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BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that the project report titled performance management bonafide work of Mr.Syed
Shahul hamid Reg no: who carried out the work under my supervision. Certified further that to
the best of my knowledge the work reported herein does not form part of any other project
report or dissertation on the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier
occasion on this or any other university/institution.

Signature of guide

Name and official address of the guide

Place:

Date:
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DECLARATION

I SYED SHAHUL HAMID student of Master of business administration in hospitality

management and catering science studies, from CHENNAIS AMIRTA IIHM, hereby
declare that i have successfully completed this project on Hotel Sales and Marketing
Key Trends and Issues in academic year 2018-2020. The information incorporated in
this project is true and original to the best of our knowledge.

(SHAHUL HAMID)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgements My endeavours in this project would not have been possible without the
considerate support and help of many individuals and organizations. The internship opportunity
I had with Fairfield by Marriott, Bengaluru was a great chance for learning and professional
development. I take the opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. I am highly
indebted to Fairfield by Marriott Bengaluru for their guidance and constant supervision as well
as for providing necessary information regarding the project. I would like to express my
gratitude towards my parents who stood by me with all their moral and ethical support, as
always. I am also grateful for having a chance to meet so many wonderful people and
professionals who led me through this internship period. I extend my sincere thanks to Mr.
Nihal Kurian (Director of Sales and Marketing), Mr. Tarun Punj (Account Sales Manager), Mr.
Keshav Singh Barhath (Sales Executive) and Mr. Aakash (Reservation Executive) for their
continuous guidance and supervision to help me make this project successful and a learning
experience for life. I would also like to express my special gratitude to Mr. Nihal Kurian,
Director of Sales & Marketing for giving me all the required attention, guidance and time out
of his demanding schedule. I am grateful to Dr. Venkataraman Subrahmanyam (Campus Head
CAIIHM), and Mrs. Shanti Ramesh Babu (MBA Co-Ordinator CAIIHM) for their unwavering
support during the entire course of this project work. They have been a great source of
inspiration for me.
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ABSTRACT
This project aims to discuss the key trends and issues that are currently impacting sales and
marketing within the hotel industry. This particular sector has been transformed over recent
years, by advances in technology which in turn have changed consumer’s buying habits.

The basis for this reflection and its consequent questioning lies on the unavoidable
structural changes which characterize the awakening of the 21st century and which are
determining factors for the mutation of the macro environment of societies in general and
tourism business in particular Generally speaking it is possible to state that we are facing a
new set of transformations which have made present everyday life more global, uncertain
and dynamic.

The report begins by discussing the main processes in sales and marketing, and providing
up-to-date examples of sales and marketing programmes within the industry. The report
also gives examples of the sales and marketing structures and strategies of the leading
global hotel chains.

Distribution channels that are used by hotels are discussed, with particular reference to the
online channels that are becoming increasingly important. The web and mobile technology
are reviewed in depth with industry examples helping to highlight the main issues. Social
media, one of the key issues affecting the industry at current is examined in detail,
considering key media and their impact upon the marketing of hotels. Another increasingly
important aspect of marketing is evaluated, that of hotel review sites. Both revenue
management and brand management are explained, before the report moves to discuss
loyalty programmes. The final section of the report presents the key trends and issues that
impact on the marketing function, and will look at multi-channel management, marketing
in a social, local and mobile (SoLoMo) world, the advent of Google into the travel market
place and what Big Data will mean to the hotel industry.

The exponential development and increased dependence of technology in the context of the
present society place it as the central paradigm of the social and economic development and
thus changing the limits of ability and means of production. Considering its impact on the
lifestyle and communication of the population, the internet is probably one of the most
important elements of this revolution. It has deeply changed the notion of time, shortening
reality and establishing new lines of spatial, time and management organization.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Industry Profile..............................................................................................11
1.1 Hospitality and Tourism Industry. ................................................................ 11
1.2 Current Status in The Industry. ..................................................................... 10
1.3 Current Trends in Hospitality Industry. ........................................................ 11
1.4 Working in the Hospitality Industry.............................................................. 12
1.5 Company Profile ........................................................................................... 12
1.6 Company History. ......................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER 2: SALE AND MARKETING: THE BASICS

2.0 Marketing. .................................................................................................... 18

2.1 Marketing Process ........................................................................................ 18

2.2 Marketing in Hotel Industry..........................................................................20

2.3 Segmentation of Hotel Industry. ................................................................... 20

2.4 Market Strategy in Hotel Industry. ................................................................ 21

2.5 Digital Marketing in Hotel Industry. ............................................................. 23

CHAPTER 3: DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

3.1 Types of Distribution Channel ....................................................................... 24

3.2 Strategy of Distribution...................................................................................26

CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

4.1 Application of Social Media for Hotel .......................................................... 35

4.2 Trends and Issues in Social Media..................................................................37

CHAPTER 5: Marriott Sales

5.1 Sales Strategy

5.2 Re Active

5.3 Pro Active

5.4 Reservations
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CHAPTER 7: GUEST REVIEW SITES

6.1 Hotel Review Websites .................................................................................. 42

6.2 Communication Trend in Hotel Technology. ................................................ 45

6.3 Revenue management .................................................................................... 47

6.4 The Impact Of Guest Reviews On Trip Advisor Hotels” ............................. 54

6.5 Conclusion. .................................................................................................... 54

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TABLE OF FIGURE
Serial No. Title Page No.
1 Fairfield by Marriott 13
Portfolio
2 Fairfield by Marriott Brands 14
3 Five Step Model of 19
Marketing Process
4 Bases of Market 20
Segmentation
5 Types of Distribution 26
Channels
6 Guest Review Cycle 37
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TABLE OF CHART
Serial No. Title Page No.
1 Difference between Booking 33
Behaviour per Country
2 OTA Revenue 34
3 Active Social Media 49
Channels
 Page 10 of 87

LIST OF TABLE
Serial No. Title Page No.
1 Key Social Media Statistics. 40-41
2 Key Application for Social 44
Media Channel Platform.
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INTRODUCTION

1.0 Industry Profile

1.1 HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM INDUSTRY

Travel is often considered everyone’s favourite pastime. Thus, it is no wonder that

many consider the hospitality industry to be one of the world’s biggest industries. Some could
say the hospitality industry makes the world go round. Perhaps, that’s a bit of an exaggeration,
but it cannot be denied that the hospitality industry plays a critical role in world business, travel
and history. The hospitality industry is a service industry that has encompasses many different
branches of business including lodging, restaurants, cruises, theme parks and others segments
related to tourism. Many of the different branches are interrelated and directly influence each
other. The success or failure of one branch directly influences the success or failure of another.
The term Hospitality means the cheerful
welcoming of people, who may be known or may be strangers. From the beginning, hospitality
has been an important element in enriching experiences of guests through its consistent service
quality. They further elaborate that it includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, houseboats, catering
establishments, bed and breakfast outlets, casinos, clubs, lounges and bars.
1.2 CURRENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY

The Indian hotel industry is a highly divided one, with a large number of small and unorganized
players accounting for the major portion. Some of the main stakeholders in the organized
segment include Indian Hotel Company (Taj group of hotels, The East India Company (Oberoi
group of hotels), the ITC Welcomgroup Hotels, the Leela group of hotels (Hotel Leela Venture
Ltd).
There is high seasonality in the Indian hospitality
industry, with the demand peaking during the months of October to April. The monsoon period
is generally the off-season. It was observed that Indian hoteliers made most of their money in
the December and March quarters. However, one can see this trend changing in the past few
years. To boost occupancy during the lean months and thereby generate revenue, hotels have
introduced various offerings, such as targeting the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences
and Exhibitions/Expositions) segment and offering them attractive packages.
1.3 CURRENT TRENDS IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Contemporary needs, demands and desires of a tourists customers

(increased need for security and preservation of health; emphasis on ecology and healthy food;
pure nature stay; growing demand for adventure activities and excitement; convention facilities
and incentive offerings; visits to towns, big sports, cultural, religious, business events; new
travel motivation) have led to the emergence of new trends in hospitality offering design.
Current hospitality trends include:
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1.3.1 Wellness and spa hotels

Release from the stress and desire to improve the quality of life has led to the emergence of
wellness and spa hotels. Business philosophy of wellness and spa hotels include face and body
care, health promotion with various wellness and spa methods, mental training and special
wellness diet. Some counties with developed tourism are developing wellness and spa tourism,
while some tourist destinations are gradually being profiled as wellness and spa destinations.

1.3.2. Boutique hotels

Boutique hotel is a term lately heard very often in demands of the world famous jetsetters and
tourist with high purchasing power. Typical boutique hotels include originally decorated
interior, specially designed rooms and suites furnished with a lot of style and detail, exclusive
lounge bar, excellent range of food and beverages, and hotel capacity is between 10 to 15
rooms. Due to their succession the market, some well-known international hotel chains have
also developed boutique hotels under its brand (W Hotels, Small Luxury Hotels of the World).
‘Boutique hotel does not have to be rebuilt, it does not have to be a new building, it can be
converted old buildings, castles, historic buildings, monasteries, villas or larger old farm
houses. Its location may not be a fashionable tourist destination. This type of hotel may be at
the seaside, mountain, and lake or in the countryside. It should only make profits as other types
of hotels, since invested funds should be returned and enriched.

1.3.3. All-inclusive hotels

All-inclusive hotels can be found in Mediterranean countries and exotic tourist destinations.
Hotels with all-inclusive service are often chosen by families with children and tourists who
will spend most of their time in the hotel complex, either at the beach or by the hotel pool.
Modern all-inclusive service includes rich buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, afternoon and
late night snack, day and evening entertainment for children and adults, spots facilities (tennis,
football, basketball, handball, volleyball...).

1.3.4Hotel animation
In recent years, animation has become an important component of the hotel offers aiming to
fill guests’ free time. Every serious hotel resort, if wanting to meet modern demands and needs
of the guest, pays special attention to this important segment of drawing up a variety of
activities for all age groups.
Major role in the realization of entertainment, sports and recreational facilities have hotel
animators. ‘Animators create a special atmosphere among the guests with their activities.
Depending on the structure of guests and the hotel category, animators are mostly taking care
of guests by organizing their free time, encouraging them to do various activities for recreation,
entertainment and relaxation.

1.3.5. Online search and booking

Modern consumers are increasingly facing the Internet concepts such as online search and
booking or e-payments as a part of everyday life. Hoteliers and restaurateurs who have adapted
to these trends very quickly show very good results. Websites presenting hotels and restaurants
to guests are becoming richer, have more contents and offer the option of an online search and
booking service. Thanks to rich web pages and sophisticated booking systems, hotels and
restaurants successfully promote their services and destinations where they are
located.Hospitality is a specific economic activity which, except for basic service of food and
beverages, offers a variety of social, cultural and health services in order to meet desires and
needs of customers. New needs, demands and desires of customers have led to the emergence
of new trends in hospitality offerings design. Wellness and spa hotels, boutique hotels, all
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inclusive hotels, slow food restaurants, and wine and lounge bars are only some of the main
trends and successful hospitality managers will create politics of development in accordance
with new requirements and the needs of the global market.

1.4 Working in the Hospitality Industry

As the hospitality industry includes many types of businesses, and within each business, a wide
spectrum of positions with varying skills, it is not an overstatement to say there is something
for everyone. The industry is characterized by a large number of employees and attracts
diversity of ages, genders, cultures and education levels. Entry level positions usually require
no formal education, while professional positions typically will require a college degree.
As with many industries, the hospitality industry is vulnerable to downturns in the economy,
especially as much of the industry is driven by disposable income. With that being said, the
hospitality industry is one of the oldest in the world, and one that continues to grow, innovate
and avail new opportunities.

