Pinterest is a niche social network based on virtual pin boards. By January 2012, the site received 11.5 million unique visitors. With Pinterest rapidly becoming one of the most popular social media outlets, many hoteliers are wondering why and how they should take advantage of the visually driven network and start “pinning.”

To tackle this subject head on, I turned to two Pinterest experts at HeBS Digital, Madison Bey, Account Executive, and Victoria Hsia, New Media Marketing Coordinator. We discussed the various ways in which Pinterest can increase your web presence, generate buzz and build brand awareness.

How exactly can hoteliers get in on the Pinterest action?

Madison: Hotels set up a Pinterest profile, similar to Facebook or Twitter. There they can create themed pin boards and pin images from around the Internet as well as other users’ pin boards.

Victoria: Right now, Pinterest is invite-only, so hotels can either request an invite or they can have a Pinterest user send them an invite. It takes just a day or two for acceptance into the site. Since Pinterest is not integrated with Facebook fan pages just yet, we advise that they sign up through their Twitter account.

Madison: Brands can also add a “Pin It” button to their website, allowing users to pin website images onto their own pin boards.

Can all types of hotels benefit from Pinterest?

Madison: It depends on what your goals are and who you are targeting. For hotels that have big wedding business or promote a lot of family travel, Pinterest is greatly beneficial. Also, Pinterest users are 80% female, so hotels looking to target women travelers should definitely look into this.

Victoria: The majority of their users are between the ages of 25 and 44. It’s a slightly older crowd than other social networks. And as far as weddings, Pinterest is great for highlighting venues and serving as a source of inspiration for food, dresses, flowers and more.

How does Pinterest provide SEO benefits?

Madison: When a Pinterest user pins an image from your website and includes a link back to your site in the pin description, this will enhance your inbound linking strategy. However, it should be noted that the links to the source that are automatically generated when you pin an image are marked as no-follow.

Victoria: Since pin descriptions are indexed by the search engines, adding links back to your website will then increase your Google PageRank. At HeBS Digital we include highly searched keywords in the Pinterest profile description and pin descriptions.

How exactly do hoteliers engage followers via Pinterest? And what are some best practices to maintain them?

Victoria: You can “like” a pin, similar to the Facebook “like.” You can repin a pin, which is similar to a retweet. This will add the image to one of your pin boards. You can mention a user in your comment, which develops communication with them. You can also follow relevant businesses and customer segments with the “Search” function.

Madison: There are a number of ways. You can comment on someone’s pin or even create contests that might engage them. You can also leave a comment on a pin and @message the user in your comment, or post infographics with questions.

Victoria: You can also find users who have pinned images of your hotel and reach out to past guests or potential guests who have shown an interest. And you can bring users back to your website by including a link in your comment.

How can a Pinterest profile be integrated with other social media networks like Facebook and Twitter?

Victoria: A hotel can ask a user to check out their Facebook page. But you can also post about your Pinterest activity on your Facebook or Twitter and gain followers. For Facebook, there’s an app that you can use to create a Pinterest tab. It’s basically Pinterest within your fan page so users can interact with your pins or follow you without leaving your fan page.

Madison: There are also Twitter and Facebook buttons next to each pin so users can easily share their pins on Pinterest.

What types of contests can hotels run on Pinterest?

Madison: Some types of contests include having the best pinboard, where users create a pin board under the contest guidelines and brands select the best one. There is also one for most likes/repins, where contest entrants create pin boards and specific images for users to like and/or repin and entrants win based on the amount of likes/repins they receive. Another idea is for sweepstakes entries. Random winners are drawn from a pool of entries. People can enter the sweepstakes by repinning an image and/or following a brand on Pinterest.

Some examples of contests are for the best board. The client chooses a theme and users create boards with images related to that theme. The best and most creative board wins. Or, the board that gets the most follows wins. There is also the “Your Stay at Hotel X Contest.” The client asks customers to post images of themselves when they stayed at the hotel and users ask their friends to “Like” their image. The image with the most “Likes” wins. Another fun one is the “Gift Idea Giveaway,” where the client creates a board related to an upcoming holiday and asks users to pin gift ideas and then chooses the most creative gift idea as the contest winner.

Victoria: You can also host a Pinterest sweepstakes where users are prompted to pin an image from your website for a chance to win a free stay. There are many ways for hotels to get creative and take advantage of the viral nature of Pinterest.

What does the HeBS Digital Pinterest Profile Set Up Package include?

Victoria: The standard package includes two pin boards with ten pins each, and a Pinterest quick tips guide. The premium package is three pin boards with ten pins each, and a half-hour workshop. We also set up the Pinterest profile with a username, description, links to the website and Twitter profile, location and branded profile picture.

Can you provide examples of some successful Pinterest profiles and “pin boards” in the hospitality space?

Madison: My favorite is Hotel Gansevoort. They have a great “Got it” theme and photos taken by guests pinned to their board.

Victoria: Four Seasons in Austin is a great one, with great family travel boards and area guides.

About HeBS Digital

Erica Garza is Senior Copy+SEO Specialist, at HeBS Digital, the industry’s leading full-service hotel digital marketing, website design and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HeBSDigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won over 190 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.

A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digital’s direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

HeBS Digital is proud to announce the launch of the Revere Hotel website, www.reverehotel.com.

Revere Hotel is a brand new boutique hotel in Boston, located in the Back Bay neighborhood just blocks from Boston Common. The hotel strikes a balance between Boston’s rich tradition and modern sophistication, a juxtaposition the website showcases through vibrant, full-browser images of Boston and sleek, contemporary collapsible menus. In addition to a variety of eclectic rooms and suites, Revere offers inspired dining at Rustic Kitchen, a stylish nightlife scene at the Emerald Lounge, and a range of versatile event venues.

The award-winning team at HeBS Digital used the CMS Premium – HeBS Digital’s proprietary website content management system – to design the Revere website. The site adheres to industry best practices to ensure SEO- and user-friendliness. The site’s unobtrusive expandable text boxes and crisp, clean design place emphasis on the visual appeal of Revere and the surrounding city, as a vivid image appears on each page. The site’s drop-down menus are enhanced with colorful images, and Book Now, Featured Specials, and Upcoming Events tabs are anchored to every page. The site includes digital group request for pricing and meeting and event request for proposal forms.

