Louisville, Kentucky Nearly Doubles Year-Over-Year Event Volume, Hits 94.9 Percent Growth in July
Knowland | August 21st, 2024
Lodging Interactive Launches All-Inclusive Subscription Based Digital Marketing Services for Hotels
Lodging Interactive and Commingle:Engage | August 24, 2020
Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement, and reputation management agency exclusively serving the hospitality industry, today announced the launch of its all-inclusive subscription-based digital marketing services for hotels. HotelSiteXPRESS provides fast, affordable website development and digital marketing services enabling any size property to effectively compete within their marketplace. “As the hospitality industry continues to move towards financial recovery, HotelSiteXPRESS has the ability to accelerate the recovery process for hotels by launching new, modern websites, supported by compre...
Las Terrazas Resort Selects GCommerce for Custom Website Design and Development
GCommerce | August 20, 2020
Park City, Utah, August 20th, 2020 - GCommerce, a hospitality digital marketing agency, has partnered with Las Terrazas Resort & Residences to design and develop a custom website for the resort. The property is located on the sandy beaches of Belize’s largest island, Ambergris Caye. The newly improved resort website features the resort’s one-of-a-kind dining and spa experiences as well as activities on the resort and across the island. The goal was to build a website design that captured the resort’s prestigious standing on the island by creating a clean, elegant design. Emphasizing the privacy and seclusion and the many activiti...
Your COVID-19 Recovery Plan Should Include These 5 Marketing Strategies
Amadeus Hospitality | August 20, 2020
Hoteliers have reopened their doors to a more competitive market than ever before. Travelers are spoiled for choice as every property (no matter what audience they previously catered to) is looking to win their business and keep revenue on the books. It will take a thoughtful approach to your hotel’s marketing plan to entice weary travelers in the era of COVID-19. With their heightened expectations for cleanliness, service, and a good deal in an uncertain economy, is your marketing strategy positioned to succeed? Here is your new 5 step action plan to marketing during a pandemic. Make decisions based on your market This may seem ...
Five-Star Laguna Beach Property Finds Success With Digital Marketing During COVID-19
GCommerce | August 18, 2020
Park City, UT, August 18, 2020- Five-Star Laguna Beach property, Surf & Sand Resort, partnered with GCommerce to run digital marketing efforts during COVID-19 to maintain brand awareness in key markets in order to secure market share upon reopenings. The resort placed all efforts on digital channels, with an emphasis on targeting in-state markets. GCommerce leveraged messaging that focused on leisure getaways and escapes, which was relevant while travelers were confined to their homes. The top-performing ad focused on the property being a family-friendly destination and the perfect opportunity to escape city life. Marketing budgets wer...
Are Hotels Finally Ready to Embrace Attribute-Based Selling?
Jos Schaap | August 18, 2020
By Jos Schaap Hotels have gone through many changes over the years. However, one thing that has barely changed is the industry's attitude towards room distribution. The way in which hotel rooms are sold today, and have been for the past 20 years, has remained relatively the same. With the current model the guest journey is essentially made of a few specific moments. The consumer begins by choosing a hotel and stay date and receives a list of rates. These rates correspond to combinations of room types and rate plans and each combination has a price. Similarly, both the room type and rate have their own attributes attached such as max gue...
Can Sales and Marketing Save the Hotel Industry?
HotStats | August 17, 2020
COVID-19 has knocked the wind out of hotel profits. No more so than within the conference business, a traditionally bustling moneymaker that has wilted amid the pandemic. Still, sitting on your hands until it all blows over is not the smart approach. What many don’t realize is that sales and marketing can be used to set the wheels toward profit back in motion. Wondering how? Here are some ways ... How COVID-19 Has Shifted Hotel Sales and Marketing It’s no secret that COVID-19 has demolished hotel and conference demand. But that lost demand is not permanent. It’s lying dormant as people remain hermetic, browse online and reassess...
Target Your Local Drive Market
Vizergy Digital Marketing | August 17, 2020
Reeling-in Regional Travelers Who are Reeling to Get Away With restrictions slowly lifting, travelers are looking for easy ways to get a break from their “new normal”. The focus now is staycations – where can locals go to take a break from everyday life? Industry experts are seeing that more people are driving to their destinations instead of flying. So how can you capitalize on this movement? You need to wave your arms up and let them know you’re here. Target your local drive market. Vizergy can help you get local-drive-market heads in beds with our Top Trending Cities Report tool. It’s right at your fingertips in the Vizergy...
Joel Contor Promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing at The Kimpton Gray Hotel
The Kimpton Gray Hotel Chicago | August 10, 2020
CHICAGO (August 10, 2020) - The Kimpton Gray Hotel announced today that Joel Contor has been promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing for the Chicago hotel, effective immediately. In his new role, Joel will provide strategic direction for the sales teams, actively respond to financial performance and ensure achievement of Kimpton’s short and long term goals. Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Contor has over fifteen years of experience in the hospitality industry. He started his career as a Cabin Crew Manager for Virgin Airlines Australia, before taking a leap of faith and moving to the U.S. in 2014 to find his true calling in hotels....