1.5. Company Profile

Fairfield Inn & Suites

Industry Hospitality, tourism

Founded 1987

Number of locations 979 hotels (December 31, 2018)[1]

Area served Worldwide

Key people Liam Brown

Parent Marriott International

Website fairfield.marriott.com

Fairfield by Marriott is a low-cost, economy chain of hotels that are franchised by Marriott
International. The properties are geared towards guests requiring a place to sleep with fewer
amenities, thus allowing Marriott to offer lower prices than would otherwise be possible. This
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is accomplished via cost-saving measures, such as consistent building architecture and bedding,
and the omission of a full-service restaurant. However, a complimentary hot breakfast is
included. As of December 31, 2018, it has 979 hotels with 94,288 rooms.

1.6 Company History

The Marriott chain began with two motels in the 1950s. The first opened as a Quality
Inn airport motel near Washington D.C. and another motel nearby, the Twin Bridges, a few
years later. With the opening of the second motel, Marriott was born as a brand name. The
Twin Bridges property was demolished in 1990, but the Key Bridge property still operates,
but as a full-service hotel.
In 1967, Marriott opened its first resort hotel, Camelback Inn, in Arizona, USA. Marriott
Hotels & Resorts expanded outside of the United States for the first time in 1969 with the
opening of the Marriott in Acapulco, Mexico.
By 1975, Marriott Hotels & Resorts had expanded to Europe, with the Amsterdam Marriott
hotel opening that year.
In 1976, Marriott opened two Great America theme parks but sold to Six Flags in 1984.
In these first several decades, Marriott International owned and managed many of the hotels
within its portfolio. In 1993, the company decided to spin off the real estate ownership
operations as a new company, Host Marriott, while retaining hotel management
services under the Marriott International company name.
By 1999, there were over 360 Marriott Hotels & Resorts in 47 countries, and in 2012 Marriott
Hotels & Resorts celebrated the opening of the 500th Marriott Hotels & Resorts property, the
Pune Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre, in Pune, India. In April 2014, Marriott Hotels &
Resorts acquired The Protea Hotel Group in South Africa, rebranding the Protea Hotels name
to Protea Hotels By Marriott
1.7 Vision

Marriott International's Vision is "To be the World's Favorite Travel Company."

To help us achieve our Vision, we've developed a 4-part strategy. This strategy focuses
on How We Win with our customers worldwide.
Our Purpose to "Open Doors to Opportunity" will take us there. And our Values – especially
to Put People First and to Embrace Change – will provide the foundation for how to invest in
our people and keep innovation alive at Marriott International.
We’re on the road to creating "raving fans" for our brands, our channels and our portfolio.

1.8 Culture & Beliefs

The Fairfield brand is the namesake of Fairfield Farm, J. Willard Marriott’s favourite vacation
home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Known for being a sanctuary of warm
hospitality and simple comforts, the farm is the inspiration for the way Fairfield teams all over
the world serve guests today. Since the first Fairfield opened its doors in Atlanta, Georgia, this
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tradition of providing warm hospitality serves as the foundation for our Guest Promises and
our brand’s commitment that every guest leaves satisfied.
• We deliver memorable moments every day, everywhere, every time.
• We enjoy serving with our “Yes I Can!” spirit.
• We grow talent, talent grows us.
• We are many minds, with one mindset.
• We value open and direct interactions to build trust.
• We believe anything is possible.
• We have fun in all that we do.

1.9 MARRIOTT PORTFOLIO

At Marriott Hotel Group, have engineered our global portfolio of brands to meet the needs of
the changing travel sector. Eight distinctive hotel brands have clear brand segmentation with
no overlapping.

Figure 1: Marriott Portfolio

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1.9.1 A Global Presence

Marriott International is an American multinational diversified hospitality company that

manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded
by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by his son, Executive Chairman Bill Marriott,
and President and Chief Executive Officer Arne Sorenson. Marriott International is the third
largest hotel chain in the world.[3] It has 30 brands with 7,003 properties in 131 countries and
territories around the world,[1][2][4] over 1,332,826 rooms (as of March 31,
2019),[1] including 2,035 that are managed with 559,569 rooms, 4,905 that are franchised or
licensed with 756,156 rooms, and 63 that are owned or leased with 17,101 rooms,[1] plus an
additional 475,000 rooms in the development pipeline and an additional 25,000 rooms
approved for development but not yet under signed contracts.[1][5][6][7]
It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.[8] In
2017, Marriott was ranked #33 on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list, its
twentieth appearance on the list.[9]

1.10 Marriott Brands

Figure 2: Marriott Brands

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1.11 FAIRFIELD BY MARRIOTT

1.11.1Location

This informal hotel in a business area is 7 km from the HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace
Museum, 10 km from the Shivoham Shiva Temple complex and 2 km from Hoodi Halt
railway station.

Nearby business hubs:

 RMZ NXT – 1.1 km

 Kalyani Techpark – 2.5 km
 International Tech Park Bangalore – 4 km
 Bagmane Constellation Business Park – 5 km
 Prestige Shantiniketan – 4.9 km

1.11.2 Rooms

Hotel with 104 rooms with Two categories in the heart of Bengaluru at the Fairfield by
Marriott Bengaluru. Advantage of free high-speed, wireless Internet to keep in touch with home
or the office, or finishing touches on a business presentation at the spacious work desk.

Fairfield Superior Rooms - 74

Superior Room, which features the choice of a king bed or twin bed. Take care of
business in comfort at the ergonomic work desk equipped with free high-speed, wireless
Internet, or relax in the living area, complete with a sofa and coffee table.

Fairfield Deluxe Rooms – 30

Deluxe Room with a king bed and experience welcoming amenities that include a convenient
work desk and stylish furnishings. Each Deluxe Room features necessities like a hairdryer and ironing
board to assist you in getting ready for the day, and the sleek LED TV.

1.11. Kava Kitchen

Savor delicious cuisine from India and around the globe at our hotel's light and airy
restaurant. Enjoy your favorites from the buffet or select from the curated à la carte menu.
Stop by our bar for a cocktail after a busy day in Whitefield, Bangalore

Indulge in an array of gourmet offerings from across the globe at One Kava Café, the all-day
dining restaurant at the Fairfield By Marriott.

This exquisite multi-cuisine restaurant overlooking the pool is perfect for any meal, ranging
from light snacks to delectable dinners. The extensive Super Breakfast, lunch and dinner
buffets offer Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian and Western cuisine, while the à la carte menu
features stunning culinary offerings. For a fun night check out the live interactive kitchen.
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Fitness Center

 A fitness center in a hotel is a large room, usually containing special equipment, where
people go to do physical exercise and get fit ..... The fitness center has modern exercise
equipment, including treadmill and stationary bicycle. Cardiovascular Equipment and
Free weights.

1.11.5 SERVICES

Guest Services
Guest will find everything need for a convenient stay in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) at
the Fairfield By Marriott. Enjoy a quiet meal in the privacy of room or suite with 24-hour
room service, or finishing touches on a project in the business centre, complete with print and
fax services. Advantage of valet parking and express check-out to ensure a relaxed stay.
1.11.6 MEETINGS & EVENT

Offering Two banquet venues and One boardrooms that cater to all business needs, the Fairfield
by Marriott Bengaluru is the ideal setting for hosting successful meetings and conferences.

Fairfield By Marriott has Two banquet halls

Ballroom 1 – 733.5 sqft

Ballroom 2– 733.5 Sqft

Ballroom 1&2 – 1467 sqft

Boardroom – 400 sqft

EVENT ROOM FEATURES

 Free high-speed Internet

 Lighting effects
 TV display outside each part of hall to showcase event
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UNIT - 2 SALES AND MARKETING: THE BASICS

2.0 Marketing
Kotler, Bowen and Makens define marketing as “the process by which companies create
value for customers and society, resulting in strong customer relationships that capture
value from the customers in return.”

An important aspect of marketing is the marketing mix which includes product, price,
distribution and advertising and sales. Marketing also includes research, information
systems and planning.

The four-P framework calls on marketing professionals to decide on the product and its
characteristics, set the price, decide how to distribute their product and choose methods for
promoting their product.

If marketers do a good job of identifying customer needs, developing a good product, and
pricing and distributing and promoting it effectively, the result will be attractive products
and satisfied customers. Marketing means “hitting the mark”. Peter Drucker, a leading
management thinker, put it this way “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.
The aim is to know and understand customers so well that the product or service fits them
and sells itself”.

This does not mean that selling

and promotion are unimportant, but rather that they are part of the larger marketing mix, a
set of marketing tools that work together to produce satisfied customers.

“Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function. It is the whole

business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, the customer’s point of
view…… Business success is not determined by the producer but by the customer”.

2.1 The marketing process

Chart 1 shows a simple five step model of the marketing process. In the first four steps
companies work to understand consumers, create customer value and build strong customer
relationships. In the final step, companies reap the rewards of creating superior customer
value. By creating value for customers, they are in turn capturing value from customers in
the form of sales, profits and long-term customer equity.

The first three steps in the marketing process – understanding the marketplace and customer
needs, designing a customer driven marketing strategy, and preparing an integrated
marketing plan – all lead up to the fourth and most important step: building profitable
customer relationships.
 Page 20 of 87

Create value for customers and build

customer relationships
Understand the
Construct an integrated
marketplace and
Design a customer-driven marketing programme that
customer wants and
marketing strategy delivers superior value
needs

Capture value from Build profitable

customers to create relationships and create
profits and customer customer delight
equity

Capture value from customers in return

Figure 3 Five step model of the marketing process

2.2 Marketing in hotel industry

Marketing started as a result of economic and business pressure due to a need which arises
to focus on embracing a set of managerial measures in order to satisfy customers’ needs.
The evolution of marketing in the hotel industry is similar to every other industry. The main
reason for the marketing in the hotel business is because of the growth in the number of
guests who are in need of accommodation and the increase in competitions by the
accommodation service providers. Moreover, the hotel industry is becoming a more and
more mature market whereby the competition is increasing globally and winning customers
becomes a problem. Therefore, there is a huge shift to marketing.

2.3 Segmentation of the hotel market

The hotel industry is one of the most diverse and dynamic industries in the world. In order
to understand the customers, it is necessary to divide the whole market into subsets.
“Market segmentation is the process of dividing the total perceived market into subsets, of
which each of the potential customers have characteristics in common, which lead to
similar demand needs for a product or service”. Since the main reason behind marketing is
to find a way of satisfying customers’ need in a new or better way, dividing the market into
different segments will allow the hotel to focus on the segment that provides the best
opportunity for its product and services. Successful hotels recognize that the taste and
 Page 21 of 87

preferences, needs, lifestyles, family size and composition of guests differs from one
another and are able to follow a policy which increases market demand for their products
by focusing their marketing efforts at a sub-group of customers. Sometimes the hotel might
need to choose more than one segment to concentrate on. For example, the needs of a family
to book a hotel room is different from that of a business person who comes to the city for
business purposes. In the case of a business person the hotel will need to ensure that there
are phone services, internet connection for the guest. Creating a niche within a market
segmentation helps the hotel to have focus on the market segment and be able to fully
deliver the benefit of the product to the customer.

The importance of market segmentation cannot be

overemphasized. It helps the hotel to divide the total market and identify the needs of the
sub-group. Segmentation is the first step taken when engaging in a marketing process that
involves developing products that meet the need of the customers. When a product meets
the customers’ needs and expectation, they will usually come back for more and more. This
will definitely result in a good relationship between the hotel and its customers. Moreover,
it is necessary to divide the market into different groups and subgroups when setting the
market objectives. Having a deep knowledge about the target customer for the company’s
product helps in planning, setting the budget and controlling the marketing activities

There are four bases for the segmentation of the consumer market. These include;

 Geographical
 Demographic
 Psycho-graphic and
 Behavioural segmentation

Geographic Demographic

Market
Segmentation

Behavioral Psychographic

Figure 4 Bases of Market Segmentation

 Page 22 of 87

The demographic segmentation which includes variables such as the age, gender,
education, occupation, income, ethnicity, nationality, race, and religion of the customers is
one of the common ways of dividing the targeted market because it is closely associated
with customers’ wants and needs and it can be easily measured

Psychographic segmentation focuses on measuring a guest’s mental attitudes and psycho-

logical make-up. In other words, psychographic segmentation uses psychological attributes
to determine the behaviour pattern of the customer. Many marketers use this to learn more
about the customers’ lifestyle and attitudes. The rationale behind the division of customers
into this segment is the belief that customers with common values tend to have similar
purchasing patterns. A hotel can obtain psychographic information by using surveys and
questionnaires to ask questions about the target market’s interest and opinion on some
particular activities.