Features of the Revere Website:

• Unobtrusive expandable text boxes on every page
• RFPs for meetings, events and group travel
• Online reservations functionality with time-sensitive event suggestions
• Website analytics and tracking
• Email newsletter signup form
• Visual gallery and crisp site-wide images
• Expandable upcoming events calendar
• Search engine optimized for ideal placement in search results
• Easy-to-use Specials section

HeBS Digital is currently working on ongoing marketing management for Revere Hotel.

Visit the Revere Hotel website.

ReviewPro provides analysis, customer intelligence, and competitive benchmarking through real-time alerts, automated reporting and a user-friendly online dashboard to help hotel professionals more effectively manage across their entire organization. The company  aggregates hundreds of millions of social media mentions, in over 20 languages, from hundreds of the most relevant Online Travel Agencies (OTAs),  review websites and social media platforms.

“We are focused on driving direct revenue for our clients, and since our research indicates online reviews are the type of social media content typically viewed immediately prior to making a booking decision, the importance of reputation management and social media monitoring is very clear,” said Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital.  “ReviewPro provides unparalleled data analysis and reporting to help hotels to better understand their customers, and extract the insight for action needed to deliver better service and maximize revenue growth.”

Over the last few years, online customer reviews and social media have reached an unprecedented level of awareness within the hotel industry. Executives from hotel groups of all types around the world are beginning to see review analytics as an opportunity to achieve operational and service excellence. Yet the hotel industry is still a long way from complete adoption. Managers are realizing it is one thing to decide on a strategic initiative, and another thing to fully implement new technology.

The new partnership addresses this market need. Together, ReviewPro and HeBS Digital provide world-class technology, support, and assistance at all points of the reputation management program planning and execution process.

RJ Friedlander, CEO of ReviewPro, commented, “Our solution provides insights that will make it easier for HeBS Digital clients to not only understand conversations in social media that are important to participate in, but also look at all the social data in aggregate to identify and act on trends. Social feedback is acting as a ‘24/7 virtual mystery shopper’ that has implications in all areas of hotel management: from marketing and PR, to sales and distribution, to operations and brand management. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to working together to provide HeBS Digital’s clients with the analysis, customer intelligence, competitive benchmarking and automated reporting to help improve all areas of their businesses.”

HeBS Digital now includes the ReviewPro platform in their Customer Review Services, designed to help hotel organizations maximize the opportunity that exists on the social web to better understand customers and business performance, and identify areas for revenue growth.

About HeBS Digital:

Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital (Hospitality eBusiness Strategies), the hospitality industry’s leading full-service digital marketing and direct online channel strategy firm, based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won more than 180 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.

A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digital’s direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital’s consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

About ReviewPro:

ReviewPro enables hoteliers to increase guest satisfaction and online revenue by more effectively managing their online reputation and presence in leading social media sites. After rapid growth in the European market, the company has expanded internationally and quickly grown its client roster to thousands of hotels in more than 60 countries, including the Roger Smith Hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air, Ace Hotel, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Mammoth Mountain Resorts, Red Carnation Hotels, citizenM Hotels, Louvre Hotels Group and Meliá Hotels International. For more information, visit http://www.reviewpro.com

Editorial Contact:
Mariana Mechoso Safer
HeBS Digital
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com
Web: http://www.hebsdigital.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebsdigital
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeBS_NYC
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-ebusiness-strategies
Google+: https://plus.google.com/107562536911518066194?prsrc=3 

For nearly a decade, this yearly EyeforTravel event has helped hundreds of travel marketers understand the world of online marketing, keep up with the latest trends, and find out what they need to do to succeed online.

“The mobile channel is a hotel distribution channel that is exploding – in Q1 2012, five percent of online bookings came from mobile devices across HeBS Digital’s hotel client portfolio” said Starkov. “The projected growth rates for U.S. mobile travel bookings are astounding and will exceed $8 billion in 2013. Over 21% of queries on Google in Q1 2012 were via mobile and tablet devices. Next year there will be over 75.6 million U.S. tablet users: vs. only 13 million in 2010 (eMarketer). I look forward to speaking at the conference in June, and guiding hoteliers on how to adequately respond to this growing demand for mobile travel services. Attendees will come away from the conference with an understanding that smartphones and tablets are changing how we do business in hospitality, how we market, and how we service customers.”

During the panel, Starkov will cover the following topics:

• Exploding Mobile Web Usage: Morgan Stanley projects that by 2014 mobile web users will surpass “traditional” desktop Internet users
• Mobile Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for 2012
• The Year of SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile): How to reap the benefits from engaging the hyper-connected consumer to keep connected with your brand on a local level
• Budgeting for Mobile: How much you should budget for mobile marketing and mobile developments
• Tablets as a New Device Category and Marketing/Distribution Channel: This channel needs to be treated and marketed to separately from desktop and mobile devices

“We are excited to have Max Starkov, a thought leader in hotel digital marketing and distribution, on this panel,” said Brian Smith, EyeforTravel’s Global Events Director. “Mr. Starkov is well-versed in this subject and always provides hoteliers with useful and actionable advice to help significantly grow their ROIs. I have no doubts this session on the exploding mobile channel will be an eye-opening experience for the conference participants.”

Note: Exclusive to HeBS Digital clients, partners and HeBS Digital Report subscribers: Quote “HeBS150” and claim a $150 discount off the usual rates to attend this online travel and hospitality conference, featuring some of the brightest online marketing minds from the biggest travel companies. You can access the secure registration page by clicking here.

About HeBS Digital:

Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital is the industry’s leading full-service hotel digital marketing, website design and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HeBSDigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the “best practices” in hotel digital marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won over 190 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, and IAC Awards.

A diverse client portfolio of top tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are profiting from HeBS Digital’s hospitality digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital’s consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

Editorial Contact:

Mariana Mechoso Safer
HeBS Digital
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com
Web: http://www.hebsdigital.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebsdigital
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeBS_NYC
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-ebusiness-strategies
Google+: https://plus.google.com/107562536911518066194/posts

In designing and constructing the site, HeBS Digital and Loews Hotels relied on marketing strategies and techniques that achieved nearly 20 percent year-over-year revenue growth for the luxury brand during the past two years. The new site utilizes the HeBS Digital CMS Enterprise, the industry’s new gold standard for content management systems. HeBS Digital also employed Adobe Test & Target throughout the year, running A/B tests to evaluate best site structure, optimal location of content and functionality, and best use of overall site real estate. The re-launched site reflects changes learned in this testing process, allowing HeBS Digital and Loews Hotels to increase conversions and achieve an even higher revenue growth.

