they should discount prices in light of the economic climate. In reality, it has never been more important to revisit your revenue and pricing strategies. Research shows that discounting prices can have both long and short term negative effects and when one hotel discounts prices, the competition soon follows. This renders the activity purposeless and can potentially damage future profitability. This isn’t to say that Revenue Managers cannot respond to the down-turn appropriately with calculated alternatives that will ensure sustainability during these challenging times. Creative thinking and marketing is certainly key - but where should hoteliers focus their efforts?
Hotels will always approach the concept of “special offers & promotions” differently according to their budget and clientele. A hotel in Melbourne is currently offering the chance to win a SMART car if you choose to host your conference, meeting or exhibition at the hotel. This promotion is used to incentivise potential clients into booking this venue above the competition. Of course, many hotels will not have the budget to offer such a prize but this does not mean the concept wouldn’t work on a smaller scale. A spa resort in Thailand is currently offering a weather guarantee too all guests at the hotel during the rainy season. If there is a full day of rain guests are entitled to gain a full refund in credits for treatments at the hotel’s spa.
Generating ancillary revenue is a further innovative way of optimising your hotel’s profits–maximise revenue from your existing bookings rather than culling your prices in an attempt to gain more reservations. Offering local tours and activities have proven to boost revenue, this also serves to add value to your website in terms of content. Remember, guests generally choose destination before hotel. Therefore adding web page content that relates to the destination (and your relationships with it through tours and activities) will only have a positive influence on a potential guest’s choice. The new pages will also be indexed by the search engines and should enhance your overall online visibility for new search terms.
Using opaque channels is a simple way to get rid of distressed inventory and best of all you can maintain rate integrity. An opaque channel makes parts of the online sales process hidden, for example the hotel name. By using opaque channels you can offer prices that are significantly lower than published rates. Hotels can price discriminate between those customers who are sensitive to service characteristics and those who are not and profit from such discrimination. Taking a look at your customer segments can also be beneficial in establishing how to tackle discounts and special offers. Customers vary in terms of price sensitivity; there are still potential guests who do not expect discounts! Make sure you consider this fragment of potential guests.
Hoteliers must adapt revenue management and pricing strategies to take advantage of new trends in customer behaviour and distribution. For that reason, appropriate representation on GDS channels and IDS channels will increase electronic sales for suitable hotels. The number of reservations being generated through these channels is growing steadily. GDS and IDS account for 60% of online bookings so for suitable hotels, there couldn’t be a better time to invest. Hoteliers must remember the majority of potential guests are not brand loyal nor do they have a fixed booking pattern; they simply book from the hotel offering them the best deal. The unpredictability of such behavior means that hotels must maintain a presence on all possible distribution channels if they want a sizeable share of the online market.
Creative ideas, promotions and marketing are effective alternatives to discounting your prices. Maximising revenue from existing bookings and adding value to your guest’s experiences will ensure more repeat business and optimised profits.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Hotels will always approach the concept of “special offers & promotions” differently according to their budget and clientele. A hotel in Melbourne is currently offering the chance to win a SMART car if you choose to host your conference, meeting or exhibition at the hotel. This promotion is used to incentivise potential clients into booking this venue above the competition. Of course, many hotels will not have the budget to offer such a prize but this does not mean the concept wouldn’t work on a smaller scale. A spa resort in Thailand is currently offering a weather guarantee too all guests at the hotel during the rainy season. If there is a full day of rain guests are entitled to gain a full refund in credits for treatments at the hotel’s spa.
Generating ancillary revenue is a further innovative way of optimising your hotel’s profits–maximise revenue from your existing bookings rather than culling your prices in an attempt to gain more reservations. Offering local tours and activities have proven to boost revenue, this also serves to add value to your website in terms of content. Remember, guests generally choose destination before hotel. Therefore adding web page content that relates to the destination (and your relationships with it through tours and activities) will only have a positive influence on a potential guest’s choice. The new pages will also be indexed by the search engines and should enhance your overall online visibility for new search terms.
Using opaque channels is a simple way to get rid of distressed inventory and best of all you can maintain rate integrity. An opaque channel makes parts of the online sales process hidden, for example the hotel name. By using opaque channels you can offer prices that are significantly lower than published rates. Hotels can price discriminate between those customers who are sensitive to service characteristics and those who are not and profit from such discrimination. Taking a look at your customer segments can also be beneficial in establishing how to tackle discounts and special offers. Customers vary in terms of price sensitivity; there are still potential guests who do not expect discounts! Make sure you consider this fragment of potential guests.
Hoteliers must adapt revenue management and pricing strategies to take advantage of new trends in customer behaviour and distribution. For that reason, appropriate representation on GDS channels and IDS channels will increase electronic sales for suitable hotels. The number of reservations being generated through these channels is growing steadily. GDS and IDS account for 60% of online bookings so for suitable hotels, there couldn’t be a better time to invest. Hoteliers must remember the majority of potential guests are not brand loyal nor do they have a fixed booking pattern; they simply book from the hotel offering them the best deal. The unpredictability of such behavior means that hotels must maintain a presence on all possible distribution channels if they want a sizeable share of the online market.
Creative ideas, promotions and marketing are effective alternatives to discounting your prices. Maximising revenue from existing bookings and adding value to your guest’s experiences will ensure more repeat business and optimised profits.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Monday, August 3, 2009
GlobRes celebrates the re-launch of new Pay Per Click management service for Hoteliers!
