HeBS is pleased to announce the launch of the new Loden Hotel website: http://theloden.com/index.php. HeBS applied industry’s best practices to develop a modern and functional website to position the Loden as the ultimate Vancouver hotel for leisure and business travel.

Loden Hotel website by HeBS

The Loden is a downtown boutique hotel in Vancouver that offers luxurious accommodations, dining, spa services and event space.

HeBS’ award-winning team designed the original and visually appealing Loden Hotel website to be user-friendly and search-engine friendly. With a fresh and innovative look, the new website features stunning visual content, including a high-resolution photo gallery that highlights new photography, easy-to-use tiered navigation, an online reservations functionality, exclusive special offers, and an RFP for meeting planners, groups and events.

The Loden will quickly benefit from its new website in the form of increased conversion rates, new business and improved meeting and event bookings.

Some of the various features of this new website are:

• Breathtaking  design with fresh look and feel
• Stunning visual content with high-resolution photo gallery
• Easy-to-use and consistent tiered navigation addressing the hotel’s services and amenities
• Website optimized for premier placement in the search engines
• Interactive mapping and hotel directions using Google Maps API
• Exclusive special offers
• RFP for meetings and events

Currently, HeBS is working on ongoing marketing plans with the Loden hotel including email campaigns and search engine marketing.

Please click here to visit the Loden Hotel website!

HeBS is pleased to announce the launch of the new Loews Hotels brand website: http://www.loewshotels.com/.

Loews Hotels brand website by HeBS

HeBs applied best practices in design, navigation and search engine optimization to produce a modern, industry-leading, revenue-generating website for the renowned luxury hotels brand.

This groundbreaking Loews Hotels brand website can be updated in real-time via a customized, state-of-the-start content management system (CMS). The most advanced CMS in the industry today, the system allows the brand to add and edit both textual and visual content on a 24/7 basis; publish and un-publish pages and hotel mini-sites; control the Featured Special and promo tiles; determine the photo selection on individual pages and in photo galleries; manage SEO and Omniture Analytics on every page; and more.

Here are a few of the innovative features of this new brand website and its corresponding CMS:

• Contemporary and user-friendly brand website design as per industry’s best practices with a modern wide-screen layout
• Easy-to-use and consistent tiered navigation addressing the brand’s key customer segments as well as individual properties’ markets
• Rich visual content including Flash animations, video and visual galleries
• Search engine optimized copy for premier placement across all search engines
• 24/7 real-time Search/Availability box for all Loews Hotels
• World-class website analytics and campaign tracking by Omniture Analytics
• Advanced hotel search functionality which incorporates geographic and interest-based (beach, golf) travel requirements
• Blog functionality for brand- and property-related news
• Property-level interactive Calendars of Events
• Interactive mapping and hotel directions
• Customized LoewsHotels.com content management system based on a multi-level authorization module featuring the ability to add, remove or update all content on the brand website including:
  • Special Offers and Featured Tiles
  • Custom background designs
  • eRFPs, Calendars of Events, Blog, Maps
  • Basic website text and meta data
  • Main images, thumbnails, visual galleries
  • Analytics and tracking

Currently, HeBS and the Loews Hotels brand are working together on further strategic marketing projects including restaurant and spa websites, Loews Hotels email marketing, interactive sales tools and more.

Please click here to visit the new Loews Hotels brand website!

Revenue Leaked from Hotels to the OTAs in the Form of Abnormally High Merchant Commissions Will Reach $5.4 billion in 2010

By Max Starkov

Background:

Back in December 2003, Smith Travel Research published a much discussed article titled, “The Billion Dollar Leak – The Impact of The Merchant Model on US Hotel Profits.” In this article the authors attempted to quantify the financial impact of third party sites on U.S. hotel industry room revenues and profits. To describe this loss, they coined the term “leakage”: i.e. revenue “leaked” from the hotel industry to third party sites in the form of abnormally high merchant commissions of 25% and higher.

Smith Travel Research estimated that the leakage would hit $1 billion back in 2003, and grow to reach $1.3 billion in 2004.

Estimated Total Merchant Model Leakage:

Source: Smith Travel Research

As we will prove below, this billion dollar leak turned into a multi-billion dollar drain reaching a staggering $5.4 billion in 2010!

Why did the hospitality industry, in these turbulent post 9/11 times, allow the third party sites (today known as Online Travel Agencies-OTAs) to earn billions of dollars in the form of merchant commissions? There are many reasons for that; here are just a few of them:

• At the time (2001-2003) hoteliers still treated OTAs as wholesalers and typically gave OTAs wholesale/group rates, similar to the rates given to traditional tour operators. These discounted rates instantly became public across the Web, thus undermining the hotel’s other distribution channels and leading to serious price and brand erosion.