Improved Features on LoewsHotels.com:

• All content updated and optimized to meet Google Panda requirements
• Site structure, content placement and functionality enhanced to increase conversions, using one year of Adobe Test & Target data
• New virtual image pool allows the brand to instantly edit imagery, animations and marketing messages across the site
• Updated CMS modules allow for even more simplified, seamless back-end management by brand employees
• Intuitive drop-down menus give users easy access to Special Offers, Meetings & Events info and Loews Experiences travel planner
• Loews Destinations navigation panel and interactive property map encourages exploration of the entire collection of hotels and resorts

“HeBS Digital took an already award-winning, high-revenue-generating website and improved upon it,” said Jason Price, Executive Vice President of HeBS Digital. “Loews Hotels recognized that this rapidly changing industry consistently calls for enhancing and updating website designs at least once every 2 years. With its new site, Loews will continue to grow its direct revenue year-over-year and continue to lead the industry in the luxury hotel brand space.”

“The new platform of Loewshotels.com will allow us to ensure that we deliver the content and usability our users demand.  Loews Hotels is committed to giving its e-commerce customers a four diamond and more experience and this new design accomplishes that” said Anthony Del Gaudio, VP of Global Distribution for Loews Hotels.

About HeBS Digital:

Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital is the industry’s leading full-service hotel digital marketing, website design and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HeBSDigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the “best practices” in hotel digital marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won over 180 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, and IAC Awards.

A diverse client portfolio of top tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are profiting from HeBS Digital’s hospitality digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital’s consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

About Loews Hotels

Headquartered in New York City, Loews Hotels & Resorts owns and/or operates 18 hotels and resorts in the U.S. and Canada, including its newest, the 414-room Loews Atlanta Hotel that opened April 1, 2010. Located in major city centers and resort destinations from coast to coast, the Loews portfolio features one-of-a-kind properties that go beyond Four Diamond standards to delight guests with a supremely comfortable, uniquely local and vibrant travel experience. Loews boasts some of the industry’s most innovative and successful travel programs, including Loews Loves Kids for families and Loews Loves Pets for discerning animals on the road. For reservations or more information on Loews Hotels, call 1-800-23-LOEWS or check www.loewshotels.com.

Editorial Contact:

Mariana Mechoso Safer
HeBS Digital
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com
Web: http://www.hebsdigital.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebsdigital
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeBS_NYC
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-ebusiness-strategies

By Adam Hammock and Lindsay Denninger

Introduction

Digital marketing is all about results.  Unlike offline marketing, in the online and mobile space we can track and analyze ROIs from our online marketing campaign results quickly and accurately over the Internet. There is no medium that allows tracking like the Internet does, yet in hospitality, we didn’t adopt these tracking technologies at first introduction. Instead, we relied on cheap or free analytical tools to provide us with important information used to make major decisions. As a result, we are often basing integral marketing decisions on inferior information.

We consistently receive numerous questions from hoteliers concerning just how to most efficiently track and measure the ROI of online marketing efforts, right down to the reservation process. What metrics should hoteliers measure and pay attention to? What are the best practices in measuring ROI from the hotel’s marketing efforts? Or ROI from the hotel website? What are the best analytical tools out there?

In today’s dynamic market, where occupancy rates and ADRs depend on how well hoteliers utilize Internet marketing, it is no longer sufficient to measure only basic website traffic stats like visitors and page views or campaign stats like banner click-through rates and PPC clicks. Website and campaign conversions, ROIs, pathing and behavioral metrics have become standard, and many hoteliers are turning to more sophisticated tools to measure these essential metrics.

The Eternal Question: Paid vs. Free Analytics?

Best practices and common business sense require hotel digital marketers to constantly track and analyze website and campaign conversions as well as ROIs, pathing and behavioral metrics to shift marketing funds from less effective marketing campaigns to campaigns with higher ROIs. In our view, this complex analytics is impossible to perform with existing free analytical tools. Hoteliers have to adopt sophisticated analytical tools that provide the capabilities mentioned in this article. When budgeting for Internet marketing, hoteliers should include a separate line item for website and marketing analytics.

No doubt a sophisticated analytical tool can save hoteliers a great deal of marketing dollars, but a quality tool can also exploit marketing opportunities. This level of intelligence can redirect limited marketing dollars to more profitable centers. In other words, it can transform the hotel Internet marketing strategy and take it to the next level.

So the question is: do you adopt a free solution or go with a more sophisticated paid web analytics solution?

In this article we will compare two leading website analytics and campaign tracking applications: Adobe SiteCatalyst (paid) and Google Analytics (free basic version). Both applications are used to measure website performance and monitor online marketing initiatives—successes, losses, gains, and opportunities. Google Analytics’ basic version is a free service, available to anyone on the web, while Adobe SiteCatalyst is only available to those who pay for it. But is free really the best way to go? Below, we’ll examine whether or not paying for a service such as Adobe SiteCatalyst will get you and your clients better results.

Customization

Google Analytic’s free services allow four conversion goal funnels with five custom variables for a total of 20 different combinations of variables. Adobe SiteCatalyst’s paid service, on the other hand, has hundreds of combinations, with 100 custom event metrics, 75 custom event variables, 75 custom page variables, custom variable attribution, and more. It also offers site sectioning and a site hierarchy.

For instance, when a visitor navigates a website, they perform a variety of actions worth capturing: they may fill out a form, visit the Facebook page, sign up for a newsletter, or book a room. Each of these are important events to track and have different variables associated with them. An example (of many) could include that, in the booking process, there are multiple variables that hoteliers might be interested in analyzing. Being limited to only a few custom variables makes it difficult to see all of the information that a customer has provided. With SiteCatalyst, users never have to cherry-pick their information—everything from the booking pace to the confirmation number can be captured and analyzed.

Custom Reports & Dashboards

One of the most important uses of Google Analytics or SiteCatalyst is attributing where a hotel is losing customers. Where are the conversion points? Where are potential customers bouncing out? Close analysis allows us to attribute success (or improvement) to particular marketing initiatives, segment visitors, and decide the true long term value of a campaign.

Dealing with such a great amount of data can prove to be difficult, and Adobe SiteCatalyst makes it somewhat simpler. SiteCatalyst offers unlimited dashboards per login, displaying different information targeted for different purposes. Reports can be generated and sent to clients via menu interface, bookmarking, direct linking, and, of course, email. As an added bonus, multiple users can easily collaborate on reports.

