Digital Drives Fast Change in Hotel Marketing

Richard Lewis, CEO of Best Western Hotels GB, didn’t pull any punches last week when asking attendees of EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit Europe if they were ready for the new digital marketing locomotive pulling out of the station. 

With €260 billion ($335.6 billion) projected in online travel bookings in 2013 at stake, he urged them to hold on tight. 

“The world in 2013 truly is a digital world, and there are many, many hoteliers in the travel industry that are not on board at all. This is moving so quickly that it is essential to keep on board,” he said during the opening keynote titled “When Price Hikes are Not an Option.... How Can Travel Brands Enhance Service and Grow Profits?”

In this increasingly digital world, consumers can shop hotel rooms like never before. Whereas in the past there was no retail environment in which to touch, feel and experience a hotel room before booking, today photos, videos and other interactive features allow travelers to make more informed buying decisions, Lewis said.

Keeping up with pace of innovation requires heavy investment in new technologies, however.

“The vast majority of hotel websites are not designed for this ...” Lewis said of outdated digital infrastructure. “If you can use your thumbs in the mobile device to make a reservation, you are going to make a lot more reservations.”

Hoteliers are likely to make them in a much shorter window as well, Lewis said, adding that 60% to 70% of all mobile reservations are for same-day check-in.

Not every panelist shared Lewis’ gung-ho approach. Adriano Meloni, digital managing director of Boscolo Group S.p.A, said the small, luxury chain in Italy captures bookings the old-fashioned way.

“We also have a bit of a contrarian view in that we fully espouse the intermediary, the travel agent. Our tours have to be explained, and it’s very difficult to explain that on Google or in a tweet,” he said.

Meloni did acknowledge that investing in an online presence was important nonetheless.

“Obviously the future is digital, and with the advent of video sharing and visual interest is very valuable for a brand such as ours. Anything that enables us to transmit the beauty of our hotels is key. We are a bit behind the curve in that, and we are working hard to bring Boscolo on, as a company relying on the traditional channels,” he said.

To do so, Meloni said his team is taking the middle ground. Boscolo might be optimizing a new mobile site, but it does not allow customers to book. “The only thing we really need to do is put our phone number on there. Most of our transactions are actually closed by the phone,” he said.

A web of people
Stuart Jackson, group distribution and business development director for Monarch Group, which owns tour operator Cosmos Holidays, said personal engagement in key in a digital campaign.

“The Web has shifted to the web of things to the web of people. The whole thing has shifted from buying content to actually being a massive, social, fully integrated environment,” he said. “And as a brand and as business, we have to be there at all the touch points of the conversion life cycle.”

Lewis said that cycle has evolved into a six-stage process of dreaming, planning, booking, experiencing and sharing followed by the key stage of remembering, which is key in determining repeat business.

Hotel marketers have become well-adverse in search engine optimizing and marketing, but they generally are lacking when it comes to authentic engagement in social media, Jackson said.

“It is exceptionally difficult to qualify engagement on a social level with booking, but from a brand point of view it builds loyalty and you have to be in that (social) environment to generate that return,” he said.

Colin Lewis, marketing director of airline business BMI Regional, tries to avoid the social web in favor of more reliable channels.

“Email is still the best way to get to customers,” he said. “If you want to get people to your website, you need the right ad words and SEO. If you want to get people to use social media, you need to be very patient. The reality is with the social stuff it’s a long, hard slog. If you’re in a business that needs to grow fast, stick with the old reliables like media and SEO and don’t worry about social.”

But no matter how they capture guests, hoteliers will see their efforts wasted if they don’t deliver the fundamentals on property, Jackson said.

“When price hikes are not an option, you need to spend money making sure the fundamentals are right,” he said. “You have to have the product and the customer delivery. … For us it is about capital investment, but we also invest heavily in our staff, training … It’s about communicating service, that you are not always buying on a like-for-like basis.

“Once you are absolutely confident on delivery,” Jackson said, “you’re then engaging the consumer.”