Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008 - (Page 28)

28 Special Report AN INDUSTRY CONNECTED H&MM November 3, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Increase, streamline your online presence By Chris Crowell ASSOCIATE EDITOR Key elements for hotel web strategy Frequent updates keeps the site attractive to search engines and customers looking for content and interaction. A singlescreen booking engine with real-time inventory updates, optimized rates and add-on offers. Geo-targeted search engine marketing and focused e-mail campaigns. Web analytics and intelligence tools to measure search engine results and reservation conversions, and which retrieve online chat room comments and customer reviews. Source: TravelClick s the online world one distribution channel or several? That may be a question of semantics, but it represents the near limitless and innovative business potential the Internet holds. Hotels have learned I and still are learning that the Internet opens up myriad possibilities for increasing booking and brand awareness. According to TravelClick, a provider of interactive distribution solutions and marketing services to independent and chain hotels, online booking accounted for nearly half the market share of all electronic channels in 2007. Tammy Peter, VP of channel management for Wyndham Hotel Group, said 70 percent of Wyndham’s central reservation booking comes from online sources. “With the continued decline in voice reservation volume, we expect to spend the majority of our development funds on e-commerce initiatives going forward,” Peter said. Large hotel companies have entire e-commerce teams with members constantly working on updating, researching and optimizing everything web-related. 888.303.0401 www.phonesuite.com Want to PROTECT your revenue and save money? It’s simple — if your phone system is down then so is your revenue — why risk your reputation and money relying on obsolete equipment or refurbished parts for your property’s phone system? Stop wasting your money and start protecting your revenue by calling PhoneSuite to see how you can upgrade to a new, fully integrated, and RELIABLE phone system “In a perfect world, there should be one person dedicated to ecommerce at each property,” said Isaac Gerstenzang, Peter the corporate WYNDHAM director of ecommerce for Destination Hotels. “The e-commerce person bridges quite a few fundamentals that are out there. We’re Ettestad bridging the TRAVELCLICK gaps between sales and marketing and [information technology] and [public relations].” Ignoring the web could leave your hotel behind like an 8-track tape. Increasing online presence and crafting the proper web strategy is multifaceted but mainly starts with the website. — it’s that simple! What’s in a website? Shane Ettestad, VP of Internet marketing services at TravelClick, said the actual website design is a crucial ﬁrst step—make sure it has clean architecture, doesn’t change layout between pages or have any See Internet strategies | page 54 CIRCLE NO. 148 http://www.HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.phonesuite.com http://www.phonesuite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008 Contents The Rate Debate Accor Defines Motel 6 Prototype Rollout Holiday Inn Eyes Upscale, Timeshare Perspective Economy Sets Tone at The Lodging Conference Mellow Vibe Meets Bold Design at HD Boutique Expo IH/M&RS to Focus on Going Green Legally Speaking Sales Clinic On Finance Travel Trends Cornell Insights Franchise Law HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Energy Star Update Energy Star Update An Industry Connected People on The Move Annual GM Survey Point-of-Sale Systems IH/M&RS Product Preview Outdoor Lighting Refrigeration Marketplace Ad/Editorial Index Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008

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