hospitality

What are Most Trusted Sources for Hotel Reviews and Ratings?

by RobertKCole on September 9, 2011

Hotel reviews and ratings are a hot topic of discussion and it’s getting hotter. Recent PhoCusWright research finds 43% of travelers are influenced by social media and that two-thirds of hotel reviews are submitted on Online Travel Agency sites, with the remaining 34% posted on travel review sites. However, various groups are also accusing TripAdvisor of not doing enough to identify and eradicate phony hotel reviews.

Five-star Hotel Plaque
Creative Commons License photo credit: jcberk

Hotel ratings and reviews are an invaluable resource for travelers, but with no industry standards and a black-hat element of the industry transitioning from Online Reputation Management (ORM) to Fake Review Optimization (FRO) can they be trusted?

All of the action isn’t necessarily taking place online. Earlier this year, Forrester Research found 29% of leisure travelers would work with a traditional agent, if they could find a good one. That statistic is sharply up from 23% in 2008.

To make matters worse, there are no global standards for hotel ratings, subjecting the prospective hotel guest to a litany of rating scales, often graded by vague, inconsistent, and frequently contradictory measures.

Regardless, the stakes have now been raised dramatically. User generated reviews now factor into search engine results, so enterprising Search Engine Optimization specialists, perhaps recently thwarted by Google’s Panda updates to its search algorithm, have now turned their sites on exploiting the system by doctoring user reviews to enhance search engine rankings.

Some intrepid pioneers brazenly promote their ability to bury negative reviews with positive ones originating from 10,000+ IP addresses and thousands of email addresses. Not surprisingly, there is no mention of these reviews originating from actual guests, a blatant violation of US Federal Trade Commission official guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials. Similar rules prohibit such black-hat practices throughout Europe and elsewhere.

Google itself is also making waves in the review space as it solidifies its local strategy surrounding its Places pages – already a hotbed of activity with hotel price ads pitting hotels against online travel agencies, this time using context sensitive inventory and pricing as the weapons of choice. Simultaneously, with Google’s launch of Google Plus, the decision to require individuals to identify themselves only by using real names adds an additional method to structurally inhibit illegitimate reviews from anonymous sources.

Perhaps Google’s most bold move is its purchase of Zagat, and its highly curated, yet crowd-sourced review platform. With Google internalizing a respected review platform, undoubtedly with an idea of expanding it dramatically, it gets much closer to the deep content that drives customer engagement, validation and relevance. This is particularly important when leveraging semantic search technologies capable of introducing much needed context into travel search processes.

Who Do You Trust?

So, where do travelers look for recommendations regarding their lodging choices? The burning question is more importantly, whose advice do they truly trust and act on when making a hotel reservation?

Considering the fact that I interact with a large number of sophisticated travelers, I prepared a brief 1-page survey to find out whose hotel reviews and ratings the travel cognoscenti trust. The resulting 34 potential sources are roughly divided into three categories – types of individuals, prominent hotel review sites and general categories of sites hosting reviews.

The survey has been designed with a single question and should take only a couple minutes to complete.

Please Scroll Down to rate more sources of Hotel Ratings and Reviews.

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. I am expecting to see some surprising results.

Tagged as: customer relationship management, Google, hospitality, hotel, insight, marketing, online travel companies, poll, reviews, search, social media, statistics, travel, travel agency

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Transforming Hotel Industry Growth Strategy

by RobertKCole on August 3, 2011

It is not often that one is able to corner three hospitality industry leaders and ask them about the challenges facing the industry – specifically how marketing, information technology and distribution can be better aligned to satisfy hotel brand growth objectives.

Transform Your Growth Strategy Now - Removing barriers between hotel technology,marketing and operations

Industry Expert Panel: Video of HITEC panel discussing the 'Transform Your Growth Strategy Now' RockCheetah/Amadeus white paper

Recently, at the Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals annual HITEC conference in Austin Texas, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel comprised of Flo Lugli, Executive Vice President Marketing, Wyndham Worldwide, Mike Blake, Chief Information Officer, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Caryl Helsel, Director Central Reservations & Revenue Management, ARAMARK Parks & Destinations.