Another way of segmenting the hotel market is by considering the geography when
grouping the customers. The group can be divided based on the customers’ countries, states,
regions, municipalities or cities. The company can then focus it operations on one or more
units within the segmentation. A company can also use mapping software to show the
geographical location of its customer. There are various approaches to using geographical
segmentation in analyzing the target market. Some approaches combine geographical
segmentation with demographic segmentation in order to have a better description and
understanding of the customers. Marketers use behavioural segmentation to divide the
market based on the customers’ pattern of behaviour. Behavioural segmentation is usually
based on the benefit the customers seek to get from using a product, how they use a product,
spending pattern, and their loyalty to a certain brand. In the hotel industry, it can be based
on the frequency at which a guest travels or uses hotel services. For instance, a business
traveller may use hotel rooms and services for fifteen times or more in a year whereas a
leisure traveller or tourist may only travel once or twice in a year. Knowing the behavioural
variable may be helpful to the hotel in planning their services to enhance the experience
customers get from lodging with them.

2.4 Market Strategy in Hotel Industry

The hotel industry is so competitive that it requires the hotel to formulate a dynamic
mechanism which can adapt to the changes in the market environment, the competitiveness
of the market as well as the economic climate. The ultimate goal of having a marketing
strategy is usually to identify opportunity to serve the market in a way that is profitable and
effective enough to the extent that it becomes difficult if not impossible for another
company to take up the venture without running into losses. Some authors believe that at
the initial stage of starting a hotel business, the hotel will not make a profit, even in the
 Page 23 of 87

second year the hotel will only break even and the hotel may start to make a little profit
from the third year. On the other hand, other marketers in the hotel industry think that the
hotel can start to make a profit immediately from the first year of entering into the industry
if the right marketing strategies were used.

An hotelier that wants to achieve success needs to have a deep understanding of marketing
and how to combine various marketing elements such as the price, product promotion and
distribution.

2.5 Digital marketing in hotel industry

Digital marketing is a term that is used to describe the use of ICT (information and
communication technology) in marketing. In the hotel industry, digital marketing includes
the use of internet-based marketing as well as other kinds of activities that are based on
digital technology such as email, phone communication, and interactive digital television.
Nowadays, digital marketing is becoming an integrated and vital part of marketing
activities. There are several ways through which digital marketing is conducted by hotels.
These ways are referred to as digital marketing communication.

2.5.1 Digital marketing communication channels

Digital marketing communication is the communication and interaction between a hotel

and its guest using digital channels and information technology. Some of the noticeable
communication channels are explained in the paragraphs below.

2.5.2 Email marketing.

Email marketing allows a company to establish and maintain communication with their
customers. Email marketing has evolved beyond sending mass messages to multiple
customers at the same time. Companies have made an interesting distinction between mass
emails (spam) and direct email to customers based on their relationship with them. Many
companies that use email marketing have come to the realization that a lot of customers are
irritated when they get messages which are irrelevant to them, therefore they have been
sending messages based on their understanding of the customers and what their taste is.

2.5.3 Viral marketing

Viral marketing is an internet adaption of marketing using the word-of-mouth effect. It is

actually an advertising message spread by customers among other customers. In today’s
age, the way people communicate and share information with each other has changed
compared to what it used to be about one or two decades ago. Many of the changes are due
to social networking.

2.5.4 Word-of-mouth

Word-of-mouth refers to direct communication between one or more customers on a

particular product or services. Traditionally, word of mouth is usually considered to be
interpersonal communication (face-to-face) however the technology has made it possible
 Page 24 of 87

for customers to communicate electronically with one another. This is called electronic
word-of mouth (eWOM). One of the reasons why companies prefer to use eWOM as a
marketing channel is that customers consider it to be more credible since it’s provided by
individuals who have no direct marketing interest about a company or its products.
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UNIT – 3 DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

3.0 Introduction
The term “distribution channels” can at the moment be replaced by the term “marketing
channel”. “Marketing channel” as a more complex term has been used in the USA since
the 1970s, because the intermediaries include not only those who participate in the
physical flow of a product from the manufacturer to the end user, but also those that
have a role in the transfer of product ownership, as well as other intermediary
institutions that participate in the value distribution from production to consumption.

A distribution channel is “a set of independent organisations involved in the process of

making a product or service available to the consumer or business user”

Distribution networks in the hospitality industry consist of contractual agreements and

loosely organised alliances between independent organisations. In the hospitality and travel
industry, distribution systems are used to move the customer to the product: the hotel,
restaurant, airplanes.

Most reservations are booked with the hotel directly. This includes rooms booked by the
sales department, those taken at the front desk and phone calls directly to the hotel. This is
followed by brand.com which is reservations booked through the brand’s website site, e.g.
Hilton.com, Marriott.com etc. other sources are voice calls to a central reservation office
(CRO), GDS and online travel agents (OTAs). The marginal cost of these different channels
varies greatly. Obviously a reservation via the brand.com website is the cheapest. However,
when a hotel has rooms to fill, OTAs can help sell the rooms. A revenue manager has to
manage the channels.

There is no doubt that hotel distribution has changed dramatically since the advent of the
internet. Online distribution, social media and the mobile web have all changed how
hoteliers connect with, engage and ultimately convert customers. But the fundamental
principles of hotel distribution have not changed that much. Hoteliers need to focus on
distribution channels that pass the litmus test; in other words, those that are cost-effective,
generate the most bookings, protect rate parity and price integrity and reach the targeted
customer segments.

Not all bookings are created equal, and hoteliers usually consider that any booking via a
more discounted channel (such as flash sale sites like GroupOn, LivingLocal.com and
SniqueAway.com) is one less booking for the same hotel via the hotel website, call centre,
GDS or OTA in that order.

The main focus and priority for any hotelier should be (or has historically been) to sell as
much inventory via the most cost-effective distribution channels that can potentially
generate the most bookings, while preserving rate parity and price erosion18.

Even though in the past hotels used to get most of their bookings over the telephone or even
face to face or the mail, they still relied on distribution channels to increase their sales.
 Page 26 of 87

Distribution channels are of vital importance in tourism as they are the link between supply
and demand and bridge the gap of time, space, quantity, variety and communication-
information.
In the hospitality industry, intermediaries not only help the suppliers in effectively selling their
product but can also be part of their marketing mix.
However, the last two decades saw a major change in the distribution of the tourism product as
the number of people using the internet in order to book their holidays increased significantly.
The web facilitated a rapid flow of information and allowed the consumers to reduce their
search costs and compare prices in a fast way.
Consumers are more independent today, as the internet gives them the opportunity to search
on their own for tourism products and even to establish a direct contact with the suppliers,
avoiding intermediaries.
With the consumers, also the hotels gained independency from intermediaries as they have now
the possibility to interact on their own website with their guests. The accommodation suppliers
discovered that the internet can help them to cut costs and improve their competitive advantage
as the web makes it possible to offer and sell their product throughout the whole world at any
time.
The facilitated direct contact between suppliers and consumers did not entail a complete
disintermediation, as tour operators and travel agencies are still powerful players in the
market and with the online distribution of the tourism product even a new form of
intermediation emerged, the Online Travel Agency (OTA).

By gaining fast in popularity, this new online channel increased further the already fierce
competition in the hospitality industry and currently every party is trying in its own way to
attract the consumers and their bookings.
Only recently the complex circumstances in the distribution of the tourism product changed
again as also social media sites joined the ‘booking wars’ by giving hotels, in exchange of a
commission, the opportunity to offer their rates directly on these platforms; until now, nobody
can say for sure where this development will go.
Given the importance of the phenomenon, there are many studies which investigate
intermediation, disintermediation or reinter mediation in tourism and research the changes
taking place in the various distribution channels.
Most of them examined the topic from the consumers’ or intermediaries’ point of view, only a
few researches considered the aspect of the supplier site and even less from the perspective of
small independent family hotels.
According to theory, big hotel chains are adapting rapidly to the continuing changes in the
distribution channels and redirecting successfully bookings to their own website, becoming
therefore more independent of third parties.
But how is it for smaller organizations? The limited amount of literature dealing with small
hotels sees intermediaries having great power and influence over them as due to their size
these businesses would not be as efficient in creating a direct channel as their big
counterparts. Further, as they would lack the resources of larger enterprises, also for their
marketing small hotels would rely mainly on third parties.
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3.1 Types of Distribution Channels

Figure one gives an overview of the various distribution channels in the hospitality
industry.

Global
Distributio
n System
Alternative Online
Distribution Travel
system Agencies

Hotel
Industry
Travel Hotel
Agents Websites

Inbound
Tour
Travel
Operators
Agencies

Figure 5 Types of Distribution Channels

3.1.1 Global distribution channel

A GDS is an intuitive and advanced network of travel professionals, all of whom are looking
to discover the best rates and packages for their clients. Rather than acting as a booking system,
like an OTA, the GDS operates as a portal for agents to use so they can connect to hotels, and
vice versa. Hotels that partner with the GDS will be able to broadcast their rates, availability
and packages to the network, ultimately allowing the agents that interact on the GDS to finalize
reservations for their own clients. Generally, as a hotel operator, you should consider the GDS
to be one of your most important channels in your distribution strategy. This channel provides
you with unparalleled access to motivated travel agents who are looking to secure deals quickly
and easily for their clients. By developing a presence on the GDS, you will be able to improve
your hotel brand’s global recognition, as well as identify new target market segments that may
be interested in your hotel property.

Why a Hotel Needs a GDS

When it comes to the GDS, travel industry experts recognise that it is an important part of their
overall distribution strategy, and necessary to brand development.
 Page 28 of 87

Importance of GDS:
 The number of bookings generated through a GDS generally outpaces that of direct
bookings. While direct bookings are rising, and they do represent a significant amount
of revenue for hotel operators, there are still more bookings being generated through
the GDS than through hotel websites. In 2016, hotel bookings via the GDS increased
by 1.3% while direct bookings rose by just 0.8%.
 A GDS in the hotel industry will help significantly increase revenue at your property.
Revenue increases largely because the GDS places the hotel’s information, availability
and rates in prominent locations where it is easy for travel agents to find this valuable
information. It helps hotels maximise their bookings during any given time period while
also reaching powerful travel markets that are willing to spend money in order to book
the best room available. Generally, a lot of travel agents who specialise in corporate
travel use a GDS to get their clients booked quickly and efficiently.

 The GDS can help hotel managers uncover new market segments to promote their
products to. Given the vast expanse of the GDS network, it’s not surprising the hotel
operators can use this enormous channel to uncover new traveller markets. In many
cases, hotel operators discover through the GDS that there are traveller market segments
interested in their products that they couldn’t previously reach.
 More travel agents are relying on the GDS to find the best places for their clients to
stay. Since 2011, the number of travel agents using a GDS has increased by more than
14%. Every year, more agents are realising that this is the best way to easily connect
with hotel properties from around the world. Through the GDS, the agents have access
to live rates and availability, and they can easily book rooms for their clients.

GDS Checklist:

 Pooled inventory:
With a GDS that supports pooled inventory, you can market
all of your rooms to all of your distribution channels at one time. Without this
feature available, you will be forced to separate your inventory based on the
distribution channel, which can prevent you from maximising your bookings and
increasing your revenue.