Paid search is the fastest way to increase your hotel’s presence across the search engines, with this in mind GlobRes has developed a suite of Pay Per Click (PPC) packages designed specifically for Hotelier’s looking to increase reservations through new channels. Undoubtedly, Hoteliers that are succeeding in the current climate are undertaking new, innovative digital marketing incentives that ensure a measurable return on investment through their central reservation system. Using these methods hotels can pinpoint where exactly a reservation originated from and strategically place more of their marketing budget there. But who has the time? Hoteliers are busy people - time should be spent with guests not staring at a computer making sense of statistics….leave this to the experts.
GlobRes PPC clients receive account management services that are second to none. Every client receives a dedicated AdWords Qualified Professional who plans, researches and develops campaigns on behalf of the hotel. The service doesn’t stop there, effective paid search marketing requires on-going management - keyword bids must be monitored to maintain positioning, conversion rates and costs must be monitored to ensure the best ROI. Advert text must be creative, targeted and revised regularly to ensure maximum exposure.
Research findings are suggesting time and time again that moving marketing budgets from offline to online advertising is the way forward for Hoteliers. Every day new hotels are embarking on the paid search journey and investing only a small amount of money on just a handful of keywords can produce great results when managed effectively. However Hoteliers must beware of the pitfalls of paid search marketing and remember a job worth doing is only worth doing well. Some of the PPC pitfalls can be costly and often hoteliers attribute a bad experience with PPC to poor account management. In truth, PPC when managed effectively can work for the majority of hotels.
Here are 3 tips for a cost effective campaign:
1. Know your hotel. Your choice of keywords must accurately reflect your hotel , if the keywords are not targeted and relevant you will end up throwing money down the drain on keywords that will never get you that all important reservation.
2. Know your audience. What are your potential customers looking for? Special offers and discounts? Luxury lodgings? Make sure you incorporate choice phrases that reflect what your guests WANT into your advert text.
3. If in doubt consult an expert…
The Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes is on hand to answer any questions you have about Google AdWords and many other search platforms including Yahoo and MSN.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
GlobRes PPC clients receive account management services that are second to none. Every client receives a dedicated AdWords Qualified Professional who plans, researches and develops campaigns on behalf of the hotel. The service doesn’t stop there, effective paid search marketing requires on-going management - keyword bids must be monitored to maintain positioning, conversion rates and costs must be monitored to ensure the best ROI. Advert text must be creative, targeted and revised regularly to ensure maximum exposure.
Research findings are suggesting time and time again that moving marketing budgets from offline to online advertising is the way forward for Hoteliers. Every day new hotels are embarking on the paid search journey and investing only a small amount of money on just a handful of keywords can produce great results when managed effectively. However Hoteliers must beware of the pitfalls of paid search marketing and remember a job worth doing is only worth doing well. Some of the PPC pitfalls can be costly and often hoteliers attribute a bad experience with PPC to poor account management. In truth, PPC when managed effectively can work for the majority of hotels.
Here are 3 tips for a cost effective campaign:
1. Know your hotel. Your choice of keywords must accurately reflect your hotel , if the keywords are not targeted and relevant you will end up throwing money down the drain on keywords that will never get you that all important reservation.
2. Know your audience. What are your potential customers looking for? Special offers and discounts? Luxury lodgings? Make sure you incorporate choice phrases that reflect what your guests WANT into your advert text.
3. If in doubt consult an expert…
The Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes is on hand to answer any questions you have about Google AdWords and many other search platforms including Yahoo and MSN.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Friday, July 24, 2009
SEO: Increasing your hotel’s website position on Google does not have to break the bank
The term “search engine optimisation” often strikes fear into the hearts of hoteliers and can be especially daunting for the independent hotel that has no marketing or PR department to charge these activities with. But SEO doesn’t need to be scary or costly if you break it down into segments and allocate time to each. This article will focus on 3 areas of search engine optimisation; content, link building and social media. Each plays a vital role in increasing your hotel’s website positioning in Google for your chosen keywords.
In order to understand the purpose of these activities, it is first crucial that you understand the fundamental reason the search engines reward websites with higher positions in the way they do. As an avid user of Google, I know I can rely on it. It doesn’t let me down. If I type in a keyword, Google returns relevant results for me. But Google has to do better than that – millions of websites competing for the 'top spots’ are relevant to my search. Google’s reputation as the ‘search engine of choice’ rests firmly in the hands of measuring criteria, otherwise known as “algorithms” and if it fails, the risk is that searchers go to an alternative engine. But, how does Google choose which websites to reward with page 1 search results for a given search term?
Content
You must remember “content is king.” If you do not update your hotel website content regularly, you are not encouraging the search engines to keep returning to re-index your website. New content should be exciting and relevant and can be in the form of articles or press releases. I would recommend creating a page within your site, dedicated to your new content updates. Try to add new content every week. This may seem like a lot, but if time is limited, you can keep the pieces short. It is important that you write over 260 words to ensure the new content is picked up by the search engines.
You should identify the keywords you wish to increase your positions in the search engine page results for, and use these keywords as 'anchor text' pointing the hyperlink back to the relevant page on the website. ‘Anchor text’ is a link label or link title and is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. A ‘hyperlink’ is a link from the text document to your website.