Google Analytics allows only one dashboard per login, and these reports and dashboards can only be shared through email. This is prohibitive, limiting the number of opportunities to help find unreached customer bases, campaigns that need improvement, and more.

To put this into real life terms, a General Manager and marketer both want reports sent to them, but they would each like to view different kinds of data. The GM may be interested in overall website performance, whereas the marketer wants to see a particular segment of a campaign instead. With SiteCatalyst, this is easy achieved, as there are many different dashboard options.

Segmentation

With the launch of the new v15, Adobe SiteCatalyst has expanded its segmentation capabilities many times beyond those of Google Analytics. SiteCatalyst has the ability to segment “on the fly,” allowing users to quickly dissect an array of visitors to unveil special characteristics.

Pathing

Both SiteCatalyst and Google Analytics offer basic page-to-page pathing, but this is where their similarities end. Google Analytics offers four goal conversion tunnels for users. SiteCatalyst boasts three-level direct paths, unlimited seven-level funnels, and path finder. These extras allow users to see conversion process holes, traffic movement between sites, sections, or campaigns, and visit segmentation beyond entry points. Only SiteCatalyst offers such a wide glance.

Mobile Website Analytics

The rise in mobile internet usage has placed an increased importance on tracking activity on mobile website and apps. Previously, marketers have had limited ability to study this data. SiteCatalyst provides more than twenty out-of-the-box mobile reports that show anything from which device a visitor was using to the screen size of that device. These reports allow for the analysis of how visitors engage with site content and flow through the mobile site. The mobile reports in SiteCatalyst combined with custom segmentation prove far greater those offered by Google Analytics. In addition, SiteCatalyst can track these mobile specifications on the normal sites whereas Google Analytics is limited to the iPhone, Android and Palm Pre.

Attribution

Via the SiteCatalyst Stacking Reports, hoteliers can clearly see the contribution of branded hotel keywords vs. generic keyword terms  to each booking. Google Analytics can report that the booking came from the branded hotel term, when in fact the original visit to the site came from a generic keyword term, and when the user liked the hotel and all that the hotel had to offer, the user came back using the hotel name (branded keyword term) and booked. SiteCatalyst clearly shows the decision making path of the user vs. Google analytics which shows only the last click during the second visit.

Data Download & Upload

The biggest caveat to using Google Analytics is the issue of data. If one is using Google to run their analysis, Google owns all of the data. This data is available for a limited export only. In SiteCatalyst, however, the user owns the data, and 50,000 rows of it can be exported (unlimited data can be exported through DataWarehouse). This can be done quickly, essential for publishing and dispersing large monthly reports, Data can also be imported into Omniture.

Expandability

Expandability is important, referring to peripheral applications that add value to the core product, in this case SiteCatalyst or Google Analytics. SiteCatalyst features excellent expandability, relying on the support network of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite to supplement its findings. Other applications used by Adobe include Test&Target, DigitalPulse, and Adobe SearchCenter.

HeBS Digital has been using Adobe SearchCenter since its introduction. All HeBS clients are given 24/7 access to their SearchCenter account, where they can monitor in real time how their paid search campaigns are performing, revenue, ROAS, etc.

Adobe SearchCenter helps hoteliers drive success by automating keyword bidding and by combining multiple search engines in one easy-to-use interface. Automated bid strategies and alerts help marketers evaluate and respond to changing bid conditions thus saving as much as 30%-40% of paid search marketing spend. Adobe SearchCenter helps marketers target the right audience, measure and achieve tangible ROI all in one easy-to-use solution.

SiteCatalyst also boasts exceptional integration of third party products such as MSN Bing and Google Adwords.

User Support

Adobe SiteCatalyst’s user support is vastly superior to that of Google Analytic’s. SiteCatalyst offers 24/5 phone, live chat, and email support with trained consultants and engineers, as well as monthly learning labs for its users. On the other hand, Google Analytics offers support for an extra cost, and from independent Google consultants who are not full-time Google employees.

Conclusion:

To sum it all up, SiteCatalyst, though a paid website analytics application, proves to be worth the expense. It offers far more custom metrics and variables than Google Analytics, along with a higher quantity and customization of reports and dashboards for our HeBS Digital client base. Also adding to its superiority is the fact that users own the data described in the many charts and dashboards, and not Adobe itself (unlike Google, whose Analytics information is theirs and theirs alone). In the case of the “free” software (Google Analytics) versus the “paid,” lack of cost to use Google Analytics adds up to a great deal of missed opportunities for client analysis and later ROI.

HeBS Digital utilizes the industry’s leading analytical application tool for its clients, utilized by many of the major hotel brands (Marriott, Starwood, Mandarin Oriental, etc.) and online intermediaries such as Expedia. Through HeBS Digital, our client hoteliers can now enjoy the same state-of-the-art analytical tool as the major hotel brands and online intermediaries at a fraction of the cost.

Consider seeking advice from an experienced Internet marketing hospitality consultancy to help you take advantage of the marketing opportunities that result from using a sophisticated web analytical tool. The end results will include the capacity to determine your most important and valuable customer segments and the ability to effectively measure the success of your online marketing campaigns. Most importantly, a more complex web analytical tool will drastically increase customer conversions on your hotel website and enable you to track results in real time ROIs from your online marketing campaigns.

About the Authors and HeBS Digital

Adam Hammock is a Web Analyst and Lindsay Denninger is a Copy+SEO Specialist at HeBS Digital, the hospitality industry’s leading full-service digital marketing and direct online channel strategy firm, based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won more than 180 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.

A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digital’s direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital’s consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

The following article is Max Starkov’s latest contribution to the “Successful eMarketing” blog on HOTELS magazine’s website.

On March 21, 2012, TripAdvisor subsidiary Smarter Travel Media launched Tingo.com, a new hotel-booking site. This new OTA site is an affiliate of Expedia.com, which means the site uses Expedia’s inventory feed and pricing and receives part of Expedia’s booking commissions. Tingo’s main value proposition and big selling point is that it will refund the difference to customers if the price of the room they have booked on Tingo.com actually drops after booking.

The press release announcing the launch of Tingo.com had the provocative title: “Travelers Overpaid Millions for Hotel Rooms in 2011: Tingo Comes to the Rescue.” It further proclaimed that “In 2011 alone, Americans could have saved nearly $314 million if they had had access to a site like Tingo.com.”

