Hotel operators, who recall past cycles when booming growth came after business downturns “have to get over the idea that things are going to get back to the way they were,” said Lalia Rach, the dean of the hospitality program at the Tisch Center.
Every couple of months, I like to take the temperature of the [...]

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The current economy is a bumpy trail for many travel marketers. But Backroads is finding a clear path thanks to postcard mailings using personal URLs and other digital enhancements.
The high-end adventure travel company — which markets trips typically costing between $2,500 and $4,500 — first tried the tactic last winter with a 30,000-piece campaign that [...]

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There are numerous factors that will determine whether a hotel website is great. Such factors like simplicity of navigation, easy understandability of information and powerful functionality could all affect the user experience which in the end will be the deciding report card of the hotel website.
Hotels often take great extend in trying to provide the [...]

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A report produced quarterly by Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has found that year-to-September hotel performance fell across Europe. Revenue per available room (revPAR) performance in European hotels was down 19.2% to €58. This decline was driven by a 12.3% drop in average room rates to €108, while occupancy levels fell to 61.6%.
Commenting, Alex Kyriakidis, [...]

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A healthy skepticism can be a good thing when it comes to social media, as it is a new idea for most hotels and destinations. But for the general public, your target audience, social media has become a part of everyday Internet life. The benefits of social media are real, abundant and measureable.
The Internet has [...]

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Expedia and other OTAs have long touted what has become known in the industry as “the billboard effect” whereby they have claimed that positioning on their sites generates not only bookings through the OTA but also a halo effect on the hotels’ own sites by generating brand awareness.
Non-loyal consumers start many of their searches at [...]

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In Ipsos Travel Barometer polling released this month, the number of respondents saying they’ll do more leisure travel in the next 12 months slightly topped the number saying they’ll do less, 19 percent to 15 percent.
In many cases, this isn’t just wishful thinking by consumers who are sick of being stuck at home. “What we [...]

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The biggest theme for those trips still on for 2009 was spending less money and researching online more—two factors that are probably connected, since respondents thought Web research was the single best way to save on travel.

Money-saving attitudes, unsurprisingly, have an effect on what kinds of ads are most likely to reach consumers. Asked which [...]

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There are few things more important to hoteliers right now than finding ways to increase bookings. Hotels’ occupancy and RevPAR, always key metrics for the industry, are in desperate need of revitalization.
There are few things more important to hoteliers right now than finding ways to increase bookings. This is evident everywhere, from large chains advertising [...]

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