If you use Microsoft Word to write your content, simply highlight the key phrase you wish to make into anchor text, right click with your mouse and hit “hyperlink”. You can then add the URL address you wish this keyword to link back to. This is called “deep linking” and ensures that those reading your content can click quickly and easily to the area of your site that interests them.
Link Building
Inbound links are of utmost importance to the search engines. If you have a host of relevant links pointing back to your website, you are demonstrating the importance of your hotel’s site. If you have no inbound links, the search engines will assume your website holds no content of value. Therefore “sourcing quality”, relevant inbound links to your website, can really up the anti when it comes to your SEO campaign. Acquiring inbound links is pretty simple; the key is ensuring they are quality links. Poor quality or irrelevant inbound links can be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Therefore “black hat” SEO (unethical means of acquiring inbound links, link spamming, links farms) must be avoided.
The best way of sourcing quality link-backs is by using your content as a ‘vehicle.’ The all important anchor text within the content will form the links back to your site. So, that’s half the job done. The second half is sourcing websites relevant to your hotel to publish your content. Contact travel websites and blogs that talk about your hotel’s destination. These are ideal websites to publish your content to. By sourcing quality and relevant links, you are not only adding value to your SEO activity, but you are also widening your audience and will ensure traffic is coming to your website from new relevant sources.
Social Media
Social media provides new ways to connect with potential guests who you might not be able to get to otherwise. Moreover, it can spread your brand presence quickly and further than traditional PR methods. Undertaking social media activity is cost effective and enables you to meticulously pick social media sites that match your brand and audience closely. It also provides you with areas to publish your content to your target audience, thus increasing your inbound links to your site. Think of your website as a “city” and inbound links to your website are routes into your city. By creating more links from high quality and high visibility sources, you ensure there are more ways for your potential guests to find you.
Moreover, sites like blogger.com are owned by Google. Because of this, items published on blogger.com may also appear in the search results on Google when a relevant search term is entered. This again serves to increase your hotel’s online visibility, placing your hotel website at the centre of a spider’s web created by you, using only the most relevant outlets.
Making time for these SEO activities will make your hotel’s website more visible. Regularly updated content also serves to keep users returning after their first visit. If a site is never updated, there is no reason to go back and have another look – remember that! Don’t expect page 1 results overnight. With the volume of sites Google indexes for your chosen keywords, it is safe to say they are looking for positive SEO activity performed over a lengthy period of time. For newer sites, you may not see much of a change for 12 months. Remember, the design of your website can inhibit progress, A search engine-friendly and user-friendly site will enable you to increase positions quicker. Using Flash on your website isn’t always SEO suicide, but it can inhibit the search engines’ ability to index your site- if for example your textual content is imbedded in Flash.
About GlobRes
GlobRes offers hotel website design with best practice search engine optimisation incorporated. This ensures your website can be indexed effectively by the search engines. The website is free when taken with the Guest Connect Web Booking Engine.
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world and operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
In order to understand the purpose of these activities, it is first crucial that you understand the fundamental reason the search engines reward websites with higher positions in the way they do. As an avid user of Google, I know I can rely on it. It doesn’t let me down. If I type in a keyword, Google returns relevant results for me. But Google has to do better than that – millions of websites competing for the 'top spots’ are relevant to my search. Google’s reputation as the ‘search engine of choice’ rests firmly in the hands of measuring criteria, otherwise known as “algorithms” and if it fails, the risk is that searchers go to an alternative engine. But, how does Google choose which websites to reward with page 1 search results for a given search term?
Content
You must remember “content is king.” If you do not update your hotel website content regularly, you are not encouraging the search engines to keep returning to re-index your website. New content should be exciting and relevant and can be in the form of articles or press releases. I would recommend creating a page within your site, dedicated to your new content updates. Try to add new content every week. This may seem like a lot, but if time is limited, you can keep the pieces short. It is important that you write over 260 words to ensure the new content is picked up by the search engines.
You should identify the keywords you wish to increase your positions in the search engine page results for, and use these keywords as 'anchor text' pointing the hyperlink back to the relevant page on the website. ‘Anchor text’ is a link label or link title and is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. A ‘hyperlink’ is a link from the text document to your website.
If you use Microsoft Word to write your content, simply highlight the key phrase you wish to make into anchor text, right click with your mouse and hit “hyperlink”. You can then add the URL address you wish this keyword to link back to. This is called “deep linking” and ensures that those reading your content can click quickly and easily to the area of your site that interests them.
Link Building
Inbound links are of utmost importance to the search engines. If you have a host of relevant links pointing back to your website, you are demonstrating the importance of your hotel’s site. If you have no inbound links, the search engines will assume your website holds no content of value. Therefore “sourcing quality”, relevant inbound links to your website, can really up the anti when it comes to your SEO campaign. Acquiring inbound links is pretty simple; the key is ensuring they are quality links. Poor quality or irrelevant inbound links can be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Therefore “black hat” SEO (unethical means of acquiring inbound links, link spamming, links farms) must be avoided.
