The Definitive Guide To Hotel Digital Marketing [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

A collection of contributions from marketing experts at hotel chains, properties, vendors and consultancies globally. Curated by

W H AT ’ S I N S I D E 4

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Welcome

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Chapter 4 Optimal Channel Mix & OTA Strategy

Chapter 1 Education & Learning

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Chapter 5 Storytelling & Social Media

Chapter 2 Marketing Performance & Metrics

28 Chapter 3 Website Optimization

Meet the Experts 7

64 Chapter 6 Targeting & Personalization

72 Chapter 7 Technology

Final Thoughts 88

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W E B E L I E V E that the major changes in the hospitality industry and the constant evolution of digital marketing have created a demand for a truly definitive guide to hotel digital marketing, so we set out to create it. To make the guide as valuable, credible and definitive as possible, we decided to source the content from an elite group of experienced hospitality marketers from different areas of the hospitality industry around

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the world. We can truly say that this

If you’re a hotel digital marketer or

guide has been created for marketers by

eCommerce manager, you’re bound

marketers as it is made up of advice and

to be inspired by what you read in the

soundbites straight from the minds of

pages that follow. To all of the experts

experienced hospitality marketers who

featured, thank you for sharing your

have “been there, done that.”

insights and advice to make this guide

We asked each of the experts featured

A PREVIEW OF W H AT Y O U ’ L L LEARN 1

What hospitality industry experts believe today’s hotel digital marketers

come to life.

must focus on to achieve success

in this guide one question: “If I were new

John McAuliffe

to hotel digital marketing, what would

President, WebCanada

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you suggest I focus on for success?”

How some of the top hospitality brands are staying competitive in the

This question sparked many insightful

complex and quick moving

conversations, unique responses and

digital landscape

10,000+ words of valuable hotel digital marketing advice, which we’ve compiled for you.

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Best practices and ideas that will set you up for success in hotel digital marketing landscape

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HOW TO READ THIS GUIDE

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BY EXPER T

SPREAD THE WORD

Turn to the next page and choose an expert. You’ll

We would love to hear what you think about this guide. Please use #HDMGuide whenever you mention this guide online.

see the chapters they’re featured in on their photo. Click on the chapter numbers or flip through the book to see what they said. BY TOPIC Choose a topic you’re interested in. Using the table of contents, click or skip ahead to the page number indicated and enjoy the read. Then repeat with another topic. FRONT TO BACK Get comfortable and start reading.

J O I N O U R P R I VAT E LINKEDIN COMMUNIT Y Get answers to your most pressing challenges Learn from an elite group of hotel marketing experts Network with successful and like-minded hoteliers JOIN US NOW

MEET THE EXPERTS DANIEL KERZNER JOHN MCAULIFFE

Senior Marketing Leader for Global Luxury Travel & Hospitality Brands

President at WebCanada

IN C H A P T ER S: 1,5, 7

IN CHAPTERS: 2,4,5,7

JOSH HERMAN

SERDAR KUTUCU

FLO LUGLI

Director of Marketing & PR at Fontainebleau Miami Beach

Vice President Brand, Marketing & Communications at Design Hotels

Principal at Navesink Advisory Group

IN C H A P T ER S: 1,3,6, 7

IN CHAPTERS: 3 & 6

IN C H A P T ER S: 1,3, 4 ,6

MEET THE EXPERTS

MICHAEL BENNETT

Senior Vice President Global Marketing at Cendyn IN C H A P T ER S: 1, 2 , 4

ALAN YOUNG

MARK WONG

MICHAELA PAPENHOFF

President & Co-Founder at Puzzle Partner

Vice President Asia Pacific at Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Managing Director at h2c GmbH

IN CHAPTERS: 2,5,7

IN C H A P T ER S: 1,3,6, 7

IN CHAPTERS: 3,4,7

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” B EN JA MIN FR A N K LIN

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Education & Learning

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O N LY 8 % of Fortune 500 companies and digital agencies identify their team’s digital marketing skills as strong across all areas. This comes as no surprise given the lightning fast pace at which digital marketing evolves.

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OUR EXPERTS SUGGEST that in order to be successful, hotel digital marketers must commit to continuous learning and education. What you will discover is that, in addition to learning new digital marketing skills, there are many different areas of education and learning to pay attention to.

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INSIGHTS FROM

Flo Lugli

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

Navesink Advisory Group Mark Wong Small Luxury Hotels of the World Daniel Kerzner Global Luxury Travel & Hospitality Brands

Strategies to stay

Hands-on ways to

How learning from

What you can learn

Michael Bennett

current on hotel

learn more about

other departments

from the customer

Cendyn

digital marketing

your hotel and your

and industries can

data you collect

guests

give you an edge

Josh Herman Fontainebleau Miami Beach

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SUBSCRIBE TO BOTH INDUSTRY AND NON-INDUSTRY P U B L I C AT I O N S

Digital marketing is constantly evolving.

You can do this by subscribing to

Google is frequently changing their

hotel industry publications as well as

algorithms and Facebook is regularly

non-industry publications about digital

changing what they’re offering, so you

marketing and consumer trends for

need to stay up on what’s going on by

some of your insights. It’s also a good

focusing on continuous education. The

idea to build up a network of folks to

FLO LUGLI

hospitality industry is not known for

interact with, compare notes and share

being the most innovative or forward

best practices, bounce things off of,

thinking. We tend to be followers and

and basically debate what’s going on.

not fast followers at that, that’s why I

By networking and educating yourself

suggest staying current on what other,

throughout your career, you’ll always be

faster moving industries (like retail)

learning more about digital marketing

are doing. The retail industry

and finding ways to apply trends and

does a lot of testing on their websites and there’s no sense in reinventing the wheel in our own industry.

initiatives in retail and other industries to your marketing strategy.

