Staking a Claim in Mobile Travel: Not Just Popular, Pragmatic and Profitable

The following article by Vanessa Horwell, Chief Visibility Officer of TravelInkd’, originally appeared on Hotel Executive on 1/18/12. 

Mobile a Must: Pragmatic trumps popular

If 2011 for hotel owners was all about learning from and joining the mobile masses simply because it was the “in” thing to do for our tech-savvy patrons, 2012 is rapidly shaping up to be the year where mobile becomes a must. In other words, the mobile marketing landscape has rapidly matured and the training wheels are coming off. This coming of age can mean only one thing: The time for hotels to launch their mobile presence is now. Not after the post-holidays’ travel slow down, and not in the run-up to Valentines Day or the season’s first spring breakers.

Right now.

From Training Wheels to Two-Wheeler: Mobile Matures

As with other trends in the hotel industry, it is customers who are driving mobile’s niche-to-need changes. Today’s on-the-go traveler expects to be connected wherever they are throughout their trip experience and that connectivity is expanding at a staggering rate. Earlier this year, more than half of all mobile phone sales (56%) were smartphones, and the total number of US smartphone owners jumped to 82.2 million people this summer – that is 35% percent of the 234 million Americans who use mobile devices 13 and up. Think about that statistic for a few moments…

Even a lighthearted (but with serious implications) October 2010 survey by Mashable highlights just how connected consumers have become. When asked what they would give up to keep their mobile phones for a week:

• 70% said they would give up alcohol;
• 63% said goodbye to chocolate;
• And a combined 63% said they would consider doing without their toothbrush, shoes, or computers.

Considering those (rather shocking) expectations, it’s critical that hotels deliver. Hotels, as with other businesses, must go where their customers are going. Why? For one thing, the booking window, once a lengthy time frame where travelers corresponded with travel agents, business travel managers, and the like, has now shrunk considerably. Smartphones can literally book travel itineraries, price hunt, and check-in to a given hotel – assuming it has a sophisticated mobile platform.

But it’s more than just smartphone adoption rates. A recent survey by Greystripe, a mobile marketing company, found that 47% of iPad users who were considered frequent travelers (defined as a person who traveled at least twice a year) booked hotels via their mobile device, and were the most common mobile platform to do so, beating out both iPhone users and Android phones, the study found. So when I talk about the mobile channel, I am talking about tablets too.

And not to be outdone, TripAdvisor, a travel website and now travel app provider, announced in November a collection of 20 free Mobile City Guide apps (for 20 cities) that, in addition to point-by-point directions and general tourist information, includes hotel reviews. Some of the most downloaded cities include: Beijing, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and New York. If potential customers are relying on the these mobile apps to determine their booking choice, (even if they’re not booking through the app directly) it’s important hoteliers and their staffs get on board too, monitoring reviewer activity and having a system in place that incentivizes its customers to use said apps and write positive reviews, assuming they’ve had a superior experience.

Facebook, too, both in its mobile and desktop iterations, is becoming a vital space for digital commentary on travelers’ hotel experiences, which ultimately drive bookings and revenue. Some 30% of travelers who booked their hotel online said they would use the social networking site (as well as Twitter and LinkedIn) to comment on their hotel and trip. The study, by Milestone, a hotel marketing company, also showed that each social message posted by a guest drove five to six unique visitors to a hotel website.

Whether it’s apps, mobile websites, social media, or even the implementation of mobile phone-based digital room keys, (Open Ways, a mobile-based access management and security company, announced its launching of “Mobile Key 4 All,” a software and hardware solution) where hotel guests simply point or swipe their phone through a type of digital reader, all three outlets fall into the mobile sphere.

Driving home the point, Ian Carrington, Google’s mobile advertising and sales director, made his opinions on the mobile revolution clear: “Mobile isn’t ‘the next big thing’ – it is already very much upon us,” he said. Or, staying closer to the hotel industry, consider what Tom O’Rourke, founder and CEO of O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing, had to say: “[Apps are] an opportunity through a mobile channel to connect with a guest before, during, and after his stay.” Enough said.