The best way of sourcing quality link-backs is by using your content as a ‘vehicle.’ The all important anchor text within the content will form the links back to your site. So, that’s half the job done. The second half is sourcing websites relevant to your hotel to publish your content. Contact travel websites and blogs that talk about your hotel’s destination. These are ideal websites to publish your content to. By sourcing quality and relevant links, you are not only adding value to your SEO activity, but you are also widening your audience and will ensure traffic is coming to your website from new relevant sources.
Social Media
Social media provides new ways to connect with potential guests who you might not be able to get to otherwise. Moreover, it can spread your brand presence quickly and further than traditional PR methods. Undertaking social media activity is cost effective and enables you to meticulously pick social media sites that match your brand and audience closely. It also provides you with areas to publish your content to your target audience, thus increasing your inbound links to your site. Think of your website as a “city” and inbound links to your website are routes into your city. By creating more links from high quality and high visibility sources, you ensure there are more ways for your potential guests to find you.
Moreover, sites like blogger.com are owned by Google. Because of this, items published on blogger.com may also appear in the search results on Google when a relevant search term is entered. This again serves to increase your hotel’s online visibility, placing your hotel website at the centre of a spider’s web created by you, using only the most relevant outlets.
Making time for these SEO activities will make your hotel’s website more visible. Regularly updated content also serves to keep users returning after their first visit. If a site is never updated, there is no reason to go back and have another look – remember that! Don’t expect page 1 results overnight. With the volume of sites Google indexes for your chosen keywords, it is safe to say they are looking for positive SEO activity performed over a lengthy period of time. For newer sites, you may not see much of a change for 12 months. Remember, the design of your website can inhibit progress, A search engine-friendly and user-friendly site will enable you to increase positions quicker. Using Flash on your website isn’t always SEO suicide, but it can inhibit the search engines’ ability to index your site- if for example your textual content is imbedded in Flash.
About GlobRes
GlobRes offers hotel website design with best practice search engine optimisation incorporated. This ensures your website can be indexed effectively by the search engines. The website is free when taken with the Guest Connect Web Booking Engine.
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world and operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Friday, July 3, 2009
Your Hotel’s Website is your Ultimate Sales Tool!
Your hotel website is vitally important in acquiring reservations. It is the first and more often the last experience a potential guest may have of your hotel. Hoteliers must therefore cast a critical eye over the website and address the fundamental question: Is your hotel website doing its job properly? To reveal the true performance of your website, you must identify the number of reservations you generate through your website. The easiest way to measure your site’s production is to look at your web booking engine’s analytics. This will tell you in detail how many reservations you have received over a particular time period. I would recommend that you use web analytics for the website as a whole, to identify how many visitors you have received to your site and where they have come from. Most website analytic software will also tell you at the very least how long your visitors remain on the site, the pages looked at the longest; it will even tell you what pages received the highest bounce rate.
You can pay for many web analytics softwares and systems, or you can use Google Analytics for free. For use in its simplest form, Google analytics will allow you to see the total number of visitors to the site and where the visitor came from. When used comparatively against your reservations statistics, these numbers will give you a conversion rate. This rate is vital in determining the performance of your website.
Of course, we must not ignore other factors that can have an impact on reservation rates. Amongst others, room rates, room availability, value and convenience will all play a part. These are also important considerations and must be viewed so when analyzing the data from your analytics.
As a 21st century hotelier weathering the all too apparent recession, you must realize the importance of the internet to sell your hotel rooms. To be unaware of the ratio of visitors to reservations is akin to burying your head in the sand. Your website should be treated as a sales tool and measured as such.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 years there has been a changing fashion in website design. This can arguably be held responsible for the all too “flashy” hotel website that is difficult to navigate, contains little general information about the area and has a distinct lack of presence in the search engines. Hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. A hotel website should look great, but to the detriment of its content, usability and search visibility? Certainly not.
Research indicates that travelers choose a destination, attraction or activity first and foremost. Specific hotel choice is a secondary consideration; the chosen hotel will usually fit criteria in line with the destination. Therefore, it is common sense that a hotel website should include information about the destination. Travelers are very much looking for value as well – not just best rates, but value in terms of convenience.
Search visibility is also of the utmost importance for a hotel website. What is the point in having a great website if no one can find it? The importance of visibility on leading search engines should not be underestimated. Best practice Search Engine Optimisation must be incorporated in your website, and that is just to get you started. Remember, updating your content regularly will encourage the search engines to keep coming back and re-indexing your page. Send out press releases and articles about your hotel to other websites to form in-bound links to your site. Remember, relevant links are key. They serve to increase your site’s position over time and they will enable you to receive traffic to your site from new sources as well. Using social media to promote your hotel will equally increase your inbound links and is great for creating communities engaged with your hotel brand.
The clear message to take from this is that your website is your most important sales tool and should be evaluated, amended and re-designed if necessary. Your hotel’s website should be your potential guest’s first of many experiences of your hotel, not the last and the only experience.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provide hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offer hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com pleased direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
You can pay for many web analytics softwares and systems, or you can use Google Analytics for free. For use in its simplest form, Google analytics will allow you to see the total number of visitors to the site and where the visitor came from. When used comparatively against your reservations statistics, these numbers will give you a conversion rate. This rate is vital in determining the performance of your website.
Of course, we must not ignore other factors that can have an impact on reservation rates. Amongst others, room rates, room availability, value and convenience will all play a part. These are also important considerations and must be viewed so when analyzing the data from your analytics.
