Curious about the future of hospitality marketing and distribution? This presentation to HSMAI's Washington, DC chapter explains why the future of hospitality marketing for independent hotels and brands alike starts this year.
13. They’re Not “Millennials”
They’re “Adults Under 40”
• Largest single demographic
category (~73m vs. 72m Boomers
vs. 66m Gen X)… and growing
• Largest share of business
travelers
• More travel days than any other
demographic (35 travel days/year
vs. 27 for Boomers and 26 for
Gen X)
14. And now the bad news…
• Adults under 40 spend
significantly less per year on
travel than any other age group
(~$4,400 vs. $6,600 for Boomers
and $5,400 for Gen X)
• The Great Recession is the gift
that keeps on taking from this
segment
17. Significant changes coming in search may
further pressure ranking/performance
Duetto calls
Google, “Your
most important
hotel
distribution
channel”
18. “Google is our biggest
competitor. The
internet has been
littered with the bodies
of companies put out of
business by Google.”
Mark Okerstrom,
Expedia CEO
24. Content attracts and converts guests
• Customers who start on OTA’s have only a 7% chance of
booking on hotel website1
• Customers who start on brand website have almost 10x percentage
of booking through brand direct site
• “According to Expedia doubling a hotel’s online pictures can
result in a 4.5% take-up and $3.50 higher ADR, while providing a
full property description (as opposed to a partial one) can result
in a 5% take-up and $3 higher ADR”1
• Key takeaway: We are all publishers now
1: “Demystifying the Digital Marketplace,” p. 40, Kalibri Labs/AHLA, 2016
33. Four types of content needed to
merchandise and market your properties
Destination content. The first rule of selling travel to consumers remains “sell the destination first.” Research from
Google shows that travelers tend to start their travel planning by searching destination-related terms. Whether you
use blog posts highlighting area attractions, dedicated destination guides offered on your website, email marketing
campaigns featuring local hot spots, or themed-content targeting key audiences, guests must first want to travel to
your destination; you cannot get guests to consider your hotel if they’re planning to travel to another destination
altogether.
Property content. Often referred to as “descriptive” content, or less commonly “static” content, this includes
information about your property itself, such as the number and type of guest rooms and meeting rooms, available
amenities, its physical location and proximity to attractions, property name, brand affiliation, and other necessary
attributes.
Promotional. Promotional content includes the many offers, specials, and packages your marketing team designs
to attract customers to book, enroll in loyalty programs or email lists, or any other call-to-action you can imagine.
Availability, rates and inventory (ARI). Finally, availability, rates, and inventory presents guests with information
about what they’ll actually book — descriptions and details of the room types, rate plans, and packages your
property offers — as well as the dates when guests can book their stay. While ARI typically refers only to room
types and suites, additional amenities, add-ons, and upsell items — including such varied items as restaurant
reservations, Collab reservations and the like — may also represent inventoried items within your property
management system, central reservations system, or booking engine.
Google, “The 2014 Traveler’s Road to Decision,” Google, retrieved November 22, 2017, http://storage.googleapis.com/think/docs/2014-travelers-road-to-decision_research_studies.pdf. Also, Caroline McGuire, “Google reveals the top
10 travel searches of 2016 in the US,” The Daily Mail, retrieved November 22, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4047968/Was-listening-geography-class-Google-reveals-10-travel-searches-2016-Grand-
Canyon-them.html
34. 34
● Zoos
● Universities and colleges
● Theaters
● Business (esp. major
employers, key accounts)
● Convention center
39. 39
“...humans rarely choose
things in absolute terms.
We don’t have an internal
value meter that tells us
how much things are worth.
Rather, we focus on the
relative advantage of one
thing over another, and
estimate value accordingly.”