Airborne Perspective: What we can learn

Considering the close ties that the hotel and airline industries share, (one relies on a large share of their customers from the other for business) it’s incumbent on hoteliers to take a page from the recent past and consider their future.

It’s hard to over state the impact mobile communications has had on airlines, especially as it relates to ancillary revenues. Ancillary revenues, or ways in which airlines unbundle specific services and monetize and customize the traveler experience, has largely emerged in concert with the mobile platform. Today more than 2,000 aircraft crossing the world’s oceans and continents are Wi-Fi enabled. Innovations like this have helped airlines offset rising fuel costs and generally prosper in a still-challenging economic climate. Unlike the hotel industry, which has been slow to adopt mobile, most airlines have already established the basics: allowing for mobile check-in, 2D bar code boarding passes, and many have mobile booking capability. Going forward, industry analysts predict additional mobile services like being able to select premium seating, club access, or the pre-purchasing of meals. Further down the road, (or runway), airlines will consider adding location based services, which provide travelers with location sensitive advertisements and promotions, as well as monitoring social media for commentary on the entire travel experience. Finally, the burgeoning field of NFC, or Near Field Communications, is also seen as a significant game changer going forward, allowing travelers to simply swipe their NFC-enabled mobile devices and perform a host of activities like check-in, pay for goods, (mobile wallet), and even exchange vital travel information, like last-minute itinerary changes, with other travelers, family or friends. Imagine having that type of capability at the check-in desk?

The Mobile Concierge: Booking (and banking on) future success

Boarding passes aside, nearly every mobile avenue airlines are pursuing has relevancy for the hotel industry too. In a competitive marketplace where OTAs (online travel agencies) are vying for an increasing piece of the booking revenue pie, mobile can be a way for hoteliers to once again directly connect with their loyal, returning customers, and attract new ones as well. For all the industry’s booking efforts, (OTAs included) global occupancy rates remain at roughly 60 percent. In other words, there’s plenty more the industry can and should do to attract more guests. Mobile booking, mobile check-in and check-out, cardless key systems, even mobile hotel restaurant reservations, gift shop rewards points, and in-room food and media selections, are exactly the types of services travelers are beginning to expect. If many similar services are already being offered by airlines for travelers in transit, why should these mobile amenities end when they get off the plane?

They shouldn’t.

From work, to travel, to recreation, mobile and smart mobile devices are remaking every facet of our collective lives. And in so doing, the technology is reshaping the way in which hoteliers must interact with and connect with their customers. Before long, hotels that fail to adopt these changes will look like antiques and will be losing revenue and guests. There’s no need to discard the leather-bound guest book just yet. Just remember the rapidly maturing mobile landscape is where the majority of today’s travelers are looking to sign in next.

In every touch point of travel lifecycle, from booking to check-in and home again, mobile has become a must.

The following article by Vanessa Horwell, Chief Visibility Officer of TravelInkd’, originally appeared on Hotel Executive on 1/18/12. 

Restaurant Marketing: Outside Looking In

Restaurant marketers can take tips from the methods other industries use to attract and retain customers.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor — Chain Leader, 7/1/2009

When folks with Bluetooth-enabled telephones stroll New York’s Coney Island boardwalk, they have the option of getting more than just a hands-free phone call. Signage in parades, at concerts and on the T-shirts of roaming staffers entice people with promotional offers if they agree to receive an ad on the portable device in their hands.

 When they opt in, they get a full-fledged ad, not just a text message, through the Proximity Mobile Marketing network with a coupon or other offer from a business on or near the boardwalk.

“Consumers like to get media on their phones and show it to others,” says Alex Teplish, president of Proximity Blue, a mobile technology marketing firm. “This is not like a traditional coupon that gets lost. Once it is on your phone, you have it, and it does not take up [physical] space.”