Vizergy Launches Sleek New Website for Beachcomber Resort & Club
Vizergy® Digital Marketing | August 6, 2020
Site showcases multi-million-dollar renovation and addresses ADA compliance Beachcomber Resort & Club in Pompano Beach, FL, has partnered with Vizergy Digital Marketing to launch a new website unveiling its multi-million-dollar renovation featuring a stunning new look and wide array of experiences and offerings. While building the website, Vizergy aimed to deliver a beautiful beach-inspired website showcasing the resort using their colors, textures, and photography. But a top concern for Beachcomber Resort & Club was ADA compliance, which Vizergy addressed with its recently launched ADA performance analysis tool – the firs...
Understanding the Post-Covid Advantages of Sharing Economy Accommodations
Larry Mogelonsky | August 5, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Following reports in early July that travel searches on Airbnb (and also Booking) in many key markets are at a 12-month high, hoteliers would be right to be quite anxious as this represents a definitive marker for booking drivers and perceived value in the post-pandemic hospitality world. Why are guests returning faster to the sharing economy than traditional accommodation providers? In this great reshuffling of travel motivations following COVID-19, it would appear as though many hotel customers are switching to home sharing platforms for their next leisure stay. Below I present th...
Hotel Development: Are Better Feasibility Studies Actually Feasible?
Demian Hodari | August 3, 2020
By Dr Demian Hodari Hotel development is a complex and expensive process involving multiple stakeholders with unique and often conflicting objectives. Since investors, operators, lenders and consultants all use distinct criteria to evaluate a hotel’s projected value, they may green-light projects that are unlikely to satisfy the other parties' financial goals. In order to minimize such subjectivity, investment in a new hotel’s development is typically preceded by a feasibility study, the stated purpose of which is to provide the relevant stakeholders with the information and analysis necessary to estimate the project's financial viabil...
Autumn Offers Worth Driving For
Larry Mogelonsky | July 29, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) This is the summer for staycations. With group, convention and most corporate travel in stall mode due to COVID-19, you will need strong programs in place to motivate leisure guests from now-critical drive markets to continue to book with you through the autumn months. As part of this seismic shift in travel behavior, first consider the disruption to L2B timeframes. For the rest of summer, bookings at this point may mostly be last-minute as travelers hold out due to the vacillating news cycle on Covid numbers. Many rural resorts already have high occupancy and simply need a few nigh...
The 7 Ps Marketing Mix of Home-Sharing Services: Insights From Over One Million Airbnb Reviews
Linchi Kwok | July 29, 2020
By Linchi Kwok The 7 Ps marketing mix framework is a widely used managerial tool that helps businesses identify the principal components of a service product. The 7 P elements include Product, Promotion, Price, Place, Participant, Physical Evidence, and Process. The 7 Ps framework can assist marketers in making decisions regarding segmentation, positioning, and differentiation. Even for the same type of products with different brands, marketers can still drive higher sales through the improvement of a product’s marketing mix. The empirical study about 7 Ps of home-sharing services Building upon the 7 Ps marketing mix framework, ...
GCommerce Announces Strategic Partnership With Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa
GCommerce | July 16, 2020
The Forbes 5-Star Resort Engages GCommerce Digital Marketing Agency with its Performance-Based Fee Model Park City, Utah, July 16th, 2020 - Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a Forbes 5-star and AAA 5 Diamond property, has partnered with GCommerce for digital marketing services. The resort is one of two Forbes 5-star resorts located in Palm Beach. Eau Palm Beach marks GCommerce’s 8th Forbes 5-star property that the company has partnered with, demonstrating the company’s digital marketing expertise in the luxury travel market. “GCommerce was the perfect fit for Eau Palm Beach with their vast experience working with many other Forbes ...
The Email Benchmarks – How Is Email Impacting Reopening?
Nicki Graham | July 15, 2020
By Nicki Graham How has reopening affected key email marketing metrics? In our recent Email Benchmark Report, we saw that even through a global pandemic, email continued to reign as the favored channel of communication for marketing and business. It has forged its way as one of the most effective ways to stay connected in a socially distanced world. As stated in our report, we saw a spike in email open and click-through rates and an increase in nights per booking in March and April 2020. This increase in nights per booking was due to a number of factors and different circumstances across the globe, but namely because those hotels...
Top 5 Things You Need to Know Now in Hotel Digital Marketing: July Edition
Margaret Mastrogiacomo | July 15, 2020
By Margaret Mastrogiacomo As hoteliers plan their Q3 marketing strategy, it’s important to keep a pulse on the evolving digital landscape to make a greater impact on performance. This month, Google announced updates to Google Image results, Twitter tests audio tweets, and CTV ads rise in popularity. From Search to Social Media and Design, here are the top 5 things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing. 1. Search: Google Image tests add more facts about images with the Knowledge Graph. Google announced it has launched a new feature within Google Image search on mobile to show quick facts about each image in search results. ...