 Commission-free structure
Your GDS should help you maximise your bookings
and increase your revenue, not deplete you of the revenue you should be earning
per booking. Do not choose a GDS that forces you to pay a commission fee simply
for delivering the booking to your hotel’s property management system (PMS).
 Page 29 of 87

 Integration capabilities
You will want to partner with a GDS that integrates fully
and completely with your existing property management system, online booking
engine and channel manager. This simplifies the process for you and allows you
to effectively implement and manage your distribution strategy.

 Comprehensive reporting
Your GDS should help you make the best decisions
regarding your marketing strategy and distribution plan. You will want to select
a GDS that offers comprehensive reporting tools that allow you to view and
evaluate your booking data.

 Ability to target specific markets

Through your GDS, you should have the
opportunity to discover and tap into the most powerful and motivated market
segments. You should be able to filter your access based on geographical location
and also specific types of travellers.

Benefits of Partnering with a Hotel GDS:

There are many advantages to utilising a GDS in the hotel industry. As you explore the different
types of GDS, you will want to consider the benefits to this powerful partnership:
1: Hotel exposure will increase significantly
With GDS by SiteMinder, you have access to more than 500,000 different agents from all over
the world through the most widely used GDS systems. This real-time connectivity allows you
to uncover new guest segments that may be interested in your property.
2: Connecting to agents is quick and affordable
Rather than signing up with each individual GDS system, you can use GDS by SiteMinder to
connect to the best GDS networks in the hotel industry. This makes it easy for you to connect
to an advanced network of agents, and also helps you avoid the fees that are associated with
signing up with each GDS on an individual basis.
3: No longer have to deal with manual booking entries:
If you opt to sign up with a different GDS or several different GDS systems, you may be forced
to take the bookings through the GDS and manually enter them into your property management
system. This is cumbersome and time consuming, and can put you at risk of double-booking
your rooms. With GDS by SiteMinder, your GDS will automatically integrate with your
existing property management system (PMS), and your bookings will be automatically entered.
You will no longer have to deal with tedious and frustrating data entry, and hotel can focus
more of energy on serving the guests who are staying at property.

4: Hotel can make better decisions for your hotel

With the right hotel technology tools in place, you will have access to the valuable data you
need to monitor your progress and track your growth. GDS by SiteMinder provides
comprehensive reporting tools that allow you to easily view most recent and relevant data.
 Page 30 of 87

With this data on hand, can make effective and beneficial decisions for hotel. You can easily
adjust your hotel marketing strategies, hotels revenue management strategies and distribution
strategies, ultimately allowing you to increase your bookings across all of your target market
segments.

5: Hotel will be able to discover interested travellers from every location around the world
The travel industry has always been a global industry, but it’s never been connected in this way
before. Travellers from around the world are working with agents who have access to a vast
wealth of information through various GDS systems. With GDS by SiteMinder, you get access
to all of those systems in one, and ultimately can partner with hundreds upon thousands of
travel agents. You will start to see bookings from guests from the far reaches of the globe,
which will help increase your brand recognition and allow you to launch a global marketing
campaign. Discovering new markets is the best way to reach your full potential within the ever-
competitive hotel industry.

The term is used as to describe the distribution via 3rd party websites. This includes online
travel agencies (OTA), travel portals, travel search engines/ directories, online hotel
consolidators, airline websites with online reservation options.

Benefits
 Reduces distribution costs.
 Allows for utilization of high speed, real-time, Internet-based distribution
technology between airline host systems and travel distributors or corporate
accounts.
 Provides a single solution for consolidation of ticketing data from sales across
multiple channels.
 Utilizes current ARC infrastructure for electronic settlement, credit card billing,
data storage and reporting.

Features

The following Alternative Distribution Channel business models have proven successful in
creating significant cost savings for participants:
 One-to-One - This is a supplier & distributor relationship that builds a direct link
between a host reservation system and a distributor's booking and ticketing system. This
model applies primarily to partnerships between suppliers and large distributors.
 One-to-Many - Also known as an agent portal, this is a relationship that makes a host
reservation system accessible to a number of agents and/or distributors, often utilizing
a airline's Web access functionality.
 Many-to-Many - Also referred to as a GDS New Entrant (GNE), these systems connect
suppliers to distributors via Web-based technologies. This business model provides
shopping, booking, payment processing, and reconciliation services, usually at a
fraction of the cost of traditional retail GDS systems.

ARC Alternative Distribution Channels employ a variety of business models to support direct
connect agreements between supplier and distributor. These models offer the flexibility to
accommodate corporate or leisure travel, traditional or Web-based technologies, and support
the paperless environment.
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Regardless of the Alternative Distribution Channel business model used, ARC will report and
settle transactions in the same manner as the traditional retail GDS channel. Moreover,
depending on your choice, ARC can consolidate settled data across different distribution
channels or report the data independently

3.1.2 Hotel’s Own Website

The most obvious online distribution channel for your hotel is your own website and this is
also one of the most cost-effective marketing tools your business will have at its disposal. After
all, once initial development fees have been paid, the cost of maintaining the website and
hosting it is relatively small.
Your website provides you with an ideal platform to convey your brand values and deliver a
marketing message that appeal to your target audience. At the same time, websites offer an
excellent way to increase the overall visibility of your hotel, especially when SEO is carried
out effectively and fresh content is added regularly.
In addition, of course, a hotel’s website is the only online distribution channel where they can
generate direct sales, without having to pay a commission to a third party. For this reason, it
pays to try and generate as many bookings through your website as possible, which is why
many hotels offer incentives for direct bookings.
Today, many people rely almost entirely on mobile and tablet devices to browse the internet.
Google revealed that searches from mobile overtook those from desktop back in 2015 and
Travel Click learned that mobile hotel bookings increased by 42 percent between 2013 and
2015. It is, therefore, essential that hotel websites are mobile optimized.

3.1.3 Travel Agencies and Tour Operators

In tourism traditionally the most important intermediaries consisted of tour operators and travel
agencies even though also DMOs and other support networks, who offer ancillary services, can
often act as third parties. Tour operators create tourism packages by combining services such
as flight, accommodation, transport etc. and sell those packages at an inclusive price either
direct or through retailers. Tour operators pre-purchase or pre-reserve those services and in
most cases they buy them in bulk, in order to generate economies of scale and discounts;
therefore tour operators are often seen as wholesalers.
TOs can bring the supplier site significant advantages like increasing the occupancy in the
low season and promoting the suppliers’ product in a bigger market, but also the destination
as a whole can profit from the TOs’ work as they enhance the destination’s accessibility by
installing bus tours or charter flights. To reduce their financial risk, TOs almost never
purchase rooms from hotels, but instead just book them in allotment contracts with the
option to use them until a certain release date.

In the negotiations of these contracts, it can come to conflicts between TOs and suppliers.
 Page 32 of 87

Travel agencies can be outgoing or incoming. Outgoing travel agencies as organizations who
provide a convenient location for the acquisition of holiday products. Outgoing travel agencies
serve their customers not only with information and advice but also with expertise knowledge
and additional services, e.g. travel insurance. They sell individual products or packages but
usually they do not own them. Outgoing travel agencies only act as a retail agent for suppliers
and wholesalers, from whom they get a commission in exchange of their services. To
encourage extra bookings, hotels offer an increased commission to outgoing travel agencies.
It is possible that outbound agencies assume at the same time the role of inbound agencies.
Incoming travel agencies take care of the execution of tour packages and often function as
intermediaries between suppliers and tour operators. Like outbound agencies, they get a
commission for their services and they do not own the product they sell.

3.1.4 Information Communication Technologies

The increasing popularity of the internet and the evolution of information communication
technologies have significantly altered the traditional distribution channel in tourism. The
internet turned out to be ideal for selling the tourism products, “which are characterized by
being time-constrained and nonstockable”.

Further, the internet enabled hotels to offer customers worldwide direct booking on their
websites and to replace outdated and expensive methods, such as reservations by phone or
mail. By offering their product on their own website, accommodation companies could not
only reduce distribution costs, target a bigger market and gain customers’ information, but
also become less dependent on intermediaries.

In the opinion of Pilepicet a direct online channel should always build the core of a hotel’s
distribution and marketing strategies, as direct booking guests not only are more loyal but
also generate more revenue.

Crnojevac et al. argue that especially the quality of the hotel’s website would influence the
customer in their purchase decision. In their opinion hotels have adapted the use of their
own website to generate bookings, but still face challenges in effectively using them
because of a lack of resources and knowledge.

3.1.5 Online Travel Agencies

Introduction:

Through the new ICTs also a different form of intermediation emerged, the online travel
agency: whereas TOs and TAs used to deal in a one-sided market, with either the hotels or the
tourists, OTAs introduced a two-sided market in which they bring supplier and consumer
together, making both groups their customers.
 Page 33 of 87

OTAs are able to offer customers’ on their websites a comparison between the product and
price of different suppliers. The OTAs have either direct access to the hotels’ room and get
their commissions after the guest pays the hotel (agent model) or the hotels sell their rooms
to the OTAs, who keep a contract-specified margin (merchant model) . “The essential
difference is that under the agent model the hotel collects from the guest and remits the
commission to the OTA, whereas under the merchant model the OTA collects from the
guest and then remits the wholesale price to the hotel”.

OTAs expanded quickly and the travel sales generated by them are increasing each year;
for example, in 2013, 45% of the travel sales in Europe were generated by OTAs. even see
the collaboration with OTAs as fundamental for hotels, if they want to continue to exist
and not lose their market shares.

Given the increasing popularity of OTAs, this study will explore if they play an equally
important role in the South hospitality market.

With the rise of the internet, some studies predicted a recession of the travel agent model,
as customer would switch to booking directly on hotel websites or to OTAs. Even though
OTAs took a large portion of the tourism market, Law (2009) does not see any evidence
for a possible decline as in his opinion TA offer a personal service that cannot be replaced
by ICTs and that travel agencies can keep competitive by integrating some of their business
in the world wide web. Traditional travel agents would still be popular among older tourists,
organized tours, business travelers, people with lower education or income and tourists who
buy elaborated packages.

OTAs are a great and convenient way for guests to compare hotels and various prices, all
offers are placed on the same website and making a booking is a fast and easy process.
Hotels that make use of OTAs reckon that their empty rooms can be sold more efficiently.
Furthermore, it is a great marketing method to advertise the hotel and to increase brand
awareness. As opposed to these positive aspects of embracing an OTA, there are also
various disadvantages. One of the most important reason why hotels decide to operate
without an OTA is the commission that has to be paid, which can be as high as 20% of the
total room price.

No hotel-related topic has been so widely discussed as the presence of OTAs. These
websites provide guests with information on the hotel, prices, features, compare hotels and
the possibility to book. In return, the hotel pays the intermediary a fee per booked room. In
the past, many hotel reservations were booked by either telephoning the property or a face-
to-face conversation. With the rapid development of information technology, the
hospitality industry has quickly entered into using e-commerce, enabling hotels to conduct
business over the internet. OTAs are the new face in the world of hotel distribution channels
and according to the German hotel association IHA, the share of online bookings have
increased from 33.4 % in 2007 to 57.6 % in only two years. Hotels have heavily invested
in their own website to stimulate guests to book directly instead of booking through an
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OTA. To support this, the hotel industry has promoted a best-rate policy, guaranteeing the
rates to be the same on any website or intermediary.

The basic idea of rate parity for OTAs is to make sure hotels do not give away any discounts
to guests. Simply said, to ‘steal’ the bookings from hotels. It makes sure that hoteliers do
not have any weapon to attract direct bookings. If the hotels would have the possibility to
make their direct bookings cheaper, guests would sooner book directly. To guests, rate
parity is a good thing as it has brought some structure in the hotel industry. If booking
directly is more expensive than with an OTA, the hotel may lose the guests’ trust.

