Recently Google and other search engines launched a feature called universal search. Universal search shows mixed search results from several online advertising media such as websites, video, mobile, local, images, news, and several others.  Currently this feature is in beta with some of the search engines and the engines show universal results only for select keywords.  We expect that over the next few months, universal search results will start showing up for keywords typed in the internet search engines. 

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Experts are projecting that 60% of all business will be booked online next year. Are you prepared to get your fair share?

It’s not big news that the internet has changed the landscape of travel. A few years ago you would have called your travel agent to help make your travel plans, and that agent would probably have offered you one or maybe two hotel options. Today the choices are seemingly limitless and a bit overwhelming for your potential guests. And overwhelming for hotels too - how much of your marketing budget should you spend on the internet? Where should you spend it? An independent website? Pay per click advertising? What is your best opportunity to capture your fair share of that ever growing population of internet shoppers?

Our research has told us there are four tools potential guests use to find their hotels.

Brand Loyalists
They only stay at Hilton’s or Best Westerns and the first place they go online is to the brand.com website. A few might go to a search engine and type in Hilton Mclean for example. If you are a brand affiliated hotel, your franchise fees are paying for your hotel to show up on those searches. What can you do to make sure you’re getting your fair share? Make sure your brand.com website is up to date with all of your current information about the hotel, things to do in your local area. Pay as much attention to the information (and photos) on your brand website as if you were writing a $20,000 check to produce it, because you probably are.

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When you travel, how do you determine where you stay?  If you are like most consumers, you are likely to turn to friends, family, and acquaintances.  More and more travelers are heading to virtual strangers for recommendations.  According to a 2007 Bridge Ratings Survey, consumers are much more likely to turn to strangers with experience for information than they were ten years ago.  No longer does the rule of “make a customer unhappy and they tell 7 acquaintances” apply.  Today a consumer can share their experience with 7 million people on sites such as Trip Advisor, on their personal blog, and/or on third party travel sites. 

One way to allow consumers to share experiences with other “strangers” is to offer a customer reviews page on your hotel website.  A review page allows consumers to generate content for your site and share opinions about your property with other potential travelers.  Not only does user generated content help your search engine optimization efforts, but having unbiased reviews on your site can help sway on the fence consumers from lookers into bookers.

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Article contributed by Tammie Carlisle, Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc.

Frequently, hoteliers measure the size and importance of the internet as a booking channel by the number of reservations flowing through their online booking engines. An alternate way to measure the importance of their internet presence is to determine how many people were influenced by the hotel’s website, online ads, customer reviews, etc. While the hotel industry has seen a significant increase in online reservations, the true testament of growth is how many people use the internet as a research tool and take action based on your online presence.

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With the recent launch of the Yahoo! Trip Recommendations module, it’s evident that travel research continues to significantly evolve. The new tagging feature used throughout the module customizes results for the user based on recent online activity. Timing couldn’t be better, as the Yahoo! Travel Summer Survey concluded that nearly 4 in 5 travelers are still yet to firm up their summer plans.

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Recently, TripAdvisor released a new feature to its e-opinion travel review site. Registered members of TripAdvisor can upload a video to the site which can then be tagged with a hotel, destination, restaurant, or local attraction. The site has not issued an official announcement of this new feature, as they are most likley waiting for some growth in their video library before publicizing the addition. In the meantime, hoteliers should be aware of the widespread attention their local area or hotel could receive by publishing a video on TripAdvisor.

It is free to upload once you have registered as a member of the site. When visitors of TripAdvisor are on your hotel’s profile they will see a link to view video’s that have been tagged with your hotel name, as well as videos that have been tagged with your destination. What a great way to impress savvy e-opinion site visitors. A good review plus a stunning video – it’s like a free commercial selling your hotel!

The internet has had a profound impact on the travel and hospitality industries. An interesting presentation by Forrester Research at the HEDNA 2006 Conference revealed these significant statistics and facts that show the powerful impact of internet on hotel distribution:

• 71% of all North Americans are online – this number is expected to increase by 81% by 2010. 4 in 10 online leisure travelers who research travel online use a search engine like Google to do so – even though Google does not sell travel.

• Only 5% of US online leisure travelers view themselves as extremely brand loyal. For business travelers it is only 7.5%.

• As the internet continues to evolve with it’s technology, it will become more essential for supplier sites to create rich content on their sites to enhance the user experience

• Travelers think in adjectives like “romantic”, “hip”, and “family friendly”. You can improve your search results by providing richer content into your website

Source: Forrester’s NACTAS 2005 & 2006 Online Study

Couple the above statistics with figures from Forrester that show that 51% of leisure/unmanaged business travel is estimated to be booked online this year and it’s obvious that the internet is a powerful place to be. Not only is it driving more and more business, but it is often your lowest cost distribution channel. The problem is many hoteliers treat their websites like a brochure and not a revenue generating vehicle.

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