Sales & Marketing USA & Canada Opinion Articles

December 23, 2014

Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 134; Hotel History: The Knickerbocker Hotel (1906)

Did you read that the old Knickerbocker Hotel (1906-1921) is about to open again as a hotel on February 12, 2015? This historic building opened as the Knickerbocker Hotel in 1906 with 556 rooms. Developers J.E. and A.L. Pennock originally financed the building in 1903 and retained architects Bruce Price and Marvin & Davis. Only one year later, John Jacob Astor IV, who owned the land, took over the troubled project. The interiors were redesigned by architects Trowbridge & Livingston and a three-story restaurant and bar was added with seating for 2,000 diners.

By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC

New York, New York, United States

Opinion Article

December 17, 2014

It’s More than Just a Game: The Effect of Core and Supplementary Services on Customer Loyalty

Executive Summary: All service providers seek to provide a comprehensive experience for their customers, with the goal of cementing customer loyalty and encouraging future purchases. In most services, we can identify core aspects (e.g., a good night's sleep at a hotel) and supplementary aspects (e.g., concierge and valet services). For professional sports, the core service is the sporting contest itself, but many other supplementary services may also be included. We use a comprehensive dataset of over 7,000 patrons of a major professional sport in the United States to determine how customers' satisfaction with core and supplementary services influence their intent to repeat a ticket purchase. We find that satisfaction with both core and supplementary services are important for loyal customers, but first-time customers tend to focus only on core service satisfaction when considering whether to purchase another ticket. One implication of this study is that firms should focus on their customers' full experience. Firms must first focus on their core services and then augment them appropriately with supplementary services.

By Rohit Verma, Professor, Cornell

United States

Opinion Article

December 13, 2014

Exclusive Google Partner Insights & Tools for 2015

As a Google certified partner, Vizergy continues to grow and evolve with the ever-changing marketing trends and practices. Exclusive insights and tools are provided to Vizergy straight from Google in order to meet specific goals and market demands. Earlier this month, a representative from Google met with our paid search analysts and several other members of our team for a day of training. The representative discussed several topics including: advertising on YouTube, the latest paid search optimization methods and products for our clients, and new beta products from Google.

By Nicole VanNienwenhove, Paid Search Analyst, Vizergy

Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Opinion Article

December 3, 2014

Why You Shouldn’t Sell Rooms for $7 on Hotel Tonight

This Thanksgiving holiday in the US was an eventful one for the hospitality industry. What got my attention was the Black Friday offer of $7 rooms on Hotel Tonight (my favorite mobile travel app). Important: Before you read this – No matter who got paid how much in the end or what the real breakup of advertised rate versus actual payment made by Hotel Tonight was was like. The fact is that the guest paid $7 for booking those hotels and that is what he/she will remember.

By Vikram Singh, Global Hotel Commercial Leader, Vikram Singh

United States

Opinion Article

December 3, 2014

How Location Analytics Will Help Your Hotel

Big Brother is coming. He knows where you are. He's tracking your every move. Despite whatever dystopian fiction you've read, seen or had nightmares about, he's actually here to help. And he doesn't go by some tyrannical, cult of personality namesake as 'Big Brother' but rather the far more innocuous title of Location Analytics (or what some call geotargeting).

By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

United States

Opinion Article

December 2, 2014

Your USP in 10 steps

Central to building your property's awareness and sales generation is its "voice" or unique selling proposition (USP). Specific to the hospitality industry, a USP is defined as the single most identifiable benefit a property can give to consumers.

By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

United States

Opinion Article

November 25, 2014

Revenue Management and Pricing Analytics: A report from the INFORMS Annual Meeting

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco. For those of you not familiar with this organization or conference, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics.

By Alex Dietz, Principal Industry Consultant, SAS Institute Inc.

United States

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Opinion Article

November 18, 2014

Better Focus On Using Lead Tracking Could Increase Hotel Sales Closings

In providing training for hotel sales and catering departments I usually find that nearly all have a robust sales lead tracking tool. There are many excellent systems out there such as SalesForce, Delphi, and Opera Sales Force Automation among others. Yet when I ask sales leaders the question "How well are your sales associates using their system?" the answer tends to be "Not as well as they should be."