Booking styles and trends

The travel booking world has undergone a huge transformation over the last couple of years
due to technology, digital tools and the internet. A market consists of many people,
potential guests and people who all differ in their needs, interest and desires. They also vary
in age, educational level, income and their taste. All these factors influence he booking
behaviour of guests. Due to these factors, it is hard for hoteliers to satisfy every guest.
Therefore, the guest’s booking behaviour trends mentioned in this paragraph should
carefully be observed. The world of online bookings is moving forward and OTAs are not
the only online agencies to be considered. Metasearch is a good example of this. It shows
different hotel availabilities and pricing information from various sources. Metasearch is
basically a search engine such as Tripadvisor, Trivago or even Google where you will be
getting results from a variety of search engines. OTAs and Metasearch have created some
tension in the hospitality industry, as they have brought back many direct booking websites.
The interests of the OTAs often collide with the interest of the hotels.

According to Vineeth Purushothaman, there are several online

booking trends that should be carefully watched in the near future. To start with auction
websites where one is able to set their own price for a product or service. The website
RoomAuction.com is different from normal OTAs as they show standard rates for hotels
and bookers can place an offer starting by how much they are prepared to pay for their stay.
Eventually, the hotel decides whether to accept or decline the bid. Another trend regarding
the booking behaviour of guests are the hotel rebooking websites. Bookers are often left
with the question “Did I really get the best price?” Bookings are being forwarded to the
rebooking websites such as Dreamcheaper and they will continuously compare the room
prices, rebook and cancel your old reservation if something cheaper is found.

Most of the OTAs are only focused on offering guests a place to stay while there are other
websites that offer a complete package. Many guests wish to book everything needed for
the trip on one website, which is often not offered by OTAs. For instance, the website Hello
Gbye is a new online travel booking tool that allows guests with end-to-end solutions within
minutes.

According to Schieber there are several other trends that are considered important for the
hotel industry. The online and mobile technology is on the rise and the introduction of smart
phones a couple of years ago is seen as a significant technological development. Because
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of this technological development, the travel industry may offer guests a customized deal
which leads to a more impulsive buying behaviour.

In agreement with Pantelidis a variety of distribution channels are available to hotel

managers, which does not only involve OTAs but many more. There is a variety of travel
agents who are located on geographically diverse markets around the globe where hotels
sell their rooms and services to. Also, hotels collaborate with tour operators and wholesalers
that usually sell rooms as part of a travel package. These intermediaries from complex
distribution systems are likely to work together. To give an idea, a guest may be in contact
with a travel agent to purchase an end-to-end travel package that is provided by a tour
operator. The tour operator may negotiate with the wholesaler or an inbound agency.
Finally, the hotel received the payment and pays the commission fee to the intermediaries.

OTAs reputation: a threat or an opportunity?

Guests are more likely to book with an OTA when it comes to mobile bookings, costing
the hoteliers commission. This seems to be the preferred method for guests as it is very
easy to use and guests can easily compare different hotel options via OTAs. Expedia and
Priceline are two leading OTAs and appear to be the helping hand of the hotel industry. As
mentioned earlier, the travel agencies make sure that empty rooms are filled and that hotels
are almost fully occupied. In return, a commission is paid. While OTAs represent an
important resource for hotels to generate revenue and to reach new markets, they also
represent a challenge due to these commissions and online competition. The commission
may be as high as 20 % of the total revenue generated per booked room.

.Figure two shows the difference in booking behaviour per country, where is shown that
most of the guests decide to book with an OTA, concluding that direct bookings are less
attractive.
 Page 36 of 87

100

90

80

70

60

50 OTA
Hotel Website
40

30

20

10

0
USA UK India China Brazil

Chart 1 Difference in booking behaviour per country

According to research, it is hard to say whether an online travel agency is seen as a threat
for the hotel industry or as an opportunity. OTAs have good aspects, as it brings more
business to the hotel industry and it can also be seen as a way of promoting the property.
On the other hand, price transparency, rate parity, high commissions and competition are
various factors describing negative aspects for a hotel of working together with an OTA.
Hoteliers would rather sell their rooms via a direct channel; however often choose to work
together with an OTA to get more out of it. Selling rooms via the hotel website is the most
cost effective distribution channel. It is important that the hotels dominate the internet again
with their own marketing message, or otherwise OTAs and competitors will take the lead.

Independent hotels are often dependent on an OTA as their brand awareness has not
reached many people yet. With the help of an OTA, the hotels are able to increase their
brand awareness and attract more guests. Nowadays, more than 76 % of the independent
hotel bookings are made through OTAs. China is the biggest player when it comes to
making online bookings. Nine out of ten online shoppers use OTAs, but less than four out
of ten use a hotel’s website to make a booking making OTAs popular among bookers.

Advantages and disadvantages of booking online and offline:

This paragraph will describe the advantages and disadvantages of online and offline
bookings to gain a clear understanding why OTAs have become so popular among guests.
This section provides valuable information regarding sub-question six.

As reported by Law, traditional travel agencies have personal service as advantage. The
human touch and personal service is essential for traditional travel agencies and certain
 Page 37 of 87

target groups prefer that over a booking via an OTAs. Being physically at a travel agency
also gives some sort of security or certainty, due to the personal contact with the service
agent. People choosing to book via an OTA often have the reason that traditional travel
agencies do not have as many options as the OTAs and that they are less flexible. OTAs
constantly update their prices and offers, which is hardly the case with traditional travel
agencies. According to Bennet traditional agencies should strengthen their role as travel
advisors, otherwise it is very well possible that they will cease to exist in the near future.

As traditional travel agencies have specific retail hours and are located at a particular
location, OTAs are ‘open’ at any time and globally. Meaning that guests are able to book
anytime, anywhere in the world. OTAs have become very popular as it is an effective way
of booking, organizing a trip and sharing information. As stated by Engvall Fritz., & Kindh
one of the main advantages of OTAs is the direct access for availability and comfortability.
Moreover, another advantage is time savings, it is easy to compare prices, and there are
cost savings and the ability to easily request information.

Figure three shows the increase in revenue made by OTAs over the last couple of years,
showing the increased demand for an OTA.

Total Online Travel Revenue

160

140

120

100

80
Total Online Travel Revenue
60

40

20

0
2015 2016 2017 2018

Chart 2 OTA Revenue

Moreover, guests are more likely to book when other guests were enthusiastic about their
stay and have written a positive review with recommendations. Online reviews are an
important source of information for guests. Even if they decide to book offline, they often
read reviews before making a booking decision. Online reviews have become very popular
in the hotel selection process. Reviews are seen as a trustworthy source of information and
guests get a better picture of the hotel than by looking at the official website. If the hotel’s
online reviews are positive and hotels respond rapidly and honestly, it will not only attract
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more guests but also improves the guests’ journey. Figure four shows the review response
cycle. The cycle starts with guest expectations, meaning entering a hotel with a certain
expectation in mind. This expectation is generated through previous experiences, reviews
or via word-of-mouth. The second aspect of the cycle is the service experience, representing
the actual stay. The guest will continuously check whether the expectations meet their
experience. If the experience was negative, the guests will want to share their bad
experiences on review web pages. In order to make people return to the hotel even though
they have had a bad experience is to make things great again by commenting on the review
and fixing the problem.

Service

Review
Hotel Response Service
Responses Cycle Expectations

Guest Review

Figure 6 Guest review cycle

OTAs are valuable for the hotel industry based upon the amount of bookings they bring in.
Most of the bookings nowadays are booked via an OTA as guests see it as an easy tool to
make a booking with. Furthermore, OTAs are greatly used as a marketing tool to attract
people from all over the world.

The percentage difference in bookings made via an OTA and a hotels own booking system
are hard to name as most of the hotels do not want to reveal specific numbers regarding
their bookings. One of the researched hotels reported to receive 30 % of their total bookings
via an OTA and 70 % via a direct channel, which is often seen by a large chain hotel with
brand awareness all over the world.
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3.2 Strategy of distribution

The hotel industry is extremely competitive, and several different hotels will often be
competing for the same potential customers. As a result, it is crucial that hotels use a variety of
marketing strategies to make themselves visible and to promote their hotel as the best available
choice.
Below, listed are seven fundamental hotel marketing strategies, to ensure they remain
competitive.

1. Make your hotel brand website a visual treat for visitors

Your hotel website is an important marketing tool, while also serving as the single most
important distribution channel, as it is the only one that can be used to generate direct sales.
Through your website, visitors should be able to find out important information about your
hotel, see photos of hotel rooms, and make bookings. It goes without saying that you should,
therefore, ensure that you have an efficient booking engine installed.
Your chosen booking engine should be easy to use and should require as few clicks as possible
to make a booking. The website design should be visually appealing and easy to navigate, with
clear tabs to make bookings and fast loading times. It is also imperative that your website is
optimized for viewing on mobile and tablet devices.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices

Having a website is one thing, but its value is limited if it is not easy to find. For this reason,
search engine optimization is extremely important. By optimizing your website with the use of
keywords and other SEO tactics, you can boost its visibility on search engines like Google and
Bing and attract more visitors.
In addition to researching high-value keywords related to your hotel and placing them in
content, headings and image ALT tags, you have to use other SEO best practices. Make sure
your business listings are all consistent and use the same format; claim your Google My
Business page, in order to reap local SEO benefits; and write engaging, high-quality meta
descriptions, which will draw search engine users towards your website.

3. Market your USPs

When it comes to building hotel marketing strategies, it is vital that you have something which
makes your hotel unique, or which makes it stand out from the pack. There are many different
approaches you can take to this, but a great way to market your hotel is to create a clear identity
and convey that identity throughout all of your marketing channels.
Why should people stay at your hotel, rather than a rival hotel? Is your building unique? Do
you have an interesting back-story? Is your service a cut above the rest? Do you have a different
pricing strategy from your rivals? Is your location special? Does your hotel have a particular
theme? Are your rooms decorated in a way that makes them stand out? You need to establish
exactly what your USP is and make sure everybody else knows it too.
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4. Connect with Online Travel Agencies and GDS

Online travel agents are an important distribution channel and the likes of Booking.com,
Expedia and Hotels.com are great for generating increased exposure. This will allow guests
who may not have encountered your hotel through other channels to find you and book a hotel
room. Today, the majority of mobile bookings come through OTAs.
Furthermore, a presence on global distribution systems (GDS) will ensure your hotel is
available for travel agents to book for their customers. This is especially important because
global distribution systems have an enormous reach and will potentially give you access to
customers in parts of the world you are not currently able to target effectively through your
various other marketing methods.

5. Work closely with local authorities

It is also worth speaking to your local tourist board to find out the various ways they can assist
with promoting your hotel to visitors in the area. Similarly, communicate with any local
business authorities and see if they would be willing to promote your hotel as a venue for
conferences, training sessions or other business functions.
To achieve success here, it is important that you produce and distribute plenty of marketing
literature to the various local authorities and that this literature is eye-catching, professional
and persuasive. You should also make sure that you are listed on relevant websites and your
listings are as a complete and up-to-date as possible.

6. Proactively utilize social media

In the modern, digital world, social media is one of the single best inbound marketing tools
available to hotel owners and marketers. As well as allowing you to post promotional posts to
an established audience, paid advertising on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram enable you to reach out beyond this audience and target other people in specific
locations, or with specific interests or qualities.
Online Reputation Management is a very important aspect in the hospitality business. Social
media competitions can be a great way to spread the word about your hotel, while Twitter
hashtags can help hotels to spark conversation and keep it all in one place. Moreover, LinkedIn
is a great tool for keeping in touch with business partners and high-value clients and can be
used as part of a social selling strategy.

7. Use content marketing progressively

Finally, a content marketing strategy will ensure fresh content is regularly added to your
website and can be used to draw visitors in or keep them coming back. Additionally, content
marketing can be used as part of your SEO strategy and this content can also be shared across
the full spectrum of social media platforms to increase views.
Examples of content you can produce include a blog, which should be updated regularly, web
articles, which can be used as part of a link building strategy, and video content, which can be
more overtly promotional. Generally speaking, the best content is useful, shareable and either
help its audience or provides valuable information.
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8. Selective Distribution : Carefully choosing multiple channels and partners. Example, Adidas,
Nike

The above 3 distribution strategies are the most used but a typical strategy may differ for a
particular product or a company. Many companies use online as well as offline strategies together
to optimize sales e.g. Apple iPhone.