How anti-industry is a statement like this one? It makes the industry look like a bunch of corporate thieves who are cheating and overcharging the traveling public to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Tingo.com to the rescue, indeed!

Back in February of this year I published an article on HOTELS Magazine, “Can TripAdvisor Transform Itself From an Industry Foe to an Industry Friend?,” in which I argued that after its “divorce” from Expedia, TripAdvisor still remained a foe of the industry and that TripAdvisor had to make a clear choice: Continue its anti-industry, pro-OTA, and one-sided pro-travel consumer policy and business model; or dramatically change its corporate attitude toward the industry and its business model.

I argued that TripAdvisor needed to overhaul its business model and make the site industry- and advertiser-friendly. It needed to dramatically improve its perception in the industry and invest in online self-serve campaign management technology to enable micro-campaign management for the highly-fragmented hospitality industry, including opening the “Show Prices” functionality to smaller and mid-sized hotel companies, independent hotels and resorts.

I warned that if TripAdvisor failed to do that, it would end 2012 more like a 600-pound gorilla from its current 800-pound gorilla status, and by 2014 would be reduced to mere 400-pound-gorilla status.

My old business friend Frances Kiradjian, Founder & Chair at The Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association, provided the following feedback to my article: ”Agree with your synopsis and hope that TripAdvisor takes your suggestions seriously. This was actually very generous of you to point them in the right direction.”

So how does Tingo.com fit into TripAdvisor’s strained relations with the hospitality Industry?

With the launch of what de facto is another OTA website, it is clear that TripAdvisor has not paid any attention to my advice and continues on its path as a pro-OTA and anti-industry player.

I truly expected that after its “liberation” from Expedia, TripAdvisor would try everything possible to repair its strained relations with the industry and try to embrace the industry and send a strong, unequivocal message to hoteliers: “I am no longer an OTA subsidiary and I am an industry friend. I am now part of the direct online distribution channel and I am on your side. I will work with you to understand your need periods and help whenever possible. I am unbiased and will work with you to improve the quality and credibility of customer reviews and help you address customer concerns. I will help you reach travelers interested in your destination and in your hotel.”

None of the above happened and TripAdvisor has continued conducting business as usual. Now comes Tingo.com, an affiliate of Expedia, TripAdvisor’s former master. This is it? Who advises this newly independent public company?

Let’s analyze the viability of Tingo.com

To begin with, Tingo.com has no unique content, pricing or inventory of its own. Its only value proposition – refunds when and if a lower hotel rate becomes available – is based on factors that are at the mercy of the other OTAs and the travel marketplace as a whole. Expedia could replicate Tingo’s offering within five minutes or less. Orbitz already offers and widely publicizes similar automatic refunds.

Tingo.com’s business model does not take into consideration the following:

• Hospitality is experiencing rising travel demand and miniscule new supply, which results in increases in all three performance metrics. As reported by STR, in February 2012, which by default is the lowest of the low seasons for most of the country, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy rose 3.5, its ADR was up 4% and RevPAR increased 7.7%.

• With travel demand rising, how many hotels will lower their rates to begin with? Increasing rates over time as occupancy rates rise is the prevailing trend today, not the other way around.

• In addition, booking windows, i.e., how well in advance people book hotels, have shrunk to their lowest point ever, due to the full transparency of the online channel and the exploding mobile channel, where 65%-80% of all mobile hotel bookings are made for the same day!

In other words, Tingo.com’s main selling point – that it will refund the difference to customers if the price of the room they have booked drops after booking – is practically mute and irrelevant.

There is a bigger picture here that involves the fierce battle of the industry with the OTAs. Rising demand means that the OTAs’ merchant commissions are already shrinking due to fierce push back from the major hotel brands and the industry as a whole. Contracts with the OTAs are up for renewal this year and the major hotel brands will be pushing for commissions below 15%. Hilton has already suspended its merchant agreement with Orbitz over commissions, last room availability, etc. Independent hoteliers would not be willing to pay merchant commissions above 20%.

Sooner or later, to counteract decreased merchant commissions and the growth of travel demand as the economy improves, OTAs will be forced to re-institute booking fees that were dropped back in 2009.  How would the Tingo.com business model work when there are non-refundable booking fees involved?

I am not even discussing how the paltry 7%-8% affiliate commission would allow Tingo.com to be a sustainable business venture. The cost of establishing a new travel consumer brand is staggering! In my view, Tingo.com will most probably not “explode” as a new travel site, but linger out there.

Tingo.com is another wrinkle in TripAdvisor’s confused business model:

As discussed, the launch of Tingo.com is a direct affirmation of TripAdvisor’s continued anti-industry and pro-OTA business model. Analysis of this business model clearly shows how confused and misguided TripAdvisor is as a company:

Focusing on a handful of big OTA and Hotel Brand Advertisers

The vast majority of current advertisers on TripAdvisor are big OTAs and a handful of major hotel brands. More than 80% of TripAdvisor revenues come from the “Show Prices” CPC program, which is exclusive to major OTAs and hotel brands.

TripAdvisor’s requirements for minimum advertising spend practically exclude all of the 52,000 U.S. hotel properties from display advertising and the “Show Prices” CPC program on the site. There is no online self-serve campaign management technology to enable micro-campaign management for the highly-fragmented hospitality industry. Compare this to Google AdWords, where any hotel can become an advertiser and launch live paid search campaigns within 1.5 minutes!

At the same time, more than 95% of advertising dollars in hospitality are controlled by the property and at the property level. You can do the math: at a typical 4% from room revenue spend on marketing and advertising and $107.2 billion room revenue in 2011 for the U.S. hospitality industry, the annual advertising budget controlled at the property level is in excess of $4.3 billion! Yet 52,000 U.S. hotels and more than 300,000 hotels worldwide are practically excluded from the main advertising formats on the site.

Focusing on “Show Prices” CPC Program

Over the past few years TripAdvisor has turned its “Show Prices” CPC program into the centerpiece of the website. The “Show Prices” availability/pricing widget dominates the website and is smacked right in the center of any property page on the site. As mentioned, more than 80% of TripAdvisor’s advertising revenue comes from the “Show Prices” CPC program.

There is no doubt that TripAdvisor has carved a niche for itself in the “last mile” of the online travel consumer’s travel planning process. But exactly what portion of this “last mile” does TripAdvisor occupy? Is TripAdvisor considered a hotel pricing/availability research tool like Expedia, Kayak.com, etc. by the traveling public? NO!

