5 Fantastic Hotel Marketing Posts You Won’t Want to Miss This Week: Hospitality Marketing Link Digest

Spring has arrived, and with it, the hope for a great spring and summer booking season. Your success during this season depends on developing a keen understanding what’s happening in the overall distribution and digital marketing marketplace. We’ve rounded up these 5 fantastic hotel marketing posts you won’t want to miss this week to help you do just that. Enjoy:

1. Leading off, this past week’s Travel Tuesday post explored why Apple might choose Yelp as its go-to search engine. Now, I admit it’s a real “wild-card” prediction (in fact, I’m reasonably confident Apple will stick Google); but it’s worth paying attention to Apple’s, Yelp’s, and Priceline’s moves here—to say nothing of Google’s—as they’ll likely shape travel search over the next couple of years.
2. Hotel Marketing has an interesting piece that explains how Expedia’s extending its mobile dominance. Tnooz also breaks down the ongoing battle between Expedia and Priceline for market dominance. I tweeted that my money’s on Priceline at the moment. Why? Because they seem to have a more comprehensive strategy for helping guests all throughout the browsing, booking, and traveling experience versus Expedia’s “just get bigger” approach. But, of course, time will tell.
3. Tnooz highlights fascinating research that shows among America’s millennials who travel, half have spouses and children. It seems the world’s youngest adults are growing up. This is important, given the serious connection between Millennials and their mobile devices as noted in this week’s E-commerce Link Digest:
   

   “eMarketer says that the path to purchase starts and ends on smartphones for UK Millennials. Given that No, Millennials never put down their phones and that we continue to reach various mobile and Millennial milestones, I suspect it’s not just a UK-based trend.”

   Based on Tnooz’s report, I also suspect this is going to affect travel in a big, big way in the months ahead.

4. In case you missed it, check out this at HSMAI’s 2015 Digital Marketing Strategy Conference from the other day. Really good stuff.
5. And, finally, Adobe has a great collection of the 5 top mobile marketing tips from travel and hospitality industry leaders, which makes for a nice way to round out this week’s list.

There you have it, Big Thinkers, 5 fantastic hotel marketing posts you won’t want to miss this week. Be sure to read them all and be ready for the best spring and summer seasons we’ve seen in years.

And if you’re looking for even more of the best hospitality marketing advice and insights then don’t miss these “7 Hot Hotel Marketing Insights,” these “5 Amazing Travel Marketing Posts for You,” “The 6 Best Travel Marketing Posts This Past Week,” and these “6 Totally Brilliant Travel Marketing Posts,” from our hospitality marketing link digests (part of the ongoing E-commerce Link Digest series).

Want to learn even more about how customers changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing? Be sure an register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You might also want to take a moment to review the slides from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions 2015: Three Key Trends Driving Your Hotel Marketing Next Year” here:

Finally, you might also enjoy some of our past coverage of the social, local, mobile web and what it means for your business, including:

• Holy Crap! Mobile’s Even Bigger Than You Thought
• How to Use Emotion and Storytelling in Digital Marketing
• 4 Lessons You Need to Know from Google’s Affluent Traveler Report
• What’s the State of Hotel Reputation Management?
• 10 Essential Lessons Learned From 2014 HSMAI’s Digital Marketing Strategy Conference
• What in the World are Priceline and TripAdvisor Up To?
• It’s Time You Take Mobile Seriously. Here’s Why
• What Expedia’s Leaders Can Teach You About Digital Strategy
• The 4 Rules of Social Marketing for Hotel Marketers