Proximity Blue has worked with FX Networks to promote its Nip/Tuck TV series as well as businesses in other industries, and Teplish sees many ways chain restaurants can use the technology to increase both initial customer counts and ongoing dining frequency.

During the recent economic downtown some industries have been doing worse (like banking) than others (wanna go to the movies?). Regardless of where on the spectrum the restaurant industry sits, companies like Proximity Blue show that chains can learn from the ways other industries market their products. Whether it is fashion, pet retailing or hotels, much of what is being done to build ongoing loyalty is the type that will last, which is useful in any economy.

Attract, Sell, Repeat

“The mistake a lot of restaurants make is that they seem to feel, ‘Once we have them in the door, we do not have to market to them anymore,’” Teplish says.

Vanessa Horwell, chief visibility officer at ThinkInk, a Miami marketing and public relations firm, agrees. “You do not want to focus all your spending on people who will never come in the door. The idea is not to focus only on finding new customers, but keeping those who are already in your restaurant. Do more than present the bill, swipe the card and say ‘good-bye.’”

Horwell believes the restaurant industry has been too focused on price. She cites car-maker Acura, which created a network on the social-networking site Facebook for its TSX Connect. The effort helped build the TSX’s image and identity, and prospective customers got to interact with those who shared common interests. In a year where car companies are struggling, Acura created buzz without emphasizing low prices.

“I do not think it always needs to be about discounts,” Horwell says. “You do not want to give away your margin because once you get to a certain price point, it is hard to go back up.”

Money Is Not the Object

Horwell suggests restaurants think about ways to reward customers with something special that does not already have a specific price attached to it. One example would be an exclusive specialty cocktail, without a regular price tag. “That would incentivize people to come in without discounting the menu or brand value,” she adds. An e-mail or text message to customers when a limited-time menu item is about to be removed from the menu would be another possibility, she suggests.

Steve Pike, chief of Orlando, Fla.-based Pike Marketing, worked for Holiday Inn, one of the pioneers of loyalty-club marketing. He agrees that restaurants don’t make their rewards as enticing as other industries do. Instead of simply offering the tenth sandwich free after the purchase of nine, Pike suggests restaurant marketers think more broadly. A seafood chain, for example, could partner with an outdoor equipment supplier to offer fishing gear as a reward for repeat business.

Vicki Lynne Morgan, president of New Jersey-based Russmor Marketing Group, says the pet retailing industry has been particularly savvy at this kind of marketing with complementary businesses, such as pet food companies teaming up with a dog toy manufacturer.

The Interactive Eye

Many savvy companies are using technology as a tool to help them identify prospective customers and give them what they want. For these firms, Twitter, Facebook and mobile technologies are not the “it” strategies, but merely tools that allow companies to implement new tactics.

What consumers were doing five years ago on their computers they now do on the smart phones, Horwell says. In another five years, it will be another device, which is why marketing must be based in strategy, not media.

In addition to mobile devices, another of-the-moment medium is the electronic billboard. Casinos and amusement parks have used electronic billboards to help alert customers to long lines at specific attractions, says Andrea Waldin, vice president of marketing of Scala, which makes software for interactive digital signage.

A Smarter Menu Board

Waldin says chains can use the technology in industry-specific ways. The software can be programmed to make menu recommendations based on kitchen inventory. If a location is about to run out of french fries, for example, the digital signage can start promoting tater tots.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based quick-service chain Krystal uses digital signage to maintain the ’50s style for which the brand is known, as well as market specific menu items to specific customers, Waldin says. Late night customers, for example, might see pictures of snack items, while lunch customers would get offers on combo meals.

Waldin believes the technology will only become more sophisticated. Customers may be able to give a billboard demographic details or a wish list, and in return get targeted marketing messages. She adds: “I think you are going to see a lot more interactivity in ads.”

