April 2nd, 2010
“Ahh the bookings just come in and we are happy with that.” You would be surprised how often I hear this when speaking with hotels. I speak with hotel clients daily and when you try to break down what % of bookings are coming from which sources, a lot of hotels do not know where their bookings are coming from. If this sounds like a familiar situation then stop reading this straight away and start pulling numbers!
From our experience we believe that hotels today can drive 60% of total bookings from the web and of that 40% can come through your own site. It you don’t know where you are right now, then how can you know where you are going?
In order to figure out where you have an opportunity to grow your online revenue, firstly you need a clear picture of where your bookings are coming from. Once you have this, you can see what volume each channel is producing and can do a cost benefit analysis against each channel.
Now its time to look at your own site and see where this fits in. Do you have an opportunity to drive more bookings through your own site? Look at what costs you have for each booking which comes to you directly. Bear in mind commission paid or booking fee paid.
Once you have all of your figures you should have a clearer picture of how your hotel’s online business is preforming and can now focus on the area’s where you have opportunity to grow your business online. Make sure you look at all avenue including selling additional services online, allowing guests to up sell themselves and negotiating the best deals across all of your booking channels.
Tags: Hotel Booking Engine, Hotel Internet Marketing, iRes
Posted in Hotel Booking Engine, Hotel Internet Marketing, iRes, p3 Technology | 1 Comment »
March 31st, 2010
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO as its known, is essential in this day and age. Put simply its the process of influencing where your hotel or business appears on search engine results. SEO is the lifeline of your hotel’s website as without having high rankings on key phrases, how will your potential customers find your website?
SEO should be an integral part of your hotel’s internet marketing strategy but where to begin. Ive put together a few tips and tricks below to get started with SEO.
- Know your online customer! You need to know how customers are finding your website and what are they doing once they get there using your website tracking tools
- Decide what phrases and keywords you are going to focus on to drive relevant traffic to your website. Tools such as the Google Search-Based Keyword Tool are good for suggesting useful and relevant keywords.
- Once you have set your keywords, write your content based around these keywords
- Set clear objectives before starting any SEO work
- Be realistic about what is achievable within your set time frames, for example if you are currently appearing on page 7 for the term “hotel in Galway” it would be unrealistic to aim to appear on page 1 within 3 months. It may be better to aim to appear on page 1 for a very relevant term such as “spa hotel in Galway city”
Finally, search engine optimisation is an ongoing process which requires time to be dedicated to it on a regular basis. If you don’t have the time or the expertise to do this in-house, consider outsourcing as without proper SEO on your website, you cannot grow your online business.
Tags: hotel marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, seo
Posted in Hotel Booking Engine, Search Engine Optimisation, p3 Technology | No Comments »
March 24th, 2010
At the recent Irish Hotels Federation Conference in Galway, March 2010, there was much talk about creating a value offer for your customers and using this offer to drive bookings.
What came out of the conference above all else was the message that discounting does not work and will not help hotels survive in these current economic times. Leading economist Dr Peter Bacon pointed out that in his opinion between 12,000 and 15,000 hotel rooms will have to be lost in order for the sector to remain viable and competitive. There was much debate at the conference as to whether this was a realistic option for the industry and whether it is or not is not the point here. At this point in time, it would appear that the hotel with the best chance of keeping its doors open are the ones that create a value offering for guests. Professor Cathy Enz of New York’s Cornell University pointed out that “Discount rates don’t stimulate demand. Creating both difference and value does.”
This is sometimes easier said than done with competitor hotels lowering rates daily. Prof Enz did offer some light at the end of the tunnel which says that discounting rates influences only three percent of hotel travelers according to a study by Maritz Inc. Given this, why are hotels still so focussed on price, therefore focussing the customer on price. Instead the hotels that will win out and win business are the ones who deliver clever and interesting promotional strategies which offer customers a clear value proposition. These would include offering an extra night free, including a spa package in the price, free breakfast or dinner or going that extra mile and offering guests an overnight stay with a show included.
We have seen from hotels using the iRes booking engine that the packages which sell the best, offers guests clear value for money and allow guests the opportunity to upsell themselves through the booking process by choosing ad on’s such as spa packages and allow guests to upgrade room types. If hotels are to stand out in the minds of bookers and guests, the focus needs to be on providing value and service to guests and not a focus cheap and discount rates.
Posted in Hotel Internet Marketing, Hotels Ireland, Irish Hotels Federation | No Comments »
March 3rd, 2010
Welcome to the p3 Technology blog. Here we will keep you updated on the latest going’s on within p3, our company, the hotel industry and our hotel booking engine iRes.
Posted in Hotel Booking Engine, iRes, p3 Technology | No Comments »