Case in point: back in early 2003 we conducted a Top 10 Market Comp Analysis Study for a major hotel brand. The results? In all markets, this hotel brand properties’ rates were consistently $150-$200 per night lower (no kidding!) on OTA sites like hotels.com than on the brand own website.

• As pure-bred Internet players, the OTAs were much smarter eMarketers, compared to most hoteliers at the time.
• The Best Rate Guarantee was not adopted by the major hotel brands until May of 2002 (IHG), followed by the rest of the brands in 2003. In contrast, OTAs have had best rate guarantees since 1995 (e.g. HotelDiscounts.com, today known as Hotels.com).
• Rate Parity across all distribution channels was a very novel term back in 2002 and 2003.
• The OTAs had a “field day” dealing directly with the franchised hotels without the scrutiny of the major brands.
• The Independent hotels were literally at the mercy of the OTAs.

2004 – 2007: The “Golden Years”, or When the Industry Came Back to Its Senses

With the establishment of the Internet as a serious online marketing and distribution channel, hoteliers began to understand that overdependence on the indirect online channel (OTAs) hurts the bottom line and leads to brand erosion and loss of customer loyalty. All major hotel brands and many smart independent hotel companies undertook a series of measures to limit the impact of the OTAs and steer customers to book via the direct online channel i.e. via the hotel’s own website.

Some of the best practices implemented during this period led to a complete reversal of the distribution landscape at the expense of the OTAs:

• Best Rate Guarantees became common practice in the industry.
• Rate Parity across all distribution channels became the industry norm.
• All major hotel brands, boutique, and luxury hotel and resort brands negotiated corporate agreements with the OTAs, thus exploiting “collective bargaining” to negotiate better terms with the OTAs and disallow the OTAs from dealing directly with their franchisees or branded hotels.

Case in point: InterContinental Hotel Group exemplified the industry’s determination to take back control from the OTAs by severing its relationship with Expedia and Hotels.com in August of 2004 and pulling all of its hotels from these OTA websites. The main reasons cited were merchant commission levels, circumventing the brand and working directly with IHG franchisees, lack of clear marketing practices, not honoring IHG trademarks, etc. It took more than three years – until November 2007 – for IHG and Expedia to sign a distribution agreement.

• Most hotel companies established internal E-Commerce Departments to deal with their websites, the direct online channel and various Internet marketing campaigns and initiatives.
• Many hotel companies developed Internet marketing proficiencies and expertise at par with the OTAs.
• Many hotel companies shifted the bulk of their advertising budgets from the offline to the online space.
• Many best practices were created and perfected during these “Golden Years” and the direct online channel in hospitality was firmly established and embraced by the industry.

As a result of the above strategic steps, the hospitality industry dramatically increased direct channel bookings (i.e. via hotel branded websites), and decreased the reliance on merchant and opaque OTA sites such as Expedia.com and Priceline.com.

Case Study: Internet Hotel Bookings by Channel for the Top 30 Hotel Brands

In 2006 and 2007, the top 30 hotel brands and the industry as a whole increased the hotel brand website booking contribution to as high as 76.1% and decreased reliance on merchant and opaque OTA sites to as low as 18.4% from all online bookings.

Here is a summary of Internet bookings by channel for 2006 and 2007:

Source: eTRAK Report

2008-2010: The Years of Industry-Wide Amnesia

When the recession hit the industry back in 2008, I truly believed the hospitality industry would not allow a repetition of the shameful post- 9/11 years. Why did the industry allow the OTAs (again) to have a field day at the expense of the industry, and another “billion dollar leakage” to go to the OTAs in the form of abnormally high markups and commissions?

I was convinced that during the “Golden Years,” hoteliers had become seasoned eMarketers, had fully embraced the direct online channel and instituted measures and processes in place to disallow OTAs from taking advantage of the industry in an economic downturn.

Was I dead wrong or what?

The hospitality industry suffered from some kind of industry-wide amnesia and had completely forgotten the tremendous damage done to the industry by the OTAs in the months and years after 9/11.

Many hotel companies (including a number of major hotel brands) exhibited a typical “knee-jerk” reaction to the deteriorating economic environment, forgot everything they learned in the post- 9/11 period, and “succumbed to the devil” by embracing the indirect online channel (OTAs) to compensate for decreasing business. These hotel companies have been accommodating the OTAs with bigger discounts, unique promotions, etc., thus jeopardizing their direct online channel and destroying years-worth of achievements such as rate parity, best rate guarantees and more.

In other words, some hotel companies literally betrayed the industry by surrendering to the  temptations of the indirect channel and demands of Expedia.com, and some of them did this in a particularly unintelligent way.