The three panelists were refreshingly forthcoming and candid in their remarks concerning some of the most daunting challenges facing today’s hotel industry leadership.

As they recover from a dramatic economic downturn, hoteliers are launching initiatives that rely on information technology to accomplish marketing objectives and profitability goals. However, as staffing and financial resource availability remains highly constrained, executive management must employ strategies that most efficiently utilize technology to help drive business growth.

A key conclusion of the white paper was that over the next three years, organizations within the hotel industry require an IT Pathfinder to help align hotel business and technology priorities. Each of the panelists did an outstanding job of providing examples of how their organizations are managing the challenge of advancing technology initiatives with fewer resources than in years past.

Most enlightening were the panel’s comments regarding critical nature of these initiatives and how they would serve as the foundation for brand and operational success over the years to come.

The following is a twenty-seven minute video summarizing the highlights of the white paper and the panel discussion:

A Discussion Between Industry Experts from Amadeus IT Group.

To read the white paper’s executive summary, please see my blog post from earlier this year, White Paper: Bridging Hotel Business and Technology Priorities.

The full white paper is available, free of charge, for download here: Transform Your Growth Strategy Now [Registration required]

My sincere thanks go to Flo, Mike and Caryl for doing a terrific job on the panel and validating the conclusions of the white paper, as well as Amadeus for its industry insights and sponsorship of the white paper.

NOTE: Please don’t hesitate to watch the video – I am not nearly as stern or grouchy as the placeholder graphic might imply… and, despite the severity of the economic challenges facing the hotel industry, that fire alarm to my immediate right was not a prop… ;)

Tagged as: customer relationship management, HFTP, hospitality, hotel, innovation, insight, marketing, mobile, recession, strategy, technology, travel, trends

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Seven Travel Planning Steps – Impact on Hotel Distribution Strategy

by RobertKCole on June 21, 2011

When it comes to moderating a panel, there is no greater pleasure than having a group of outstanding panelists to simplify the task at hand. This is particularly true when the event is promoted as a “Super Session”, there are 90 minutes to fill, and it immediately precedes happy hour…

For the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals 2011 HITEC Conference, held June 20-23 in Austin, Texas, I was charged with leading one of only two educational session held on the second day of the conference.

Hospitality

Distribution is not technology. It's about simplifying the consumer experience.

The topic of the Super Session was Seven Travel Planning Steps and Their Impact on Hotel Distribution Strategy. It was also decided to take a highly non-traditional approach to the subject.

Contrary to most distribution panels, the discussion would not focus on Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), private sale websites, group buying, XML interfaces, the merchant model,
search engine optimization (SEO), or mobile web versus native apps.

The presentation was built on the premise that distribution isn’t technology, it’s really about delivering the right product in the right place at the right time through the right channel at the right price for the right guest.

To illustrate the complexity facing hoteliers desiring to properly align that series of traveler “rights” to appropriately engage guests in relevant conversations, the following dimensions were highlighted:

    Seven Stages of Travel

  • Inspiration
  • Research
  • Planning
  • Validation
  • Booking
  • Travel
  • Sharing
    Six Hospitality Touch Points

  • Pre-Stay
  • Arrival
  • On-Property
  • In-Destination
  • Departure
  • Post-Stay
    Multiple Traveler Personas

  • Considerable Variation by Traveler

Engaging with a specific guest seeking inspiration for a romantic weekend getaway with a spouse is dramatically different than engaging the same guest who is in-destination, but offsite from the hotel during a family vacation. Under both scenarios, the individual is intensely motivated to create an unforgettable leisure travel experience, but the context is completely different. Unique opportunities for transactions also exist at each touch point.

Compounding the problem most travel suppliers confuse points/recognition programs with loyalty. This is a disturbing misconception. Points programs are games. While consumers derive value from these programs, that does not necessarily translate into loyalty. Travelers may quickly change allegiance if a competitor launches a richer program.