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U N D E R S TA N D E-COMMERCE AND H O S P I TA L I T Y

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s

MARK WONG

understanding of the e-commerce eco-system,

that you really need to understand the science behind the digital distribution channel and the art of hospitality. The ideal combination for success as a hotel digital marketer is to have a good plus customer service experience in the hospitality space. But I understand that not everyone has that mix and that’s why constant education on the job is still crucial to success. This is particularly true in Asia. Overall, we are trying to catch up to the level of sophistication of the North American space. There isn’t any curriculum that specializes in hotel digital marketing. Hence, a lot of it is on the job training or learn-as-you-go. As a result, many digital marketers don’t have the basics down.

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LEARN THE O P E R AT I O N S AND THE PEOPLE SIDES OF THE HOTEL BUSINESS D A N I E L K ER Z N ER

The hospitality industry is made up of

etcetera. I seriously thought, ‘Do I have

you really needed to understand the

people who have often been in the

the wrong job? I’m actually here to work

business in order to market it.

business for generations. I’m not one of

in marketing.’ So, if you’re coming from

those people. To help get acquainted

another industry, the first thing you

The people have given me the greatest

with the business, I spent my first two

need to do is learn the hotel business

understanding of the industry. At the

weeks going from working at the front

from the ground up and the inside out.

end of the day, hospitality is a people

desk to housekeeping, to bellman

It was ingrained in me from day one that

business. If you don’t learn the people

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L EAR N THE O PERAT I O N S A N D THE PE O P L E S I D E S O F THE H O TE L B U S I N E S S

side of it, you won’t be successful. When I first moved to London, I spent two months living in the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel. I made it my mission to sit in the lobby observing and talking to guests in the evenings. The knowledge that I gained was invaluable. Still to this day, I try to connect with guests no matter where I am in the world. Whether it’s going for a coffee, a drink, or breakfast, sitting in a lobby or pulling together a casual focus group, I’m constantly making a point to hear what guests have to say and watch what they do.

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I F Y O U O P E R AT E I N S I L O S T H E H O T E L I S D E S T I N E D T O F A I L . A C T U A L LY, I T ’ S A L M O S T G UA R A N T EED TO FA I L . I ’ V E S EEN I T H A P P EN . When you work together with both revenue management and sales, you can make smarter, better educated decisions about how to spend your money and what type of business to drive, which your hotel owner will love because it’s good, high rated, more profitable business.

C O L L A B O R AT E WITH REVENUE MANAGEMENT AND SALES MICHAEL BENNETT

Revenue managers have a wealth of data and successful digital marketing is all about data. You need to get to know your revenue manager because they will be able to share information about the rate, the demand, the market, who your competitors are and what they’re doing. They can tell you things like, ‘There’s x demand in the market so we think we can charge x.’ Ideally, you want to leverage their data with

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what your agency is telling you. If you

business comes from group sales,

set agenda. That’s all it takes to get

can marry the two together, you can

they’re going to lay it in and then they’re

it started. You’ll develop a cadence

get pretty sophisticated and improve

going to tell you where the gaps are.

over time especially when the hotel

conversion. While there are some

They will tell you things like, ‘We’re

or corporate leadership is committed

very specific disciplinary things that

slow in September. We’re slow around

to holding the teams accountable. For

a revenue manager does in terms of

Christmas. We’re slow around X.’ This

example, at White Lodging, marketing,

turning the dials and a marketer does

intelligence lets you build a marketing

revenue management and sales had

in terms of creating campaigns, I see

calendar around the right promotions to

KPIs that crossed over and bonuses

the lines between digital marketer and

fill these gaps. If all goes well, you fill the were impacted.

revenue manager becoming more and

gaps and then everything on top of it is

more blurred. It’s really all about driving

gravy.

demand and rate. You don’t have to spend hours You also need to talk to sales. Their

and hours in meetings. Start a

job is to lay the base business in

routine of getting together

the hotel. So, if 50% of your hotel’s

once a week with a

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GET TO K N OW YO U R CUSTOMERS T H R O U G H D ATA J O S H HER M A N

Start by getting to know your customers. We see millions of customers a year come through our doors at Fontainebleau, but I bet if we lined up a dozen of our leaders and asked them to describe our ideal customer, you’d get a dozen different answers. Everyone would paint a different picture of the customer – it’s impossible not to. That’s why it’s so important to use our data to get a clear picture not just of our customers, but our best customers.

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I can tell you that for us, we focus on the The data really takes the guesswork following:

out of understanding our customer. I’m a strong believer that you can’t

What kind of experiences does the guest engage in on property? Where do they spend their money?

“The customers that you may perceive or assume to be the biggest spenders may not actually be once you look at your data.”

What do they like to do? What feedback do they give us? We assemble all of these data points together to paint the picture of our ideal customer which becomes the foundation of every piece of marketing.

always judge a book by its cover. The customers that you may perceive or assume to be the biggest spenders may not actually be once you look at your data.

“Measurement is fabulous. Unless you’re busy measuring what’s easy to measure as opposed to what’s important” S E T H G O D IN

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Marketing Performance & Metrics

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ACCORDING TO HUBSP OT 4 0% OF MARKETERS IDENTIF Y PROVING THE ROI OF MAR K E TING ACTIVITIES AS A TOP CHALLENGE. Based on our conversations with our experts, it’s a challenge that hotel digital marketers need to face head-on. Doing so requires keeping your end goal in mind, continually measuring your marketing performance and letting metrics be your guide. When you take this approach, you have the power to make more informed marketing decisions that maximize your ROI.

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

INSIGHTS FROM

Alan Young Puzzle Partner Michael Bennett Cendyn John McAuliffe WebCanada

What question you need

How to evaluate your

Why a metrics driven

to ask before you develop

hotel and your agency’s

approach to marketing is

a marketing strategy

current marketing

an absolute must

performance

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BEGIN WITH YO U R END GOAL A L A N YO U NG

Digital marketing is multi-faceted and means different things to different people and companies. Regardless of how you define digital marketing, what really matters is that you know what you want it to do for you. So, before anything else, you need to figure out what your priorities are and be able to answer this question: What is the end goal of our digital marketing strategy?