The following clearly illustrates how within a very short period of time, hoteliers became susceptible to discounting and working with the OTAs, resulting in a significant shift from the direct online channel to the indirect online channel:

Source: eTRAK Report

In a few short years the industry leaders – the top 30 hotel brands – lost 5% market share to the OTAs, which represents millions of dollars in bottom line revenue. The rest of the industry: smaller hotel brands, independents, resorts, etc. did not fare much better. Though concrete data is simply not available, it is logical to expect these smaller industry players lost a much bigger market share to the OTAs compared to the major brands.

There is no doubt that Expedia.com and the other OTAs have gained new market clout in this economic downturn. How did the OTAs achieve that?

• Major hotel brands and the industry as a whole have been slow to develop a counter-strategy of their own and as a result have lost “momentum” and market share.
• Emboldened by the industry’s desperation and slow travel demand, Expedia demanded new terms and conditions that were against everything the hospitality industry stood for: last room availability, guarantees that the best rates are only found on Expedia/Hotels.com sites, penalties to properties that do not use these OTAs 100% of the time, etc. Some major brands succumbed to Expedia’s demand for access to last room availability and made other major concessions contrary to business logic and accepted best practices.
• Back in October 2009 Choice Hotels was the only major brand who stood firm against the damaging, unreasonable demands by Expedia, and told Expedia they wouldn’t sign an agreement that would allow Expedia to become the de facto “Rate Police” of the whole industry and dictate its inventory distribution and revenue management decisions to the industry.
  • Expedia’s 24 and 48-hour sales, as well as city-wide sales offered by hotels on Expedia and other OTAs (in breach of established rate parity principles and best rate guarantees on the hotel’s own site), have convinced the traveling public that Expedia offers the best hotel deals today.
  • Expedia has taken on the role of the industry’s “rate police”, punishing hotels that dare not to offer this OTA all of the hotel’s available rates, special promotions and even packages.
  • Expedia has been playing hotels against each other by extracting concessions which would be unthinkable in any other situation. We have seen this happen over the past two years all over the industry:
    • On the Independent hotel level, where one hotel is being played against another. Typically competing hotels in the same destination are invited to participate in a “24-hour sale” or “48-hour sale” on Expedia sites and “suggested” what the discount should be. Hotels that ignore these “sales opportunities” risk losing their “preferred status” with Expedia.

• Expedia’s approach is similar to smaller and midsize hotel chains and boutique and luxury hotel brands.
• Especially interesting is the approach towards whole destinations, where the “threat of exclusion” motivates hotels to participate in destination-wide or city-wide promotions that demand 25%-30% discounts on top of the existing margin discounts of 25%-30%.

Back in October of 2009, in my article “The Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Stockholm Syndrome, or a Case of Both?” I argued that Expedia had become the “market bully” and was taking advantage of the hospitality industry, which was struggling to survive as a result of the worst recession in modern times.

I argued further that since the removal of airline booking fees in 2008, which was the only substantial revenue source outside of hospitality, Expedia and the OTAs could survive only at the expense of the hospitality industry. Exploiting the desperation among hoteliers, Expedia and some of the OTAs adopted increasingly aggressive market behavior toward the hospitality sector. The results were more than damaging for the hospitality industry and resulted in years of multi-billion dollar “leakages”.

The Billion Dollar Leak: Experiencing an Unbearable Industry Drain All Over Again

The OTAs heavily rely on the hotel industry for the bulk of their revenues. For example, hotel bookings contribute to a little over 30% of the OTA global gross booking volume. At the same time, hotel bookings contribute to more than 60% of OTAs commissions/booking fees!

In its SEC filings, Expedia acknowledges that over 60% of its revenue comes from transactions involving the booking of hotel reservations, with less than 15% of its worldwide revenue derived from the sale of airline tickets. To clarify, over 54% of the OTAs’ U.S. domestic reservation volume (44% of the OTA global gross booking volume) comes from selling airline tickets, and yet airline ticket sales produce a paltry 15% of Expedia’s revenues.

In other words, hotel reservations are financing the OTAs’ operations and allowing the OTAs to “make a killing” by reaping billions of dollars of abnormally high merchant (wholesale) commissions, and to survive after they stopped charging airline ticket booking fees.

In its 2007-2010 SEC filings, Expedia provides a crystal-clear confirmation that the billion dollar “leakage”, first discussed by STR back in 2003, continues in full force and at much higher levels.

Over the last several years, revenue “leaked” from the hotel industry to Expedia in the form of abnormally high merchant commissions has been increasing every single year. This “leakage” exceeded $2 billion in 2007 and reached $2.3 billion dollars in 2009!

Source: SEC, HeBS

This leakage is estimated to reach $2.7 billion in 2010, based on the results from Expedia’s first six months of this year and the rate of increase of 14.65% over the same period of last year.