1. Manufacturer -> end customer

2. Manufacture -> agent -> end customer
3. Manufacturer -> retailer -> end customer
4. Manufacturer -> wholesaler -> retailer -> end customer
5. Manufacturer -> reseller -> retailer -> end customer
6. Manufacturer -> franchisor -> franchisee -> end customer

Conclusion
With the hospitality industry being so competitive, a strong and diverse marketing mix is
essential. It is especially important that you work to differentiate your hotel, optimize your
website for maximum search engine visibility, have a presence on GDS and OTAs, and use
things like social media and content marketing to attract attention.
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UNIT - 4 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

4.0 Introduction
Social media refers to the means of interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or
exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Another definition from
Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that
allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Furthermore, social media depends
on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which
individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It
introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations,
communities, and individuals.

Traditional advertising methods are not considered appropriate for the new global online
community. It is all about communicating the brand rather than advertising. And the methods
used to get this message across are changing. The focus is now on social networking, on sites
such as Facebook, and Twitter.

However, this is not just a fad, it is already considered a large market and one which can prove
to be a legitimate way to conduct business for hotels.

The emergence of Web 2.0, allows one with unlimited amount of things the individual
can do on the internet these days. The individual is not just restricted to emails or passively
absorbing the static information that is available on the web pages when browsing. It used to
be one-way but now the web is the platform where people can share information, hold a decent
dialogue, build both social and business connections.

Social media has recently been adopted by a small group of organizations’ integrated
Marketing plans. There by infusing a mix of advertisement, public relations, their sales
Promotion to produce a customer focused message. With the evolution of platforms such as
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, we have the opportunity for exceptional access to
the guest. Since social media is so available to anyone with an internet connection, it should be
a platform that can be recommended to the hospitality industry to increase their brand
awareness and facilitate direct feedback from their customers. A business that understands the
advantage of social media is well aware that social media is essential in developing new
business in the current competitive and online driven marketplace.

Objective of the Study were:

1. Identify areas and functions these business hotels use social media for.
2. To explore the benefits of social media to business hotels
3. Investigate consumer’s perspective regarding the advantages of social media
4. Understand how consumers perceive these new vehicles of communication

Social Media Marketing concepts and techniques basically consist of:

1. Increase brand awareness of services,
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2. Increase sales,
3. Educate and inform customers,
4. Improve customer service,
5. Monitor brand reputation.

Social marketing provides visibility and awareness for the brand; this is the awareness that is
essential to convert potential customers to loyal customers eventually. The secret is to create a
thematic content that can lead to an effective marketing campaign. This move will generate
brand awareness and the brand will be top of mind with the consumers if they decide to buy
the product or services.
While traditional media keeps customers informed, social media goes a step further by keeping
the customers stimulated and involved. When a company gets their customers involved and
engaged, it leads to lasting working relationships with organizations. The level of customer
support increases with the use of social media since it is personal and interactive. In the event
of an unfortunate situation, social media may serve as a catalyst to turn this situation into an
opportunity for a company to extend their services and go the extra mile to reverse the negative
feeling.

Key Social Media Statistics

– Over 1.5bn active Facebook users
–699million people log onto Facebook daily.
– Facebook will account for 13% of
worldwide mobile ad
revenue in 2013.
– Facebook users share 2.5B pieces of
content on the site each day.
– 70% of business-to-consumer marketers
have acquired a customer through Facebook.
– Twitter users send 400 million tweets each
day.
– 50% of technology companies have
acquired a customer through Twitter.
– 25% of consumers who complain about
products on Facebook or Twitter expect a
response within 1 hour.
– 69% of online business-to-consumer
marketers use Twitter, compared to 80% for
business-to-business.
– 700 YouTube video links are shared on
Twitter every minute.
– 500 years of YouTube videos are watched
on Facebook every day.
–The equivalent of 100 hours of video is
uploaded to YouTube each minute

–70% of brands have presences on Google+,

up 4% from Q4 2012.
–41% of online business-to-consumer
marketers use Google+, compared to 39% for
business-to-business.
–12% of social media log ins by online
retailers are with Google+.
–Facebook’s share of social logins dropped
from 54% to 49% during 2015, while
Google’s share increased from 25% to 31%.
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–Instagram users upload 40million photos to

the site each day
–41% of brands post 1 or more photos per
week to their Instagram accounts, up from
34% in Q4 2012
–59% of brands have presences on
Instagram, up 9% from 2015.
–25% of teens say Instagram is the most
important social network, up from 12% in
2015.
Table 1 Key Social Media Statistics

Hoteliers are recognising how important mobile and social media are to their guests, and they
have begun to put more resources towards this area. In a recent poll by TravelClick, of
respondents that were planning to increase their workforce, 30% were planning to employ staff
specifically for social media.
Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly. The traditional methods of driving traffic to hotels
will evolve to include social networking. According to Google, by 2012 networking on social
media sites will be the second most popular online activity, overtaking shopping. Hotels will
need to be present on sites such as Facebook, however the content must be kept fresh and
relevant to the Facebook community. Companies are using Facebook as a free marketing
channel to increase brand awareness, connect with new audiences and build stronger
relationships with target markets. Although the verdict is still out on whether Facebook and
other social networking sites can drive actual booking revenue, they do provide benefits. The
value of the sites is in its ability to build brand awareness and community interest in the
individual hotel.
However, as with each new social media development that comes along, hotel companies must
weigh up the costs and benefits of being involved. There may be benefits to the brand of being
linked to an up-and-coming site, which may counter the possible lack of direct sales
opportunities. Likewise, even the most up-and-coming site may be defunct in a few months’
time, replaced with the next big thing, or having its features copied by an existing site.
For hotels, the debate over which social media systems to leverage and which to ignore
increases in time and cost seemingly daily.Hotel Analyst Perspective comments that one of the
biggest challenges faced by hotel brands wishing to manage their reputation on social media
channels knows where to invest their limited resources. For most companies while certain
systems, notably Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are a given, an array other types of systems
and sites exist, with many more developing and disappearing daily.

Deciding which to focus on can be difficult, as

making the wrong choice means both missed opportunities and wasted effort.
Social media is set to have a major influence on hoteliers with one in three (35%) pledging the
biggest increase in their marketing spends in the area.
Social media offers tremendous opportunity for the boutique hotel industry sector to compete
with the larger international hotel groups. Industry experts feel that social media has grown to
become one of the most important and levelling aspects of marketing today, offering boutique
hotels opportunities to connect with their guest. Social media channels including Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr allow hotel brands to ‘emotionally engage’ with guests. Social
media strategies can bring results, for example
A company’s social media strategy should fit the goals it wants to achieve with its social media.
The company’s presence in social media should also fit its brand image. For example
Travelodge would use different tactics than a Four Seasons hotel. In general social media
 Page 45 of 87

should be used to engage and listen to customers. It is also an excellent vehicle for customer
complaint resolution. A properly managed social media programme will bring customers
together with a sense of community and loyalty.
Social media has moved marketing into a new era. Those hotel companies that provide the
customer with a good product that is value for money and consistently deliver than product
will benefit from thousands of people seeing the positive comments from recent customers.
Those that do not provide this will suffer.

4.1 Five Applications of Social Media for Hotels

 Information Dissemination
 Ongoing Customer Engagement
 Just-in-time Marketing
 Extending Concierge Services
 Service Recovery

4.1.1 Information Dissemination

Different social media channels are suitable for sharing different types of information. For
instance, YouTube can be used to create a video library of the hotel, including guided tours of
the facility and the surrounding attractions, special features (i.e., indoor parking), interviews
with staff and customers, etc.
Social media platforms such as Flickr and Pinterest can be used to upload images of the
different areas of the hotel and surrounding locales. Because 80% of Pinterest subscribers are
women,this channel is of special significance to hotel marketers, since leisure travel is
predominantly planned by women. Social networking sites like Facebook can be used to share
the latest updates about the hotel, such as the opening of a new annex.
Using social channels to distribute information offers a wealth of benefits, such as reduced
traffic to costly channels like contact centres and a better customer experience. The information
conveyed on social media improves the decision-making process for potential guests,
especially because it can be shared in real-time. An example of using social channels
effectively can be seen at the Radisson Blu Hotel, whose social media strategy includes:
A social blog, www.Radisson Blu.com, which functions as a repository for nearly all of its
online content. The hotel invites users to visit the blog via Facebook and Twitter, which hosts
all of the hotel’s videos and pictures from YouTube and Flickr.
A library of over 900 YouTube videos.
The philosophy underlying the video content is to tell interesting stories that engage and inform
the user rather than simply promote the brand.
Twitter and Facebook accounts that are regularly monitored for guest comments, with
responses provided within a short timeframe. Twitter is also used to communicate information
and deals.
A culture of collaborative content creation.
The content generated comes from both the staff and interested guests.

4.1.2 Ongoing Customer Engagement

Continuously engaging with users and generating a sense of community within the customer
base can substantially improve customer retention rates. Social media provides an opportunity
for hotels to create a buzz around their brands and maintain an ongoing dialog with customers.
 Page 46 of 87

For instance, social media platforms like Facebook can be used to sponsor contests like “Photo
of the Week.” Gamification techniques can increase user involvement, by offering a sense of
competitive excitement at little cost to the business, as prizes are offered only to winners rather
than disseminating offers to the entire user base.
An example is the Best Western group of hotels, with its “Be a Travel Hero” campaign.
Initiated in spring 2012, the campaign was premised on the belief that most business travellers
feel a sense of guilt when they are on the road and away from their loved ones. Its objective
was to transform that feeling of guilt into one of heroism. Rewards members could build a
dream vacation for their family and friends on Facebook and invite them to join in for an
opportunity to win a dream vacation. The campaign was a staggering success, increasing sales
in the two-month spring period by 20% year over year and generating an additional 283,617
“likes” for its Facebook page.

4.1.3 Just-in-time Marketing

Some of the most innovative applications of social media in the hotel industry employ Code
Halo thinking at the intersection of social and mobile channels. Location-based applications,
such as Foursquare, are widely used in the industry for marketing to users in a manner that is
directly relevant to their current needs.
Tools such as LobbyFriend enable businesses to use a combination of social and geo-location
technologies. The LobbyFriend mobile application allows hotel guests (once they check in) to
connect with others staying at the hotel, as well as hotel employees. This can be highly
beneficial for, say, business travellers attending a conference, as they can instantly connect
with other attendees. Hotel staff can also make on-the-spot offers to guests who have
downloaded the application. Once a guest checks out of the hotel, the LobbyFriend social
network is no longer available. This is an example of a temporary social network, as it is event-
generated (check-in) and event-terminated (check-out).

4.1.4 Extending Concierge Services

Social media channels, particularly Twitter, have made it possible for guests to seek help from
any location instead of just the front desk. An example is Hyatt’s Twitter Concierge Service,
launched in 2009. “When we launched this,” says John Wallis, global head of marketing and
brand strategy for Hyatt, “we made a conscious decision that this channel would only provide
information and never push out promotional information.”
LateRooms.com, leading hotel reservations Web site headquartered in the UK, provides online
concierge services that enable customers to post their questions through Facebook or Twitter
and receive timely responses and relevant information. According to BrandWatch, a provider
of social media monitoring and analytics tools, 30% of the inquiries handled by
LateRooms.com get converted into sales.

4.1.5 Service Recovery

Travellers who have had a poor experience with a hotel will often vent their anger in social
media forums. Negative comments, if not acknowledged and followed up with remedial action,
can be devastating to the reputation of the company, as the sheer reach of social networks
means negative publicity spreads very rapidly. On the other hand, effective service recovery
can actually increase customer loyalty, as it conveys the perception that the company cares for
its customers.