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S I N C E T H E M A J O R I T Y O F A H O T E L’ S M A R K E T I N G S P E N D T O D AY I S D I G I TA L , TA K I N G A L O O K AT Y O U R D I G I TA L M A R K E T I N G P E R F O R M A N C E I S Y O U R F I R S T S T E P. I would assume your property has an agency partner because they don’t have a brand supporting the marketing so you’ll want to connect with your agency and get access to the digital media plans and results right away. When I worked at KSL the properties were all independents. While I was on the corporate level, my property level marketing teams were almost all teams of one. If this is the case for you, your agency is your team.

ASSESS YO U R AGENCY MICHAEL BENNETT

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AS SES S YOUR AGENCY

You need to know how the agency and campaigns are performing right off the bat. If they’re underperforming, you need to address that first and foremost. It’s the peel-off-the-band-aid mentality. It might hurt, but you just have to do it fast. At the end of the day, you will be held accountable for driving business. So, if you have an agency partner that is spending money and you can’t connect what they’re doing back to revenue, it’s time to find a new agency. The expectation of any owner in the

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“You want to be in a position where you can go to your executive team whether you’re at a property or a corporate and say, ‘We spent two million dollars this year and it generated 20 million.”

industry is a 10 to 1 stabilized return over time. It gives them confidence in their forecasts and the ability to report out to their investors and/or the street. You want to be in a position where you can go to your executive team whether you’re at a property or a corporate and say, ‘We spent two million dollars this year and it generated 20 million.’

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PUT METRICS IN THE DRIVER’S S E AT J O H N MC A U L I F F E

You need to understand what your costs to acquire a customer are. Once you understand that, you can put money where its best spent, where it’s most effective and efficient. I recommend setting up a framework for acquisition effectiveness and acquisition costs for both direct and indirect digital channels and even beyond digital to front desk, call center, etcetera. It doesn’t have to be sophisticated but it does need to help you understand the value of each channel, where you’re spending your money and your return on that money.

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P U T M E T R I C S I N T H E D R I V E R ’ S S E AT

“You need to understand, what are these things we’re doing actually costing us? What are they doing for us?”

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Let the metrics drive your decisions. It

measuring things you don’t know what

goes back the whole argument about

to do, you don’t know what you’re trying

whether marketing is art or science.

to achieve.

I think that over the last few decades the balance between art and science

The demise of any marketer is when

has shifted—particularly for digital

the CEO asks, ‘What’s our return

marketing. Digital is much more direct

on marketing investment?’ And the

response oriented than brand oriented

marketer has a blank stare on their face.

in nature so the science side of it is much stronger than the art side. You need to understand, what are these things we’re doing actually costing us? What are they doing for us? It goes back to that whole “what gets measured gets done” so if you’re not

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Website Optimization

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6 1% O F U S E R S W E R E U N L I K E LY T O R E V I S I T A MOBILE SITE IF THE Y HAD TROUBLE ACCESSING I T, A N D 4 0 % G O T O A C O M P E T I T O R I N S T E A D , A C C O R D I N G T O M C K I N S E Y & C O M P A N Y. Your hotel website needs to be mobile optimized, but mobile optimization is only one small component of an effective website today. As our experts reveal, a high performance hotel website is built on data, provides relevant content and is constantly tested and optimized for booking conversion.

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INSIGHTS FROM

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

h2c GmbH Flo Lugli Navesink Advisory Group Josh Herman Fontainebleau Miami Beach Mark Wong Small Luxury Hotels of the World Serdar Kutucu Design Hotels

What the basics of a

Why data, analytics and

Why having a website

high performance hotel

testing are so crucial to

doesn’t guarantee you

website are and how to

driving direct business

top rankings on Google

implement them

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A L W AY S S TA R T W I T H A N A LY T I C S MIC H A E L A PA P E NH O FF

Always start with analytics. Your website analytics tool and your booking engine analytics will provide you with the information that you need in order to understand: Is my website performing? How good is it in terms of usability, information, revenue conversion and so on? Is my website responsive? Is it easy to use? Is it fast enough? Once you’ve looked at the analytics and have your action points generated, then you can go ahead hire a developer or agency to build your website.

“Once you’ve looked at the analytics and have your action points generated, then you can go ahead hire a developer or agency to build your website.”

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I need to emphasize that before you start this

HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW TO

process, you need to do your analysis. We see it

ME ASURE PERFORMANCE:

done the other way around too often. Always define your website KPIs so you have Website conversion rates differ depending on

criteria to measure performance against.

the market, region, specific location and property type. It helps to benchmark your conversion rates with your

Analyze your website reporting based on your pre-defined KPIs regularly.

competitive set (if it exists).

Use heat maps to understand how to improve your website’s usability and where to position your booking link. Remember, ease of use is always more important than sophisticated features!

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K N O W W H AT ’ S HAPPENING WITH YO U R WEB S IT E FLO LUGLI

Just because you have a website doesn’t necessarily mean people will visit it. I always say if you don’t have budget to market your hotel, then having a website probably isn’t going to generate a big return. One of the reasons for this is because Google is pushing organic search results further down the page and sometimes onto the second page (the entire first page is typically ads and paid search). Even if you have a really great fully optimized website, it may never make it to the top of the page. Plus, there’s no way an independent hotel (or a hotel brand for that matter) can compete with the marketing dollars that an OTA is spending.

“If you don’t have budget to market your hotel, then having a website probably isn’t going to generate a big return.”

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The only way you’re going to know what’s happening on your website is by having a good understanding of your website analytics tool. You also need to be able to understand what the analytics are telling you. If you don’t, I would look to engaging with a third party to do a website assessment for you. Once you’ve completed a website analysis and can see the areas that need improvement, do some very simple A/B testing to see how the results change. You would be surprised how simply changing the color of the book now button can impact performance.