To summarize, the $2.7 billion dollar “leakage” in 2010 is only the damage caused by Expedia. Expedia has an approximate 50% market share of the OTA market. If we calculate for the rest of the OTAs (Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline), the total leakage in 2010 will reach a staggering $5.4 billion dollars!

What Can Hoteliers Do to Overcome this Massive “Leakage”?

Hoteliers must realize that a) the OTAs will not surrender their dominant position voluntarily, without putting up a fight (we repeatedly witnessed this after the end of past economic downturn), and b) increased travel demand, the beginning of which we are starting to notice, does not automatically translate into higher occupancy, ADRs and RevPARs: hoteliers must be more proactive and creative than the OTAs and the competition to get a “bigger piece of the pie” (increase market share and benefit more from the growing demand).

There are a few other important industry developments to be taken under consideration:

• GDS Channel Is in Steady Decline: GDS hotel bookings via the CRS of the top 30 hotel brands declined by 3.7% in 2009 vs. 2008, and constituted only 23.6% of the total brand CRS bookings last year (eTRAK). In Q1 2010 GDS share from total CRS booking dropped to the all-time low of 22.7%.
• The Voice Channel Contribution Is Decreasing: Voice channel hotel bookings via the CRS of the top 30 hotel brands declined by 2.9% in 2009 compared to 2008, and amounted to 22.2% of total brand CRS bookings last year (eTRAK).

In other words, hoteliers do not have many options when considering other non-OTA distribution channels. In our view, the only viable option to drastically reduce reliance on the OTA channel is for the industry to embrace the Direct Online Channel.

Many hoteliers claim they cannot afford to market themselves via the Internet and that is why they resort to the OTAs since their services are “free.” The following case study shows why the OTA channel not only is not “free”, but is far more expensive than the Direct Online Channel and why focusing on the Direct Online Channel provides meaningful savings that go straight to the bottom line:

Case Study: How to Add Half a Million Dollars to the Bottom Line

A hypothetical New York City Hotel with 200 rooms, 77.2% average occupancy rate, an ADR of $215.14 in 2009 (STR), and 45% of bookings being made via the Internet will incur the following distribution costs (using the industry average 60:40 direct vs. indirect online ratio):

• Cost of Direct Online Channel Distribution: 7,608 bookings x $12.92 = $98,295

(Cost per booking via the hotel’s own website, including website hosting and maintenance fees, advertising spend, campaign management fees, and Omniture analytics. Based on 530,000+ bookings in 2009 via hotel websites from HeBS’ full-service hotel client portfolio)

• Cost of Indirect Online Channel Distribution: 5,072 bookings x $107.57 = $545,595

(Calculation based on a hypothetical NYC hotel of 200 rooms @ 77.2% average occupancy rate = 56,356 roomnights/2 nts average stay = 28,178 bookings total, of which 12,680 are Internet bookings (45% of total bookings).  Direct online bookings = 7,608 (60%) and Indirect Online Bookings = 5,072 (40%))

If the hypothetical 5,072 OTA bookings are instead made via the direct online channel  at $12.92 each, the bulk of the OTA distribution cost, namely $480,065, would go directly to the hotel’s bottom line ($545,595 – $65,530, i.e. 5072 bookings x$12.92=$480,065). This is nearly half a million dollars added to the bottom line. Name one hotelier who would not have liked that in 2009!

Across the industry, in 2010, Direct Online Channel sales will exceed 60% of total online hotel bookings. In Q1 2010, 71.7% of online bookings for the top 30 hotel brands were direct via the brand websites, while 28.3 % were via the indirect online channel i.e. the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

The ultimate goal for the industry should be as follows:

• Major hotel brands: OTA contribution (including agency, merchant and opaque model) should be kept below 15%.
• Average for the hospitality industry: OTA contribution (including agency, merchant and opaque model) should be kept below 25% (the level the indirect channel has traditionally had for many years, even before the Internet).

There is no doubt the Direct Online Channel provides hoteliers with immediate results in the current economic environment as well as long-term competitive advantages.  The Direct Online Channel must always be at the centerpiece of any hotelier’s Internet marketing and distribution strategy. Travel consumers booking via the hotel website (direct customers), are more loyal, bring in more revenue and tend to travel more often.

What should hoteliers do to improve their direct vs. indirect online channel exposure?

Business Objectives:

• Maintain strict rate parityacross all marketing channels and maintain a best rate guarantee.
• Create unique product offerings and provide unique value proposition via the hotel website.
• Engage your customers directly via social media and mobile initiatives, and Web 2.0 features and functionalities on the hotel website.