 

 

A Hotel’s New Marketing Demographic – Thinking Outside the Comp Set

Reprinted From: Hotel Business Review

By Jennifer Rodrigues, Visibility Specialist, ThinkInk PR

Let’s face it: the travel industry is in serious trouble. Almost all hotels, motels and resorts are experiencing a huge decline in demand – which can be attributed to many factors, but at the top of the list is the ongoing recession, which has drastically changed the hospitality business landscape in every corner of the globe.

Some markets have deteriorated more than others over the past two years; many properties just can’t compete on price or value, and have seen their target audience shrink too much, with not enough marketing or heads in beds to keep going. Some may find themselves in crowded competitive environments – the product of over-saturation during the boom years – and battling for every half-percent of market share. And others are stuck in the past, ignoring the growth of the online channel and only pricing their rates against their comp set. The comp set, or the Smith Travel Research Competitive Set analysis, is often used by hoteliers as the benchmark for their pricing or marketing strategy. But savvy hoteliers know that in today’s marketplace, the comp set is no longer a robust or thorough marketing or revenue management measure. With the rise of the online channel, consumers are able to compare all rates for all hotels within their choice of destination with immediacy that was unheard of just 5 years ago. More importantly, consumers will pick a hotel based only on its value offering – whether it’s a five star with a full spa or a three star with a pool – rather than a brand or the amenities that it offers. Hotels that successfully market outside their comp set can expand their potential customer base, avoid a ‘following’ marketing and pricing scheme, improve the reach of their brand by exploring new markets, and position themselves to better compete in this challenging environment.

Marketing outside the competitive set is not rocket science; any hotel can learn to do it.

Need some help? First, hoteliers need to stop thinking like hoteliers and brand managers and instead, think like marketers wearing their customers’ shoes. Then, by making small, incremental changes to the property’s existing marketing strategy, hoteliers can increase both their bookings and revenues.

Think outside your existing sales channels

Of course, before a hotel can identify what strategy to eliminate and which to change, it needs to undertake a critical analysis of which sales channels are most effective. Are OTAs the primary reservation vehicle for the hotel, or the Global Distribution System (GDS)? Is the property part of a chain, with a centralized reservation system and a unified marketing plan? Or, does the internal reservations department and the property website account for the majority of sales? Once these questions are answered and the strongest sales channels identified, a hotel can work on improving those that it has neglected. Often the strongest channels are consistent across the comp set, so by improving the weaker channels, a hotel can attract new customers and bring in revenue from outside that comp set. This strategy – seeking out commonalities in marketing and distribution and then focusing efforts on the other areas – is a great one to ensure that a property’s efforts are focused outside its comp set. The aims of competing hotels in the same market are inherently similar, after all; it is only by escaping the conventional wisdom propagated by comp sets that a property can truly differentiate itself. Hotels in a comp set target the same audience, operate in the same marketplace, share similar rate structures and service offerings and often share core values. The first step to marketing outside of this homogenous group is to stop thinking like a monolith, and start the process of reinventing the way the hotel presents itself to the public.

Discounts aren’t the answer

The quickest way to move beyond the comp set is to lower the room rates outside of the price range common to the comp set. Although this can be a seemingly “quick-fix” solution, this kind of discounting can be counterproductive over the long-term. Research shows that maintaining a slight price premium within your comp set can provide a consistent revPAR advantage, proving that discounting (and this applies to so many industries) is rarely an effective way of expanding market share. Yes, this may seem counterintuitive, particularly during a time of weakened demand, but occupancy is not the only metric that matters.

Think about it this way – after the economy and the travel market recovers, how will a hotel be able to increase its rates back up to “normal” without consumer backlash, brand devaluation and losing valuable customers in the process? So instead of occupancy, focus on making the most revenue from each room (revPAR). It’s been proven over and over, marketing outside of the comp set is the best way to increase revPAR over the long-term.

