Hoteliers from East European countries exchange ideas and experiences during Hospitality E-Commerce & Revenue Management Conference in Prague

Attendees listened in on a number of presentations, discussion panels and workshops aimed at educating hospitality sales & marketing professionals how to grow their direct and in-direct on-line business and put their properties at the forefront of travelers.

Conference delegates received insider tips on Search Engine Optimization, effective design and construction of hotel website, and importance of having intuitive and stable booking engine, finding opportunities and new ways to use social media outlets. They also had the chance to hear the social media success stories of three Czech and Slovak hotels and hotel groups.

Although the Prague hotel market has seen strong performance growth in 2010 and 2011 and results for the first nine months of 2012 are promising with hotels posting an impressive growth in revenue, there is still a lot to do to reach results from 2004-2007. In the first decade of XXI century the Prague hotel market experienced a tremendous amount of development. During this time, hotel supply in Prague increased by 7,000 rooms, most of them in the upscale segment.

"E-commerce landscape is changing constantly" Smart H.E.R.O owner and Conference Organizer, Radka Telyckova said. "I see still a lot of potential in e-marketing and social media for Czech hoteliers to increase their competitiveness."

In today's world it is almost impossible to follow all the e-commerce technology trends, as every day there are tons of new publications going live, starting from SEO, thru paid campaigns, social media and brand reputation marketing, ending with channel and revenue management, Corporate E-Commerce Director Mamaison Hotels & Residences, Tomasz Janczak said.

"There's been a lot of discussion," Janczak said. "Is it really necessary to manage the social media channels? Why should I invest in mobile website already now? How good reviews can influence the booking decision?"

To answer those questions, Smart H.E.R.O brought to Aquapalace Hotel in Prague top speakers representing the biggest brands in e-commerce and hospitality industry: Google, Tripadvisor, Fastbooking, Sabre Hospitality, Trust You, Ideas Revenue Optimization, Rate Tiger, Open Hospitality, WIHP and many more.

"You have to really integrate your social media & mobile presence into overall marketing strategy"- said Margitte Verkruijse, Director of Sales Europe, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, who was presenting the role of SoLoMo in hospitality industry.-"Maybe today social media are not yet the revenue stream, but new generations grow faster than we think, and for them it will be normal to book hotel room via Facebook app"

Talking about the importance of reviews for today's businesses, Organizers didn't miss the opportunity to collect reviews of particular presentations and workshops. Each conference module had its own QR and SMS- code, which could be used by Participants to share their opinion about the content of the presentation, the way it was delivered, etc. Those, who do not feel comfortable with smartphones technology, could use the iPad with ready to use application, provided by local company, Doporucim.cz.

"-We are still working on final results breakdown per each presentation, but definitely the event as such was very well received"- confirmed Radka Telyckova from Smart H.E.R.O- This fact encourages us to think already about next edition of Hospitality E-Commerce & Revenue Management Conference.