7 Super Travel Marketing Posts: Hospitality Marketing Link Digest

Welcome back, Big Thinkers, to another weekly Hospitality Marketing Link Digest. This week, I’ve rounded-up 7 super travel marketing posts for you to peruse. What’s say we get on with the list? Here you go:

1. Skift recently held its first “forum” in New York City, a conference Wendy Perrin called “the TED talks of travel.” Well, much like TED, they’re now sharing the videos from each presentation, including this great talk about the future of travel marketing according to Starwood. Plus, they’ll be posting videos from all the talks here.
2. While we’re on the topic of marketing — though, when aren’t we around here? — the great Vikram Singh asks, “Do You View Hotel Marketing as a Cost or an Investment?” Guess which one he thinks you ought to do? (Hint: It’s the same one I think you should do, too).
3. Mobile Commerce Daily talks about how Marriott seeks mobile contextual moments that matter. Interesting read. This Expedia research that shows 28% of guests have booked a hotel on mobile underscores why Marriott’s putting so much emphasis on mobile. And the continuing growth of mobile represents one of the biggest trends you’ll see heading into 2015. Stay tuned for more on this topic for sure.
4. More mobile madness of which you should be aware: Marketing Charts reports that mobile neared 40% of organic search traffic in Q3. That shift helps explain what’s happening with Google, and could help prevent the same thing from happening to you.
5. One last bit of mobile news (for this week, anyway), is this rundown of end-to-end mobile experiences for the new generation of hotel guests from Hotel Marketing. There are some serious demographic realities driving mobile commerce growth that you really ought to pay close attention to as they’ll drive your business realities for the next decade-plus.
6. Interesting partnership news this week as Yelp added hotel reservations to its list of booking services, with the help of Hipmunk. Given Yelp’s strength in local and mobile search — a trend I’ve been watching for a while — it will be interesting to see whether this drives Hipmunk up your list of OTA partners in the coming months.
7. Finally, this past week I took a look at why attribution modeling matters for your hotel in 2015 as part of my regular Travel Tuesday series. Check it out when you get a chance.

If you’re looking for more link goodness to get you through this week, check out these 6 amazing travel marketing posts, some hotel marketing trends for the year ahead, and the rest of the E-commerce Link Digest series here.

If you’re interested in learning even more about the future of hospitality e-commerce and marketing via the social, local, mobile web, register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” Developed specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons can help your business adapt to the changing guest environment. You can get your free copy of the report here.

And, why not take a minute to review the tips from my recent presentation Digital Marketing Directions: Three Trends Shaping 2014 Hospitality Internet Marketing? I’ve presented this talk to a number of hospitality and travel-related organizations and you might find it valuable for your business, too:

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 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