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B U ILD YO U R WEBSITE ON D ATA JOSH HERMAN

The Fontainebleau website is built on data. We have so many rooms and so many room types. Many of them are suites, which carry a certain price point. We’ve built our imaging and messaging around things that appeal to the type of customer that is affluent enough to purchase suites and higher categories of rooms as well as on-property experiences and services. We know that lot of the beverage and wine and the

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B U I L D YO U R W E B S I T E O N D ATA

high-end restaurant program really appeal to the affluent customer. That’s why you’ll see a lot of imaging around dining. Using our data and really focusing our marketing spend on the best type of customer for the hotel has allowed us to be so much more efficient with our spending and drive increases in market share. Our digital marketing efforts and the customers that we target online produce such a significantly higher ADR than customers that we’re not targeting or customers that book direct without seeing our ads, or book through an OTA, wholesaler, or any type of third party.

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“Customers that we target online produce such a significantly higher ADR than customers that we’re not targeting or customers that book direct without seeing our ads, or book through an OTA.”

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D I G I TA L M A R K E T I N G H A S B E C O M E S O M U C H MORE COMPLEX In the past, it was just about having a website. Now, we need an integrated approach to our digital assets. Our website is just a starting point. As we learn something new, something new always crops up. It’s a constant educational process in this space.

G E T YO U R WEB S IT E BASICS RIGHT MARK WONG

I see that hotel companies are very attracted to “hot topics and trends” in the digital marketing world and tend to forget the basics of good website design, search engine marketing, and search engine optimization – the fundamental things that are taken for granted nowadays. If you look at statistics year after year, they say that 70%

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GE T YOUR WEBSITE BASIC S RIGHT

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of website traffic still starts from

in place so that 70-80% of the traffic

search. That’s significant. Yet search

is coming from organic search results.

engine marketing and search engine optimization are being de-prioritized in favor of “sexier” social media listening and reviews, programmatic media - things like that. We need to bring it back to the basics. For example, when I speak about hotel digital marketing at conferences, I always cite the 80:20 or 70:30 rule. What I mean by that is: the basics of the website need to be

We should only be paying for the

“The basics of the website need to be in place so that 70-80% of the traffic is coming from organic search results.”

remaining traffic, not the other way around. Unlike the OTAs who have the capacity to basically buy the whole search results page, most hotel brands (even the luxury ones) have very small marketing budgets. So, a smart digital marketer should focus on the basics, meaning a search engine optimized website before anything else.

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SELL THE EXPERIENCE SERDAR KUTUCU

We’ve built the Design Hotels website in a way that makes navigation easy for the visitor. People don’t want to lose time and you actually lose people if you don’t give them the right guidance. We cluster the hotels into motives for traveling or interests from our guests’ point of view, including city hotels, modern hotels, beach hotels, etcetera. This way, we can give them easy access to the experience they’re seeking. You’ll see this on the homepage and the section called “Original Experiences” where we actually present the experience and not the product. When you click on

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S E L L THE E X PER I E N C E

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“Community” you can see our culture blog where we provide information from the world of Design Hotels — it can be about a designer, it can be

“We don’t need to do everything, but we need to do something very well. We focus on what is key to us and the right way to position the brand. It’s quality over quantity. That’s our strategy at Design Hotels.”

about an owner, it can be about an event that happened in one of our hotels. What I am trying to say is that we’re not trying to punch people in the face with a discounted offer. We’re trying to sort the products by motive for travel and give them interesting stories about our hotels. Digital marketing has become so complex with so many opportunities. It’s time for us to filter and focus. We don’t need to do everything, but we need to do something very well. We focus on what is key to us and the right way to position the brand. It’s quality over quantity. That’s our strategy at Design Hotels.

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T E S T, T W E A K , R E P E AT MARK WONG

Doing a deep dive into the analytics of

potential business. All those things have

your website and the user experience

to be taken into consideration in your

should really be the first step. I don’t see enough focus on analysis today. If your hotel information

analysis. Then you can map out the next version of the website based on what the analytics tell you.

is not properly presented, your website takes too long to load or the user experience is just poor, you are losing

As with any website, our website is constantly being improved. We’re always testing. For example, when we launched the search bar on the homepage, we tried many different placement and design options to see which would help visitors find what they’re looking for

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T E S T, T W E A K , R E P E A T

more effectively. Adding new content is also not a random process; it is a decision based on country-specific yearly search patterns and trends. We’re continuously experimenting different ways of enhancing the experience including balancing the hosting around the world so the website always loads instantly and launching our new Chinese website within the China firewall so that the Chinese audience can easily access it. Again it’s going back to the basics of understanding who the primary user of the website is and applying relevant techniques to make the website more efficient and effective.

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04

Optimal Channel Mix & OTA Strategy

D EE FF II N N II TT II V V EE G GU U II D O D EE TT O TTHE HE D

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WHEN A GUEST BOOKS A ROOM

This is true in theory, but it’s not always that

THR O U G H YO U R WEB S ITE , THE

simple. Today, with the complex and ever-evolving

B O O K I N G I S M O R E P R O F I TA B L E T H A N

hotel shopping journey and the numerous

A B O O K IN G M A D E O N A T HIR D - PA R T Y

channels that play a role in it, digital marketers

W E B S I T E O R O TA .

need to see the bigger picture in order to achieve maximum profitability. Our guests explore a variety of different scenarios and strategies for achieving an optimal channel mix, even one where it may be more profitable for all of a hotel’s bookings to come through OTAs.