When faced with a negative comment on a social media channel, a hotel should:
 Acknowledge the complaint (i.e., thank the user for posting his/her experience)
 Show empathy.
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 Provide an explanation for the poor experience (if such an explanation exists)
 Offer an apology, if the poor experience was triggered by a mistake on the part of the
hotel.
 Provide a direct contact number/e-mail address for the customer to contact the company
for follow-up on the grievance.
 Transfer the complaint to another channel if that can lead to swifter resolution (e.g., ask
the contact center to call the customer if the problem is related to loyalty membership).
 Track the problem to satisfactory closure

When responding to negative criticism on social media, the following points should be
considered:
 It is equally if not more important to acknowledge and respond to positive comments
as it is to provide redress to aggrieved customers. Satisfied customers require very little
effort at retention and are the most valuable customers for the business.
 Offering freebies or discounts to aggrieved customers is generally undesirable, as it can
lead to blackmailing behavior (i.e., customers threatening to write poor reviews unless
the hotel provides them with extra privileges, discounts, etc.).
 Social media is not a substitute for the conventional feedback mechanisms of guest
experience, such as surveys and forms

Key Applications for Social Media Channels Platform

Application Channel Most Suitable Best Practices

Applications
Characteristics

 Enables  Communitybuildi  Avoid lengthy

bidirectional ng (contests, posts.
conversation promotions,  Update
s. gamification content at
apps). least
 Most popular twice weekly.
social  High-frequency
Networking updates.  Incorporate
tool. reservation
app/widget
onto the
Facebook
page.

 Ideal for  Concierge  Use Twitter as

short, services. a
focused  Last-minute deals communicatio
messages. and offers. ns channel,
 Extensively  Response to and not as a
used by criticism and push
business defusing of crisis marketing
travellers. situations. channel.

 Visual  Information  Market

channels dissemination indirectly by
provide a (i.e., create a engaging and
high level of hotel channel on entertaining
user YouTube to viewers.
engagement. upload
informational
 Low-cost videos).  Explicitly
marketing, promotional
with user- marketing
 Page 48 of 87

initiated  Generation of should not be

viewing of user excitement undertaken on
content. (i.e., use Flickr these
and Pinterest to channels.
 YouTube post pictures of
content rooms, menus,
appears in sightseeing
search options in the
engine vicinity).
results.

 Reviews of  Reinforcement of  Perform a

hotels are positive reviews sweep of
posted and by these sites
ranked. acknowledging once or twice
 Quality of and thanking daily, and
peer reviews customers. address all
is a very  Mitigation of comments.
important negative  Avoid
criteria in sentiment in a generalized,
hotel timely fashion by non-specific
selection. professionally responses to
addressing user critical
grievances. reviews.

 Ideal for  Blogs can be  Keep posts

longer used to succinct and
content. aggregate focused.
 Frequency content from Address one
of content different channels or two themes
updates is or provide links to at most in a
lower than content on other post.
on other channels.
platforms  Showcasing of
industry expertise
via Tumblr

Table 2 Key Applications for Social Media Channels Platform

4.2 Trends and issues in social media

The number of the Internet users increases every day. Tourism & hospitality are so sensitive to
online information. The customers are now able to communicate with other customers, read
their reviews, search for travel destination, bargain for the prices, find the competitors and
connect to all organization involved in tourism. Three main factors, "information acquisition,
social-psychological and hedonic" are the most beneficial parameters for online travel
community users.
Social networking sites introduced to online society on 2003 and since then it has faced a
phenomenal increase in number of users. The customers share their idea, pictures, videos,
recommendations, reviews and stories while try to develop relationship with family, old friends
and new virtual friends. There is a strong force for
hospitality industry to change its technological and communication strategies to adopt their
firms to recent popularity of social media. However, this paradigm shift should be made
carefully and the potential impact should be examined wisely. There are two sides to the use
of social networking. First, it can be a valuable tool to collect consumer feedback that is used
to attract new customers and keep current customers by creating strong and effective customer
relationships that strengthen the loyalty to the brand.
 Page 49 of 87

4.2.1 Key issues in social networking framework

A. Having Enough Resources (People & Time) :

Social networking is time-consuming. Another ongoing study of the author shows
that more than 80 percent of facebook users check their pages more than once a day and average
social networking user is spending 20 Hours per week. The numbers show that the pages should
be updated even more than once a day. It is critical to understand that an old and dated social
networking page is much worse than having none. The current financial situation and maybe
the underestimation of the social networking's power, prevent the managers to assign full-time
employees just to update their social networking.

B. Contents & Relevance

Social networking for a business is totally different from personal social

networking. For a business contents are more important and when something is published in a
social networking page, there is no way to stop it, even if it was deleted seconds after
publishing. Also social networking is more than a simple sales & marketing channel. The
updates in a business networking page should be relevant and beneficial for the company. Also
the contents should be accessible to right target market, and also meet laws and regulatory
requirements.

C. Alignment of Social Networking Trends & Company's Goal

The person who is responsible for social networking first has to know what the company's
objectives are. Then the hard question comes next. Is the social networking opportunity is
aligned with the objectives? Answer to this question is really critical. It is possible to invest
lots of time and money and gain nothing at the end. Just because that media was not suitable
for the company's purposes and it didn't add any value to the firm.

D. Promote to the Customers

Social networking is all about forming relationships with the customers and
contacts. The most important thing here is to have a clear idea of who the company's audience
is and what do they actually want. There is a relatively easy pattern for small business. Social
networking friends can be turned to potential customers and be a new source of online revenues.
For the big companies there is no fixed and safe strategy yet.

E. Other Issues

In addition to the top 4 issues above, there are other major issues which experts
have faced in social networking. Participating often is one of them. The nature of social
networking is so dynamic. The pages should update frequently and the comments and posts
 Page 50 of 87

should be tracked. These tasks are time consuming. Staff knowledge and training are next two
critical issues. Staff may know how to use social networking for personal purposes, but their
knowledge about business social networking (and as mentioned before their knowledge about
company's objectives) may not be enough and they should be trained before launching any
page. This is why staff knowledge and training are ranked exactly one after another and they
are tight together. These issues are followed by security issues. This ranking is because of
nature of social networking.

4.2.2 Key trends in social media

Social media has earned its place as a hotel marketing tool. Now that you’ve adopted social,
the way forward is about maximizing its value at your hotel, and making sure that your
activity is as tailored as the experience you offer guests in person. Social media strategies
should be built for the long-term but in a rapidly changing environment, they also need to
take into account new features and ever changing user habits.

1. Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things refers to everyday devices, which are fitted with internet capabilities,
allowing them to send and receive data. This technology is hugely important within the
hospitality industry, because it can allow hotels to save on energy costs, while also optimising
hotel rooms, without human interference.
Some hotels are using smart energy systems to automatically reduce the power of light bulbs
during daylight hours, or to turn off the heating system when rooms are unoccupied, or when
occupied rooms reach a certain temperature. It can also be used to optimise temperatures
automatically, before guests arrive.

3. Recognition Technology
Another digital trend within the hospitality industry is Recognition technology. Recognition
technology includes everything from facial recognition to finger print or retina scanning, and
is growing in popularity in general. Its uses within the hotel industry are numerous, but
primarily revolve around speeding up payment processes and reducing the amount of contact
with human staff that is needed.
Technology like Face ID and Touch ID from Apple, as well as Amazon Go stores and
widespread use of beacon technology have opened up many people’s minds to the possibilities
offered through frictionless automation. Moving forward, hotels are likely to use facial
recognition for automatic authorisation of payments after leaving the restaurant, or to make the
check out process completely automated, avoiding queues.

4. Virtual Reality (VR)

One of the coolest digital trends within the hospitality industry is virtual reality. Due to its
ability to effectively transport people to a digitally created new environment, virtual reality
offers huge potential within the hospitality industry and already a number of hotels are making
use of 360 degree video and other virtual reality technology during the booking process and
beyond.
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On hotel websites, some chains are using VR to allow people to experience what their hotel
rooms are like before they book them, facilitating more informed decisions on the size of room
they need. Meanwhile, the technology can also be used to provide virtual experiences of local
attractions or as a means of entertainment within hotels

5. Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality is a digital trend that shares many similarities with virtual reality, but where
VR changes the user’s surroundings entirely, AR instead enhances real-world surroundings,
usually with graphical or informational overlays. This can be used by those within the hotel
industry to offer a number of advantages to customers.
For instance, imagine having a wall map in your hotel which, when combined with an AR app,
allows customers to point their phone at a section of the map and see information about local
attractions. Alternatively, some apps allow users to aim their phone at real restaurants in the
local area and see customer reviews instantly.

6. Chatbots & Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Chatbots deliver artificially intelligent responses to customer questions and queries, and this is
one of the most advantageous digital trends in the hospitality industry today. After all, it means
simple questions can be answered without a human agent, improving response times and
freeing human reps up to tackle tougher issues.
Artificial intelligence can also be used to automatically analyse data, assist with a revenue
management strategy, or provide more personalised offers to customers based on their
preferences. Hilton, meanwhile, have even introduced an artificially intelligent robot, which
can respond to human speech and answer questions.

7. Mobile Integration
Most customers own smart phones and they are conditioned to being able to use them for
everything from requesting an Uber to ordering food. Those in the hospitality industry need to
cater for this and a dedicated hotel app can go a long way, allowing guests to reserve restaurant
tables, order room service and book massage or spa sessions.
While self-service can help to improve the customer experience, apps can also be used to create
loyalty programmes, generating more repeat business. Moreover, the technology can be paired
with the aforementioned capabilities provided by the Internet of Things, allowing customers to
control heating and lighting from the app too.
Popular social media networks—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, —are steadily growing on
a global scale. The following chart shows the number of active users over time on each of these
social media networks. Most of these social media networks have achieved stellar year-over-
year growth in daily active users; the only exception is Twitter, whose user-growth trajectory
seems to have plateaued. With the rapid growth in these social media channels, the pool of
potential consumers that they provide access to is also growing in tandem. Significantly, all of
these potential consumers are directly accessible through marketing on these channels.
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Daily Active Users on Social Media Channels over Time

1400

1200

1000

800 facebook
Twitter
600
Instagram

400

200

0
2014 2015 2016 2017

Chart 3 Active social media channels

8. Reputation Management
Finally, in an age where around 65 percent of customers will check online reviews before
making a hotel booking, reputation management has emerged as one of the most important
digital trends of all. There are several ways that those within the hotel industry can manage
reviews, but it requires a long-term approach.
Respond to reviews on popular review platforms and acknowledge when guests have genuine
cause for complaint. Take action to address their complaints to avoid similar reviews in future.
It is also important to encourage happy guests to leave reviews too, and this can be done at the
checkout desk, or via email.
With the majority of clients starting their travel planning and purchase processes from the
major search engines positioning on search engine results listings remains the key issue in
online marketing. Unfortunately for hotels, in most cases search results for their properties are
dominated not by their own web pages but by the listings of the major OTAs and their affiliates.
Most of the recent studies clearly show that managing to convince people to react to your
content on social networks such as Facebook and Google Plus has a significantly positive effect
on search engine results ranking. Given that overt selling messages are rarely well received on
social media channels, this could present hoteliers willing to invest in developing a real
relationship with their customer with an interesting way to reclaim the organic search space.
 Page 53 of 87

UNIT-5 MARRIOTT SALES

5.1 Hotel Sales Strategy

1. Important Things to Study

Complete understanding of the product and services we are offering.  SWOT
analysis(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats- This will help us to know where is to
improve and the vulnerable areas. 10/4/2012
3. Sales Account Plan
 Lucrative Indian Market  Targeting Key Accounts  Existing Customers  Marketing
Activities  Representing at Major Exhibitions and Trade Shows  Target based incentives 
Commission Agents 10/4/2012
4. Nature of Agents
 Domestic Tour Operators  Inbound Tour Operators 10/4/2012
5. Domestic Tour Operators
 Packages and Tour Organizers  Hotel sales  MICE 10/4/2012
6. Strategy
 To make a list of prospective agents.  Meeting with them and offering our deal.  Providing
ideal incentive and offer to the agent who give us huge business.  Sending our offers on regular
basis.  In peak season we can offer better tariff to the agents.  In case of group we can offer
them FOC facility. 10/4/2012
7. Inbound Tour Operators
 The best time to visit India is between October and March. Temperatures in northern India
are pleasant and range in the 25-10 degrees Celsius during the daytime in these months, making
it pleasant for sightseeing.  Rajasthan, Agra, Delhi, Varanasi, etc. are colorful and extremely
pleasant with pleasant days and cold nights during this time. 10/4/2012
8. Strategy
 Thousand of travel agents are there in Delhi who cater the Inbound Tours.  Providing with
good services and tariff we can initiate business with them.  With these agents service is
primary factor after that costing matter.  Though we have to compete with renowned chain of
star hotel, we can create a good brand image in the minds of customer through services.
10/4/2012

5.2 Reactive
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2) Sales Manager, Reactive

The position is responsible to drive revenue for groups, transient and catering from the
respective market segments including growing market share from existing accounts. This
position also require for booking and servicing both local and group bookings business through
both an established base of key accounts and key prospects. Other responsibilities include
anticipating and exceeding of guests expectation and needs in planning and executing each
event while ensuring the best return value for the hotels.