–Dan Ariely
40. Real-world experience
illustrates this in practice
Achieved top positions in
TripAdvisor, Yelp, social channels
for multiple hotel clients
Occupancy index improved to 95-
105
ADR index improved to 107-180
RevPAR index improved to 109-
169
Growth above comp set
Reduced or held OTA share below
10%
41. Adults under 40 represent
major upsell opportunity
• Upsell: Masters of “bleisure” travel
(81% “probably” will add extra time
to trip vs. 56% for Gen X and 46%
for Boomers)
• Speed: 49% put off booking if they
can’t do it instantly online… which
means mobile
• Value: 50% consider themselves
“Travel Hackers” able to get deals
(vs. 26% for Gen X and 12% of
Boomers)
42. Matures continue to
represent significant
revenue opportunity
• Value: Mostly “price” sensitive,
but can swayed by experience
• Experience: Don’t tend to mix
business with pleasure – sell
benefits of specific trip
• Longer-term? Be conscious of
growth trends as Boomers begin
to age out of the marketplace
43. 93% of consumers say online reviews
impact their purchase decision
1% lift in TripAdvisor Rating leads to ~1%
increase in RevPAR
Companies with higher NPS grow 200%
faster than competitors
44. Review quality leads to increased RevPAR
Pricing Power
(ADR)
Demand
(Occupancy)
Performance
(RevPAR)
All +0.8% +0.2% +0.96%
Upscale +0.67% +0.19% +0.83%
Upper Midscale +0.74% +0.42% +1.13%
Midscale +0.89% +0.54% +1.42%
Measured change in pricing power, demand, and performance given a 1% change in online reputation
Source: Cornell Center for Hospitality Research
45. In other words, your brand is only as
good as your last review
“…64% of leisure travelers and
52% of business travelers said
they are not loyal to a particular
brand. Sixty-nine percent of
travelers tell family and friends
about travel products and services,
and 46% rely on those
recommendations.”1
In essence, your brand is only as
good as your last review
45
1: http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Study-says-personalized-service-key-to-hotel-customer-loyalty
49. Leverage guests to create and curate a
positive brand story
• Guests during peak periods
create opportunity to reach over
6.5 million potential guests
• Punch through Facebook filters
with content from “friends and
family”
• Test Flip.to platform or
equivalent
49
Total rooms 150
Occupancy 60%
Days occupied 365
Average friends on
Facebook
200
Potential
addressable
audience
6,570,000
50. Leverage guests to create and curate a
positive brand story
• Guests during peak periods
create opportunity to reach over
6.5 million potential guests
• Punch through Facebook filters
with content from “friends and
family”
• Test Flip.to platform or
equivalent
50
Total rooms 150
Occupancy 60%
Days occupied 365
Average friends on
Facebook
200
Potential
addressable
audience
6,570,000
You want influencer
marketing?
You have a house
full of them
53. OTA’s moving into hotel services: Expedia Powered
Technology
Expedia launched Expedia Powered Technology
including MICE booking solution – “he first tool that truly
automates the booking process for meeting organizers
and hotels in real time” – “free” Rev+ revenue
management tool and more
Expedia hired VP, owner strategy and services (October
2016) “...focused on growing relationships with, and
developing new services for, hotel owners and
management companies”1
Starting to address the “in-stay” experience with keyless
entry trials taking place with a partner in Norway
Investment in Alice On-Property guest experience
management tool
1: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/mark-morrison-joins-expedia-inc-as-vice-president-of-owner-strategy-and-services#sthash.MEi0HPx0.dpuf
54. “We are working to ensure we can
not only provide distribution and
new audiences for our partners,
but also help solve for other
challenges they may have. As we
make the shift to strategically
focus on needs of evolving
business solutions, we are
committed to using our resources
and technology to create new
product offerings that help our
partners reach their goals.” - Cyril
Ranque, president, Expedia’s
Lodging Partner Services
1: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/mark-morrison-joins-expedia-inc-as-vice-president-of-owner-strategy-and-services#sthash.MEi0HPx0.dpuf
55. “You can never have too
much data. Bigger is
definitely better.”
Werner Vogel, CTO, Amazon
62. Develop paid media budget as
percentage of sale
62
Metrics
● Cost-per-click
(CPC) or cost-per-
impression (CPM)
● Clicks (or
impressions)
● Total cost (CPC *
clicks)
Metrics
● Visits
● Conversion rate
Metrics
● Conversion rate
(conversion
actions/visits to
page)
Metrics
● ROI or ROAS
● Cost per
conversion (Total
cost/conversion
rate)
Metrics
● Cost per
conversion as
share of sales
revenue
64. Scenario A Scenario B
Cost-per-click $1.00 $2.00
Conversion rate 4% 8%
Cost-per-conversion $25 $25
Which is better?
64
They’re exactly the same
Focus on cost-per-conversion, not just cost-per click
65. Channel is irrelevant –same model applies to all
65
Scenario A
Cost of labor $25/hour
Hours to produce content 40
Total cost of content $1,000
Clicks received 500
Cost-per-click $2.00
Conversion rate 5%
Cost-per-conversion $25