Marketing Objectives:

• Focus on direct online channel marketing initiatives with proven ROI to increase market share and generate incremental revenue via the hotel website:
  • Website re-design and web 2.0 optimizations
  • Search engine marketing (SEM)
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Email marketing to the hotel opt-in list
  • Multi-channel marketing initiatives, promotions and contests
  • Social marketing: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube
  • Mobile marketing via mobile website, mobile SEO and mobile marketing initiatives
  • Strategic linking and online sponsorships
  • Launch online marketing initiatives, addressing your top business segments and feeder markets.

Conclusion:

Revenue “leaked” from the hotel industry to the OTAs in the form of abnormally high merchant commissions of 25% and higher will reach $5.4 billion in 2010. This leakage must be stopped and reversed as it drains the hospitality industry’s bottom line and threatens the mere survival of the industry.

With GDS and voice channels in perpetual decline, hoteliers do not have many options when considering non-OTA distribution channels. The only viable option to drastically reduce reliance on the OTA channel is for the industry to embrace the Direct Online Channel.

Hoteliers need a robust Direct Online Channel Strategy, accompanied by adequate marketing funds, to be able to take advantage of the steady growth in the Internet channel and shift from offline to online bookings in hospitality due to declining GDS and voice channels. Hoteliers must carefully employ ROI-centric initiatives, including website redesign, website optimization and SEO, paid search, email marketing, online display advertising, and proven social media and mobile marketing initiatives.

HeBS is pleased to announce the launch of the Best Western Bay Harbor 30-Day Free Room Giveaway: http://bestwesternhoteltampa.com/sweepstakes/index.php.

Best Western Bay Harbor sweepstakes by HeBS

This interactive sweepstakes, designed and marketed by HeBS, allows participants to enter once a day for 30 days to win a free room at the property from August 16^th to September 14^th 2010.

One lucky grand prize winner will be awarded a free five-night stay plus two complimentary round trip flights on Southwest Airlines! To win, entrants must first be registered.

The contest also features a forward-to-a-friend functionality which awards a $250 cash card prize to the person who refers the most friends to enter the sweepstakes via the website.

Best Western Bay Harbor’s sweepstakes will encourage daily visits to the site, grow its opt-in email list, and promote the hotel as a premier Tampa hotel. Multi-channel marketing efforts to promote the sweepstakes include email marketing, Facebook & Twitter, strategic linking, online newswires, and the forward-to-a-friend functionality.

At Best Western Bay Harbor, guests will experience an escape from the ordinary with a comfortable atmosphere surrounded by lush tropical landscaping. Onsite amenities include oversized Tampa Bay hotel accommodations, dining at Crabby Bills, a poolside bar, a private dock with water sports equipment, an onsite fitness center overlooking the Bay and much more.

Click here to enter the Best Western Bay Harbor 30-Day Free Room Giveaway!

HeBS is pleased to announce the launch of the new Valencia Group website: http://valenciagroup.com/. HeBS applied industry’s best practices to develop a modern and functional website to position Valencia Group as the ultimate partner for premier full-service, independent hotel management and operations services.

Valencia Group website by HeBS

HeBS strategically designed the Valencia Group website to be user friendly, search-engine friendly and customer-interactive friendly. Combined with its edgy design and sleek layout, these capabilities will ensure the website will act as a robust brand-building, lead-generating tool for the group.

Valencia Group will quickly benefit from its new website in the form of increased leads, brand awareness and new business from targeted full-service, independent hotels seeking to provide guests with the finest of travel experiences and services.

Some of the various innovative features of this new website are:

• Modern and progressive website design to reflect Valencia Group’s industry-leading business model
• Easy-to-use and consistent tiered navigation addressing the group’s property holdings and key customer segments
• Optimized website description text, navigation and design for top search-engine placement
• Rich visual content including Flash animations and Visual Gallery
• Live Chat customer support functionality
• 24/7 real-time Search/Availability box for all Valencia Group hotels on all pages

Currently, HeBS and Valencia Group are working together on a strategic marketing plan to leverage the launch of the new site to generate new interest in the company’s services. HeBS also has ongoing marketing plans with each individual hotel property.

Please click here to visit the Valencia Group website!

Part 4 of 4 from the Hotels Magazine Blog Article: “Hoteliers’ Action Plan to Capitalize on Rising Travel Demand.”

HeBS President and CEO Max Starkov has been invited to lead the “Successful eMarketing” blog on HOTELS magazine’s website. The following is an excerpt from Part 4 of 4 of Starkov’s article: “Hoteliers’ Action Plan to Capitalize on Rising Travel Demand.”

Action Plan: Measure your return on investment (ROI)

Take a hard look at what you are doing: are you taking chances with new and unproven marketing formats? Is your Internet marketing budget ROI-centric? Are you a smart marketer, or are you advertising blindly, distributing limited marketing dollars in unproven or incalculable areas? Are you measuring conversions and ROIs from your marketing campaigns?

