Summer 2015

HOTEL MARKETINGBENCHMARK

Compiled by Sebastien Felix @fleexit & Martin Soler @martinsoler

The hotel marketing landscape is changing, and new and exciting things are happening. Google entered the book direct sphere of activity; and rate-parity clauses are being challenged as real and new technologies, which could take guest-experience to a whole new level, emerge.

In this edition, we cover some of the recent changes, and, as always, we bring inspiration to make it all exciting and fun.

If there was one word that marks the future of hotel marketing, it should be Experience.

Without further ado, let’s get right into our Summer 2015 and 8th edition of the Hotel Marketing Benchmark

Sebastien Felix @fleexit and Martin Soler @martinsoler

HOTEL MARKETING BENCHMARK Sebastien Felix @fleexit • Martin Soler @martinsolerSummer 2015 Page 2

INTRODUCTION

MAJORTRENDS

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Artificial enforcement of same rates across channels is destined to change. Free markets have a tendency to remove such clauses. However, this does not mean that we are facing an anarchy. Change will give OTAs and Hotels more freedom to implement special measures per channel, and we will very likely see OTAs investing more marketing money into promoting hotels based on channel-specific prices and offers. Just like Amazon offers, deals, and rates based on special agreements with vendors, OTAs could use a similar approach to create new categories and deals. The new approach will generate new marketing and sales dynamics for the industry.

IS IT THE END OF PRICE PARITY?#opinion

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Some consider the new strategies adopted by RoomKey and AccorHotels to be “playing catch-up with the OTAs.” As chains are going asset-light, the likely trend is that hotel brands are turning towards hotel tech companies, which have the procedures, and the know-how in what makes a hotel work. Tech companies also own the loyalty programs that work, and a lot more. Hotel brands have always been tech companies with distribution platforms and know-how. Recent moves by Accor show that that they have realized their role as a tech companies and opening up to more hotels could be how hotel brands bring their know-how to more hotels.

HOTEL BRAND TECH COMPANIES #brands

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Cancellations are a major trend in hotel booking. As hoteliers, we are partly responsible for it. The easier it is to book a room (no down-payment, last minute cancellations, and so forth), the easier it is for guests to cancel. This double-edged sword is responsible for some 30% cancellations on Booking.com. But what if restrictions, and “easy booking,” are not the cause? What if the cause is mismanagement of revenue, and the fact that hoteliers have educated guests to cancel and rebook last minute, because they know hotels are likely to drop the price 24h before arrival? We see the trend, it affects our forecasts, and, as the cancellations come in, we drop the rates. This is a catch-22 situation, and our only real options include better rate management, and more accurate forecasting. Lines like “Today’s price” indicating that tomorrow could be different, or “If the price drops, we’ll refund the difference” all point to our rates.

EASY BOOKED, EASY LOST #revenue

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NEWTOOLS & TECH

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Beacons are the inevitable next step in promotion. Now that most people carry a mobile device, and have relevant information as they need it, hotels also glean a great utility. Leverage points include ways to promote specials at the bar or restaurant, recommending things to do nearby, and the ability to act as a crowdsourced concierge. These points empower beacons to even answer frequently asked questions once the guest arrives in the room. This says nothing for speaking about check-ins and check-outs, simply by walking in or out of the hotel at a specific date. So-called “beacons” possess unique opportunities to evangelize and to add value for hotels taking advantage of new technologies and trends.

BEACONS FOR HOTELS#tech

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Plan a complex trip with a simple tweet: this is the promise of Vamo thanks to their new algorithm. In 140 characters, simply tweet where you would like to go by using the hashtag #PriceMyTrip. In a few minutes the Twitter account @vamotravel responds to you with a price for a hotel and an airline. This is a perfect example of how travel agents adapt and modernise engaging with the connected generation. Discover more examples on: vamo.com/pricemytrip.

Try it: Tweet #PriceMyTrip Paris to New York

TWITTER TRAVEL AGENT#tech

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FRESHINSPIRATION

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While some hotels confuse experience marketing with marketing the experience, other hotel businesess designed hotels that make the experience into their marketing. citizenM designed their hotels to be a perfect experience for the modern business traveler. These hotels embody the best guest experience from the lobby to the room and thoughout a guest’s stay. Elegancia Hotels builds hotels for romantic getaways. This group optimized every part of the hotel to cater to this segment. While both hotel groups offer somewhat (limited) choice, they are built to make their core guests thrilled by their visit. Gone are the hotels that fit everyone, but that don’t really fit anyone superbly. The new marketing is experience.

EXPERIENCE MARKETING#advertising

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Hellotel is a new platform where travelers can connect inside your hotel. The idea is that all travelers and all your hotel customers should be able to connect easily when they are traveling and enjoying your hotel. Thanks to this new mobile app, travelers can discover local places, tips from other guests, events, contests, VIP specials and it is even compatible with iBeacons to interact with a specific area of the hotel.The app is really more intuitive similar apps because it targets the traveler and what he is doing / wants to do inside the hotel. It is not just another concierge app as the goal here is to build a community of travelers.

TRAVELERS NETWORK#tech

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FUTURETRENDS

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First travelers were told to “book with Kayak,” soon thereafter TripAdvisor came along, and now guests are led to “book” with Google. This begs the question, “are meta-search engines becoming OTAs, or are APIs simply taking over the internet?” The future of business in digital is no longer simply the web, but the interconnectedness of platforms and devices (smartphone apps for example). This could mean that the future of your hotel’s success is not about how guests book, but about how your hotel secures a position in the booking funnel created by the apps and APIs. If this is determined by the case of the “highest bidder,” then costs may once again spiral out of control. This remains to be seen, but you must ensure that you are technology-ready and compatible with APIs that are open and easy to connect to all these apps.

BOOK WITH GOOGLE#advertising

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After releasing a new way to advertise on their platform, Instagram has finally decided to enter into the travel space, by launching two new, cutting edge, updates.

a. The “Explore” section has been redesigned to better fit the real-time needs of the users. See what is happening (events and conversations) around a specific place, or just near one.

b. “Places search” allows Instagram users to directly find a nice restaurant, spot or event, around locations, by showing all needed information (people, tags, places), building a visual guide by the users who are, or have just been there.

EXPLORE WITH INSTAGRAM#advertising

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About us

Martin SolerA passionate marketing expert with a focus on hospitality, Martin is currently the Chief Marketing Officer of Snapshot.travel, a hotel data and analytics platform. Martin was recently the SVP Sales and Marketing at an international hotel marketing compan. Priot to that he was a hotel GM. Earlier on Martin was a Marketing Manager in the off-line world of publishing, paper and all that. He is reachable on twitter at @martinsoler or via About.me/martinsoler page.

Sebastien FelixInspired by new technologies, Seb is always ready to try out the latest innovations. Formerly head of online marketing for a luxury hotel group, he later ran the e-commerce division of a hotel marketing agency where I created the first influencer marketing platform for hospitality. Sebastien is currently working on a new venture influmarket.com that is coming soon. Reach him on Twitter at @fleexit or at About.me/sebastien-felix page.

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