Tips of Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

By Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

 Mobile travel bookings are projected to grow 700% in 2 years. Are you driving traffic to your mobile website via mobile search campaigns? A few tips: The average mobile search is just 2-3 words. Forget long tail keywords! Adding a phone number to your adtext can increase CTR by 5-30%. 1 in 3 mobile searches are local in intend, so focus your messages on last-minute bookings!

 You already know you should monitor your hotel's customer reviews on TripAdvisor and social media, but have you considered monitoring your competitors' reviews? Use positive feedback about your competitors' hotels to improve your own service and use negative reviews to take a step ahead of the competition!

 Let your customers tell you how they want to hear from your hotel. On your email sign up page, consider adding more options to let website visitors stay in touch. Ask them, "How would you like to hear from us?" and include links to your Facebook page and Twitter profile (and any other social media channels you work with), in addition to the fields for an e-mail address and mobile phone number.

 Are you rewarding your most loyal Facebook fans and Twitter followers? Consider leaving a welcome gift in their room upon check in - or give them a special discount with a promo code customized just for them! They’ll appreciate that personalized thank you, and hopefully continue to be your brand ambassador.

 Have you added video to your hotel website yet? Video describes your hotel and location better than any textual content–and 89% of US Internet users recently surveyed said video influenced their booking decision.
 If the production of a video is not in the budget, consider the much cheaper Flash Video (flash animation of images with a voice-over recording), or ask guests for share their videos.

 Hoteliers, you already know you should monitor & respond to reviews on TripAdvisor and other popular review sites. But can your guests provide feedback on your own site? Consider adding a ‘Guest Satisfaction Survey’ to your site. If you respond quickly to a complaint you may avoid that guest taking their complain elsewhere (where it will do more damage).
 A great example: http://www.lemontrose.com/our-hotel/guest-survey.php

 Do you provide local area information on your hotel website? A leisure guide prevents website visitors from leaving your site to find area info. (Never send them away from your site, even if a link to the local CVB seems easier!) An interactive calendar of events is a great way to ensure you have fresh and engaging content on your website

 Did you know online travel booking users exceeded 30 million in China? If China is one of your feeder markets, make sure you are providing a few summary pages in Chinese on your hotel website. Many booking engine vendors can link your summary pages to translated content on their end - opening up a whole new market for your hotel online!