As a 21st century hotelier weathering the all too apparent recession, you must realize the importance of the internet to sell your hotel rooms. To be unaware of the ratio of visitors to reservations is akin to burying your head in the sand. Your website should be treated as a sales tool and measured as such.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 years there has been a changing fashion in website design. This can arguably be held responsible for the all too “flashy” hotel website that is difficult to navigate, contains little general information about the area and has a distinct lack of presence in the search engines. Hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. A hotel website should look great, but to the detriment of its content, usability and search visibility? Certainly not.
Research indicates that travelers choose a destination, attraction or activity first and foremost. Specific hotel choice is a secondary consideration; the chosen hotel will usually fit criteria in line with the destination. Therefore, it is common sense that a hotel website should include information about the destination. Travelers are very much looking for value as well – not just best rates, but value in terms of convenience.
Search visibility is also of the utmost importance for a hotel website. What is the point in having a great website if no one can find it? The importance of visibility on leading search engines should not be underestimated. Best practice Search Engine Optimisation must be incorporated in your website, and that is just to get you started. Remember, updating your content regularly will encourage the search engines to keep coming back and re-indexing your page. Send out press releases and articles about your hotel to other websites to form in-bound links to your site. Remember, relevant links are key. They serve to increase your site’s position over time and they will enable you to receive traffic to your site from new sources as well. Using social media to promote your hotel will equally increase your inbound links and is great for creating communities engaged with your hotel brand.
The clear message to take from this is that your website is your most important sales tool and should be evaluated, amended and re-designed if necessary. Your hotel’s website should be your potential guest’s first of many experiences of your hotel, not the last and the only experience.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provide hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offer hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com pleased direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
Monday, June 15, 2009
Do you read your Hotel’s reviews on Trip Advisor? If not, it’s certainly time you did…
The explosion of consumer generated content on the web means that more than ever hoteliers should monitor their brand online and respond to reviews and forum posts accordingly. Statistics show that over 24 million consumers are reviewing hotels on Trip Advisor every month! Here is a little advice on making Trip Advisor and other hotel review sites work for you rather than against you.
Many hoteliers feel animosity towards Trip Advisor believing it to be a breeding ground for disgruntled ex employees or competitors writing bogus negative reviews. In truth these types of occurrences are few and far between and Trip Advisor has put measures in place to ensure the validity of the reviews that are placed on the website. One measure is to show users previous reviews by the same reviewer making it easier to gauge a real review against a fake one.
Hoteliers must accept that Trip Advisor is not going anywhere, it is time to engage with the website and work the system. In doing this you ensure that you are aware of what your guests are saying about you, responding publicly to these comments and therefore interacting with your online community. You can upload images, factual information about your hotel and upload new content. If you feel you wish to respond to a review, write a “management response” this could be an explanation, a correction or if appropriate, a compliment to a reviewer. It enables you to give your side of the story as well as give your potential guests confidence because you are demonstrating that you care enough to monitor what your customers say about you. A well crafted management response can go a long way.
Some hoteliers have been caught trying to cheat Trip Advisor and write their own reviews however there is monitoring practices in place to detect this activity. If you really want to positively influence your hotel’s ratings do it the best way possible – truthfully! You may send Trip Advisor any missing articles and reviews on your hotel, why not ask your guests to write a review? If a guest leaving the hotel drops a complimentary comment your way ask them to share this on Trip Advisor. Over time this activity will add up to a profile on Trip Advisor that reflects your hotel fairly.
Don’t bury your head in the sand, your guests deserve better! Use Trip Advisor to your advantage. The power of online reviews should not be underestimated – good reviews mean more reservations.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Many hoteliers feel animosity towards Trip Advisor believing it to be a breeding ground for disgruntled ex employees or competitors writing bogus negative reviews. In truth these types of occurrences are few and far between and Trip Advisor has put measures in place to ensure the validity of the reviews that are placed on the website. One measure is to show users previous reviews by the same reviewer making it easier to gauge a real review against a fake one.
Hoteliers must accept that Trip Advisor is not going anywhere, it is time to engage with the website and work the system. In doing this you ensure that you are aware of what your guests are saying about you, responding publicly to these comments and therefore interacting with your online community. You can upload images, factual information about your hotel and upload new content. If you feel you wish to respond to a review, write a “management response” this could be an explanation, a correction or if appropriate, a compliment to a reviewer. It enables you to give your side of the story as well as give your potential guests confidence because you are demonstrating that you care enough to monitor what your customers say about you. A well crafted management response can go a long way.
Some hoteliers have been caught trying to cheat Trip Advisor and write their own reviews however there is monitoring practices in place to detect this activity. If you really want to positively influence your hotel’s ratings do it the best way possible – truthfully! You may send Trip Advisor any missing articles and reviews on your hotel, why not ask your guests to write a review? If a guest leaving the hotel drops a complimentary comment your way ask them to share this on Trip Advisor. Over time this activity will add up to a profile on Trip Advisor that reflects your hotel fairly.
Don’t bury your head in the sand, your guests deserve better! Use Trip Advisor to your advantage. The power of online reviews should not be underestimated – good reviews mean more reservations.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Are GDS and IDS the right distribution channels for my hotel?