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

INSIGHTS FROM

Michaela Papenhoff h2c GmbH Flo Lugli Navesink Advisory Group

Michael Bennett Cendyn John McAuliffe WebCanada

Why less is

How building

Why taking a

Questions to ask that

sometimes more

positive

proactive approach

will help you optimize

when it comes to

relationships with

to your channel

your conversions on

managing multiple

the OTAs can

mix yields better

all channels

channels

benefit you

results

46

FO C U S O N YO U R M O S T R E L E VA N T CHANNELS MIC H A E L A PA P E NH O FF

Talk to your OTA market managers, they have access to data that can really help you understand the dynamics of your market. This is one reason I always advise clients to treat the OTAs as partners, not enemies. In working with chains, we often find that they’re only managing content on three or four of their most important distribution channels, while the

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others are being left behind. We suggest

(depending on how

that they focus on managing their content

many room types

on the most relevant channels for them,

you have) you could have

beyond the three or four major channels

more than 4,000 - 5,000 different

that bring them revenue, ideally 10 or 12.

fields that need to be updated. That’s something that hotel chains simply don’t

Trying to manage content on more

do. Neither do independent properties

than 50 channels is a waste of time,

for that matter. It’s a lot of work, it’s time

mostly because there’s really no central

consuming and there isn’t a technology

database for managing content on all of

solution that does it for you yet.

the distribution channels. If you manage content on 10 different OTA extranets

48

BEFRIEND THE O TA S FLO LUGLI

I always tell people to look at what the OTAs are doing and what they’ve done in the past. The OTAs were the first to come out with strikethrough pricing. They were the first to come out with things like ‘three rooms left at this price’ or ‘14 people have looked at this hotel today.’ Just like retailers, they’re doing thousands of tests every year so there’s no sense in trying to figure out the best way to optimize your hotel website for conversions. If you see it on an OTA, you can be quite sure they’ve done the tests to show that it drives higher conversions.

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49

I don’t subscribe to the theory that OTAs

through the OTA. Regardless, I’m a firm

are enemies. Quite frankly, there’s a

believer that having a strong, positive

lot of rhetoric out there from the major

relationship with the OTAs is in your best

brands about the OTAs, but I know for a fact that every single one of them has commercial agreements with OTAs. In fact, they have relatively cordial discussions on a day-to-day working basis. In your specific case, if you’re paying an OTA commission of 18% (it’s probably higher for most independents) and your effective commission rate on your digital marketing is 30%, it may make more sense to allow that booking to come

“It’s all about determining your optimal business mix, perhaps making OTAs a bigger part of the mix in low periods and smaller in stronger periods.”

interest. You need to think of OTAs as channels to be managed just as you manage wholesale business, corporate contracts, and so on. You want

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to think about what your optimal RevPAR is relative to occupancy and rate and determine how OTAs can contribute to that mix. That said, I don’t think it’s wise to base your entire distribution strategy on OTAs and have them deliver 60% of your business all the time. It’s all about determining your optimal business mix, perhaps making OTAs a bigger part of the mix in low periods and smaller in stronger periods. Ultimately, you have to understand your cost of sale and the ROI on your digital marketing. Only then can you understand better what your optimal channel mix should be. Work with your local OTA representative to help you identify opportunities that can drive more business for your hotel.

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51

I’d say you need to make sure you

the return?’ Our account managers at

understand your media mix and

Cendyn look at our customers’ activity

proactively look at your results. In most

on a weekly basis. Conversations with

agency situations, the hotel gives the

our customers often sound like, ‘Hey,

agency 10,000 dollars. They spend

here’s what we’re seeing—and by

that money during the month and they

the way we’ve moved some money to

come back 15 days after the month end

TripAdvisor metasearch and we’ve seen

and say, ‘You got a five to one return on

a massive increase so we’re going to

that. You made 50,000 dollars back in

continue to shift until we see a

revenue.’ The first question you should ask yourself is, ‘Is there anything we could have done differently with that money to maximize

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BE PROACTIVE

52

diminishing return. We’ll re-allocate the

and we got to an eight to one return.

budget from this other channel because

Now we’re going to look for additional

it’s not performing.’

opportunities to try and get a couple of those points back.’ That’s an example of

The idea is to be proactive around your media mix so there are no surprises and you don’t have to sit in front of an owner and say, ‘Sorry we’ve missed the return estimations by five points.’ Instead, you can say with confidence, ‘We did everything we could

a conversation that inspires confidence that you know your business, how guests are booking, where you’re spending your money, and so on. It’s about being proactive.

53

I know that direct bookings are all the rage today but I think every marketer must look at their own hotel and determine the best mix of direct and indirect channels to maximize the effectiveness and cost efficiency of acquiring a new guest. By understanding what it costs to acquire a guest you can focus your efforts on those channels that are most effective.

OP TIMIZE CONVERSIONS O N YO U R TO P CHANNELS J O H N MC A U L I F F E

Once you’ve determined the right channel mix (which you should be continually monitoring and adapting), your next step is to optimize conversions. You want to maximize the effectiveness of how your hotel is presented on its most important channels.

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O N DIRECT CH A NNELS , YO U WA NT TO

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O N D I R E C T C H A N N E L S , L O O K AT:

CONSIDER THINGS LIKE: Is your story compelling?

Are all your text descriptions complete and up-to-date?

Is there a clear path to booking? Are your photos current and compelling? What are your conversion metrics? Are you participating in the right programs to What strategies and tests do you have in place to improve upon those metrics? Do you have a re-marketing program to motivate visitors to return to your website?

drive appropriate rankings?

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Storytelling & Social Media

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W E U S E D T O C O M M U N I C AT E BY PA IN TIN G T HE INS ID E O F C AV E W A L L S . C O M M U N I C AT I O N H A S C H A N G E D D R A M AT I C A L LY, WITH THE EXCEP TION OF ONE ELEMENT -STORY TELLING. Today we post photos of our lunch on Instagram, we tweet to express our opinions on current events and we share our travel photos on Facebook. On top of that, we value the stories shared by peers far more than brand stories.

In fact, a study found that groups shown the photo of a hotel room next to a story from someone who had stayed in the room thought it was worth 5% more than a photo of the same room with only a technical description. Our experts explore how to leverage the power of social media and storytelling for your hotel.