TripAdvisor is the largest hotel customer review site: This is how travel consumers have perceived the site since its inception in 2000; this is how TripAdvisor describes and promotes itself. Typically traveler consumers visit TripAdvisor after they have selected the hotel or hotels at which they are planning to stay to read what their peers have said about the hotel or hotels they have already selected.

Let’s face it: TripAdvisor is poorly equipped to handle any of the three main criteria in hotel search and hotel selection: hotel location, price and availability. The mapping capabilities of the site pale in comparison to Google Maps or Expedia’s hotel location maps; the depth of information about any hotel is miniscule compared to any major hotel brand or Expedia; the real time availability and pricing functionality on TripAdvisor is from the 1990s and consists of an avalanche of pop-up screens that flood your browser.

This is why travel consumers do their hotel location, availability and price research on meta-search sites like Kayak.com, via search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, on major hotel brand sites like Marriott or Hilton, and on OTA sites like Expedia. Once they select the hotel at which they would like to stay, become comfortable with the location and price, and check availability, then and only then they go to TripAdvisor to read customer reviews.

In my view, this is the reason why only a few of the visitors to TripAdvisor ever click on the “Show Prices” functionality. Naturally this is proprietary information that is not being disclosed in the public domain, but I believe the “Show Prices” click-through rates (CTR) are far below the similar CTR rates on Expedia, Kayak.com or Marriott.com. In other words, only a small fraction of the total number of visitors click on the “Show Prices” widget, compared to people who click on Expedia.com’s or Marriott.com’s search/availability/price widgets. I do not believe TripAdvisor’s “Show Prices” CTR rate is above 1% of the total number of visitors.

In other words, “Show Prices” serves less than 1% of unique visitors to the site and TripAdvisor is not monetizing the remaining 99%.

In conclusion, I believe Tingo.com is another declaration of TripAdvisor’s misguided and confused anti-industry and pro-OTA business model. By failing to position itself as an industry friend, TripAdvisor is denying itself access to the bulk of advertising dollars in the hospitality industry, controlled at the property level. As for Tingo.com, initiatives like this one further alienate the industry from TripAdvisor and ultimately will weaken further the site’s market position.

Click here to read the entire blog article on HOTELSMag.com, as well as a full selection of Max Starkov’s blog articles on hot industry topics and latest trends in the online channel in hospitality (FREE registration required).

About the Author:

Max Starkov is President & CEO of HeBS Digital (Hospitality eBusiness Strategies), the hospitality industry’s leading direct online channel strategy, full-service digital marketing and website design firm (www.HeBSdigital.com)

HeBS Digital is happy to announce the launch of the Lake Lanier Islands Resort website, www.lakelanierislands.com.

Lake Lanier Islands Resort is an inspiring, exciting destination on the shores of Lake Sidney Lanier. With all-ages activities like boating, horseback riding, and LanierWorld Water Park, the resort is ideal for a relaxing escape for the whole family. Lake Lanier Islands Resort has a variety of comfortable accommodations – ranging from cottage-inspired LakeHouses to spacious Legacy Villas – and 23,000 square feet of space for meetings and events.

HeBS Digital’s award-winning team designed the Lake Lanier Islands Resort using the CMS Premium, HeBS Digital’s proprietary website content management system. HeBS Digital adhered to industry best practices to ensure the new website is both user- and search engine-friendly. The site’s clean, crisp design evokes the beautiful scenery of Lake Lanier, and its tiered navigation provides easy access to the site’s content. The site features digital Meetings and Weddings RFP functionality and an interactive Calendar of Events.

Features of the Lake Lanier Islands Resort Website:

• Easy-to-use tiered navigation
• Social media integration
• RFPs for meetings and weddings
• Website analytics and tracking
• Stay Connected email signup
• Vivid images and comprehensive Visual Gallery
• Interactive Calendar of Events pages
• Search engine optimized for ideal search results placement

HeBS Digital is currently working on ongoing marketing management for Lake Lanier Islands Resort.

Visit the Lake Lanier Islands Resort website.

HeBS Digital received the following IAC awards:

BEST HOTEL AND LODGING EMAIL CAMPAIGN

• New York Palace’s New Year’s Email Campaign

BEST HOTEL AND LODGING INTERACTIVE APPLICATION

• Shell Vacations Hospitality’s Black Friday Travel Sale

“This year, hoteliers face more challenges than ever, and it’s near impossible for a hotelier to distinguish viable strategies from trendy or temporary opportunities. Considered by some hotel marketers as old-fashioned, email marketing still produces significant revenues and excellent ROIs, and we recommend it to all of our clients. These two awards demonstrate that Interactive campaigns such as the Black Friday Travel Sale, combined with tried and true basics like email marketing, are two ‘dos’ in 2012.” said Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital.

The Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards are presented by the Web Marketing Association to honor excellence in online advertising, to recognize the individuals and organizations responsible, and to showcase award-winning Internet advertising. Entries in the Internet Advertising Competition were judged on six elements: creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting and use of the medium.

“This is the third year we have worked with HeBS Digital on the Black Friday Travel Sale campaign, and each year is more successful than the rest. By working with HeBS Digital’s talented team, Shell Vacations Hospitality is able to consistently take this campaign to new heights – in terms of design and more importantly, ROIs” said Shallana Edwards, Director of Internet Marketing for Shell Vacations Hospitality.

About HeBS Digital:

Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital (Hospitality eBusiness Strategies), the hospitality industry’s leading full-service digital marketing and direct online channel strategy firm, based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won more than 180 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.

A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digital’s direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital’s consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

Editorial Contact:
Mariana Mechoso Safer
HeBS Digital
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com
Web: http://www.hebsdigital.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebsdigital
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeBS_NYC
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-ebusiness-strategies

In 2012, the Search Engines Still Rule Hotel Distribution

In 2012, a time focused on new distribution channels, social, local, mobile, and the ever-changing digital marketplace, hoteliers must still remember that the tried and trusted search engines are still the key driver of direct online hotel distribution. Across the HeBS Digital portfolio in 2011, 58% of all traffic, 48% of bookings and 47% of all online revenue came directly from the top three search engines.

From boutiques to brands, resorts to franchises, search engine contribution maintains the strongest share of hotel website traffic and revenue.