By Doug Kennedy, President of the Kennedy Training Network, Kennedy Training Network (KTN)

United States

Opinion Article

November 18, 2014

Nobody Asked Me, But…No. 132; Hotel History: Ellsworth Milton Statler

In 1950, the hotel industry picked the late E. M. Statler as the "Hotel Man of the Half Century," even though he had been dead for 22 years. Statler's impact on innkeeping was so great, no one else even came close. While many considered Statler the premier hotel figure, he was not a typical executive. A plain, rugged man who started to work at age 9, he continued to wear $20 suits and $4 shoes even after he became successful, and resembled Will Rogers more than Rudolph Valentino. When Statler began in the hotel business, the following practices were commonplace

By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC

United States

Opinion Article

November 4, 2014

Maximizing RevPAR in 2015 and Beyond

As we enter into the final months of 2014, the global hotel industry is experiencing one of its strongest years of the decade. Most statistics are showing a positive path and indicating the long awaited recovery has arrived. As a result, now is an opportune time to evaluate strategies and begin laying the foundation for strong RevPAR performance in 2015 and beyond. While there is always uncertainty about the future, recent technology and marketing innovations are enabling cutting edge hoteliers to gain competitive RevPAR advantages within their local market. Let's take a closer look to better understand how to shape the future with present day solutions and best practices.

By John Hach, Senior Vice President, Global Product Management, TravelClick, Inc.

United States

Opinion Article

November 4, 2014

Revenue Management: How to Make it Work Better for You in 2015

Year after year revenue management is gaining wide acceptance as a key marketing and pricing strategy in many hotels. Even the phenomenal revenue gains attributed to revenue management—typically in the range of 45 to 85 percent, virtually all of which drop to the bottom line—have prompted executives to investigate the potential applicability of revenue management to their hotels.

By Ahmed Mahmoud, Founder of revenueyourhotel.com, Revenue Your Hotel

United States

Opinion Article

October 31, 2014

How Millennials are Redefining Group Travel: 6 Things Hotels Need to Know

The first hotel online booking engines are twenty years old now, and they are slowly evolving to give users more features and more control over their stay. So why has there has been so little effort made in the evolution of web bookings for small groups. Most hotels are still expecting small groups, which, by the way, are 30% of hotel business, to fill out a form or make a call before they can get rates or make reservations. While this may have been marginally sustainable up until now, there is little hope that Millennials are going to continue to give hotels their business this way.

By Charles de Gaspe Beaubien, CEO of Groupize Solutions, Groupize

United States

Opinion Article

October 26, 2014

What can hotels learn from casinos? Focus on non-rooms pricing

This week I'm going to "fill in" for Natalie to complete our series on "What can Hotels learn from Casinos"? (Look for parts 1 and 2 here and here, respectively) Today I'm going to address pricing. We all know that great entertainment comes at a price, and we also know that casinos need to manage demand and supply just like any other business. But when we are managing revenue in a casino, there are a lot of interrelated factors at play. The denomination or price of a slot machine can impact demand for that machine. The price and availability of hotel rooms need to be balanced with the ability to offer comp rooms to the casino's most valuable players, as well as with the overall goal to drive revenue throughout the estate. After all, the modern casino resort produces revenue across many fronts (rooms, entertainment, gaming, food and beverage, and more), so any decision that impacts room rates and availability has to consider the broader effect on estate-wide revenues.

By Alex Dietz, Principal Industry Consultant, SAS Institute Inc.

United States

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Opinion Article

October 16, 2014

Show Me What You See, Tell Me What You Think: Using Eye Tracking for Hospitality Research

Executive Summary: Identifying precisely what consumers are looking at (and by implication what they are thinking) when they consider a web page, an image, or a hospitality environment could provide tremendous insights to the hospitality industry. By using eye tracking technology, one can almost literally see through the eyes of the customer to find out what information is examined at various points during the hotel search process or to assess which property design features attract guests' attention. When eye tracking is immediately followed by interviews that review a graphical representation of the consumer's eye movements, the thought processes behind consumers' visual activity can be uncovered and explored. In this paper we explain how eye tracking works and how it could apply to hospitality research. Today's eye tracking systems are easy for researchers to set up and use and are virtually transparent to the participant during use, making eye tracking a valuable method for examining consumer choice or facility design, or to develop employee training procedures. We argue that eye tracking would provide rich results and deserves to be considered for a wide range of hospitality applications.