• Focus on marketing formats that generate above industry-average returns.
• Implement the latest website analytics+ campaign tracking technology:
  • Track post-impression and post-click activity
  • Track bookings, roomnights, revenues from every campaign
  • Adjust marketing spend instantaneously based on ROIs
  • Don’t fall for “free” analytical tools–they simply do not work

• Remember, no matter which channels you use, make sure you are tracking results and conversions (e.g. Omniture, DART, etc). Phone tracking is now easier than ever (e.g. a unique 1-800 number to be used for calls resulting from your Google AdWords, another from Yahoo, etc.), and even with print you can send people to private landing pages or use promo codes.

Action Plan: Establish achievable objectives for the remainder of the year and 2011

The sky is the limit when hotel internet marketing is concerned. There are so many formats and initiatives, “hot news” and sensational claims that the industry is justifiably confused as to where to start and what the priorities should be.

The litmus test for any marketing initiatives hoteliers do should be a.) revenue generated, and b.) return on investment (ROI). In other words, before budgeting for or embarking on any marketing initiative, hoteliers must answer a simple question: “Which initiative will generate the most revenues and the best ROI?”

Here are a few objectives achievable in the remaining months of 2010 and early 2011 with re-allocation of funds in the existing hotel budgets or included in the 2011 budget:

Website re-design:
Time and again this has proven to be the single most effective initiative to boost hotel bookings and engage your customers via Web 2.0 enhancements on the site. This is a 90-120 day process so you can start it in 2010 and complete it in early 2011.

Direct online channel:
There is no doubt this is the most cost-effective distribution channel. The hotel budget should be especially generous to any direct marketing initiative: from search engine marketing (SEM) to email marketing, strategic linking and online sponsorships, to the new emerging formats like social and mobile marketing.

Social marketing:
Start by enhancing your hotel’s presence on the social networks. Creating or optimizing your hotel’s Facebook fan page and twitter and LinkedIn profiles is a good start. Engaging your customers on the social networks via interactive contests and sweepstakes, cross-promoted via the hotel website, email and SEM campaigns will make your efforts in social media worthwhile.

Mobile marketing:
Launching a 10-20 page mobile site for the hotel should be a top priority in 2010. Even if your booking engine provider does not have a mobile version of the booking engine, your mobile site will generate a lot of telephone leads and bookings. Start building the mobile opt-in list for customer service alerts and SMS text promotions. Experiment with simple mobile contests, quizzes and sweepstakes as part of the hotel’s multi-channel marketing initiatives to gain experience with this new channel.

Website analytics and campaign tracking:
Measure and re-measure conversions and ROI of every marketing initiative. Before you invest in any marketing campaign or website re-design, make sure you will be able to track conversions and ROIs. State-of-the-art technology like Omniture SiteCatalyst (website analytics) or DART (banner campaign tracking) is easily accessible today. This will not only make you a smarter and better marketer, but enable you to justify current marketing spend and defend future budget increases.

Conclusion:
In this uncertain economic environment, focusing on marketing initiatives with proven ROIs is the hotelier’s most prudent marketing strategy. The Internet is by far the largest and most important marketing and distribution channel in hospitality. By using the step-by-step action plan outlined in this article, smart hoteliers can generate incremental revenues, increase market share, and outsmart the competition with a ROI-centric online marketing strategy.

As you re-evaluate your hotel marketing plans for 2010 and plan for 2011, seek advice from an experienced and ROI-centric Internet marketing firm to help you adopt industry’s best practices, implement latest trends, and utilize the Direct Online Channel to its fullest potential.

Read the full article, including case studies on the Hotels Magazine’s “Successful eMarketing” Blog.

HeBS is excited to announce the launch of its new Interactive Scavenger Hunt for AmericInn. By engaging visitors through a range of media channels, the Interactive Scavenger Hunt generates buzz and increases interest in AmericInn’s convenient hotel destinations across the country.

Over the span of ten days, entrants can register for the AmericInn Interactive Scavenger Hunt and collect four branded clues that will be revealed via Facebook, Twitter, Email and Text Message. To be officially registered, contestants must become a fan of AmericInn on Facebook and a follower of AmericInn on Twitter. Once registered, contestants can start collecting clues. After gathering all four clues, participants are entered in a drawing to win a free 7-day vacation package at any of the AmericInn locations in 22 states and a $500 VISA gift card. A second prize of 2 free nights and a $100 VISA gift card will also be awarded. Also, those those who share with the most friends have a chance of winning one free night at any location and a $50 VISA gift card.

