Stephanie Sparks Smith
Hotel Marketing KPIs Must Change to Achieve Commercial Strategy
Stephanie Sparks Smith | September 5, 2023
By Stephanie Smith If you are measuring your marketing success today the same way you did last year, you are not providing the value that your external stakeholders and ownership expect and that your internal business partners, like sales and revenue strategy, deserve. It is not enough anymore to measure how many guest rooms are booked per dollar spent on your paid marketing. Instead, focus your attention on two specific areas: Are my marketing plays moving the needle relative to the competition in the channels of business that are actually booking right now? Are the dollars invested really changing the overall revenue picture of t...
Navigating Traveler Behaviors: Key Insights for Hotel Marketing Pros
Stephanie Sparks Smith | August 7, 2023
By Stephanie Sparks Smith Recently Expedia Group released their 2023 Q1 Traveler Insights Report. I brought this interesting piece of research to the great minds at the HSMAI Marketing Advisory Board to discuss the trends and explore if they align with what we are seeing in the industry. Booking Window Patterns While short-term bookings were common during the pandemic, many in the group have noticed a shift towards longer-term bookings. Some noted that leisure travelers are booking closer to 60 days out for some of their properties. One interesting point was that hotel bookings are being made further in advance compared to flights, indi...