Change Is on the Horizon: What’s Next for Marketing in a Post-Pandemic World
Alan Young | July 9, 2020
It is time to shift from "here's why you should buy this service/product" to "here's how we can help" By Alan E. Young Around the world and across industries, marketers now face arguably one of the toughest challenges of their careers. There is, after all, no universally established gold-standard for marketing during a wide-spread pandemic, because a global crisis of this magnitude is hardly ‘textbook’. As the media coverage so often reiterates, we now find ourselves in uncharted territory. Although the importance of brand agility and frequent innovation is well-understood by business owners and B2B marketers, the coronavirus pan...
Looking Forward: How Hotels Can Safely Leverage Small Meeting Space
Ryan Hamilton | July 8, 2020
By Ryan Hamilton You glance at the clock in the top right-hand corner of your computer screen. It reads 1:27 PM, and you realize that, once again, your post-lunch work is about to be interrupted by another meeting. Of course, not a physical meeting. Rather, another Zoom call to add to the frequent barrage of virtual meet-ups that have consumed much of your days since the pandemic struck. While you relish the lack of a commute and the flexibility associated with working from home, you can’t help but acknowledge that the influx of emails, Slack notifications, Zoom calls, and meeting invites has paved the way to fragmented workflow over ...
Hotel Marketing in the Summer of Covid
Larry Mogelonsky | July 8, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) With a vaccine far off, the balance of 2020 and some of 2021 will find us working under a powerful Covid cloud. Marketing is still needed, though, as it’s the lifeblood for driving awareness and generating demand. The summer months and early stretch of fall are critical for maintaining your current audience as well as finding new ones closer to home. While each property will have its own unique circumstances, there are some generalities that you can use to guide your budget planning. Below is a guide, not in any particular order of priority, split into those programs you should av...
Hotel Salespeople – Use Video Email for Personalized, Narrated, Virtual Hotel Tours
Doug Kennedy | July 8, 2020
By Doug Kennedy As those who read my hotel sales training articles or who attend my workshops know well, I am a huge advocate for using a “tech for touch” approach to stand out from the competition. I have long recommended that hotel group and event salespeople embrace the use of personalized video email in many ways, such as networking, prospecting, responding to inbound inquiries, and following-up with those you have spoken with. While this approach is relevant during all market conditions, it is especially important now during this time when COVID-19 has disrupted the meetings and events business and slowed the flood of inbound l...
Data Shows Negative Hotel Guest Reviews Increase During Pandemic
Lodging Interactive and Commingle:Engage | July 6, 2020
PARSIPPANY, NJ – July 6, 2020 - Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement, and reputation management agency exclusively serving the hospitality industry shares its findings on guest reputation management during the COVID-19 pandemic and the results show negative guest reviews are on the rise. “As leisure travelers kick off their summer vacations, we thought it would be useful for hotel operators to consider the guest review data we’re seeing come through our Commigle:Engage reputation management services,” said DJ Vallauri, Founder, President and CEO of Lodging Interactive. “We looked at 100 c...
4 Rules of Marketing in a Time of Recovery
Deborah Fell, Adriana Lynch, and Aurora Tot | June 25, 2020
By Deborah Fell, Adriana Lynch, and Aurora Toth The travel, hospitality and entertainment industries have been severely impacted by the pandemic but companies are slowly starting to re-open for business. It’s an unprecedented time and one of the major underlying sentiments is fear. Here are 4 ways CEOs and businesses in these market segments can address and overcome this concern: 1. Compassion and Empathy for Employees Some employees are afraid of coming back to work. CEOs and management teams will need to convince employees and the public that the necessary procedures to ensure everyone’s safety have been implemented. Guidelines ...
Reiimagine, Inc. Announces the Global Launch of Comprehensive Sales Support Services to Luxury Independent Boutique Hotels and Resorts in the New Norm
Reiimagine | June 24, 2020
Reiimagine provides a valuable extension of the hotel's in-house sales team and acts as a connector to key clients that may be hard to reach. SAN DIEGO, CA, June 24, 2020—Reiimagine, Inc. – today announced the launch of a new range of sales and marketing support services designed specifically for luxury independent boutique hotels and resorts around the world. This is a first of its kind, affordable one-stop-shop solution to assist boutique hotels that are looking for additional client’s outreach in the US and international markets. Reiimagine provides a valuable extension of the hotel’s in-house sales team and acts as a connect...
8 Ways to Prep Your Hotel’s Social Media for Future Business
Pipeline Social Media | June 22, 2020
By Maiya Wall / Pipeline Social Media Your occupancy may still be suffering, but what are you doing today to market your hotel to potential guests? Waiting to invest in your hotel’s social media marketing until the effects of the virus are less noticeable is the wrong move. The time is now! People are starting to travel again or are making plans to venture out soon. You want to be at the top of their list when they are comfortable with traveling again. We’ve prepared 8 steps you can take with your social media strategy to prep your hotel for future success. 1. Share Photos of What Your Hotel Is Doing to Keep Guests Safe Guests n...