Loyalty sustains customer relationships through both good times and bad. Loyal consumers recognize an emotional bond with the product, a commonality of sensibilities or personalities. For service industries, this most often relates to the core values a brand exemplifies.

There is a big difference between brand value and brand values. Value drives transactions. Values drive loyalty.

Given these complexities and relational nuances, it becomes obvious that when it comes to websites, one size does not fit all.

To illustrate the point, a comparison of six hotel homepages for major upscale hotel brands was presented.

Unfortunately, all six websites were so depressingly indistinguishable (compounded by the fact that a frequent guest number provides little to no assistance in discerning traveler intent) in each case, there was negligible probability that website distribution was being effectively leveraged by hotels to create meaningful connections with their customers.

The good news was that the outstanding panel of speakers provided countless examples of how their companies successfully differentiated themselves from the competition, introduce guests to rewarding experiences and help earn consumer loyalty. For each stage highlighted, these organizations not only proactively solved problems faced by the guest, but in many cases, managed to monetize the value created.

Speaker Lineup:
Robert Cole (yours truly) – Founder, RockCheetah (Moderator/Inspiration)
Alan Glenin – Corporate Director of Revenue Management, Great Wolf Resorts (Research)
Ran Weerasuriya – Director of Revenue Management, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (Planning)
Thomas Patchin – Senior Vice President of Interactive Marketing, Station Casinos (Validation)
Kurien Jacob – Senior Vice President of Revenue and Distribution, Highgate Hotels (Booking)
Loren Gray – Director of e-Commerce, Ocean Properties (Travel)
Tanya Pratt – Executive Director Customer Information Systems, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (Sharing)

Below is a copy of the presentation. It may be downloaded by selecting the View on Slideshare link. continue reading →

Tagged as: customer relationship management, customer service, destination, HFTP, hospitality, hotel, innovation, insight, inspiration, marketing, personas, social media, strategy, technology, travel

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White Paper: Bridging Hotel Business and Technology Priorities

by RobertKCole on June 9, 2011

The hotel industry has survived the most dramatic downturn in its history. With a recovery well underway, hoteliers are launching new business initiatives that rely heavily on information technology to drive business growth and profitability.

Transform Your Growth Strategy Now - Remove barriers between hotel technology,marketing and operations

White Paper: Transform Your Growth Strategy Now - Remove barriers between hotel technology, marketing and operations

The challenge is that over the last three years, Hotel IT staffs were reduced, budgets slashed and projects deferred to weather the financial storm of the great recession.

Unfortunately, over the same period, there was also an unprecedented leap forward technologically with cloud computing, mobile technologies and social computing technologies all entering the mainstream.

The result was a more technically savvy guest with increased expectations pitted against a hospitality industry that was struggling in survival mode.

A gap materialized between hotel industry business priorities and IT priorities. Hoteliers will be spending the next three years closing that gap.

With hotel marketing departments, operations groups and information technology teams all seeking methods to advance divisional initiatives, the key question becomes who is responsible for bridging this gap and how can these diverse organizational objectives be aligned?

Amadeus IT Group engaged RockCheetah to explore how hotel companies can align business and IT strategies to drive business transformation during a period of economic recovery; specifically, the three year time period from 2011 through to 2013.

A proposed solution is the identification of an IT Pathfinder.

The white paper provides an overview of the current industry hospitality environment and key business drivers to provide insights into how hospitality executives can bridge business and IT objectives. The report draws on desk research, a global survey and executive level hotel interviews to reach its conclusions.

Below is the white paper’s executive summary: continue reading →

Tagged as: customer relationship management, HFTP, hospitality, hotel, innovation, insight, marketing, mobile, recession, strategy, technology, travel, trends

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Leading Hotels of the World – Marketing Conference Presentation

by RobertKCole on May 17, 2011

It was an honor to be invited to give the closing keynote address for The Leading Hotels of the World 2011 Sales, Marketing and Distribution Conference at the Kameha Grand Bonn in Bonn, Germany.