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

INSIGHTS FROM

John McAuliffe WebCanada Daniel Kerzner Global Luxury Travel & Hospitality Brands Alan Young Puzzle Partner

How to uncover

A great example of

Steps to take to

What happens when

your hotel’s story

how to empower

empower guests to

you start sharing

guests to tell your

be spokespeople for

stories about your

story

your hotel

hotel and your guests

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D EFINE YO U R STORY J O H N MC A U L I F F E

Think of your hotel’s story as the

the cause-and-effect relationships

foundation of a house. Understanding

underlying a particular problem. As

the attributes and benefits your ideal

an example, I have adapted it to

guests derive from your hotel will

better understand things like why a

help you write your hotel’s story. This

Tempur-Pedic mattress is important to a

story will drive how you “talk” in the

guest.

marketplace, what you focus on in your marketing, how you present yourself and What it comes down to is that you need so on. It sounds simple but in reality,

to invest the time to define your ideal

this is the hardest part of a marketer’s

guest and understand what value or benefit that guest gets from staying

job.

at your hotel that they are willing to I like using a technique called the Five Whys, which is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore

spend money for. Think beyond the cursory features of your hotel to the real benefits.

STORY TELLING & SOCIAL MEDIA

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EMPOWER GUESTS TO TELL YO U R S TORY DANIEL KERZNER

I would say empowering guests to tell your story is the “must.” Guests’ social networks are often larger and more credible than a hotel’s social network. I believe that our role as marketers is to empower our guests to tell our story. The reach and value that you’ll get through the guests telling your story is much greater than telling the story from the hotel’s perspective. The Four Seasons at the Avenue George V in Paris is a great

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example of how to empower guests to tell a story. This hotel over invests in their lobby flowers because they want people to be “wowed” and tell that story. Guests (and people who walk in off the street) are always sharing photos and videos of the flowers on social media as you can see on the hotel’s Instagram. Every hotel has a unique selling proposition - whether it’s their view, their food, their staff that come from around the world, and much more. That unique selling proposition needs to be front and center and guests need to know what that is when they walk in the door. I don’t think that there’s a hotel in the world that doesn’t have a story to tell. Know what that story is, tell your guests that story, and empower them to be your spokesperson.

“I believe that our role as hotel marketers is to empower our guests to tell the hotel’s story.”

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EMP OWER GUES TS TO TELL YOUR S TORY

61

FLO LUGLI

Today, guests start sharing stories as soon as they

Help articulate the story for them with cues

arrive. They take pictures and videos and create

and clues

content that they share with their social networks. We can direct those conversations without the

Leverage technology to measure and see the

guest knowing that we’re even directing them.

impact

HERE ARE THE STEPS I WOULD FOLLOW: Know your unique selling propositions Put them out there front and center Enable and give connectivity to your guests to share with others

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TURN GUESTS I N T O A D V O C AT E S A L A N YO U NG

I suggest using social media to empower your guests to become advocates of your property by sharing their photos, videos and stories.

“When you use your guests’ photos to tell your hotel’s story, you start creating fans of your brand.”

Our industry looks at guest engagement as being a communication methodology and they’re not really engaging with the guest, they’re talking to them not with them. Digital marketing is not about servicing guests, it’s about engaging them. We’ve forgotten how to engage with guests. What’s the difference between a standard room in a Marriott,

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a Hilton, a Hyatt and a Starwood? They’re all 350

their brand or property and start encouraging and

sq. foot rooms. They all have flat screen TVs.

embracing it - good, bad or indifferent. It’s one

They all look basically the same. So how do you

thing for someone to rant or rave about a hotel in

differentiate your hotel?

a written review, it’s another to post a picture that says it all.

By telling stories. Very few hotels post guests’ stories on their websites but it’s stories that help

Kimpton has always been great at telling stories

build relationships and engagement between the

about their properties and guest experiences.

brand and the guest and differentiate the hotel

Progressive hotel companies like Two

from the rest.

Roads Hospitality are much more “open” while public companies

The hospitality industry as a whole needs to

never want the truth to be out

start sharing stories about their hotels and their

there. No matter how big

guests. When you use your guests’ photos to tell

your brand is, we live in

your hotel’s story, you start creating fans of your

a world where the

brand. This only happens when hotels stop being

information will

fearful about what guests are going to say about

get out.

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06

Targeting & Personalization

TT H H EE D D EE FF II N N II TT II V V EE G GU U II D D EE TT O O

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W H O I S S TAY I N G I N Y O U R H O T E L? W H Y

It’s a marketer’s job to know the answers to all of these

A R E T H E Y S TAY I N G AT Y O U R H O T E L?

questions, and more. Making assumptions or asking your staff

W H AT L E D T H E M T O B O O K Y O U R H O T E L

isn’t the right way to get the answers. Your data is. It will give

OVER THE ONE DOWN THE ROAD?

you the intelligence you need to deliver targeted, relevant, personalized messages to your target guests, resulting in better conversions. Our experts share their opinions and experiences on effective targeting and personalization.

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

INSIGHTS FROM

Josh Herman Fontainebleau Miami Beach

How to make sure your

Tips for keeping your

Why you need a

Serdar Kutucu

marketing is appealing to

content relevant and

360-degree view of your

Design Hotels

the right types of guests

interesting to your target

customer journey

Mark Wong Small Luxury Hotels of the World

guests

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TA R G E T Y O U R MESSAGING JOSH HERMAN

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Fontainebleau has a young, hip, ‘cool

types of customers and its data that

place to be’ image in the marketplace.

helps us allocate our marketing budgets

It’s a true celebrity “see and be

toward targeting the guests that have

seen” destination, and an image

the highest propensity to book and

we’ve worked extremely hard to

have a great experience. Everyone has

build. I was surprised that our data

a target customer base, regardless of

told us that certain times of the year

property size, image, etc.

we do a significant amount of family business. Or, certain times of the year

As a luxury property, if we attract

our customer base can really vary in

customers that can’t afford to be here

age or geographic location. So, we

or are not going to take advantage of all

adapt our marketing programs and messaging accordingly.

the great amenities then shame on us because we’re not doing our job from a marketing perspective. The same

It’s our job as marketers to make sure that we’re appealing to the right

applies to any property.