Value is the new luxe – Emphasize value, not luxury

After 9/11, the luxury and super-luxury hotel markets grew exponentially. In many popular destinations, this segment outpaced the growth of other segments, crowding the marketplace with a surplus of high-rate, high-luxury options that no one seemed to mind paying big bucks for. Today, the opposite is true; now that demand for these properties has softened, luxury operations are reinventing themselves in terms of value and relevancy, as this is the key driver for consumers today. And this too means going outside of the marketing tactics associated with its comp set. The good news is that travelers have not abandoned lodging altogether; they are simply seeking better value for their money. This is where luxury hotels have a great deal of opportunity to present their services and product offerings as value propositions, particularly if they lower their rate targets to levels attractive to traditional value-seeking consumers. Taking a leaf out of the airline industry and its evolution to find new revenue streams, the value of luxury amenities and service levels don’t go un-noticed by consumers, and by emphasizing these aspects a hotel can truly differentiate itself from its competition.

Budget properties must focus on convenience

Budget hotels face a completely different set of challenges than luxury properties. Budget comp sets tend to be very value-focused, relying too heavily on discounting and bargain pricing for individual budget properties to effectively differentiate themselves. If a hotel is to market outside of this comp set, it must find a factor that sets it apart from its competitors – besides price. Convenience is an excellent counterpoint to price segmentation. Still a value-add proposition, convenience (of location, ease of service, or amenities)is as important to consumers as price, and can position a budget brand to attract a less budget-conscious audience, thereby expanding its potential base. In a competitive set defined by price, an emphasis on convenience can really help a hotel reach far beyond its traditional market and start attracting share from other segments. Additionally, hoteliers can add more value to the already low-rates by offering complimentary bonuses for booking with their property over the competition. Free WiFi, free breakfast and discounts on local attractions are all value-adds that can really differentiate one budget hotel from another, endearing your brand to budget-conscious consumers even further.

Put your own website first

Many hotels seek to expand their reach by selling their inventory through online travel agencies (OTAs) like Orbitz or Hotels.com. While OTAs certainly are invaluable tools for distributing inventory, if they form the major part of a hotel’s marketing strategy, that hotel is giving up far too much control over its marketing – and ultimately, its bottom line. A hotel’s own website is its first and most important face to customers, and the most important marketing channel for disseminating messages and developing its brand. A hotel with a strong website and an emphasis on the online sales channel is far better positioned to implement marketing initiatives that differ substantially from their comp set. What’s more, a strong web presence helps make these changes happen quickly, so a hotel can react to changes in the marketplace (at least from a sales and marketing perspective) rapidly, and before its competitors do.

Times are a-changing; it’s time to look forward

In today’s economic environment, travelers are increasingly putting a premium on value – trends are showing consumers both snatching upscale bargains and trading down in service levels – so by engaging in strategies that differentiate a hotel from its immediate comp set, that property gets access to an entirely different segment of customers. Forward-thinking hoteliers are thinking outside their comp set to bring in more business in a slow market; will you be one of them?

Jennifer Rodrigues, Visibility Specialist with ThinkInk Communications, is a seasoned public relations professional with a passion for the hospitality industry, which is expressed in her newest venture – developing ThinkInk’s new travel division called TravelInk’d. At TravelInk’d, she is responsible for developing public relations and marketing strategies for clients in the travel and tourism, airline, lodging, cruise and meeting/event sectors. Jennifer’s work with several high-profile national and international accounts – including her public relations efforts on behalf of market leaders RevPar Guru, Bookt and Airsavings – has focused on crafting coherent messaging and creating wide-scale media exposure with the end result of creating new business opportunities and increasing revenues. Jennifer can be contacted at jrodrigues@thinkinkpr.com.

What do you think?  Is this the death of the traditional comp set or is it here to stay?  Share your thoughts, comments and be sure to vote in the poll.