Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but in reality they can be stressful logistical nightmares. Besides trying to find affordable flights and figuring out how to get around in a new city, travellers can spend hours comparing different hotels. And with all the hotel horror stories circulating the Internet, it’s no wonder people take their time. After all, the place will be their temporary home base. They’ve been looking forward to a hard-earned holiday all year long and want to indulge themselves. The last thing they want is for their vacation to be ruined by the wrong hotel. So with…

You’re scaring travellers from making direct hotel bookings: Here’s a couple ways you can fix that. There’s your Bed & Breakfast. Then, the self-serviced accommodations down the road. There’s also that retrofitted factory-hotel in the east end. And you all have one thing in common. You’re vying for the traveller’s accommodation dollars. Back in the day, that wasn’t so bad. Heck, you have the nicest looking place in town, white-picket fence and all. But it’s different today. People are looking and booking online now more than they are visiting brick and mortar travel agencies. Walk-ins are decreasing, too. In some countries, more than half of all…

SEO is an Internet marketing strategy, and one that every hotelier with a hotel website should look into. It’s the process of influencing, by several different means, how visible your website is among all the unpaid results generated by a search engine. People search for specific things using specific terms (keywords), search engines yield results according to specific guidelines and algorithms, and SEO takes it all into consideration. And so should you. Here SEO expert and advocate Nafsika Bourma takes you through SEO best practices for your hotel website. Your hotel is your passion Every day you put all your…

Successful individuals often have a team of people behind them; the same is true of prosperous businesses. These enterprises are made stronger through the people they employ, the suppliers they work with, and the strategic partnerships they form. I recently discovered an independent brewery, Corfu Beer, situated on the peaceful, north-western shores of Corfu. Tucked away in the town of Arillas, it’s easy to miss. The building, that is. The impact this business has on others, however, can be felt near and far. Its influence stretches well beyond Arillas, all across Corfu, and into the greater European continent. The secret…

1. Have a clear “Book Now” button It might seem like we’re stating the obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many hotel websites fail to create a clear call-to-action. Whether it be font, colour, scale or screen position, these factors are all highly important for your “book now” button, which is crucial to making a website that converts. Imagine your website from a customer’s perspective or better still, consider commissioning some user testing to have a fresh pair of eyes judge how to dress up your “Book Now” button. Ensure the button is large and visible and make the…

Hotels big and small benefit significantly when their managers are up to date on the latest global travel trends and news. When major industry players announce acquisitions of smaller brands or launch new applications for hoteliers and hospitality professionals, you need to know, as such happenings can without a doubt impact your business. When you’re in the know, you’re able to get ahead of your competition, take advantage of the latest products that will streamline your daily business, and maybe even cut down on costs while boosting profitability. But there’s a plethora of global travel news sites out there, and sorting through them…

When it comes to marketing your business, we can’t stress the importance of targeting millennials enough. These thirty-something-year-olds make up a powerful audience of tech-savvy individuals with disposable incomes, a love of travel, and a thirst for life. This group is also completely unlike the travelers who came before them. Millennials have a different set of values and expectations, which means that the traditional outbound marketing techniques and advertising channels that enticed their predecessors to buy aren’t going to work on this generation of consumers. Millennials are all about experiencing everything life has to offer and differentiating themselves by flouting conventions and taking part in something special. To…

Working with bloggers is so important for brands. Many companies, having already realised this, now include it in their marketing strategies and annual PR and advertising budgets. Holding a press trip is a very cost-effective way to promote your hotel. When you invite several select travel bloggers to your hotel, what you get is articles about your hotel on many different blogs and on social media—and Google will love you forever. Some bloggers even pitch their articles to other publications. Inviting an influencer (someone who has the power to influence purchasing decisions) to visit your hotel is the only way to…

The time has come for better hotel images. Perhaps the images you have are outdated or inconsistent, or perhaps they just don’t do justice to your hotel. You could decide that expense is no object, and reach deep into your coffers to finance a professional photo shoot. You would expect the outcome to be spectacular—immaculately staged, perfectly lit shots of every picturesque corner. It would also be staggeringly expensive. But for many hoteliers, expense is very much an issue. There might not be the budget to hire a photographer to render professional-quality photos, no matter how indispensable they are to a…

Metasearch and OTAs are often mistakenly thought of as being one and the same, when fact they are different platforms that can both work to grow your business in unique ways. This is a common misconception among hoteliers, as travelers use both platforms to search for hotels. It’s important for hotel managers to know how metasearch and OTAs are different, so that they can better tailor their promotional efforts. Let’s begin by looking more closely at the business model and user experience of each, so that we may better understand the difference between the platforms. The importance of metasearch In a metasearch, OTAs have a new distribution channel, and…