By Stephani Robson, Senior Lecturer, CHR

United States

Opinion Article

October 16, 2014

The Stock Market vs. The Hotel Industry

The history of the stock market… I'm sure it's not a topic that most in the hospitality industry have ever contemplated in great detail but that should change right now. Why? Because hoteliers and revenue managers can learn a great deal from the evolution of stock market technology that will benefit their property's revenues.

By Jean Francois Mourier, CEO of REVPAR GURU, RevPAR Guru Inc.

United States

Opinion Article

October 15, 2014

Using Eye Tracking to Obtain a Deeper Understanding of What Drives Online Hotel Choice

Executive Summary: Booking a hotel online involves two major stages, namely, browsing and deliberation (followed by booking a hotel). A study that tracked 32 individuals' eye movements as they worked on selecting a hotel to book found that during browsing, consumers quickly glance at many hotels (sometimes scrolling but often just taking the first screen) as they check the names and prices of available hotels. During this process, consumers apply personal heuristics to identify hotels that warrant further scrutiny. During the deliberation phase, consumers review more detailed information for the consideration set—usually no more than about seven properties—from which a purchase decision is made. During the browsing stage, consumers fixate primarily on firm-supplied information, including hotel name, images, price, and location, in addition to user ratings. Within the consideration set, consumers fixate most on images, closely followed by firm-provided descriptions. They also fixate on price and room offers, as well as user-generated ratings and reviews.

By Stephani Robson, Senior Lecturer, CHR

United States

Opinion Article

October 10, 2014

The Case for Hotel Videos

Do you know any hoteliers that have been putting off creating professionally produced videos for their small luxury hotel? I'll bet you do and the reason is most likely that they are just too expensive. Really? This is perhaps the most common reason a company, including hotels, will use when it doesn't want to purchase something. Sure, it will cost money, but what are the benefits? How much revenue will videos produce? What will be your return on investment? It's not about how much something costs, but how ROI a hotel can expect.

By Madigan Pratt, President, MP&A

United States

Opinion Article

October 9, 2014

Can big data help revenue management?

Next week I will be presenting at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit on big data and revenue management. In preparation for the Summit, I have recorded a short presentation that outlines how big data can help augment revenue management.

By Alex Dietz, Principal Industry Consultant, SAS Institute Inc.

United States

Opinion Article

October 6, 2014

Is Your PR Strategy Like Nero’s?

One of the worst jobs in history had to have been Nero's Public Relations (PR) Officer. Can you imagine trying to put a spin on an image of the emperor serenely playing his fiddle against the backdrop of raging flames shooting skyward from a burning Rome? Ouch! The bizarre part of this story is that historians tell us Nero actually tried to help his people in the midst of the tragic conflagration. When he heard about the tragedy, he rush back to the city from his palace on the outskirts of Rome to coordinate fire-fighting efforts, established temporary shelters for homeless residents in public buildings along with his own gardens, and brought in grains from other cities to feed his citizens. But, none of that ever made the front page of the papyrus scroll. The only image that circulated was that of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. It persists to this day. Why? Because he didn't have a good public relations strategy.

By Bonnie Knutson, Professor in The School of Hospitality Business in the Broad College of Business, Michigan State

United States

Opinion Article

September 25, 2014

Strategist or Tactician?

Which one are you, strategist or tactician? Or, do you even know the difference? It's subtle, but very important to remember. Strategists are the big picture idea generators and recommenders of this world. They are the ones who get the prestige for coming up the winning concept that reaped a heavy payload down the road. Oftentimes a single thought or suggestion can save a whole company or launch it into an entirely new marketplace. Strategic planners, consultants and corporate advisors all fit this role for the purpose of helping an organization find that 'next big thing' to propel it forward.

By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

United States