smart guest acquisition suite
Now Available for Download: From Dreaming to Booking eBook
HEBS Digital | August 9, 2018
We all know from experience that a lot goes into planning the perfect vacation, and with so many devices and planning resources, the journey is complex. According to a leisure travel study conducted by Phocuswright, 60% of respondents reported that a vacation was their largest discretionary purchase. In light of this, before making this large investment, travelers are thoughtfully taking time to research all the possibilities. Download our latest eBook to learn strategies to implement in order to reach travelers at every stage of their travel planning journey. It is crucial to be present at every step of the way in order to capture the ...
The Top 5 Things You Need to Know Now in Hotel Digital Marketing: July Edition
HEBS Digital | July 31, 2018
By Margaret Mastrogiacomo, VP Strategy This month, the latest digital innovations include big announcements from Google regarding new merchandising features on Google AMP Stories, new LinkedIn advertising opportunities, and Instagram's new questions sticker functionality for Stories. From SEO to design, find out the top five things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing. 1. SEO: Google releases AMP Stories 1.0 with advertising opportunities. If you haven't already heard, AMP stories are standalone compilations of pages with AMP and HTML layers of elements such as video, photography, analytics, text and more. Similar to Snapcha...
The Evolution of Traveling – From Leisure to Luxury
HEBS Digital | July 16, 2018
World outbound travel is booming and, according to IPK's World Travel Monitor®, the global travel industry set new records over the first eight months of 2017. The luxury travel sector in particular has embarked on a paramount transformation fueled by changing consumer preferences that will have far-reaching ripple effects in the years to come. While luxury travel only accounts for 7% of all international trips, it encompasses nearly one-fifth of global travel spending due to its high prices. Bouncing back from an underperforming 2016, the International Luxury Hotel Association (ILHA) forecasts that the global luxury travel market i...
Google’s Mobile-First Initiative: Everything Hoteliers Need to Do Now
HEBS Digital | July 10, 2018
By: Adam Lawley, SEO Specialist Google's mission as a search engine is simple and successful: provide web users with the highest quality search and surf experience available. Search queries completed on mobile recently surpassed desktop as the majority Google search type, a trend that is expected to continually rise as mobile searching becomes more ubiquitous with smartphone usage and the popularity of voice search continues to bloom. As the shift in the digital landscape moves through its many stages, Google has followed suit with the obvious and sustaining transformation that the mobile web is here to stay, placing a greater focus on ...
How Hotel Managers Can Generate Profits Above and Beyond Owner’s Expectations
HEBS Digital | June 19, 2018
By Max Starkov Background: The economic collapse of nearly ten years ago brought not only havoc to the hospitality industry, but also created a new type of hotel owner: the activist owner. These owners are knowledgeable, curious, involved, and demanding. There is a lot happening in 2018 that hotel owners should be happy about. After the best Q1 on record earlier this year, it is shaping up to be another stellar year in hospitality with demand (2.4%) outweighing supply (2%); occupancy increasing by 0.4%; ADRs growing by 2.6%; and RevPAR increasing by 3% (STR, PWC). The hospitality industry is enjoying its longest expansion and healthiest...
Mobile-First Index Is Approaching – How Can You Prepare?
HEBS Digital | March 13, 2018
By Max Starkov The massive shift from desktop to mobile and tablet devices continues at a rigorous pace. Over 59% of web visitors and more than 51% of page views were generated from mobile devices (smartphone and tablet), compared to 38% of web visitors and 40% of pageviews only two short years ago. In 2017, nearly 27% of bookings and 24% of room nights came from mobile devices (smartphone and tablet), compared to 21% of bookings and 17% of room nights in 2015 (HEBS Digital Client Portfolio Data). As we continue to see the travel planning process become increasingly complex, hoteliers need to find ways to engage their best potential gue...
Winning the Direct Booking: Combat the Effect of Airbnb on Your Hotel’s Bottom Line
HEBS DIGITAL | March 12, 2018
By Margaret Mastrogiacomo and Max Starkov Background: Recently Airbnb announced the formation of a technology partnership with SiteMinder, a cloud-based channel management platform used by more than 28,000 hotels around the world. Now, hotels that use SiteMinder and meet certain criteria from Airbnb can easily list their inventory on Airbnb.com. This includes real-time availability, rates, and content on Airbnb thanks to this new partnership. If there were any doubt as to Airbnb's true intentions of entering the OTA space and start aggressively competing with online travel agency giants such as Booking.com and Expedia, they need to be l...
The Top 5 Things You Need to Know Now in Hotel Digital Marketing: February Edition
HEBS Digital | February 22, 2018
By Margaret Mastrogiacomo, Vice President Strategy This month, the industry is abuzz about new Google AMP updates, consumers gaining the ability to mute retargeting ads on the Google Display Network, and ensuring that display campaigns meet the requirements of the Coalition for Better Ads to avoid being blocked in the Google Chrome browser. From SEO to design, read on to learn the top five things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing, and stay informed. 1. SEO: New Features for AMP Pages including AMP Stories and AMP for Email. While last month it was the Google Speed Update making headlines, in February it's important to als...
