Ithaca, NY, A report published by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell reveals that travel websites, notably Travelocity, still frequently offer the lowest hotel room rate. At the same time, however, hotel chains are using their own sites to gain ground toward their goal of offering the consistently lowest rates.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end application response time and availability of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers which said the hotel industry will raise their spending on renovations by 37% next year. PwC said hotels will spend $4.1 billion on upgrades and renovations in 2005, up from $3 billion this year. They also said that this is not due to a sudden spike in revenues but a response to what they call a hotel-amenities war. According to the study, hotels are trying to stay ahead of each other in keeping up with customers who have poured money into their own homes to upgrade features, the same ones they will want in a hotel.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end application response time and availability of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
Ithaca, N.Y. | A new report published by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell provides a roadmap for executives to use to create and sustain strategic advantage in information technology. The report, Making IT Matter: A Manager's Guide to Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage with Information Systems, was written by Cornell Professor Gabriele Piccoli, Ph.D. Piccoli’s groundbreaking study offers the first comprehensive tool to help strategists plan, implement and upgrade information technology solutions. In particular, Piccoli aims to show executives how to create value that can be protected against competitive imitation.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end application response time and availability of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end application response time and availability of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
What allows a hotel to stand the test of time? You know the type: the “grand dames” of hospitality, world-renowned, ever-dynamic, always beautiful, and usually higher rated (as in ADR) hotel properties? They sprinkle themselves with diamonds and stars and make you remember one night there forever. As a strategist I wonder: What entitles some hotels to prosper for dozens of decades, while their competitors fade away in increments of thirty years?
As a result of world events of epic proportions, from September 11th, to an economic depression to SARs, consumers have become more sensitive to pricing pressures. They are more likely to conduct extensive research on prospective travel plans and are constantly seeking assurance and confidence. The conduit between these consumers and their destination is the Internet, and specifically, search engine marketing (including natural website optimization and paid search).
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end application response time and availability of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
Email marketing has changed significantly since our first article on the subject appeared a few years ago. Savvy hoteliers who embraced the use of email marketing as a direct distribution tool have another potent weapon in their arsenal against the need for online intermediaries. We have revisited email because this eMarketing format has developed remarkably in hospitality over these few years. As well as highlight important changes, we share examples of the collective spirit of hotel marketers who have been able to overcome spam and Internet marketing challenges by introducing great solutions for promoting their hotels in a cluttered email box world.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end response time and availability performance of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end response time and availability performance of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
Technologists and Hoteliers have very different personalities, yet both are critical to successful hotel technology decisions. This article explores the nature of that sometimes difficult collaboration, and offers some advice for a smooth process. Members of any IT department, from programmers to engineers, tend to be significantly different from the rest of their organization. Their strong technical skills, focus on logic, reason and order, as well as their discomfort with social interactions, places them at odds with the business world. Yet the general business world, where the approach is more fluid and subjective, is not as adept at solving complex technical problems.
Bag End at Fletchings | In a world that is changing, it is no wonder that the world of technology in hospitality is ever changing. In a speech made at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on May 5 by Ian Graham, Managing Director of The Hotel Solutions Partnership Ltd, explored these changes and notes the strategies pursued by progressive executives.
Today's environment of phenomenal growth in both computing power and communications yields an amount of information that is staggering and often beyond human ability to deal with it. Leaving aside the Internet's infinite information space, even a typical hotel has far more internal data than it can effectively use. Hotel information shares the same four needs as all business data: collection/storage, retrieval/selection, analysis, and communication.
Connecting your staff to hotel data, each other, and the Internet is a critical success factor but often neglected. This article discusses the risks of that neglect as well as some suggestions on preventing it and gaining a jump on the competition.
The world's largest hotel affiliation, Best Western International, recently announced that high-speed Internet access will be available in all properties (though not all rooms) by the end of 2004. Likewise, Marriott and Hilton began mandating access last year for all new properties while widespread adoption continues at existing owned, operated and franchised properties. Their initiatives are likely to make Internet access a necessary, competitive amenity at almost every hotel in the U.S. If you are one of the many hoteliers now scrambling to install high-speed Internet access in your property, here are some tips for a successful experience. And for anyone who still believes that a dataport and a second phone line constitute high-speed Internet access - sorry, it's not even close.
The Gómez Performance Index (GPI) for Hotels benchmarks end-to-end response time and availability performance of leading hotel and third-party travel services Web sites executing a multi-step transaction -- the ubiquitous hotel room search. The steps measured consist of navigating to the homepage; initiating a search query; and gathering room details and rate information. Measurements for the Hotels GPI are taken from a cross section of a high-speed Internet backbone networks once every hour from 10 co-location facilities around the U.S.
The Gómez Hotel Industry Homepage Benchmark for August reveals: (1) Network Data Center Response times are again on the rise for the online hotel industry. The aggregate benchmark for all companies monitored was 4.06 seconds for the month of August 2003, up from 3.68 seconds in July. (2) Marriott continues to lead the Network Data Center, Corporate and Residential Broadband connection speed benchmarks in end-to-end homepage response time. The hotelier's site, however, falls short in our dial-up "last mile" measurements, ranking third behind Choice Hotels and Embassy Suites. (3) Availability metrics for all benchmarked hotels remain superb across each connection speed monitored. Each benchmark, save the Dial-up Connection index, is in the 99th percentile, illustrating superior online reliability for the industry as a whole.