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Hotel Marketing's Media Overview 2011

I just received the list of most popular articles from hotelmarketing.com and am republishing it here. I couldn’t find it on their site and emailed them to publish it but am not sure if that’s going to happen any time soon since they also announce that they’re on holidays until January.

Looking through the list is quite interesting. I wrote about it in a  Google+ post (which has limited distribution) so am republishing the content of that post here:

Just went through the hotelmarketing.com‘s list of most popular articles in 2011. An excellent list, reading through the list alone is a great analysis of what’s happening in the hospitality world. Here’s my analysis of the scene: Feel free to add yours.

1. Hoteliers are more and more worried about their dependency on OTAs. Rate Parity problems, Cutting availability to OTAs being flagged and more.

2. Hoteliers still haven’t figured out how to yield results from social media. And nobody blames them. The stats talk for themselves: while social media brings lots of visits and can be used as a branding strategy the conversion of those visitors is much lower than on search. And what should we talk about?

3. Hoteliers want more direct. OK that’s nothing new, it’s the eternal problem of every industry, how to increase direct sales.

4. Hoteliers are searching for new marketing ideas. The posts with catchy headlines like Google+ will re-shape search… andGroupon and Expedia… are high on the list indicating that new ideas are definitely on their mind, even if many are just not mature yet. It leads me to believe that the common phrase that hoteliers are not up-to-date is just wrong, they are probably more careful and aren’t going to invest heavily into stuff that doesn’t work.

5. Big names still work best. I guess this isn’t limited to hotels but if there is Facebook, TripAdvisor, Google, Kayak or other big name in the headline it just gets much more readers. That’s just one of the PR laws, big names sell.

It’s probably more revealing as a trend to see what posts were most read and shared than the content of the posts. It gives a great crowdsourcing of hotel marketers interests (at least those that read hotelmarketing.com).

MOST POPULAR ARTICLES IN 2011

Three significant trends driving the hotel industry

Five critical trends hotel marketers need to know

Top ten hotel internet marketing resolutions for 2011

Getting too many bookings from Booking.com?

Google launches Google Hotel Finder

A closer look at Google’s Hotel Finder

Groupon and Expedia partner to launch travel deals site

Hotel web design tips to capture direct bookings

10 types of tweets that work best for hotels

TripAdvisor’s fake reviews sickness goes critical

Facebook hotel booking conversions growing, for some higher than TripAdvisor

Why hotels shouldn’t sell a $200 hotel room for $50

Increase direct hotel bookings with social media

Google Hotel Finder vs. Kayak vs. Bing Travel

What consumers want most from a hotel in 2011

Expedia’s “no rooms available” practice gets a red card

TripAdvisor’s travel trends for 2012

How hotels create a lasting performance on Facebook

Rate parity a thing of the past?

Google launches into online travel

New TripAdvisor complaint threatens review syndication

Dysfunctional hotel websites

Priceline now largest OTA, eclipsing Expedia in revenue and net income

Groupon Getaways with Expedia offers first deals

Groupon / Expedia Getaways aren’t the deal they seem to be

Story telling through social media for hotel marketers

How Google+ will reshape search, social media and travel

Google will change your hotel’s distribution strategy

Booking.com: improving conversion with best practice persuasive design

Top five QR uses for hoteliers

Ten Facebook post ideas for hotels

Kuoni acquires GTA from Travelport

Lessons from the TripAdvisor vs. Google controversy

How hotels create a lasting performance on Facebook

Survey reveals key leisure travel trends

Expedia on how to grow your ADR without impacting occupancy

Booking.com named source of 50 percent of European hotel bookings

Why OTA hotel customers are not your customers

Expedia to spin off TripAdvisor

Savvy hotel marketers view front desk as a distribution channel

Why hotels should invest more in online marketing in 2012

Google is going Places – is your hotel ready for the ride?

More news on Google Hotel Finder

New Cornell study shows promotion effect of online travel sites

What independent hotels need to do to compete against the big travel brands

Why we need a new hotel reservations sales process

Are we on the verge of a social networking backlash?

Bad hotel publicity in the Internet age

The future of hotel pricing

What business travelers want from hotels when it comes to mobile

Google Flight Search faced with “no OTA booking link” ultimatum from airlines

Google, Facebook and TripAdvisor on what’s next for online travel

Rate quotation strategies for your hotel’s sales agents

A guide to the top 100 hotel review websites

How to get along with TripAdvisor

How “fresh” is your hotel website?

How travelers use online and social media channels to make hotel-choice decision

Google reaching out to major hotel brands and CRS providers

How Ritz-Carlton embraces digital

The 10 steps to Facebook hotel marketing success