6 Important Hotel Marketing Posts from the Past Week: Hospitality Marketing Link Digest

Hey, Big Thinkers. Hope you don’t mind if we skip the setup this week and get you right into these 6 important hotel marketing posts from the past week. Enjoy:

1. Tnooz says that using mobile devices for travel still looks like a young person’s game. No doubt about it. Poor usability represents one way we’re holding back adoption of mobile commerce among hotel guests. In fact, Phocuswright says that OTA’s are beating hotels — yet again — with mobile. Seems like it’s long past time to get on the front-side of this problem and treat our guests on mobile as well as we do when they’re on-property.
2. While we’re talking about mobile and usability, remember that it’s not “mobile first.” it’s “customer first.” Hotel marketers in particular ought to understand that better htan most. And don’t miss these 6 key mobile posts for hotel marketers for some additional insights on how to help guests throughout their customer journey.
3. Another Tnooz article further underscores the problems associated with poor usability and focus on customer experience online, noting that hotels websites creak along and face Google search penalty as a result.
4. Travel Weekly reports that Expedia’s pay-for-positioning program riles hotel trade group, to say nothing of individual hotels feel about the program. I’ll have a lot more about this in the regular Travel Tuesday post later this week, but it’s one more example of the hidden factor OTA’s use to get between you and your guests as well as one proof of what the Expedia-Orbitz deal means for your hotel. Stay tuned for more here.
5. My latest column for Hotel News Now explains why hotel marketing success depends on personalization, which makes a fantastic companion piece to this presentation about using data to put personalization to work for your property. Be sure to check ’em both out.
6. Finally, you won’t want to miss these 7 sensational marketing and distribution insights: the top posts of February, 2016 that we rounded-up for you.

If you’re looking to learn even more about how changing guest behavior shapes hospitality marketing, e-commerce, and distribution, 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 2016: The Key Trends Driving Your Hotel Marketing Next Year” here:

Finally, you will definitely want to check out some of our past coverage of the mobile, local, social web and how to make it work for your hotel, including:

• “5 Key Facts About Mobile, Millennials, and Hotel Marketing”
• “How Safe Are Independent Hotels from Airbnb?”
• “The Big Myth About Digital Strategy.”
• “Digital Marketing Directions 2016: Key Trends Driving Your Hotel Marketing Next Year”
• “Huge List of Lessons Learned at HSMAI’s Digital Marketing Strategy Conference”
• “Are Hotel Brands Doomed?”
• “Trends in Hospitality Digital Marketing for 2016”