The Communication Revolution has changed the hotel sales funnel, Jason McDonald and Jay Feitlinger review the four stages of a hotel sales funnel and how hotel managers can optimize their hotel websites and presences to increase onsite bookings.
12. “Every morning when you wake up
you’re a little bit more stupid.”
Dr. Kjell Nordstrom
Source: Dr. Kjell Nordstrom: International Business Thought-Leader, Best
Selling Author, Keynote Speaker
HOW DO YOU KEEP UP?
13. Source: EHMA 2014 Members Survey
71% of EHMA Members
wanted to learn
more about
website
sales funnels
STRATEGY TO DECREASE THE GAP
19. Source: SMI Eye Tracking, www.smivision.com/egts
WHERE DOES THE EYE LOOK?
20. Source: Using Eye Tracking to Obtain a Deeper Understanding of What Drives
Online Hotel Choice - Vol. 14, No. 518 FSepbrteumarbye2r0210414
IMPORTANT DURING BROWSING
21. Source: Using Eye Tracking to Obtain a Deeper Understanding of What Drives
Online Hotel Choice - Vol. 14, No. 518 FSepbrteumarbye2r0210414
IMPORTANT DURING BROWSING
22. QUANTITY & QUALITY
• Properties with at least one photo see an increase of +138% in travel
engagement
• Properties with more than 1,000 photos see an increase of +203% in
travel engagement
Source: http://fredericgonzalo.com/en/2014/12/23/why-visuals-are-key-in-travel-
marketing/
25. According to Google, the average
length in days before a purchase is
24, and visits 21.6 websites before
making a decision
Source; The Smart Hotelier’s Guide to 2015 Digital Marketing Budget
Planning, HeBS Digital
COMPARING. NO BAD DECISIONS
26. Your Online Presence
98.8% of
EHMA
Hotels are
using
Facebook
53% of
EHMA
Hotels have
a defined
strategy or
goals for
Facebook
100% of
hotel
managers
know the
power of
online
reviews
84% of
EHMA
Hotels have
NO digital
review
strategy
Source: EHMA 2014 Members Survey
COMPARING. ONLINE PRESENCE
27. HAVE YOUR OWN PERSONALITY
“Best is not the name of the game anymore, because
the standards have reached a point that you can not
easily make them higher, but I think we’re back to
basics…every hotel…has to show their real
nature…[because] people are searching for
something very specific. So you have to have your
own personality.”
Jacques Mayer
Beau Rivage Hotel
Source: Source: The McKay Interview: Jacques Mayer, Michael McKay is talking to Jacques
Mayer, the fourth generation of his family to run the famous Beau Rivage Hotel in Geneva. 09
December 2013
28. Source; The Smart Hotelier’s Guide to 2015 Digital Marketing Budget Planning, HeBS Dig
Your
Website
• Is your traffic funnel optimized?
• Are you bringing visitors back to your site?
• Do you have a review strategy?
OPTIMIZED TO SELL
36. Booking Process Too Long
Complicated Checkout
Source: http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-booking-abandon-infographic/
Website Visitors Abandon
the Hotel Sales Funnel
38. Payment Issues
Lack of Options
Source: http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-booking-abandon-infographic/
Website Visitors Abandon
the Hotel Sales Funnel
40. Source: Source: Expedia’s CEO defends commission structure, December 16 2013
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com - By Jeff Higley
What would a 29%
increase in online
bookings mean to
your bottom line?
FIXING ISSUES. WORTH THE EFFORT
41. Source: Source: Expedia’s CEO defends commission structure, December 16 2013
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com - By Jeff Higley
• User experience testing ongoing
• Right tools to determine the opportunity
• Someone on your team reading the data
• Booking system should always be
improving
BOOKING. ALWAYS IMPROVING
43. WE CAN HELP
Monika Moser
Director of Rooms & Spa
Hotel Fouquet's Barrière Paris
"Last year Fouquet's Barrière
worked with StringCan Interactive
to look at our online obstacles and
opportunities, the audit StringCan
provided was very in-depth,
actionable and insightful
generating real results."
44. JASON McDONALD
Director of StringCan Europe
that win!
@StringCanEU
stringcaninteractive.fr
jason@stringcaninteractive.com
CEO / Founder
that win!
@StringCanAgency
stringcaninteractive.com
jay@stringcaninteractive.com
JAY FEITLINGER
LET’S CONNECT
Because the members wanted to learn more about this and as you will see the sales funnel of a Hotel Website encompasses the Communication Revolution – so this morning we are going to dive into this. I am going to turn this over to my colleague Jay. (SHOULD YOU SAY BUSINESS PARTNER INSTEAD OF COLLEAGUE?)
Also, we looked at 207 (50%) of EHMA websites and we found areas that needed improvement in almost every site.
