At the 2011 Eye for Travel Social Media Conference in San Francisco last week, social media and mobile were top of mind. But the real overarching theme was content. Almost every company that was on a panel or presented, spoke about and stressed the importance of good content, especially visual content and video in particular. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Henry Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research: We filter our consumer research for business and leisure travelers. Within business travelers, we have the ability to identify business travelers as managed and unmanaged travelers, and further identify who use corporate booking engines to make their reservations versus making their own arrangements (we find that [...]
In this episode, Henry Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research discusses the role online travel agencies and similar sites in the travel planning and hotel marketing process. Watch it now to learn why OTAs are: More than just booking engines Great sources of discovery, advice and learning for travel shoppers Opportunities to show why [...]
Join Vice President and Principal Analyst for Forrester Research Henry Harteveldt as he explores the topic of “eBusiness for Hoteliers – Panacea or Pain?” with a specific focus on the role of visual content. In this episode, you will learn about the role of visual content in online travel shopping as well as: Helping travel [...]
Join Henry H. Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research as he explores the topic of eBusiness for Hoteliers – Panacea or Pain? with a specific focus on the “content-sensitive” segment of online travelers.
The online travel planning process is one that often involves research on multiple websites and consideration of a number of factors. Learn why hotel content (primarily visual) plays a significant role in driving bookings.