Understanding GDS and IDS
The term GDS stands for Global Distribution Systems. Originally they were created for the airline industry as a tool for travel agents to make flight bookings. Over time more types of reservations have been added including hotel reservations. The term IDS stands for Internet Distribution Services, this simply refers to the Internet portals that offer hotel reservations. Representation for hotels on one or both of these channels can be highly beneficial when used appropriately for suitable hotels.
Over the past 3 years hotel bookings through both GDS and IDS channels have grown considerably attributing to around sixty percent of online room reservations. The increased number of hotels using GDS has resulted in greater choice for travel agents and greater visibility for hotels.
Is GDS relevant for your hotel?
Many hoteliers invest heavily in GDS connectivity and expect it to work with little effort on their part. This happens time and time again and is usually rooted in lack of understanding. GlobRes has established a few key common characteristics which make a hotel more suitable for the GDS. Central location or being located close to an airport are ideal attributes for successful GDS connectivity, room capacity of around 25 - 30 or more can also be beneficial. Hotels with some corporate lodgings and hotels that are not affected by changing seasons also tend to be more successful in terms of GDS. This is not a definitive list and there are exceptions, for example some smaller hotels flourish with GDS because of their location.
There are a number of ways to ensure you get the best out of your GDS connections and IDS connections. Choose an established provider which supplies you with a dedicated account manager. Hoteliers must be prepared to learn from and lean on their Account Manager. Always ask for training and if you need more ask again! Remember it is in the best interest of your Account Manager for you to be as successful as possible with your connections. You must participate to reap the rewards.
For suitable GDS and IDS hotels, there couldn’t be a better time to invest. GDS puts your hotel in front of over 650,000 Travel Agents. Travel agents can immediately see your hotel’s rates and availability together with photos and further information. Today, the majority of guests booking online are not loyal to one hotel; they may also have random booking patterns, booking from hotels that on that day are offering them the best deal. To combat such erratic behaviour hotels must maintain a presence across a host of distribution channels to ensure a sizable share of the online market.
Identify your distribution needs today with GlobRes. To find out more about how GlobRes Hotel Reservation and Marketing services can increase your hotel bookings today please complete our online contact form or visit www.globres.com for more information
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
Embark on a rigorous social media campaign to promote your Hotel’s website and get more reservations today…
Online conversations regarding your hotel continually reinforce the online perception of your hotel to your target audience. Therefore the importance of tactical social media and blogging activities cannot be ignored. Hotels are finding out the hard way that conversations about them are happening online and online communities can be breeding grounds for speculation and rumours. Using social media to manage this risk and to deliver positives to counteract any negatives can be more than just effective in terms of negating any bad press, but also to build your positive “brand noise” and create “brand buzz” around your hotel’s website.
Social media provides new ways to connect with potential guests who you might not be able to get to otherwise, moreover, it can spread your brand presence quickly and further than traditional PR methods. Undertaking social media activity is cost effective and enables hoteliers to meticulously pick social media sites that match your brand and audience closely. The main consideration for hoteliers has to be time; time to write exciting content in the form of articles, press releases and editorial and time to create profiles on the chosen social media outlets and time to add the content regularly and consistently.
Focused, quality content can help to establish your hotel on the internet but be careful, avoid continually adding self serving content that no one wants to read - the trick is to make the content exciting, noteworthy and topical. This content will also provide a vehicle to point links back to your hotel website which is helpful in generating more traffic to your website. The conversion rate of this new source of traffic can be monitored through your hotel reservation system. Think of your website as a “city” and inbound links to your website are routes into your city, by creating more links from high quality, high visibility sources you ensure there are more ways for your potential guests to find you.
Social media is personal and interactive, by utilising this 21st century means of reaching your audience you build deeper relationships that last longer and you come across as open and transparent. Your hotel becomes more than just an entity; it is given human characteristics that give you the edge on your competition. Your past and prospective guest’s opinions and experiences play a vital role in the success of your hotel therefore using social media is key to your credibility.
To find out more about how GlobRes can assist in increasing traffic to your website complete our online contact form or visit www.globres.com for more information.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Social media provides new ways to connect with potential guests who you might not be able to get to otherwise, moreover, it can spread your brand presence quickly and further than traditional PR methods. Undertaking social media activity is cost effective and enables hoteliers to meticulously pick social media sites that match your brand and audience closely. The main consideration for hoteliers has to be time; time to write exciting content in the form of articles, press releases and editorial and time to create profiles on the chosen social media outlets and time to add the content regularly and consistently.
Focused, quality content can help to establish your hotel on the internet but be careful, avoid continually adding self serving content that no one wants to read - the trick is to make the content exciting, noteworthy and topical. This content will also provide a vehicle to point links back to your hotel website which is helpful in generating more traffic to your website. The conversion rate of this new source of traffic can be monitored through your hotel reservation system. Think of your website as a “city” and inbound links to your website are routes into your city, by creating more links from high quality, high visibility sources you ensure there are more ways for your potential guests to find you.
Social media is personal and interactive, by utilising this 21st century means of reaching your audience you build deeper relationships that last longer and you come across as open and transparent. Your hotel becomes more than just an entity; it is given human characteristics that give you the edge on your competition. Your past and prospective guest’s opinions and experiences play a vital role in the success of your hotel therefore using social media is key to your credibility.
