Webinar: Selling Hotel Rooms to the Video Generation, March 23rd, 2:00pm Eastern/11:00am Pacific

Posted on March 11, 2010, 2:58 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

Register for this Complimentary Webinar to Learn What Every Hotelier Needs to Know about using Online Video to Appeal to Different Generations of Travel Shoppers.

On the Web, on phones, on iPods—video is everywhere. There’s a common misconception that twenty- and thirty-somethings are doing all of the online video watching—but they’re not the only ones!

Register now

Michigan State Professor of Hospitality Business, Bonnie Knutson, will talk about the explosion of online video and how the one-to-many model of mass media has been replaced by the many-to-many model.

Dr. Knutson will be joined by New Castle Hotels & Resorts Director of Media & Advertising, Bonny Pope, who will provide her insights and real world examples on the benefits of video. James Hackett, the general manager of Portland, Maine’s Hilton Garden Inn, will show you how his hotel is using New Castle ideas to bring travelers to his property and boost bookings.

Register now

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Dare to Be Different

Posted on March 10, 2010, 3:24 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

“You can differentiate on anything… but you must differentiate on something!” states Bonnie J. Knutson, Professor at Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality Business with work featured in industry publications as well as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN and NPR.

Online, most hotels appear undifferentiated to travel shoppers who want to know: what makes one hotel in their consideration set different or better than the other comparables?

“In a business environment filled with countless competing hotel brands, the only way you can really win big is by making an emotional connection with your guests. In other words, you have to capture their hearts. Lists of features and benefits alone cannot differentiate your brand and drive revenues anymore,” says Knutson.

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Online Travel Content is in Need of a Makeover

Posted on March 10, 2010, 2:29 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

According to a September 2009 Forrester Research report, Poor Content Could Cost Travel eBusiness Money, hotels are particularly vulnerable to losing money due to inadequate online content.

Travelers have had enough of the generic, poorly organized, and confusing written and visual content on travel sites.

“Just half of US online leisure hotel guests are satisfied with the written descriptions and visual content they find online for hotel accommodations and public areas. This affects the bottom line: 38% of US online hotel guests say they avoid staying at certain hotels because the Web site lacks the photos, video, or written content that would make them feel comfortable.”

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Merchandising University – Evaluating Your Online Presence

Posted on March 10, 2010, 2:23 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

According to Forrester Research, 38% of US online hotel guests — 47.5 million people — avoid staying at hotels that they can afford because they don’t see photos, video, or written content that would make them feel comfortable. These guests are considered ‘content-sensitive’ travelers. They are “young, quality-focused travelers who take more trips and spend more on leisure travel annually than other travelers.” You could be losing out on bookings from this segment of premium guests because your online content isn’t up to snuff.

Here’s a quick merchandising check-up based on industry best practices that will help you identify how well you are merchandising your hotel online. Answer the following questions in relation to your own website as well as your listings on third-party sites.

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Better merchandised hotels get more bookings…

Posted on March 10, 2010, 1:55 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

That’s why visual merchandising needs to be added to every hotelier’s online strategy.

A successful online strategy should be focused on both driving traffic to websites, but also converting it when they arrive. SEO, PPC and many Social Media activities are primarily focused on driving traffic and creating awareness online, while visual merchandising is what helps convert traffic and close the sale.

According to Forrester Research, 38% of US online hotel guests — 47.5 million people — avoid staying at hotels that they can afford because they don’t see photos, video, or written content that would make them feel comfortable.

These guests are considered ‘content-sensitive’ travelers. They are “young, quality-focused travelers who take more trips and spend more on leisure travel annually than other travelers.” You could be losing out on bookings from this segment of premium guests because your online merchandising efforts aren’t up to snuff.

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Thinking Beyond Distribution to Merchandising

Posted on March 10, 2010, 1:44 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

Visual Merchandising Lessons from a Successful Online Retailer

An interesting point is made in the TravelCom 2009 Keynote – “There’s No Room for Maybe”: “cross-selling isn’t merchandising” and for too long, the travel industry has been thinking of distribution as putting inventory into channels and NOT about merchandising. Stating that the travel industry could benefit from observing what is going on in other industries, citing examples of successful online retailers, particularly J.Crew.