This Interactive Scavenger Hunt is truly a unique, multi-channel marketing solution that engages contestants in AmericInn’s brand message. By utilizing social media and other marketing channels, this Interactive Scavenger Hunt is able to further establish a branded online presence. As contestants discover each clue, a word is revealed that is key to AmericInn’s brand message.

The AmericInn Interactive Scavenger Hunt ends on August 20^th when the grand prize winner of a 7-day vacation package and other winners will be announced.

Part 3 of 4 from the Hotels Magazine Blog Article: “Hoteliers’ Action Plan to Capitalize on Rising Travel Demand.”

HeBS President and CEO Max Starkov has been invited to lead the “Successful eMarketing” blog on HOTELS magazine’s website. The following is an excerpt from Part 3 of 4 of Starkov’s article: “Hoteliers’ Action Plan to Capitalize on Rising Travel Demand.”

Action Plan: Engage your customers with social marketing

Social Media has changed how travel consumers research and plan travel, access travel information, and perceive credibility of information. eMarketer reports that more than 70% of Internet users under age 35 browse social networks. That percentage decreases for older users but is still significant, with 43.1% of those ages 35 to 54 and 18.9% of users ages 55 and older visiting social networks.

There is no doubt that Internet users are increasingly influenced by social media sites and peer reviews. By utilizing a comprehensive social media strategy, hoteliers can create social media “buzz” around the hotel, target receptive audiences, and ultimately stimulate hotel website visits, interactions and bookings.

HeBS’ 2010 Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices showed that half of hoteliers surveyed (50% exactly) responded that in 2010 they are planning to create profiles for their hotels on the social networks.

Social marketing should become an important component of any hotel’s marketing mix and part of the comprehensive Direct Online Channel Strategy for any hotel company. Naturally, it is important to use the right ROI metrics to measure the success of social marketing efforts of the hotel.

As discussed above, social media and social marketing initiatives should be reviewed with “sober eyes” and within the context of the impact of the multi-channel marketing strategy of the hotel.

Instead of only focusing on bookings and revenue when measuring results from social media marketing, remember that currently the best uses of social media are:

• Serving as one important component of hotel’s multi-channel marketing
• Buzz-building
• Brand-building
• Interacting with and engaging customers
• Keeping up with the times, making the hotel look current, cool and up-to-date
• Driving engaged and relevant traffic to the property’s own website

What are the initiatives hoteliers can deploy in 2010 and expand in 2011?

• Facebook Fan Page with reservation widget, email capture functionality, custom design tabs, photo albums, hotel blog feeds, etc.
• Twitter Profile with customized look and feel design, contests and sweepstakes, SEO-friendly posts, etc.
• LinkedIn profile to reach out business travelers and meeting planners
• Flickr with photo albums addressing your main business segments
• YouTube hotel profile: virtual tours are out, videos are in. Develop hotel videos presenting hotel services and amenities to your different customer segments and post them on the hotel website and YouTube.

A word of caution: if your hotel cannot allocate bandwidth and resources or cannot afford to hire an external social marketing firm, do not start with social media initiatives such as Facebook Fan page or Twitter profile. The social media battleground is full of “corpses” of abandoned hotel fan pages and profiles that do more harm than good to their owners. Social marketing is a very engaging process that requires skills and consistent engagement with the travel consumer.

Action Plan: Utilize mobile marketing to communicate in real time with your customers

Mobile travel bookings are projected to grow 700% in two short years. U.S. M-Commerce will reach a staggering $1 billion in 2010 (ABI Research). Sixty-seven percent of business travelers already use their mobile devices to view hotel locations via maps (Sabre Travel Network Survey). Mobile marketing must become a vital component of the marketing mix for any hotelier.

HeBS own research and other industry sources show that between 1% – 1.5% of visitors to hotel websites already come from travel consumers accessing the hotel site via mobile devices.

Hotel guests—past, current and potential—are increasingly becoming mobile-ready, and hoteliers have to respond adequately to this growing demand for mobile services. This is the reason why all major hotel brands, travel suppliers and OTAs have mobile Internet initiatives in place, including mobile brand websites and mobile applications including iPhone apps, m-CRM and mobile marketing. In order to meet the enormous growth in consumer demand for mobile services, hoteliers must start with a clear understanding of current best practices in mobile marketing.

As shown by HeBS’ 4th annual Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices, while a number of hoteliers surveyed were not yet planning on mobile marketing initiatives for 2010 (32.8%), many are taking some very crucial first steps.

What can hoteliers do in the remaining months of 2010 and 2011? Mobile marketing must become a vital component of the marketing mix for any hotelier.

An excellent first step is to create a mobile site, which by default is the “gravitational” center for all future marketing efforts: from text messaging and Google mobile ads, to mobile sweepstakes and applications. Budget limitations are no longer an excuse for not launching a mobile-ready hotel site.

