The new category will be added to the industry’s official Five Star Rating System, the Star Service, which is owned and operated by ProfessionalTravelGuide.com. Star Service developed the star ratings system in 1939 and is the most stringent of ratings systems for the hotel industry. The Star Service ratings system is widely considered the industry [...]

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Airlines reported sharp declines in passenger traffic for September. Hotel occupancy rates are down, and corporate travel managers are demanding new concessions on previously negotiated deals. Cancellations are starting to rise even at four- and five-star hotels, which previously seemed immune to the economy’s travails.
Months ago, the nation’s airlines, which are grounding some of their [...]

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It is often heard that one of the best ways for a hotel to be successful and stand out in the increasingly competitive hospitality industry is to offer customized services. The question is how to approach customers and learn what they want and how they want it.
The answer is: by customizing services.
When a guest lacks [...]

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In 2007, more than 30 percent of bookings came from direct web bookings — a trend expected to grow as consumers make higher-value purchases online.
This and other key Internet marketing trends were the focus of discussion for more than 200 European participants in three regional seminars hosted in September by TravelCLICK, the leader in hotel [...]

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Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency servicing the hospitality industry, has published the hospitality industry’s first Web 2.0 Social Media User’s Guide. The guide serves to educate hoteliers on how to proactively establish and manage hotel profiles on the leading Social Media websites Facebook, Wikipedia, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter, PhotoBucket and others.
This comprehensive user’s [...]

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Cleanliness, Quiet and Customer Service Top Three Issues for Travelers
80 Percent of Travelers Concerned about Bedbugs
TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel community, today announced the results of its hotel survey of more than 2,200 travelers worldwide. Ninety-two percent of respondents said they are planning to stay at a hotel or B&B in the next 12 months. [...]

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As a hotel, one of the most difficult aspects of marketing is finding your target audience. A hotel can satisfy the needs of many different demographics, and simply marketing to the general public is not as effective as marketing to specific groups of people.
Your chances of success increase dramatically if your marketing is specific to [...]

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The UK remains the single strongest performing market in terms of online travel expenditure achieving nearly double the online sales of its closest contender Germany, according to the new European Online Travel Report 2008 recently published by EyeforTravel. The size of the UK online travel market is reported to have grown 18% on the previous [...]

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It is imperative that we focus on new strategies based upon changing habits in the consumer’s travel buying behavior. The question is how will the implementation of these strategies be measured in order to evaluate their effectiveness?
The hotel industry in general has not been as systematic as many industries in goal setting and measuring the [...]

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