Why Google still beats Facebook for online hotel marketing

Facebook is definitely here to stay and has experienced tremendous growth, but it is not going to replace Google as a travel planning tool anytime soon. Though Facebook initiatives drive traffic to hotel websites, this trackable traffic is not directly responsible for any significant revenue.

On March 15, Experian Hitwise reported that Facebook.com has surpassed Google.com as the most popular Web site in the United States. Indeed, Facebook accounted for 7.07% of all U.S. Web site visits for the week ending March 13, compared with Google.com’s 7.03% share.

eedless to say, last week the industry was abuzz with this exciting news. We heard questions tossed around like: “Is Facebook going to replace Google?” and “Are we missing big revenue opportunities by not advertising on Facebook?”

You can relax. Facebook is definitely here to stay and has experienced tremendous growth, but it is not going to replace Google as a travel planning tool anytime soon. Here are the reasons why:

When consumers want to buy books online, they go to Amazon.com. When people want to buy new laptops or PCs online, they go to Dell.com, Apple.com or BestBuy.com.

When people plan travel they go to:
- Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing
- Meta Search Engines: Kayak.com
- OTAs: Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, etc.
- Major hotel brand websites: Marriott.com, Hilton.com, etc.
- Independent/boutique/luxury hotel Web sites
- Consumer review sites like TripAdvisor.com to check out what their peers think of certain hotels, once they have narrowed down their choices

About 84% of Americans plan travel online, according to Travel Industry Association, using the above approaches. In other words, social networks are not the first options that come to mind when planning a business trip or family vacation. Many travel consumer surveys attest to the above behavior, time and again.

Fuente: Hotelsmag.com/blog

Concepto Fuzzy Front End of Innovation

Se muestra un proceso de innovación ideal que se desarrolla en una empresa. El punto de partida es la identificación de oportunidades para la empresa y el marco de acción, a través de la identificación de las exigencias del mercado y de las exigencias de la empresa. Partiendo de éstas, se buscarán novedades en la fase de generación de ideas. En la fase de evaluación de ideas, se valorarán y escogerán nuevas proposiciones y planteamientos. Estas tres fases pueden resumirse en el concepto “Fuzzy Front End of Innovation”, y complementadas con la elaboración de un plan concreto componen la etapa de planificación de la innovación. Ésta es particularmente importante para el éxito del proceso innovador dado que al seleccionar la idea de innovación hay que definir parámetros fundamentales como sus características, costos, requerimientos de tiempo para el desarrollo de un nuevo producto o servicio, etc., y naturalmente, que la idea responda a las exigencias del mercado y la empresa.

Fuente: in4in

Hotels responding in big ways to negative reviews

Less than 4% of negative reviews on TripAdvisor get a response, according to TripAdvisor, which has more than 30 million reviews. But the review site says it saw a 203% explosion in responses from hotels last year.

Armed with a log-in account and numerous travel websites willing to give them a forum, customers are increasingly vocalizing their experiences online for other travelers to read. That’s prompting more hotel managers to respond quickly or fear losing business.

Hotel managers may ignore customers’ reviews at their peril, some analysts say. Others say they’re just another way for hotels to find ways of improving operations. And those who are paying attention and responding to customers can earn some goodwill points at a time every room night counts.

Large hotel companies have always solicited customer surveys from guests. But they’ve relied mostly on numerical rankings and have rarely contained descriptive explanations.

Managers still regularly receive customer survey scores tabulated by the headquarters, but online reviews are being used to improve training, adjust restaurant and staffing hours and add or remove amenities, says Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality professor at New York University.

Fuente: USAToday.com

Google testing hotel price comparison features on Google Maps

Google started experimenting with a new feature on Google Maps, which shows specific prices for selected hotel listings, very much like hotel price comparison websites. But unlike Kayak & Co., Google is not retrieving hotel rates from supplier XML feeds, but Google AdWords advertisers.

Google Maps is often one of the first stops travelers make to find and compare hotels. Today Google started experimenting with a new feature, visible to a small portion of users, to help make that process even easier by showing specific prices for selected hotel listings.

With this feature, when you search for hotels on Google Maps you’ll be able to enter the dates you plan to stay and see real prices on selected listings. You can click on the price to see a list of advertisers who have provided pricing information for that hotel, indicated by the “Sponsored” text, and click through to reserve a room on the advertiser’s site.

This new feature will not change the way that hotels are ranked in Google Maps, the company says. Google Maps ranks business listings based on their relevance to the search terms entered, along with geographic distance (where indicated) and other factors, regardless of whether there is an associated price.

Fuente: Google earth and map team blog

Death of the travel brochure as travelers opt for online reviews

Reviews written by strangers on independent websites such as TripAdvisor, search results on Google and word of mouth advice from family and colleagues are more influential than brochures, advertising, media reviews and advice from travel agents when it comes to booking holidays, according to a new study.

The survey of 1,375 consumers found a quarter now used online reviews by strangers to determine their travel plans, compared to 13 per cent who used travel programmes and 11 per cent who used magazines and newspaper supplements.

The results found that almost 50 per cent of travellers over 45 are using websites to recommend or warn fellow travellers by posting a review of their travel experiences online.

Nick Oram, director of media agency Total Media, who commissioned the report, said: “There has been a decline in the traditional glossy brochure in favour of the internet and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The traditional glossy brochure was expensive to produce and the travel industry has embraced e-commerce as a way of making the booking process far more cost effective.

