415 posts categorized "Internet Marketing"

February 01, 2012

Report says hotels lose out with merchant sales on the Web - Travel Weekly

When U.S. hotels distribute rooms through online travel agencies (OTAs) in merchant sales, they give up twice as much in lost revenue as they pay out in commissions on standard agency sales, according to a new research report from Smith Travel Research (STR) and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA). 

The report, presented at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) here last week, both reflects and supports hoteliers’ efforts to rein in digital distribution costs with initiatives such as the new RoomKey.com booking site. 

U.S. hotel owners collectively discounted their rooms to OTAs by about $2.7 billion, up from about $2.4 billion in 2009 and more than double the $1.3 billion in commissions paid to travel agents through GDSs, according to the 214-page report. 

via www.travelweekly.com

January 30, 2012

Latest distribution channel analysis shows hotel demand is largely inelastic

This month the final results of the American Hotel & Lodging Assn. and STR special report on distribution channel analysis came out, analyzing the effects of channel mix on hotel profitability, and culled from a data set of more than 25,000 U.S. hotels representing 100 brands and more than 3 million guestrooms.

via www.hotelmanagement.net

Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers

Pintrest

Pinterest, a two-year-old social bookmarking site that lets users collect and share things they like on the web, is driving increasingly significant amounts of traffic to retailers’ websites.

via mashable.com

January 29, 2012

Hotels Embracing Guest Reviews, Good or Bad - ABC News

In a sign of how powerful online reviews are to travelers, some of the world's biggest hotel companies are adding customer reviews of their hotels to their own websites.

via abcnews.go.com

January 28, 2012

Two Weeks In, Google Says "Search Plus Your World" Going Well, Critics Should Give It Time

Two weeks ago, Google launched Search Plus Your World. Since then, Google has faced strong criticisms that SPYW is making its search relevancy worse and favoring its Google+ social network too much. Not so, says Google search chief Amit Singhal.

via searchengineland.com

January 24, 2012

The Wilshire Grand Hotel Raving about Lodging Interactive's Guest Review System

The Wilshire Grand Hotel is taking control of its online reputation by implementing the new, web-based Guest Review System from Lodging Interactive. This tool enables The Wilshire Grand Hotel to verify, review and display customer comments directly on its Website, and instantly post management responses to comments for better hotel-to-guest communications and heightened customer-relationship management.

Lodging Interactive is an interactive and social media marketing agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. The company's Guest Review System posts traveler's comments and scores their hotel experiences based on service attributes. Hotel managers receive real-time alerts advising when pending guest reviews pop up, eliminating delays in addressing concerns and turning potential problems into new opportunities.

"I'm a big believer in soliciting guest reviews, but unfortunately, due to the nature of the Web, there's no real way to validate whether or not a person claiming to be a guest with a bad experience actually stayed at your hotel," said General Manager Ed Reagoso. "The Guest Review System from Lodging Interactive puts a stop to fake reviews posted by competitors or dishonest guests looking for refunds. This not only helps us to maintain our impeccable reputation, but it gives me an opportunity to interact personally with our guests. When travelers take the time to honestly talk about their experience, it should be recognized and rewarded with an immediate reply.

"Thanks to the automated GRS tool, I can personally post responses to comments quickly,"
he said. "Not every hotel review site makes that type of interaction possible. It's not only great customer service, but it gives me the chance to really sell our hotel. Almost daily our reservations agents hear from guests who say they read the reviews on our site and truly appreciate that we took the time to respond. We attribute it all to Lodging Interactive and the excellent training they provide to us as part of their service."

An added benefit of the Guest Review System is that it enables travelers to share their reviews on Facebook with their network of friends. Hotels are notified in real-time of new guest reviews and have the ability to validate guest stay information before reviews are posted on their website.

"Lodging Interactive does an exceptional job for The Wilshire Grand Hotel of optimizing our web presence and providing us with the tools and training we need to truly enhance our guests' experiences and keep them coming back again and again," Reagoso said.

 

 

 

October 27, 2011

Lodging Interactive Wins Travel Weekly's Magellan & W3 Awards For Excellence

Lodging Interactive, an award winning Interactive and Social Media Marketing Agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry, today announced it has won two prestigious industry awards for its work on the Wyndham Garden Hotel New York Time Square South.

“The Travel Weekly Magellan Awards honor the best in travel and acknowledge the outstanding web designers behind it all,” said Mr. DJ Vallauri, Founder & President of Lodging Interactive.  “Our team is honored to, once again, have been bestowed the prestigious Travel Weekly Magellan Award.”

Lodging Interactive was also awarded a W3 Silver Award for design excellence from the International Academy of The Visual Arts. The W³ Awards honors creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, marketing programs, and video work created for the web. The W3 Awards received over 3,000 entries from Ad Agencies, Public Relations Firms, Interactive Agencies, In-house creative professionals, Web Designers, Graphic designers and Web Enthusiasts.

October 19, 2011

HotelCast 2.0. NEW! - Guest Review System, Google Flights and Groupon Travel

This Lodging Interactive Podcast has got the scoop on the new Guest Review System that allows properties to gather and post guest reviews directly to their website.  Is Groupon Travel a good deal for properties or consumers?? 

Lodging Interactive does the research, you get the news on Google Flights...really cool stuff!  And, while protecting your high school reputation was important...Protecting your property's reputation right now is crucial.  Commingle is an ace in the hole you cannot be without.   New technology that effects you!  The hottest 10 minutes in the hospitality business is right here at HotelCast 2.0.


 >> Click Here to Listen to Lodging Interactive Fall HotelCast 2.0 podcast <<

September 13, 2011

Lodging Interactive Publishes HotelCast2.0 Podcast Archive

Lodging Interactive, an award winning Interactive and Social Media Marketing Agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry, today announced it has published its HotelCast 2.0 archive of Interactive Marketing podcasts for hoteliers. Lodging Interactive has recorded and produced over 50 marketing podcasts since 2007 and has made them available to the hospitality industry.

“We first started our HotelCast 2.0 podcasts in 2007 as a free and informative service for hoteliers and hospitality marketers,” stated DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder & CEO. “Since then our HotelCast 2.0 podcasts have been downloaded over 75,000 times.”
 
The Lodging Interactive HotelCast 2.0 podcast can be heard online or downloaded into iTunes and iPods.


 >> Listen to Lodging Interactive HotelCast 2.0 podcasts <<

“The intent of our quarterly HotelCast 2.0 podcasts is to reach out to hoteliers with the latest interactive and social media marketing information that has a direct impact on day-to-day business. Online and social media marketing are evolving quickly and staying informed is crucial for hotel operators,” added Mr. Vallauri.

August 15, 2011

Google+ Posts Now Appear in Google Search Results

"Google has begun integrating Google+ into search results with public Google+ posts now appearing in Social Search.

Whenever a user publicly shares a link on Google+, an annotation will show up under that link when it appears in a friend’s search results. For example, if I share a Mashable article about Google+ eliminating pseudonyms publicly on my Google+ page, users who have added me to their circles will see a note that I shared that link if they stumble upon it in Google Search."

Read the full article at mashable.com