HOTELMARKETING.COM

HotelClub on hotel content management and reviews

July 03, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Jon Wild, marketing director at global accommodation website HotelClub, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orbitz Worldwide, about integrating reviews in the OTA business and the impact on operations.

Firstly OTAs are improving descriptions of hotels across the board so that customers can more directly compare rooms and facilities at different hotels. This includes more photos and videos for travellers to browse through. Secondly, the overall contribution from various stakeholders including employees, fellow travellers, hoteliers and so on is on the rise on their sites. And there are more and more user-friendly tools plus improved website design for enhancing the experience of customers. All these initiatives are being taken to ensure that consumers are getting closer to making confident decisions. Only a few months ago Travelocity, referring to its data, mentioned that three out of every four travellers have unanswered questions on the hotels they are interested in after doing initial online research.

Reviews today are integral to running a business. They have a direct impact on your revenue and profitability. Plus, they also help control costs – if your service is alluring enough it results in positive buzz, further helping your brand. Major search engines are giving increasing importance to reviews for placement of your hotel on search results so you can optimise your digital marketing spend; monitor the positive keywords so that you can use that in your marketing messages. Likewise, also find out the negative keywords that people use so that you can focus on those issues in your operations. So marketers have their task cut out.

Get the full story at EyeForTravel

Visit our sponsors: