What Google Hotel Finder Means For DMOs

Destination marketing organizations and CVBs have long thought of themselves as the most knowledgeable guide to a particular tourism area. But that claim of expertise just got a little smaller.





Yesterday, Google launched a novel little experiment called Hotel Finder. With the coverage from most tech sites being simply cut and paste, the Tnooz article being the exception, you might have missed a few subtle hints on Google's potential plan for travel and tourism.

3 Big Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Essential for Your Business

Social media is embedded in our daily lives. It is no longer the trend, it is the web and continues to weave and wrap itself itself into every corner and crevice of the internet as we know it.

It is on your smart phone as a Facebook “app”. Twitter streams compel you to click on the link, to respond to questions from strangers. YouTube viral videos offering distraction from your tasks at hand entice you to click when you should be working and to view when you should be productive.

Hilton Extends Campaign with iAd

Hilton Hotels & Resorts is launching what they claim to be the hospitality industry's first iAd as an extension of its "Stay Hilton, Go Everywhere" global multichannel campaign.


IAd is Apple's mobile advertising network, reaching millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in their favourite apps.

Smartphones are changing how we do business in hospitality

A study has indicated that while hoteliers have not fully put poor economic conditions behind them in their planning, they continue to move budget dollars to the direct online channel and to important digital marketing initiatives that reach the hyper-interactive traveller, such as mobile, social media and video.

There is no doubt that hoteliers need to invest their marketing efforts and budgets in the direct online channel, according to HeBS Digital 5th Annual Benchmark Survey on Hotel Digital Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices. Especially today, with hotel distribution ideas and channels entering the picture such as flash sale sites. These are not only detrimental to the hotel industry from a pricing and branding perspective; they also do not make any economic sense.

"The future of digital", by Google UK head

Google UK head of mobile advertising, Simon Morgan, considers the most significant developments in the field of m-commerce and crunches the mobile numbers.

Over the past year we've seen smartphones overtake PC sales for the first time. The number of people on the mobile web globally has doubled, reaching one billion, and in the UK there are now 20 million mobile internet users. If we think of search as being a barometer of consumer interest, in just 12 months there has been a huge shift.

Facebook for Business

As businesses clamour to join Google+, it may be no coincidence that Facebook has introduced a new site walking potential advertisers through the process of advertising and marketing on the social network.

The site, Facebook for Business, “provides step-by-step guidance for how to best use Facebook’s marketing tools,” a company rep says. Such tools include Pages, Ads, Deals, social plugins and Sponsored Stories.

Survey on Hotel Digital Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices

The results of the industry’s 5th Annual Benchmark Survey on Hotel Digital Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices are in! 
Now is the perfect time for hoteliers to re-assess their digital marketing practices, compare notes with their peers, and if warranted, perform a 2011 mid-year course correction.

What the new Google Places means for your Business

Google has removed third party review sites from Google Places. Previously, Places pulled reviews from Yelp, TripAdvisor, Urban Spoon and CitySearch, as well as their own Google Places reviews. 



When the service initially launched about a year ago, these third party sites griped that their content was unfairly being used by Google, and that the Places reviews were appearing above their content.

IHG Takes Mobile Social Media a Few Steps Further

Just how savvy can hoteliers get with social media? The options are quite limitless, if you have the right approach. The top hotels on Twitter keep conversations engaging and entertaining, and hotel Facebook apps make it easier for consumers to book rooms, talk to hotel staff and learn more about destinations.

Take a look at Ritz-Carlton on Twitter -- the corporate account (@RitzCarlton) tweets daily with customers and media, and every Friday has a guest Twitterer from one of their hotels around the world who talks about the destination, things to do, and unique activities.

Hotels: How to include Google in your marketing mix

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—It’s the million dollar question right now for hotel online marketers: Is Google becoming a true distribution channel, and how should you be working with the search-engine giant to market your hotel rooms? The answers depend on a number of different factors.

David Brudney David Brudney & Associates

First, most experts agree hoteliers already should be working with Google to take advantage of the search products offered, such as Google Maps, Google Places and Google AdWords. Sources have offered mixed reviews on the difficulties of using these products, but most agree they are low-cost ways to drive consumer traffic directly to a hotel’s own website, which is crucial in today’s evolving booking landscape.

Story Highlights

• Google AdWords is a service that lets businesses create and run ads on Google’s advertising network.
• Google Maps and Google Places allow business owners to update and manage their physical business location information.
• With the introduction of Hotel Price Ads earlier this year, Google is now marketing itself to hoteliers as a true distribution channel.

Video: How Important is it for SEO & Getting Found On-line?

On-line video is becoming a very important part of on-line search, and needs to be included in your company's planning for being found online and to optimise your web site for Organic SEO. So the questions you need to be asking are.

• What are the latest developments for “Online Search” where your business or organisation is trying to be found online?
• Should you be considering using videos posted on YouTube to help you get found online?
• How important to search engines such as Google, is online video? 

Social Media Rules for the Travel Industry

Within just the past few years, social media has transformed from being a teeny bopper tool for flirting into a tremendous source of communications and a social force with which to be reckoned. The road has been a bumpy one though and not everyone has performed well in the new media.

Major travel brands have an automatic advantage when it comes to social media. In most cases they have long established and trusted brands that people seek out. As compared to bloggers or smaller travel companies, these brands really don’t have to work hard to first attract followers. However, they do have to work hard to keep them and this is where most fall short.

Ritz-Carlton Concierge Checks Into Foursquare

Continuing on the the social media track that has hotels boosting brands and turning guests into loyal consumers, the Ritz-Carlton was the first luxury hotel company to officially launch a concierge campaign with Foursquare.

Just last week, the Ritz-Carlton introduced the social media sphere to its World Concierge -the staff of Ritz-Carlton's around the world who will check-in with fun facts, things to do and local tips from their destinations.

The Importance of Social Media and Mobile to Travel & Tourism

How are travel consumers interacting with travel brands? Which social media platforms are travel customers interacting on? Have you unlocked any useful data for ROI in your social media strategy? How are travel consumers interacting with travel brands via mobile?

These and many more such pertinent questions are being keenly evaluated by travel companies today.

How Google+ will reshape Search, Social Media and Travel

How will Google+ reshape search, social media and the travel industry? Here are some solutions for quick wins and strategic planning

The impact on search
Google doesn’t tell you about their algorithm, but they’ve dropped enough hints to suggest that they’re now using human factors to determine the quality of content with their recent Panda updates. The introduction of the +1 button, and its presence in search results suggests that a combination of “+1”, “like” and other sharing tools will play an increasing role.

Destination Marketing = Passion, Impact, Innovation

If you have ever wondered if we 'need' Destination Management Organisations then please spend a few minutes watching the following video from the DMAI conference being held in New Orleans. 


It may just convince you how relevant they could be.

The DMAI conference hosts 600 member DMOs from more than 20 countries, collectively commanding $1.5 Billion in annual budgets, potentially able to make BIG differences.

It seems that DMOs are adopting a new Language and a new Attitude - and I like it!

• DMOs are not expense line-items

• DMOs are investment accounts for destinations, delivering real dividends to local Communities, Governments, Businesses, Residents

Enjoy the video - feel free to comment below.

What Happens On the Internet Every Sixty Seconds?

The World Wide Web is growing at a rapid pace. On average, more than a billion new pages are added to it every day. To give you an idea of how big the world wide web is, our Infographic 60 Seconds will cover some really interesting facts about websites that we use on day-to-day basis.



Infographic by- Shanghai Web Designers

8 Key Mobile Marketing Trends

It is a brave new world for mobile marketing, and without a proper guide, you could get lost in all the new developments. To help you better grasp this exciting industry, we have identified the 8 most significant mobile marketing trends of 2011 that are sure to change the mobile marketing world we know now. 

1 - Mobile Advertising Spend is on the Rise

4 ways to get your mobile content to your customers

Mobile apps have become a household name during the past few years and as smart phones are gaining more and more popularity it seems that every company in the hospitality industry should invest in some form of mobile presence.

The problem now is that there are so many apps out there in them stores that it’s more and more difficult to stand out, to differentiate. Other challenges include determining what brand of mobile presence is best suited for your particular company.

What is a Tourism Improvement District?

Tourism Improvement Districts, or TIDs, are a stable funding source for destination marketing efforts based on the traditional business improvement district model. 

They are typically funded by an assessment on hotel room sales, but can also include assessments on all tourism-related business. Funds are managed by a non-profit corporation, oftentimes an existing DMO, with representatives of assessed businesses sitting on the board. As a result, marketing efforts are industry-driven and not affected by reduced public funding.

TIDs: Stable Funding for Destination Marketing

The introduction of Tourism Improvement Districts [TIDs] to the UK is, I believe, inevitable. In an environment where there is little or no public sector funding for Tourism (in an industry that has never really succeeded in working together) you soon get to the point where legislation is the only option. This may however turn out to be the best thing for UK tourism. 



TIDs are a fast-growing phenomenon in the United States. Many destinations, from large cities to coastal towns and rural areas to thematic groups have found the answer to their funding problem lies in the creation of TIDs. Here in the UK as DMOs are now having to deal with substantial funding cuts they need to seek innovative, independent sources of destination marketing financing. Importantly it would make sense for ALL of the industry to come together to learn how this model can be adopted across the country. 

Don't Tell Me to Find You on Facebook

More and more businesses are saying they want to increase their social media presence, you see them publishing business cards or hear ads on the radio saying find us on Facebook or Twitter. And then, you come to find out, the last time they updated their community was over two months, even as long as 6 months ago, and what’s worse is, they have a Facebook Profile instead of a Facebook Page - I could go on and on with some of the mistakes businesses are making on social platforms.

But, the biggest mistake many businesses are making is that they

SEO Strategies For Online Tourism Marketing

Before the days of search engine optimization, tourism marketing relied heavily upon conveying an image of the destination. In today's world, things are a bit different. 

While the client still wants to understand the destination, he or she is looking to understand it in more concrete terms. Today's client finds you on the web, and books online too. You need to be easily found, easily navigated, and easily reached to use your full search engine marketing potential.

Reaching The Top Of SEO Rankings Doesn't Require Photos – But Getting Conversions Does

In the old marketing style

My own QR Code

This is the iVisitorGuide QR Code. 

I just generated it for free at www.qrstuff.com 


I can't help but think how beautiful it is! And how useful it could become... 

What will be the ‘Next Big Thing’ in mobile for the travel industry?

IN-DEPTH: Robert Dawson, VP, Internet Marketing & Web Development Services, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, says one of the next big innovations in the mobile space that will quickly impact the travel industry is the inclusion of the NFC (Near Field Communications) chipset in smartphones. This is also expected to change the way the industry sells travel in the future.
By Ritesh Gupta

M-commerce and Near Field Communications (NFC) are improving and enhancing the travel experience for travellers.

QR codes and Mobile Apps

QR codes and Mobile Apps: What can they do for Destination Marketing? 

First I must define yet another acronym and piece of digital technology that has been sprung upon us as of late to 'help' us as marketers connect with our customers. 

Help it will – if properly adopted as a technology to achieve conversion – and not simply a cool thing to add to a travel guide just because we should.

6 Successful Foursquare Marketing Campaigns to Learn From

There are now more than 500,000 businesses on Foursquare. We’ve already shared with you how to start marketing on Foursquare and how to set up a special — now we’re giving you a handful of campaigns that can inspire your own marketing initiatives.

Read on and take a tip from The History Channel, Starwood Hotels, Pepsi Max, a Florida eye doctor, a New York steakhouse and a German billboard.

The Number One Least Asked Question in Social Media…Why?

The number one least asked question in social media is also the most important…


Asking “why” in all aspects of business and life in general is unexploited. Day in and day out I help businesses understand the opportunity that lies within new media, not because of Twitter or Facebook. I do so because opportunity is pervasive in the hearts and minds of consumers everywhere. We just have yet to really understand for what reason.

A Study of Tourism Business Improvement Districts in California

The following article details the Tourism Business Improvement District model that has been successfully implemented in many different parts of California. Now that public sector funding for Tourism in the UK has all but dried up it seems inevitable to me that this TBID model is an obvious choice for any destination, large or small, urban or rural, coast or countryside.  

TBIDs are reshaping the tourism industry's standpoint on marketing funds. In an effort to better understand the impact of tourism improvement districts, this first-ever study was undertaken. Directors of tourism districts through California were interviewed about their experiences, and the results carefully compiled into this report. 

Eight Creative Uses of QR Codes - eConsultancy

QR codes are easy to set up, and offer a range of possible uses for marketers, on product packaging, in shop window displays, in print advertising and more. When used well, they provide a quick response mechanism, and appeal to consumers' curiosity.

Whether they will ever become widely adopted is unclear, as there is a potential barrier in that people need to actively download a code reader app first, though there are ways to overcome this. For example, retailers could start to add QR readers to their mobile apps, while there is talk of the iPhone5 having a pre-installed reader.

Understanding the Mobile Market and How It Impacts Your Business

Without any doubt, we are in the midst of the greatest technological paradigm shift since the advent of the Internet itself: The Mobile Revolution.

Although cellular communication technology was invented in 1947, with the first cell phone call being made in 1973, and the first “smartphone” invented in 1992 – it wasn’t until the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007 that the real revolution began.

The smartphone as we know it today reportedly has more computing power then all of NASA circa 1969 (when the USA first sent men to the moon).

The Five Biggest Benefits of a Company Blog

The popularity of social media has encouraged many companies to create accounts and profiles on popular services like Facebook and Twitter.

However, one of the earliest components of a social media strategy, the company blog, still has the potential to provide some of the greatest value.

And for good reason. While a company blog can't fix a product or service that's lacking, or send your site to the top of the SERPs overnight, it does things that may not be possible on third party services that determine the format of content and how it's distributed.

TripAdvisor Takes Action Against Fake Reviews

Hotels trying to bribe users to raise their TripAdvisor rankings have been put on notice by the travel review site. The company has already blacklisted 30 properties worldwide for suspicious reviews and they are looking into the actions of another.

The Cove Hotel in Cornwall is under scrutiny by TripAdvisor's content integrity team after guests of the hotel were allegedly given letters from the owner offering them 10% off food and drinks and free upgrades if they posted positive reviews.

The New Social Media Revolution - Video

If you're still undecided about whether or not Social Media should be included in your day to day activities then have a look at the following video. Based on #1 International Best Selling Socialnomics by Erik Qualman this is the latest in the most watched social media series in the world.



The numbers speak for themselves. Let me know if I can help.

Understanding how TripAdvisor is making the travel planning experience more social

Adam Medros, VP of Product, TripAdvisor says the travel site’s vision is: “travel planning that is increasingly socially relevant, mobile and delivered in real-time”.

Over the past four years, TripAdvisor has been working on ways to make the travel planning experience more social.

Back in 2007, the company built its first app on the Facebook platform and it also explored building a social network into TripAdvisor called “Traveler’s Network”. In 2009, it integrated Facebook Connect and in 2010 TripAdvisor launched its Trip Friends product where it uses the data from its Cities I’ve Visited app to help users see where their friends had travelled and allows them to ask for advice. In December 2010, TripAdvisor partnered again with Facebook to launch Instant Personalization on TripAdvisor - giving users immediate insight into the places their friends have been, places they recommend, and highlighting reviews written by friends.

7 Social Media Tips for Revenue Managers

Revenue managers will have to watch RevPAR by room type much more closely due to the hyper-details consumers get on-line

Value score on sites such TripAdvisor are useful indicators of whether or not to push higher prices

Cross-comparing social media metrics to market share performance will help hoteliers benchmark where they stand amongst the competition

U.S. Travel Study Shows Tourism Marketing Impact

Research conducted by the U.S. Travel Association and Longwoods International purports that reducing state and local tourism marketing programs in the name of saving taxpayer dollars is detrimental to economic growth.

The research was based on an analysis of recent campaigns by the State of Michigan and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., which indicated that marketing programs drive greater visitation, generate new tax dollars and create jobs for states and local communities.

Content marketing: Driving sales to your hotel

Content is the new advertising. In many, if not all, industries, online content is not only helping drive online traffic to websites, it’s significantly impacting sales, online and offline - a trend that is emerging in the travel industry as well.

Content—what is it?
Text, image, video, audio, animation or a combination of some or all—there are many ways to describe content: social, user-generated, professional, mobile, promotional, educational, viral and so on. What ties all of these characteristics of content together? Content (and I’m talking only about online content) is always available and always evolving. We owe this to technology and the Web.

Tourism Society Conference Summary

This week’s Tourism Society Conference held at Beaulieu in the New Forest provided plenty of food for thought for those of us involved with tourism destinations.

Why the Travel Industry Needs to Wake Up to Mobile

61% of on-line travel companies surveyed in a recent global EyeforTravel poll do not have a mobile friendly website. 71% do not have a mobile app.

There are many articles and presentations circling around at present detailing a multitude of mind blowing statistics highlighting the growth of mobile and the importance of this key trend for the travel industry but why is the travel industry not listening?

How to blend mobile marketing with social media

“Mobile is the glue” that binds a person’s online life to their real-world activities, argued Tim Hayden, chief marketing officer and co-founder of 44Doors, at a recent BlogWorld and New Media Expo session. Your customers are on the go, and your marketing needs to reflect that reality.

But before a business can take advantage of the power of mobile, it needs to optimize its marketing efforts to reach customers on the move, Hayden said. Having an integrated mobile strategy allows customers to easily share brand experiences, lets companies tailor content and gives both sides a way to keep conversations alive following real-world interactions, he argued.

How To: Optimize Marketing Materials for Mobile Devices

It’s no secret that mobile is the future. While ownership of TV sets in the U.S. fell for the first time ever, smartphone ownership continued to explode — it’s up 60% versus a year ago. Marketers who had traditionally focused on getting their message across through broadcasts on television and radio or in print magazines and newspapers are quickly working to adapt their messages for mobile.

Mobile is a new paradigm. It has its own rules, standards, technologies, and challenges. Here’s how marketers are working with designers and developers to optimize branded materials for these new platforms.

Social Media Trends To Watch in 2012

There has been much debate in the industry over the past few years over the merits of social media, particularly whether it has in fact achieved a real return on investment for organisations. However a recent article on Marketing Week’s site highlighted some very interesting statistics that confirm that social media is in fact, here to stay.

The findings were based on a survey completed by more than 17,000 managers and business owners across 80 countries, including 4,000 respondents in the UK.

The Top Referring Web Sites for Hotels

In the highly competitive market of Travel, hotels need to analyze their top referring sites constantly. Unfortunately most hotels look at referring sites on their web stats with tools such as Google analytics or other and can only see which sites bring traffic, that doesn’t always show the real picture since a site can bring lots of traffic, but does it bring qualified traffic which turn into bookings.

How to Become Number 1 on Tripadvisor

Last week Htel Serviced apartments reached the number 1 spot on Tripadvisor on specialty lodging and we’d like to celebrate this with them.

Here’s a short version of what happened to Htel Serviced Apartments, and the implementation of a Hotel Social Media Marketing campaign that got them to this spot.