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B E R E L E VA N T AND INTERESTING SERDAR KUTUCU

I think the most important thing today is that consumers become part of the business. We need to start seeing consumers as partners and look for ways to collaborate with them as opposed to market to them. We can see clearly that consumers have a very high influence on public perception of brands, products and services across the board. This is a signal that we as marketers need to engage consumers in different ways than we have in the past. There’s no button you click to change your entire digital strategy. As an example, we’re really focusing on engaging

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consumers through meaningful and

know what’s important, interesting and

relevant communication. There’s so

helpful to them.

much information available to people today. Your message needs to be meaningful to peoples’ lives and relevant to them personally in order to capture their attention. This implies that you need to know who you’re talking to. We’re always working on creating more relevant content for the consumer and talking to them about what we believe will interest them. To do this, we invite them to participate actively in letting us

Our next step is to improve the

“We need to start seeing consumers as partners and look for ways to collaborate with them as opposed to market to them.”

relevance of the content in our email marketing. This is a very simple example I always use: It doesn’t make sense to send a newsletter offering weekend getaways in South America or Europe to someone living in Tokyo. Instead, offer a weekend getaway in their region. This is just one example that involves information about the consumer’s country or city of

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residence. The more information we can gather,

which rates they book, how often they book, how

the more relevant the message can be.

long they stay and which destinations they travel to. We’re currently considering data warehouse

Going back to what I said in the beginning, as long

model where we can feed and actually

as you receive meaningful and relevant information enrich profile information from for your individual needs, you will engage with that channel. The more information we have about the people we’re talking to the sharper we can be in our content and communications. That’s how we earn their engagement with our brands, products and services. One way is to do this is by tracking user habits through the website and booking engine. At Design Hotels, we see the behavior through the customer journey on our direct channels. For example, we can see which hotels a person books,

other data sources.

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CONSIDER THE COMPLETE CUSTOMER JOURNEY MARK WONG

I think e-commerce has evolved from just being an online booking platform to more of a customer relationship management (CRM) channel. This is because we need a 360-degree view of our customer journey and the website is only one touch-point to interact with our customers. The way I see it, e-commerce has expanded beyond its transactional purpose (from an online store) to a more customer-centric relationship tool where we know every contact point and interaction our customers have with our brand.

“E-commerce has expanded beyond its transactional purpose (from an online store) to a more customer-centric relationship tool.”

CHAP TER 7

Technology

07

H EE D D EE FF II N N II TT II V V EE G GU U II D D EE TT O O TT H

Chapter 7

MA AR RK K EE TT II N HO O TT EE LL D D II G G II TTA A LL M NG G H

TECHNOLOGY

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J U S T G O O G L E “ D I G I TA L M A R K E T I N G T E C H N O L O G Y ” A N D Y O U ’ L L Q U I C K LY B E C O M E O V E R W H E L M E D B Y T H E N U MBER O F S O LU TIO NS YO U FIND. There’s a technology solution for just about anything you would ever want to do from a digital marketing standpoint, with new solutions hitting the market daily. Which technology do you actually need? There’s no easy answer, except that no matter what it is, it needs to serve your marketing strategy. You might not need to invest in six-figure marketing software in order to achieve the results you desire, whether it’s guest engagement or acquisition, it could be as simple as downloading a free app. Our experts weigh in on the role of technology in hotel digital marketing and the guest experience.

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IN THIS CH A P T ER YO U WILL LEARN

Daniel Kerzner Global Luxury Travel & Hospitality Brands Michaela Papenhoff h2c GmbH Michaela Papenhoff h2c GmbH John McAuliffe WebCanada Alan Young Puzzle Partner Mark Wong Small Luxury Hotels of the World Michael Bennett Cendyn

How technology should

Why a positive mobile

Which technologies can

serve your marketing

experience needs to

help you enhance the

strategy

be number one on your

guest experience

priority list

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C O L L E C T, O R G A N I Z E , A N A LY Z E A N D A C T O N Y O U R D ATA JOSH HERMAN

Almost everyone wants to talk about data, but I’d say the vast majority of people are overwhelmed and don’t know what to do with it. I suggest setting yourself up for success by finding a technology tool that can help you collect, organize and analyze your data so you can take action on it.

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As marketers, we need to see the world through the guests’ eyes. If the guests’ eyes are on WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat or on a mobile device, we need to make sure that our marketing is built around that and certainly built for that. I’ll share an example. When I was working with the W Doha, I always found they did a really good

job building their marketing around their guests. One thing they learned about their guests is that they’re always on Instagram and they take and share photos of their food in the hotel’s restaurants. So, they created an Instagram page for each of their restaurants and posted photos of the food and pricing. Their Instagram feed was essentially their menu, only better. They also noticed their guests use

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E N A B L E Y O U R G U E S T S THR O U G H TE C H N O L O G Y

WhatsApp to talk to colleagues, friends and family and wondered, ‘why can’t they do the same to speak with the hotel?’ So, they launched a service called Let’s Chat, a text-based guest communication tool where they were able to better service their guests needs, and upsell/cross-sell through effective dialogue. When a guest wanted to book a wakeup call, they would ask over WhatsApp. This real-time interaction gave the hotel the opportunity to ask, ‘Would you also like to arrange breakfast in your room?’ or ‘I see you’re leaving tomorrow. Would you like a car transfer?’ Most importantly, it was about speaking with guests on their own device, on their own terms. Let’s Chat was later rolled out to hundreds of hotels and tens of thousands of guests. A great sign of a best practice!

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“If the guests’ eyes are on WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat or on a mobile device, we need to make sure that our marketing is built around that and certainly built for that.”

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Individual properties rely on the technology that is available to them from industry vendors, which can have its challenges and limitations. Meanwhile, chains have the freedom and budgets to build their own technology and tools, but doing so takes a lot of time and effort – it’s just not fast enough. What success really comes down to is how technology serves the marketing strategy. Bringing technology and marketing strategy together has always been a challenge in our industry,

BRING TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETING TOGETHER

although in different ways for individual properties and hotel

MIC H A E L A PA P E NH O FF

at h2c and we consistently find that their websites and

chains. We’ve done several studies with independent properties internet booking engines are not performing well in terms of conversion, on both desktop and mobile.