Case Study: 2011 Search Engine Contribution of HeBS Digital Clients:

With the search engines maintaining such an important role in the direct online channel, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) continues to be the most efficient means of delivering a targeted marketing message via the online channel, in terms of both traffic generation and revenue production.  Revenue from Internet Advertising increased 23.2% in Q1 and Q2 of 2011 compared to 2010, setting a new record at $14.9 billion. Search Engine Marketing advertising increased by 27% during this period and constituted 49% of the total online marketing revenue compared with 47.5% in 2010.

Across the HeBS Digital portfolio for 2011, the conversion rates from SEM visits were 24% higher than the conversion rate for the hotel websites overall, indicating SEM visits are actually more efficient at generating reservations because of our ability to customize keywords and ad copy to cater to specific customer segments. SEM has proven extremely effective as an online marketing tool, making it highly important to keep campaigns up-to-date with the most sophisticated marketing strategies and best practices to ensure they maintain a high level of productivity.

HeBS Digital has developed 10 SEM Dos and Don’ts to ensure your SEM campaigns are running at peak performance for 2012.

2012 SEM Dos:

1. Optimize Your SEM Campaigns on a Regular Basis: Changes may occur in the hotel’s marketing strategy throughout the course of the year, so it is necessary to periodically evaluate whether your SEM campaigns are consistent with the property’s current marketing objectives. Important elements to consider are:
   • Leisure travelers versus business travelers
   • Weekend stays versus weekday stays
   • Specials/promotions
   • Average length of stay
   • Shift in the Average Daily Rate (ADR)
   • If there are changes in the overall marketing strategy, the SEM campaigns must reflect those marketing shifts. Campaigns, keywords, and ad copy need to be updated to reflect the evolution of the property’s marketing endeavors.

2. Audit Your Feeder Markets: As the economy grows and changes over time, new feeder markets may develop for individual properties, and old feeder markets may wane in importance to your property. It will be vital to perform a Feeder Market Audit to evaluate if the geographic markets that are being targeted by the SEM campaigns are consistent with the traffic of the overall websites. If there are any discrepancies, the SEM campaigns’ geographic settings must be altered to best take advantage of the shift in the markets that are converting for your site.

3. Perform a Budget/Impression Share Audit: As marketing efforts increase the amount of traffic to your website, it will be necessary to evaluate if your current budget is large enough to capture a competitive portion of the impression share. In order to continue to bring new users to the website, budgets must accommodate the organic year-over-year increase in the cost per click (CPC) in the bidding module, as the SEM world becomes more competitive. You must evaluate how much your SEM budget should be increased to maintain a comparable or larger impression share than you held the previous year.

4. Get International Exposure: As the global economy continues to grow, it will be important for hotels to explore potential new markets to expand their business. Setting up international SEM campaigns can be tricky, but there is usually less competition in foreign markets, which will decrease the cost per booking. Targeting English speaking foreign countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia can make the setup and testing process fairly simple. Marketing messages can be tailored to attract inbound non-American English-speaking travelers with specials and promotions to help offset the lower conversion rate associated with long-distance travelers.

• Non-English-speaking markets can be much more complicated. Not only does the ad copy and keyword list need to be translated and transposed to accommodate for the nuances of each language (e.g. Mexican Spanish vs. Argentinian Spanish), but the landing pages must be in that language in order for SEM to be an effective marketing tool. It is very important to research the foreign markets that could potentially generate inbound traffic to your destination and your hotel in order to capture the most qualified traffic.

5. Launch SEM Tablet Campaigns: The exploding usage of tablets like the iPad has created a completely new “tablet” category, which needs to be treated differently and marketed to separately from desktop and mobile devices. Tablet searches represent a hybrid between a mobile search experience and a desktop user website. Until 2011, tablet searches were indistinguishable from Mobile searches, but in 2012, Google bestowed the ability to market to tablet searches separately. This allows advertisers to better optimize their results since mobile campaigns and tablet campaigns can have vastly different user experiences and expectations. Example: Mobile searches typically land on the mobile website, while tablet searches end up on the property’s desktop website or a specially optimized tablet site. By creating separate campaigns, you will be able to better optimize results for mobile and tablet campaigns.

6. Tailor SEM Ad Text According to Device: Since search is being divided into different categories (Desktop, Mobile & Tablet), it will be important to write the ad copy with the targeted device in mind. A smart phone user will be more likely to interact with an ad that recognizes the type of device that the user is employing (e.g. iPhone vs. Android) and promises a continuation of that experience. For example, someone using a smart phone is more likely to click on your ad if the ad explicitly denotes it will take the user to a mobile smart phone page rather than a full desktop site, which is less usable on a mobile browser.

7. Add Google+ Extension: Google+ has recently been extended beyond individual registrations to business pages. These Google+ Business Pages will allow you to build a following similar to Facebook on the Google network for your hotel. You are now able to connect your Google+ Business Page for your property to your Adwords account. Anyone who +1’s the site, the Google+ Business Page, or the ad will appear listed as an extension in the ad along with the total number of +1’s the account has received. This free new feature could potentially give your ads an advantage over those of your competitors.

8. Use Google Phone Tracking: Google now includes call metrics in its Ad Rank calculations. Advertisers will now be able to choose a bid-per-call option that allows them to bid for phone calls (in addition to clicks) when they create Google search ads for computers and tablets. The click-to-call feature assigns a unique phone number to businesses to make call tracking possible. Google has already connected more than 12 million calls for thousands of businesses. The bid and the call volume will factor into an advertiser’s Ad Rank and will impact the position of the online ads. Google has found many businesses value phone calls highly and treat them as leads. The idea behind this new addition to the equation: If an advertiser gets a high volume of phone calls and they bid for the calls, those calls will improve their ad rank and quality score. In this way, advertisers can now tie an offline action to an online advertising search through Google.

9. Perform a SEM Conversion Funnel Analysis:In 2012, analyzing the four-step path from impressions to conversion will become instrumental in the SEM optimization effort. By adding click-to-booking initiated rate and booking initiated-to-booking rate, in addition to the click through rate and conversion rate, you will get a better understanding of the complete booking process, and where your SEM campaigns and landing pages need improvement.

10. Implement Ongoing SEM vs. Total Website Analysis: Comparing the SEM conversion funnel to the Total Website conversion funnel is an interesting way to analyze how effective marketing campaigns are at converting traffic. This will allow you to compare the performance of the SEM campaigns versus the overall website while taking into account extraneous factors such as seasonality and revenue per booking. This analysis will help explain fluctuations due to seasonality, and allow you to adjust budget allocations accordingly to take advantage of low and high seasons throughout the course of the year and make the best use of your marketing funds.