“The impartial online opinion of travellers who have firsthand experience of a destination is second only now to what you hear from friends, family and work colleagues.”

Fuente: Telegraph.co.uk

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business

My personal recommendation of every Sunday

When Guerrilla Marketing was first published in 1983, Jay Levinson revolutionized marketing strategies for the small-business owner with his take-no-prisoners approach to finding clients. Based on hundreds of solid ideas that really work, Levinson’s philosophy has given birth to a new way of learning about market share and how to gain it. In this completely updated and expanded fourth edition, Levinson offers a new arsenal of weaponry for small-business success including

* strategies for marketing on the Internet (explaining when and precisely how to use it)

* tips for using new technology, such as podcasting and automated marketing

* programs for targeting prospects and cultivating repeat and referral business

* management lessons in the age of telecommuting and freelance employees

Guerrilla Marketing is the entrepreneur’s marketing bible -- and the book every small-business owner should have on his or her shelf.

About the Author

Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of more than a dozen books in the Guerrilla Marketing series. A former vice president and creative director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising and Leo Burnett Advertising, he is the chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a consulting firm serving large and small businesses worldwide.

Social media empowers new modes of travel

Analyzing the findings of its study of 2,357 adults in the U.S., France, and the U.K., Euro RSCG reveals how changes in consumer consciousness are molding entirely new modes of travel - and a new industry to service them.

Travel is undergoing a profound and even revolutionary shift, according to a broad new study by the leading global communications agency Euro RSCG Worldwide. The results of the study were released this week in KNOW magazine’s “The Future of Travel: The New Vocabulary of Travel and Tourism.” KNOW is a publication of the Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange, a global initiative that pushes knowledge and insights across the Euro RSCG network of agencies.

Analyzing the findings of its study of 2,357 adults in the U.S., France, and the U.K., Euro RSCG reveals how changes in consumer consciousness are molding entirely new modes of travel—and a new industry to service them.

“For years, people have regarded travel as a way to splurge, an indulgence centered on escapism and fun,” said Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America. “Now, we’re looking to make our travel experiences more meaningful and better aligned with our personal values and goals. With millions of people wanting to feel good about the impact they have on the world, there’s been a reboot of travel values and expectations.”

The study places a special focus on the segment of respondents identified as Prosumers. This highly influential group is ahead of the curve in adopting a more mindful approach to consumption that incorporates concern for the environment, local communities, and the global citizenry. For Prosumers, travel is about much more than getting from Point A to Point B and back again.

According to the study:

- 66% consider themselves “Citizens of the World,” suggesting a more globally minded attitude and approach.

- 73% believe extensive travel is key to making a person more interesting.

- And 59% contend that where and how they travel says a lot about who they are.

Where and how Prosumers travel is undergoing a decisive shift, as detailed in the report. Their objectives for vacation periods are changing and so are the demands they are placing on their brand partners. To lead in the category going forward, it is vital that brands fulfill these four imperatives:

- Accept and embrace “green” as the standard way of doing business

- Offer products and services that satisfy Prosumers’ desire to live more mindfully

- Master social media in order to engage Prosumers before, during, and after each travel experience

- Embrace the new models of luxury and customer service Euro RSCG has identified

Awareness of environmental impact has been all but absent from most travel considerations until recently. “Whereas not so long ago the issue of ‘going green’ was one of exhortation and persuasion,” KNOW magazine explains, “now it is more a matter of shade, degree, and implementation.” Brands and companies are finding that eco-consciousness has progressed from a fringe notion to a business mandate. Euro RSCG research into the New Consumer (2009) has found that 74% of Prosumers feel good about making environmentally friendly choices, and 63% are paying more attention to the environmental and social impact of the products they buy. Travel and hospitality brands are speaking to this heightened consciousness through such means as eco-accommodations built with reclaimed and recycled materials, “100 mile” menus centered on locally produced foods, energy-efficient “EcoRooms,” and rewarding travelers for their green behaviors.

Also revolutionizing the category is an emerging mindfulness among consumers fed up with excess consumption and our increasingly artificial, disconnected way of living. Euro RSCG has found that people are hungry for greater meaning in their lives:

- 79% of Prosumers worry that society has become too shallow, focusing on things that don’t really matter.

- 66% worry that people have become too disconnected from the natural world, while 53% worry that digital communications are weakening human bonds.

- Alarmed by current realities, 84% are making a real effort to improve who they are and how they live.

“New modes of travel—including cultural and educational tourism, geotourism, voluntourism, and so-called slow travel—are catering to this newly emerging desire for more,” said Claus Lindorff, managing director of Euro RSCG agency BETC Luxe. “The shifts in mindset behind these new modes of travel have been building strength for years. What has brought them to a broader market is the ascendancy of social media. Now that mainstream consumers can participate in real-time communities focused on a new approach to travel and living, this hyper-focus on social values in travel has blossomed.”

For brands, social media offer creative ways to keep Prosumers engaged well before and long after each actual travel event. New York City’s Pod Hotel saw sales and traffic spike 40% after it created PodCulture, a closed social network in which guests can connect with one another and schedule get-togethers in advance of their stays. Such smart use of social media keeps brand conversations going and carries tremendous scope for a new generation of customer service offerings. This is of particular importance at a time when luxury and service are being redefined by consumers sick of tinny smiles and canned responses, and eager to engage with the real people behind the brand.

Understanding this emerging world of travel—with all its overlapping and interconnected trends—will be vital for any brand looking to grow in the space.

Fuente: Erurorscglife.com