Leading Hotels of the World members understand luxury travel

Challenge: Identify a group that better understands the needs of luxury hotel guests than members of The Leading Hotels of the World

The topic of the presentation was Deconstructing Distribution – It’s all about the Customer with a focus on the customer, the channels and the future.

Setting the scene, the luxury hotel industry continues to recover from its steepest decline on record that unfortunately coincided with a period of momentous technological advancement – particularly mobile and social media that have significantly empowered consumers.

As a result, hotels and resorts target a changed guest, armed with access to information and backed by a network of trusted advisers – both corporal and virtual. The hotels also face an impossibly complex variety of distribution channels that have expanded into social networks and location-based services. continue reading →

Tagged as: advertising, Apple, customer relationship management, customer service, hospitality, hotel, luxury, marketing, mobile, personas, resorts, social media, statistics, technology, travel, trends

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Survey: What Hotel Brand Does the Best Job Online?

by RobertKCole on May 5, 2011

Performing an admittedly unscientific survey in preparation for a session I will be moderating at the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals HITEC Conference June 20-23 in Austin, Texas. Hopefully you can provide some opinions on the topic.

Every hotel and/or hotel chain on the planet is striving to capture more traffic on their website and convert that traffic into hotel guests. The burning question is however: What hotel companies are doing a great job online?

To provide a bit more structure to a highly subjective topic, the seven-step travel process will be employed. Those stages are:

  • Inspiration
  • Research
  • Planning
  • Validation
  • Booking
  • Travel
  • Sharing

So please take a few minutes to complete the survey below. Weigh in on who you think is doing an exceptional job of engaging their guests in each phase of the travel process.

Ideally, use the hotel brand’s Twitter handle in each response – that will make it easier to collate the responses and communicate the results. If you don’t know the hotel’s name on Twitter, just use the brand name. And yes, I am asking for your Twitter ID to sign the survey in an effort to eliminate stuffing of the ballot box (Would hoteliers do that…?) If you’re not on Twitter, please use your e-mail address.

Here is the survey: continue reading →

Tagged as: HFTP, hospitality, hotel, poll, survey, website

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Hotel Industry Survey – How to Align Business and Technology Priorities?

April 13, 2011

After radically cutting costs and deferring projects to survive the recession hotel groups are relying on technology to help them maintain operational efficiencies and keep costs low as business volumes return to normal. This hotel industry survey asks for the top business and information technology priorities, plus how any gaps will be bridged over the next 36 months.

Read the full article →

HSMAI Resort Best Practices Mobile Marketing Presentation

February 2, 2011

Presentation at Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Resort Best Practices Meeting by Robert Cole of RockCheetah. Key areas covered include the current mobile landscape, why mobile changes dramatically changes the playing field and how the splinternet introduces deployment and measurement challenges. Traveler Engagement must be considered before technology decisions can be made. Future implications are simply described as changing Anytime/Anywhere to Everytime/Everywhere.

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Five Year US Hotel Occupancy – Average Rate – RevPAR Comparison

January 7, 2011

The US hotel industry is recovering but still has considerable territory to cover before regaining the profitability seen in 2007 & 2008. To offer a more complete picture of the US hotel industry as a whole over the past five years, below are full year-over-year comparisons of the three bellwether metrics for the global hotel industry: Occupancy Percentage (Occ), Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR.) Additionally, a linear presentation of the same data is provided to more clearly illustrate the trends over time. Finally, the peaks and valleys for each metric are provided. This information clearly depicts the US hotel industry as showing marginal improvement over the depths of the recession in 2009, but far from nearing the heady performance of 2007 & 2008.

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What’s Wrong With the US Hotel Industry Recovery?

December 20, 2010

While the US hotel industry recovery is being highlighted by occupancy growth relative to 2009, considerable ground remains to be covered to attain the occupancy, pricing and profitability levels of 2007 & 2008. At the present time, the hotel business is hovering around 2006 levels. The combined effect of the economic downturn, increased share of online travel agencies and the related merchant model, plus a reduction in US government per diem rates will continue to create challenges for industry rate increases moving into 2011.

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