Imagine the user experience of trying to squeeze your wide-screen hotel website, designed to fit screen resolutions at 1280 x 1024 pixels and above, onto the tiny screen of a mobile device. Our analysis shows that more than 90% of mobile users access the hotel website via mobile devices with screen sizes of 320 x 480 pixels. Accessing a “conventional” website via a mobile device, even the latest iPhone, often results in an undesirable user experience: the inability to find information needed and a predictable outcome of abandoned websites and reservations.

What should hoteliers plan for 2010 and beyond? In addition to a mobile-ready website, launching mobile contests, quizzes and sweepstakes as part of the hotel multi-channel marketing initiatives will allow you to “test the waters” of mobile marketing. Adding  Google Mobile ads as part of a comprehensive search marketing strategy is another natural step. Also, start soliciting sign-ups to the mobile opt-in list (m-list) on the website via hotel email marketing campaigns, social media initiatives, interactive sweepstakes and contests.

Location-based services, m-CRM and mobile apps are initiatives in need of careful planning, sophisticated technology, and a better economic environment. Even so, hoteliers should start thinking about how to incorporate these initiatives in the upcoming years.

Read the full article, including case studies on the Hotels Magazine’s “Successful eMarketing” Blog. I look forward to our continued dialogue. Next week, we’ll conclude our eight-step action plan with metrics and achievable objectives for the rest of 2010 and 2011.

HeBS is proud to announce the launch of the new Viand website: http://viandchicago.com/.

Viand website by HeBS

Viand’s website was designed and developed according to industry’s best practices and will serve to brand the restaurant as a laid-back, versatile and accommodating dining choice in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.

The award-winning team at HeBS strategically designed and developed Viand’s website to be user friendly, booker friendly, customer interactive friendly, and search engine friendly. Combined with its provocative design and modern layout, these capabilities will ensure the website will serve as a strong revenue-generating and brand-building tool.

Viand combines traditional comfort food with a thoughtful and carefully-crafted menu to deliver a contemporary American dining experience that celebrates the restaurant’s love of the grill. The restaurant is equipped to host intimate dinners or larger banquets in a rich dining space accented with warm details. Wine connoisseurs will delight in an extensive wine list, while brew masters will appreciate the variety of beers on tap, including microbrews from the Great Lakes region.

Viand will benefit tremendously from its new website through increased revenues, online event booking and new business. Other marketing services HeBS will provide for the website include paid search, email marketing, and social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Yelp.

Click here to visit the Viand website!

Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS), the hospitality industry’s leading Internet marketing and distribution consulting firm, today announces Chief eBusiness Strategist, Max Starkov, will present at EyeforTravel’s flagship Travel Distribution Summit North America in Chicago, IL, Oct 13-14. Starkov will speak during the Keynote Session, “The New Age – Mobile Strategies and Opportunities in Travel,” on day two of the conference.

The Travel Distribution Summit, now in its twelfth year, is North America’s largest forum for travel industry professionals. The conference will address trends, innovations, challenges, and opportunities within the industry. During his keynote, Starkov will outline a concrete mobile marketing action plan for hoteliers; offer case studies from the mobile marketing trenches; and discuss mobile booking engines, m-CRM, m-marketing lists, mobile advertising, location-based services and more. Hoteliers in attendance will gain a clear understanding of the importance of mobile strategies and learn how to launch and manage a robust mobile marketing plan for their hotels.

“Mobile travel bookings are projected to grow 700% in two short years, and US M-Commerce will reach a staggering $1 billion in 2010 (ABI Research),” said Starkov.  “Mobile marketing must become a vital component of the marketing mix for any successful travel marketer and hotelier. In order to meet the enormous growth in consumer demand for mobile services, travel marketers must start with a clear understanding of current best practices in mobile marketing, and then launch a targeted mobile strategy and campaign—starting with a mobile website. As the professional development of hoteliers and travel marketers is our passion at HeBS, I welcome the opportunity to provide attendees with a step-by-step mobile marketing action plan on how to drive incremental revenues using a sound, cutting-edge mobile marketing strategy.”

HeBS is a pioneer of mobile strategies in hospitality, creating and implementing mobile websites and mobile Internet marketing strategies for its clients. HeBS’ principals have written influential articles and research papers on the subject including “Wireless in Travel and Hospitality: Hype or Necessity?” (September, 2001) and “Mobile Marketing & Distribution Strategy in Hospitality: the Future is Already Here” (August, 2009). The firm recently won an Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) award for Best Hotel and Lodging mobile application for The Allison Inn & Spa mobile-ready website. Starkov also led presentations on mobile marketing at the last EHTEC conference, as well as at HSMAI’s Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference this past June.