Today hotel guests see thousands of messages and choices when they are considering where they want to stay. The brands that win and earn the hotel guest are the ones that understand the buyers journey and engage with them at the right time and place. There are four main phases: browsing to find options to consider, then comparing the options. Then confirm with the top selected options and finally booking. Every person is unique on how they go through these steps with some doing it all in same session and others doing it over days, weeks and even months. I will take you through each of these steps.
In the browsing phase, consumers are looking and researching what hotel options to consider. Often they will start with either Google or an OTA and with the billboard effect will then visit a Hotel website.
Unfortunately the hotel websites are not optimized in a way to get the sale and almost 4 out of 10 people leave the website to browse somewhere else. The OTA’s are winning this war because they not only invest billions of dollars in marketing but also invest in their technology. Expedia last year invested over $500 million in their website and technology.
A SaleCycle surveyed 1,000 consumers to see why they abandoned the hotel site
For example, one tool we often use for our clients to really understand user behavior is heatmapping. In this example, one of our clients invested a lot of money rebuilding their site to see their abandonment rate get worse. We found that it was due to how they were engaging with the user and sending them to the wrong page on the site. In this example, the image on the left shows the users 1st visit and then the image on the right shows their 3rd visit. This area marked with orange is the main call to action and was not actively used until the 3rd plus visit. Heatmapping allows us to really see how users are navigating through a website and where there is validation of data where improvements can be made so the user does not leave our hotel website.
Another recommendation is in person testing. You can select users to visit with you and show them current or planned website changes and get their honest feedback. With this approach you want to make sure you test this with a diverse set of your ideal clients ranging from new to your brand to repeat hotel guest and different demographics. You may find that a repeat older guest has different needs than a new younger guest.
You can also look at not just user opinion and clicktracking but eye mapping to see where they are looking at your site. The technology has become extremely advanced to scan the eye to see what they are looking at. And then testing out call to actions tied to the eye movement to get the user to click on where you want them to.
A study from Cornell showed that during the browsing phase name, image price and ratings were the most important elements hotel guests are looking for.
A study from Cornell showed that during the browsing phase name, image price and ratings were the most important elements hotel guests are looking for.
When I first started 15 years ago in digital marketing internet speeds made it very hard to show high quality images or video. With the advancements in technology and internet speeds users have been trained to rely on images to browse for the right hotel for them.
I would like to take it from here
Prices too High
Want to Compare More
A SaleCycle surveyed 1,000 consumers to see why they abandoned the hotel site
I would go into what Jay Baer was talking about how if we make a bad decision we’re lazy because we have so much information.
TripAdvisor is by far the dominant source for online reviews in the hospitality space, with more than 75 million reviews generated by some 32 million users.4 In terms of the hotel choice process, as reported by Market Metrix,5
A 2012 Cornell University Study showed that if a hotel increases its review scores by 1 point on a 5-point scale (e.g., from 3.3 to 4.3), the hotel can increase its price by 11.2 percent and still maintain the same occupancy or market share.
Jacques Mayer owns and runs Beau Rivage Hotel and is iconic – he said this on the radio on the show of Michael McKay who is hosting the conference. We should use this quote to show we know him and that what he said it true online too – you have to have a brand that shows your personality.
It is critical in the comparing phase that you are optimizing your online presence. Once you get the prospective hotel guest to consider you, you want to make sure your funnel is optimized. Everything from how you are attracting hotel guests with your message, the landing pages you optimize to answer their questions and for those prospective hotel guest
Are your traffic funnels optimized? (Google, Reviews, Social Media, OTA’s, Landing Pages)
Are you bringing visitors back to your site? (Remarketing, Retargeting, Email Retargeting)
Do you have a review strategy? (Survey follow up, email request)
Talk about making them feel good about the pricing
Need to Check with
Other Travelers
A SaleCycle surveyed 1,000 consumers to see why they abandoned the hotel site
The next 10 slides are pointing out the OTAs are pushing this because they understand their audience – you need you understand yours –this sales stuff might rub them the wrong way but you need to understand your audience to make them understand your process is easy and to put some pressure on them.
The next 10 slides are pointing out the OTAs are pushing this because they understand their audience – you need you understand yours –this sales stuff might rub them the wrong way but you need to understand your audience to make them understand your process is easy and to put some pressure on them.
You need to touch on the brand issues – there are elegant ways to do this that will talk to your audience. These are all members sites – see below – most sites don’t have this sort of language.
Roccoforte Hotels Group - https://reservations.roccofortehotels.com (England)
Aqualux hotel http://www.aqualuxhotel.com/en/ (Bardolino, Italy)
Movenpick - http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/ (Where we are staying – Good job Nicholas !
Recall the testing we discussed at the beginning.
Over the past 15 years we have completed hundreds of client audits and have created a 5 step process that we would recommend your internal team follow.
If you want our team’s help we can defintely complete this for your team.