To find out more about how GlobRes can assist in increasing traffic to your website complete our online contact form or visit www.globres.com for more information.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com
Monday, May 18, 2009
Online Hotel Reservation Tools and Marketing are not just for the Big Players!
Now more than ever, hotel reservation systems are of vital importance to a successful hotel. Why? Because the electronic era is prospering, hoteliers wishing to take a slice of the World Wide Web “pie” must invest in online reservation tools and a rigorous hotel marketing strategy to ensure they triumph. Hotels at the luxury end of the market have found the number electronic room reservations via internet, CRS and GDS rising dramatically throughout 2008. Third party booking sites like HRS.com and hotel.info have brought a rising number of reservations to over eighty percent of hotels. It’s time for the smaller, family run hotels to jump on this bandwagon and enjoy the rewards!
Promoting a hotel digitally, regardless of its size can ensure room capacity is met over night. Significant research suggests that hotels using electronic room sales via central reservation systems and global distribution systems have flourished in 2008. Why? Because digital promotion through IDS, GDS and search engine marketing levels out the playing field. Small hotels can contend with the big players by putting their website in front of a receptive audience looking for a hotel to suit them as closely as possible. The 21st century holiday maker wants information, images and above all CHOICE and they are willing to search across as many channels as they have to to find it. Hoteliers must ensure their website is visible to this magnitude of traffic – how else can you guarantee your potential reservation won’t go to the hotel down the street?
Undeniably, online booking is booming - twelve percent of the hotels in Germany obtain nearly fifty percent of their turnover with electronic sales and hotels which concentrate their sales strategies on online channels are growing strongly. The majority of hotels based in Western Europe use some sort of online distribution channel company and industry professionals everywhere are sending a clear message that hospitality business without an internet strategy is history.
With online hotel booking promising to continue to be important for hotels across the world hoteliers should be looking out for the best hotel booking engines, GDS and IDS systems. Furthermore seeking a partnership agency which also offers exposure across search engine platforms is going to give them the edge on the competition.
Small and medium sized hoteliers are missing out on lucrative bookings and need to be pulled into the 21st century with a cost effective hotel reservations strategy. Statistics are hard to ignore, especially when hotels located closely in proximity to one another are acquiring distinctly different levels of reservations.
Speak to a GlobRes representative today to find out more about how hotel GDS and IDS can increase your hotel bookings. Complete our online contact form or visit www.globres.com for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
Promoting a hotel digitally, regardless of its size can ensure room capacity is met over night. Significant research suggests that hotels using electronic room sales via central reservation systems and global distribution systems have flourished in 2008. Why? Because digital promotion through IDS, GDS and search engine marketing levels out the playing field. Small hotels can contend with the big players by putting their website in front of a receptive audience looking for a hotel to suit them as closely as possible. The 21st century holiday maker wants information, images and above all CHOICE and they are willing to search across as many channels as they have to to find it. Hoteliers must ensure their website is visible to this magnitude of traffic – how else can you guarantee your potential reservation won’t go to the hotel down the street?
Undeniably, online booking is booming - twelve percent of the hotels in Germany obtain nearly fifty percent of their turnover with electronic sales and hotels which concentrate their sales strategies on online channels are growing strongly. The majority of hotels based in Western Europe use some sort of online distribution channel company and industry professionals everywhere are sending a clear message that hospitality business without an internet strategy is history.
With online hotel booking promising to continue to be important for hotels across the world hoteliers should be looking out for the best hotel booking engines, GDS and IDS systems. Furthermore seeking a partnership agency which also offers exposure across search engine platforms is going to give them the edge on the competition.
Small and medium sized hoteliers are missing out on lucrative bookings and need to be pulled into the 21st century with a cost effective hotel reservations strategy. Statistics are hard to ignore, especially when hotels located closely in proximity to one another are acquiring distinctly different levels of reservations.
Speak to a GlobRes representative today to find out more about how hotel GDS and IDS can increase your hotel bookings. Complete our online contact form or visit www.globres.com for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
Friday, May 15, 2009
Attention Hoteliers! Beat the Recession with Globres Hotel Reservation Services!
Sleepless nights over vacant hotel rooms are a thing of the past for hotel’s using GlobRes GDS and IDS services. Times are tough for many Hoteliers and the recession cannot be ignored, however hundreds of hotels using GlobRes’s hotel reservation systems & marketing service are thriving nonetheless.
Why? Because GlobRes treats hotel marketing uniquely, investing time and energy into supporting client’s needs and requirements on an on-going basis. Purchasing GDS or IDS from GlobRes comes with your very own dedicated Account Manager providing ongoing support, training and advice. This support is invaluable ensuring Hoteliers get the most out of their reservation acquisition strategy. By connecting hotels to 650,000 travel agents across the globe and ensuring visibility on the most prestigious travel websites, GlobRes maximizes your hotel’s online and offline presence ensuring more room reservations and increasing hotel brand awareness.
Hand in hand with the GlobRes GDS and IDS booking channels comes the hotel web booking engine. Built with the latest technology, the GlobRes Guest Connect Web Booking Engine is centrally managed from the GlobRes Control Centre. Customised to match individual hotel websites, the system is fully integrated, user friendly and reliable. Making a reservation quickly and easily is the crux of this hotel booking tool, potential guests can book their room in 25 languages and see at-a-glance availability calendars. Moreover, specific codes can be attributed to guests, travel agents, wedding parties, groups or even tour operators to provide exclusive access to negotiated rates or promotions.