When you explore the J.Crew website, you will see how they effectively merchandise even the simplest items. Take a men’s white dress shirt, for example. Click here to see how they provide multiple images showing specific details with the option to zoom in alongside a detailed written description that speaks to the differentiating details that cannot be conveyed visually.

J.Crew takes what seems like an average white dress shirt and merchandises it with visual and written content that helps the shopper understand what makes it better than the comparables and why it’s worth the price.

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Page Position: How to Optimize Conversions Online Using OTAs

Posted on March 8, 2010, 4:24 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

In this video interview with Jean Francois Mourier, Founder and CEO of RevPAR Guru you will learn about page positioning and how you can optimize your conversions online using OTAs.

Jean Francois reveals that:

- OTAs should be seen as “Googles” for hotels because travel shoppers use them like search engines
- Lowering prices to get to the top of the first page is not good for RevPAR
- Hotels listed at the top of the second page can get sales at higher prices

Watch this episode - Page Position: How to Optimize Conversions Online Using OTAs

Subscribe to VTV Channel to be notified when new interviews with Jean Francois and other industry experts go live.

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Online Hotel Marketing & Merchandising Strategies for Success – VFM Leonardo Newsletter

Posted on March 5, 2010, 3:02 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

The purpose of this newsletter is to keep you informed about what’s going on in the travel industry and the latest online merchandising best practices for hotels. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
The VFM Leonardo Team

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Feature Video
The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process

Travel shoppers use online travel agencies (OTAs) more for research and comparison than booking. Hotels that are listed on OTAs see increased reservations on their own sales channels (call centers, booking engines, etc.). Learn how to use these marketing vehicles to increase conversions on your sales channels. Watch this episode »

Interview with Chris Anderson from Cornell University on VTV Channel

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Feature Article
Electronic Marketing…The Great Hotel Equalizer … And You Can Do It Without Going Broke

For many independent hotels, electronically generated sales are the only viable tools to compete with franchised hotels. Yet, there are still many independent hoteliers who think that volume electronic sales are out of reach, too costly or too complicated to implement. Perhaps the most frequently asked question I hear is “I know about electronic sales, but where do I start?”… Read the article »

By Neil Salerno, hotelmarketingcoach.com

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New Video: The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process

Posted on March 1, 2010, 3:07 pm, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

Featuring: Chris Anderson, Assistant Professor at Cornell School of Hotel Administration

Travel shoppers use online travel agencies (OTAs) more for research and comparison than booking. Hotel listings on OTAs influence a much larger share of transactions. In fact, hotels that are listed on OTAs see increased reservations on their own sales channels (call centers, booking engines, etc.), according to the results of Anderson’s recent study The Billboard Effect.

Anderson offers tips on how to use these marketing vehicles to increase conversions. Learn the answer to the question: “What can I do to increase conversions?”

Watch this episode: The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process

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Visuals of Hotel Wedding Venues on OneWed.com Powered by VFM Leonardo

Posted on February 25, 2010, 11:11 am, by VFM Leonardo and received No Comments ».

OneWed.com, the ultimate online source for the truth in wedding planning, is now part of the VNetwork™ – the largest online visual content distribution network for the global travel industry. VFM Leonardo hotel customers listed on OneWed will now be able to better merchandise their hotels with content (photos, virtual tours, videos and written descriptions) in VFM Leonardo’s embedded Multimedia Viewer to attract more wedding and honeymoon bookings.

“As the ultimate online source for wedding planning, we are pleased to have multimedia content available on OneWed making it easier for couples to research wedding venues,” said Jennifer Napier, VP of Marketing, OneWed.

“With a niche website like OneWed.com as part of the VNetwork, we are giving hotels that invest in online merchandising the opportunity to attract more wedding and honeymoon bookings,” said Paolo Boni, President and CEO, VFM Leonardo.

Get the full story »

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