2012 SEM Don’ts:

As helpful as SEM campaigns can be, it is important to avoid making common mistakes that can marginalize your efforts and result in lower ROAS. The following 10 SEM Don’ts are frequently encountered and easily avoidable – keep these tips in mind to make the most of your SEM budget.

1. Don’t Chase the Highest Possible Impression Share Without Considering Profitability: It’s easy to use your impression share metrics as a black-and-white barometer of campaign success, but that approach is shortsighted and fails to recognize the true goal of any digital marketing effort: profitability. While gauging impression share is important, you want to make sure your ads are generating revenue above all else. Even if your ad is appearing for every single relevant search, it needs to lead to conversions to be effective.

2. Don’t Take Weddings, Events & Meetings Campaigns into Consideration When Evaluating Total ROAS: To get a more vivid picture of the effectiveness of your SEM efforts, break down the numbers to isolate weddings and meetings campaigns. Then take a look at your overall ROAS without these weddings and meetings numbers to get a better feel for how your SEM campaigns are performing.

3. Don’t Forget That Different Campaigns Have Different Goals: It’s important to keep in mind that different varieties of SEM campaigns come with different goals and sets of expectations. For instance, when setting up an SEM campaign for transients, you are looking to generate online bookings. Wedding- and meeting-related campaigns ideally lead to RFP form submissions. Restaurant SEM ads should lead to clicks on the menu, phone calls to the restaurant, online reservations, and online leads for events. Mobile campaigns should lead to reservations made via phone call. It is important to adjust your initial expectations of every campaign depending on what realistic end goal you have.

4. Don’t Create a Budget without Accounting for Seasonality and Demand: Remember that no two months are alike when setting SEM budgets. Different travel regions and different varieties of hotel have different high and low seasons. Good examples are beach and ski resorts, family travel destinations, etc. Your SEM budget should be adjusted to reflect not only seasonality, but also travel planning patterns and booking windows i.e. how well in advance your property is typically booked. Don’t waste your budget chasing a high impression share – save your budget for the months that matter. You can use the Google Insights for Search tool to see in which months potential guests are searching for your keyword targets most often.

5. Don’t Direct SEM Ads to Unrelated Landing Pages: Your SEM ad might be beautifully written and contain a rewarding new special that would interest 100 percent of potential guests. But if it doesn’t lead to a landing page that features content related to the keywords in the ad group, you won’t see those clicks convert into bookings. It is recommended that you point SEM ads to specific special offer landing pages with optimized copy instead of calendars or less relevant pages.

6. Don’t Write Ads without Including a Lead Rate or Special Offer:  A SEM ad without a numeric lead rate or a description of a special offer is not nearly as effective as one that clearly broadcasts the benefit the potential guest will receive by clicking the ad. Searchers will be much more likely to click an ad boasting “Weekend Rates From $199” or “$50 Gift Card Giveaway” than “Hit the Ski Slopes This Winter” or “Come Enjoy Summer Fun in the Sun.” Including prices in campaigns also pre-qualifies visitors, bringing guests that are more likely to convert and not waste a click.

7. Don’t Create SEM Campaigns for Keywords without Volume: Google will only approve ads that target keywords with search volume, meaning you need to do some research to find keywords that are both relevant and commonly searched. Oftentimes this means expanding the geographic target from a neighborhood to a city or a small town to a region, or just pursuing a more intuitive keyword term at the expense of specifically matching your keyword and content.

8. Don’t Forget to Create Mobile-Specific Campaigns: Cater to on-the-go searchers by running mobile-specific SEM campaigns that direct users to the mobile-ready version of the website. The vast majority of mobile websites will have a “View Full Website” link for those inclined to access the site’s full functionality. You can make the most of your mobile clicks by sending users to an easy-to-navigate, mobile-ready site instead of a larger full site.

9. Don’t Gauge ROAS Success by Comparing Consecutive Months: A month-over-month decrease in SEM ROAS is not necessarily a negative sign. Hospitality is seasonal by default. The numbers need to be placed in the correct context in order to interpret them properly. Instead of comparing March 2012 ROAS to April 2012 ROAS, take a look at the historical performance of the hotel’s campaigns, going back to April 2011 or April 2010 to get a more demand-neutral glimpse of your campaign’s effectiveness. Compare high-demand months and seasons to those of past years and low-search periods to past terms to paint a clearer picture of your campaign’s productivity. Also, remember to compare ad spend and CPC.

10. Don’t Create Retargeting Campaigns for Pages with Low Traffic: In order for your retargeting campaign to start running, the page the ad links to needs to collect 500-plus visitors. If you create a retargeting campaign for a seldom-visited existing page or a brand new page about a special offer or event, it might take a while for it to be approved and begin running. Instead, run a retargeting campaign pointed to a popular page like the Home page or the Accommodations page and place a banner for the special you want to promote on those pages.

Conclusion

SEM, which has been around since 1997, is still the king of digital marketing and one of the most potent marketing tools in the direct online channel. In this dynamic digital landscape, it is important to stay on top of quickly moving SEM trends, prioritize initiatives that generate more direct online bookings and be flexible enough to continuously adjust your SEM marketing campaigns for optimal, time-sensitive results.

Partner with SEM experts who will prioritize driving direct online revenues for your hotel, and who will keep you up-to-date on best practices and proactively bring forth ideas to generate the highest SEM revenues and ROIs. Work with a team of savvy SEM marketers who will show you new ways to recoup lost opportunities, teach you how to stay on top of changes in the industry, and provide your hotel and team with real value, not just a service.

About the Authors and HeBS Digital

Tara Rattigan is Senior Director, Client Services Dept. and Toby Tornay is Manager, SEM Dept. at HeBS Digital, the industry’s leading full-service hotel digital marketing, SEM, website design and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HeBS Digital.com). Lilia Rangel, Senior SEM Specialist and Asher Fusco, SEO Specialist also contributed to this article.

Since 2001, HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the “best practices” in SEM and hotel digital marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm specializes in helping hoteliers build their direct Internet marketing and distribution strategy, boost the hotel’s Internet marketing presence, establish interactive relationships with their customers, and significantly increase direct online bookings and ROIs.

A diverse client portfolio of top tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from the hotel digital marketing and direct online channel expertise offered by HeBS Digital. Contact HeBS Digital consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.