Enabling Hotelier’s to shape and style the hotel booking engine according to their needs puts GlobRes’s reservation system heads and shoulders above the rest. By adding multiple room images, communicating hotel policies and welcoming guests with automated confirmation emails, Hoteliers are ensuring guests have a positive experience of the hotel before they even arrive. The tool really does go the extra mile projecting the right hotel image whilst serving the invaluable purpose of booking up hotel rooms!
To find out more about how GlobRes Hotel Reservation and Marketing services can increase your hotel bookings today please complete our online contact form or visit http://www.globres.com/ for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
Why? Because GlobRes treats hotel marketing uniquely, investing time and energy into supporting client’s needs and requirements on an on-going basis. Purchasing GDS or IDS from GlobRes comes with your very own dedicated Account Manager providing ongoing support, training and advice. This support is invaluable ensuring Hoteliers get the most out of their reservation acquisition strategy. By connecting hotels to 650,000 travel agents across the globe and ensuring visibility on the most prestigious travel websites, GlobRes maximizes your hotel’s online and offline presence ensuring more room reservations and increasing hotel brand awareness.
Hand in hand with the GlobRes GDS and IDS booking channels comes the hotel web booking engine. Built with the latest technology, the GlobRes Guest Connect Web Booking Engine is centrally managed from the GlobRes Control Centre. Customised to match individual hotel websites, the system is fully integrated, user friendly and reliable. Making a reservation quickly and easily is the crux of this hotel booking tool, potential guests can book their room in 25 languages and see at-a-glance availability calendars. Moreover, specific codes can be attributed to guests, travel agents, wedding parties, groups or even tour operators to provide exclusive access to negotiated rates or promotions.
Enabling Hotelier’s to shape and style the hotel booking engine according to their needs puts GlobRes’s reservation system heads and shoulders above the rest. By adding multiple room images, communicating hotel policies and welcoming guests with automated confirmation emails, Hoteliers are ensuring guests have a positive experience of the hotel before they even arrive. The tool really does go the extra mile projecting the right hotel image whilst serving the invaluable purpose of booking up hotel rooms!
To find out more about how GlobRes Hotel Reservation and Marketing services can increase your hotel bookings today please complete our online contact form or visit http://www.globres.com/ for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
GlobRes becomes a “one stop shop” for hoteliers breaking into digital era….
Globres, a business that provides complete hotel distribution and Internet marketing services globally, announced today that they are launching a hotel web design product for hotels. GlobRes has introduced this service to meet the increasing demand for a fully serviced hotel reservations and marketing strategy from clients. Hotels can now choose from a suite of website templates that are user friendly, attractive and fully integrated with the GlobRes web booking engine. The implementation of this turn-key solution for hoteliers can only be positive as they can now sit back, relax and let the GlobRes team work their magic. Clients receive both their website and web booking engine going live simultaneously ensuring that reservations are managed effectively through the internet from the first second they go online.
It is undeniable, hotels need technology to help grow their online presence so that property managers are given the flexibility to market their property to a diverse customer base. Industry leader GlobRes takes this notion even further by creating websites for hoteliers that are in sync with a hotel reservations system prior to the website being accessible. Gaining the trust and respect of online audiences is paramount if you want your hotel to succeed online. GlobRes websites are designed with this firmly in mind, incorporating all elements of best practice search engine optimization making the sites both search engine and user-friendly.
A GlobRes representative commented “Recently we have experienced a growth in demand for a more holistic approach to hotel marketing. Fortunately at GlobRes we have the skills and expertise in place to respond to this demand with a fresh and innovative web design package readily available with our built in web booking engine. Long gone are the days of headaches over paperwork and overbooking nightmares for hoteliers. This is an exciting time for GlobRes and for hotels looking for more from their reservations strategy.”
Globres provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully -serviced support centre.
To find out more about how GlobRes Hotel Reservation and Marketing services can increase your hotel bookings today please complete our online contact form or visit http://www.globres.com/ for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
It is undeniable, hotels need technology to help grow their online presence so that property managers are given the flexibility to market their property to a diverse customer base. Industry leader GlobRes takes this notion even further by creating websites for hoteliers that are in sync with a hotel reservations system prior to the website being accessible. Gaining the trust and respect of online audiences is paramount if you want your hotel to succeed online. GlobRes websites are designed with this firmly in mind, incorporating all elements of best practice search engine optimization making the sites both search engine and user-friendly.
A GlobRes representative commented “Recently we have experienced a growth in demand for a more holistic approach to hotel marketing. Fortunately at GlobRes we have the skills and expertise in place to respond to this demand with a fresh and innovative web design package readily available with our built in web booking engine. Long gone are the days of headaches over paperwork and overbooking nightmares for hoteliers. This is an exciting time for GlobRes and for hotels looking for more from their reservations strategy.”
Globres provides complete hotel distribution and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world. Connecting hotels with their guests through increased exposure via all channels including GDS, IDS, Digital Marketing and the hotel’s own website. GlobRes operates a fully -serviced support centre.
To find out more about how GlobRes Hotel Reservation and Marketing services can increase your hotel bookings today please complete our online contact form or visit http://www.globres.com/ for more information.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +34 952939344 or email Samantha@globres.com
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