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TECHNOLOGY

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INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY TO S CA LE YO U R MARKETING ACTIVITIES

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Marketing is still marketing and to be

Take email for example. While it’s no

successful you need to get the basics

longer “new technology,” I defy any

and foundation right. Technology is

marketing person to say that email

an enabler and when used effectively,

marketing programs don’t work. I highly

it can help you scale your marketing

recommend investing in a good email

activities.

marketing tool that has solid analytics so you can send relevant personalized

J O H N MC A U L I F F E

Technology allows us to interact with

content and messages and know

our customers, talk to them, and engage the performance of your efforts (your them more than ever. We can have open rates, your conversions and your one-to-one conversations through

returns, etc.).

social media channels, and give our customers a more personalized

Technology in marketing boils down to

experience in multiple ways

helping marketers get a better grasp on

and with many devices.

customer preferences, their behavior and purchase trends, and to design the

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO

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INVES T IN TECHNOLOGY TO SCALE YOUR MARK E TING ACTIVITIES

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most effective marketing strategy based on this intelligence Marketing success will depend on how well we can leverage mobile as the customer’s

“Technology is an enabler and when used effectively, it can help you scale your marketing activities.”

most preferred method of consumption; how we can make sense of Big Data and pull out from it everything that relates to our business; how we use social to listen, learn, and have better conversations that lead to happier more satisfied customers; and of course, how we utilize the cloud which is becoming the center of marketing automation, and the connective tissue between an organization’s automation platform and their communication to the world. Software, tools, and new technologies help marketers devise new ways to engage customers.

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BUILD REAL R E L AT I O N S H I P S WITH GUESTS A L A N YO U NG

Digital marketing needs to become

where customers take up residence

foremost, meaning the conversation

more personal. That’s something you

in a room that’s owned by a company,

should be two-way. Hoteliers tend to

want to keep top of mind as a hotel

a relationship actually needs to be

forget that digital marketing is not about

digital marketer.

developed.

sending someone an offer and hoping they take it.

We believe that technology will take

In terms of mobile, everything you

care of engaging with guests for us.

do needs to have a mobile capability.

Yes, technology can and does facilitate

To take that a step further, mobile

guest engagement but in an industry

engagement needs to be first and

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Mobile optimization is one of the basics of digital marketing. The online experience has evolved so much that it’s no longer a laptop environment. Meanwhile, agencies are still presenting laptop versions of website wireframes. They should really be presenting a website from a mobile perspective first, followed by the laptop. It’s kind of a

SHIFT TO A MOBILE FIRST MINDSET MARK WONG

shame we’re stuck in this desktop/laptop mind-frame when the consumers are already progressed to the mobile environment.

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COMPLEMENT TECHNOLOGY WITH HUMAN INTER ACTION MICHAEL BENNETT

We like to think of a technology platform that complements digital marketing as a seamless customer relationship management (CRM) solution that resides in a hotel to manage what the human layer of CRM simply cannot, including: Communicating with guests online, on mobile, or email when they’re considering booking Catering to guests while they’re in residence at a property

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO

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C O M P L E M E N T TE C H N O L O G Y W I TH H U M A N I N TERA C T I O N

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Delivering targeted and personalized marketing campaigns Encouraging guests to book again Ensuring data privacy across all technology systems All in all, CRM plays a big part in completing the guest journey and making the unnecessary, clunky aspects of travel, seamless and a delight to experience. The sheer amount of data that can be collected on each guest, multiplied by the thousands of guests that may pass through the doors of a large hotel in a given year will always call for a CRM software system that can handle this huge number of

unique records. What is important however, is to not only use the data captured to entice guests with seamless technology, but to also provide personalized human interaction at the right time, with the right information for every guest to create those unique, unforgettable moments.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

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T H I S G U I D E has touched on so many significant points that must be considered as a digital marketer in the hotel industry, and all should be taken on board. From staying on top of industry trends, understanding digital marketing advancements to fine tuning your strategy based on your marketing analytics and data, we’ve covered it all. Two fundamental aspects of this guide however should be considered at the very basis of your digital marketing

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strategy before getting started; know your brand

we see day-in-day-out that hoteliers are able to

and your audience from the get-go; understand

learn more about their guests, communicate with

your guests’ journey - from path to purchase right

them using the right message, at the right time,

through to their return to your property. These

through the right channels and learn from their

two aspects of your strategy will flow through

results and data. This in turn, allows for more

everything you do and enable your guests to

surprise and delight moments for guests during

understand, through whatever marketing mediums

their stay or during those important moments

you use, who you are and why they should pick your property.

before they decide to book with you again. You know when you’re on the right track when those

Technology has an incredible way of complementing these strategies too. From understanding data, to team collaboration to guest empowerment,

moments start turning your guests into brand advocates. Michael Bennett Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Cendyn

NEXT STEPS We invite you to join our mastermind community on LinkedIn, where you can learn from an elite group of hotel marketing experts and get answers to your most pressing challenges. If you liked this book, which we hope you did, we’d love for you to share it with your friends and colleagues on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn using #HDMGuide.

A BO U T CENDY N

ABOUT WEBCANADA

Our 20 years of success in the

For over 20 years, WebCanada has

hospitality industry shows that we

been helping hotel brands grow

don’t just have innovative solutions

online commerce with affordable,

– we have products that are tied to

easy to use, comprehensive digital

proven revenue producing business

marketing tools that really work.

models. That means we understand

We are a group of experienced

your struggles. We’ve been on

technology and digital professionals

your side of the table and we know

focused on empowering people

how to make your life easier and

everywhere to achieve.

more successful. We know what is

Do you have a question, comment

working, right now. Just ask any of

or compliment? Contact us at

our over 30,000 hotel clients.

[email protected]

Do you have a question, comment or

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compliment? Contact us at [email protected] TH A N K YO U FOR READING

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