Summary of Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Director of Sales Performance, responsibilities and essential job functions
include but are not limited to the following:
 To manage assigned portfolio of accounts and ensure the following are achieved
 All necessary actions taken to maximize GOP in the assigned portfolio
 Ongoing efforts are being identified to meet portfolio growth objectives as identified in
the annual performance appraisal
 To address client requests to maximize client satisfaction while observing the hotel’s
policies where appropriate
 Generate group business through execution of actions outlined in the departmental
marketing plan
 Increase in overall hotel business conversion percentage
 Prompt response to all forms of inquiries to capture additional market share
 Follow up and confirm with clients on all information pertaining to the events and to
organize information for accurate turnover once account turns definite
 Site inspection for both guestrooms and meeting rooms including hotel facilities
 Maintain close contacts with assigned portfolio of accounts making hotel group
bookings using the following media as and when appropriate
 Maintain adequate communication with other departments in the hotel so that the needs
of customers can be anticipated and met in an organized manner
 Initiate billing procedures, ensuring clients’ credibility & that deposits and credit
applications received with adequate information within an acceptable time frame
 Comply with hotel and department policies and procedures at all time
 Assist with any other Sales & Marketing projects as requested
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3) Pro-Active


 Proactive Sales – Manage to Win

 1. Proactive Sales Manage to Win! Greg Chase Chase Consulting Venice, FL
chaseconsulting@comcast.net
 2 Outline 1. Develop the customer a. advance and build relationships 2. Conducting
effective sales meetings b. effective meetings with a purpose 3. The Big KAHUNA c.
surprise!
 3.Develop the customer The 25% - 75% Rule Prospect Customer Advocate Loyal Your
company Competition $12 Million $36 Million!
 4 Develop the customer Relationship selling changes the selling process: Advance the
customer up the relationship ladder “Relationships are the foundation to build a long
term business partnership.” (Hudson) Relationship selling (advocate-loyal) • Retain
existing accounts • Become the preferred supplier • Price for profit • Manage accounts
for long-term profit • Always get the last look To: Transaction selling (prospect-
customer) • Get new account • Get the order • Sell to anyone • Cut the price to get the
sale From:
 5. Develop the customer The relationship ladder 5 Loyal Customer Maintenance
Advocate Customer Customer Developmental Prospect Problem Fix Maintenance
Developmental Fix
 6. Develop the customer The Relationship Ladder  Problem account: Not buying! –
Fix or Fire! 1. Quality issue 2. Payment issue 3. Service issue  Eliminate the problem!
1. Raise prices 2. Strict terms 3. Improve quality and service  Objective: Send the
problem account to the competition or back on the ladder. 6
 7. Develop the customer The Relationship Ladder Developmental The prospect
account: They have been qualified and might buy. You either need to meet with them,
or you have met with them once or twice. (Maybe five or six times to get that first
order.) They have seen your advertising. You need to promote your products, quality,
service, and competitive pricing. The customer: Used to be a prospect, but they have
bought from you. Very price conscious. Often places order with lowest bidder. Doesn’t
always give you a last chance. Doesn’t view you as a friend. You need to get to know
them personally. You need to promote your value proposition when you get the
opportunity. “If you are not taking care of the customer, the competition will.”
 8. Develop the customer The Relationship Ladder Developmental The advocate
customer: They used to be customers, but now they are friends too. They believe in
your valued proposition. (i.e. that which you offer that sets you apart from the
competition) They sell for you. They know your wife's name and you, theirs. Will invite
you and your family to their company picnic. Always gives you the last look. Shares
competitive information with you freely. Happy to recommend you to a friend. 8
 9. Develop the customer The Relationship Ladder Maintenance The loyal customer:
They used to be advocates, but now they are almost family too. They know most of
your family and you, theirs. On occasion, you socialize together. They promote your
products, sell and defend you as well. They realize you are as interested in the success
 Page 56 of 87

of their business as you are your own. They buy all their precast products from you.
They are convinced you have the best quality and service and are willing to pay for it.
They trust you will give them fair competitive pricing at all times. You have built up
equity with this account. Small lapses in service or quality are easily tolerated. 9
 10. Develop the customer “A sale without a relationship is not a sale, it’s an order…
orders come and go.” APG 1. Make a short list of customers you don’t sell to. 2. Make
a list of customers you do sell to. 3. Categorize each one on the Relationship Ladder. 4.
Make lists of the top 20%, in the prospect, customer, and advocate categories.
Remember, not every customer is a candidate for an advance. 5. Develop a strategy to
move each to the next level. 10
 11. Develop the customer Advance the relationship - Gain customer insight 
Understand the customer’s business  What are his critical success factors?  What
service issues create problems?  What time / financial constraints apply?  What are
your customer’s competitors doing? Who are the two biggest?  How much precast
does he buy?  What products does the customer demand?  What’s your share?  Who
is his receptionist / assistant? 11

 12. Develop the customer Advance the relationship - Gain customer insight 
Understand the customer  When is your customer’s birthday?  Where is he / she
from?  Where did he / she attend school?  What are his / her two favorite interests?
 What is the name of his / her spouse?  What are the ages of his / her children? 
What are their sports / hobbies?  What is their personality / behavior? 12

 13. Develop the customer Advance the customer up the relationship ladder 
Relationships move the business from a transaction to a partnership.”  Consistently
bring fresh ideas to your customer  Generate sales leads for your customer  Train
you customer regularly  on product / service usage  technical capabilities  how to
use industry resources for further learning  Highlight business benefits of products /
service  Create loyalty and a steady demand for products 13
 14. Develop the customer Summary 1. Always advance the customer up the
relationship ladder 2. Deliver value with each interaction 3. Be consistent and
professional 4. Be on time – early is better 5. Ask questions – learn to listen 6. Gain
customer insight 7. SPIN the customer situation – problem – implication – needs
(specific needs) 8. Provide solutions that provide the customer value, i.e. reduced costs,
reduced risk, improved schedule, and improved performance. Remember, safety and
environmental always. 9. Tailor the offering to the customer “If people like you they
will listen to you, and if they trust you they will do business with you. People buy from
people they like and people they trust.” 14
 15 Conducting effective sales meetings Four Types: 1. Informative: Announce
progress, discuss ideas 2. Training: Improve skills 3. Decision-Making: Problem-
solving, brainstorming 4. Individual meetings: Strategic planning and reporting
 16 Conducting effective sales meetings 1. Information sales meetings When: Weekly,
early Tuesday or at a time most convenient to the sales team. If Monday, mid-afternoon.
Why? What: Review what is relevant to everyone: pricing, product availability, wins,
programming and promotional activity. Team discussion for landing hottest proposals.
Recognize individuals for meeting/exceeding expectations. Discuss only things that are
 Page 57 of 87

applicable to everyone. Length: One hour maximum - salespeople want to be motivated

by meetings. They want to be out on the street with new info that will help them sell!
They want to feel positive and enthusiastic.
 17 Conducting effective sales meetings 2. Training Meetings When: As often as
needed, never less than once a month – give plenty of lead time. Send out agenda and
purpose. What: Problem solving, advertising, inventory levels, unique training tools,
skill training. Role playing exercises on how to overcome objections, how to negotiate,
how to SPIN, customer satisfaction, etc. Get input from sales staff on training topics.
Conduct fun quizzes at the end. Length: Not more than one hour – don’t go over allotted
time. Sales people, C.S.P.C.P.S.I.A.M. What does this mean?
 18 Conducting effective sales meetings 3. Decision-Making meetings When: Once per
quarter – give plenty of lead time. What: Brainstorm ideas for added value
opportunities, promotional ideas, sales promotion, new products, and sales/bookings
objectives for the next period, etc. If sales people get to participate in sales decisions,
they become empowered, committed to their success. Brainstorm with customers as
well as vendors and agencies on ways to improve what you do for them. Encourage
sales people to create agendas and chair these sessions. Length: One hour – if longer,
take a break.
 19 Conducting effective sales meetings 4. Individual Meetings When: Formally, every
week, at the beginning of the week What: The weekly sales plan – calls, objectives, and
tactics…The planners become weekly-monthly-quarterly sales goals for the sales
person…Last week’s calls and results…Reporting on the progress of individual
targets…Collection issues…Goal shortfalls…Anything specific to the sales
person…Bad news…This is when the sales manager earns his stripes, he’s the coach.
Length: Fifteen to twenty minutes
 20 Conducting effective sales meetings Meeting Do’s and Don'ts Do start on time, and
close the door …. finish the meeting on time …. develop and stick to an agenda ….
single out people for compliments …. come to the meeting thoroughly prepared ….
have closure for every meeting – sum up …. follow up in writing to emphasize results
…. allow drinks, no food …. ask sales people to chair meetings Don’t tell salespeople
they are not meeting budgets ……. schedule meetings on Monday ……. run longer
than one hour ……. call unscheduled meetings ……. discuss anything that is relevant
to only one person ……. single out a person and criticize ……. schedule meetings
without a purpose
 21 Conducting effective sales meetings Meetings Summary Sales people want to be on
the road by 9:00 a.m. Let them! Keep idle chit chat and irrelevant topics to a minimum,
stick to the business agenda. Remember, a good sales staff is being kept off the road,
so something really important should be covered every minute of every meeting.
Salespeople are motivated by informative, positive, concise, and well organized
meetings, both departmental and individual. They are turned off and unmotivated by
sales managers who are disorganized, late to meetings, long-winded ( disrespectful of
a sales person’s time), negative, pessimistic, critical and non-supportive. “Salespeople
want to be motivated by meetings. They want to be sent out on the road with new
information that will help them sell and feel positive and enthusiastic.” (Warner and
Spencer)
 22. Manage to Win! The Big Kahuna 22
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 23. Exceed your expectations The Big Kahuna says: Sell More Stuff ! And do it! Better
Faster Cheaper 23
 24. Manage to Win! 24 Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper “Nothing happens until
a sale takes place.” A. The key to a salesman’s success is to “sell more stuff”. B.
Organize and reorganize your business so there is a total focus on selling and generating
revenues. C. Train your salespeople. About 95% of them could dramatically increase
their sales if they were better trained in the elements of the sales process. D. This
explains why the most profitable companies invest the most in sales training, and the
least profitable don’t.
 25. Manage to Win! 25 Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper Always be prepared to
answer the customer’s primary question: “Give me reasons why I should buy from you
rather than from someone else.” Your answer to that question is a major key to your
business success. Do it Better – Faster - Cheaper “The man who comes up with a means
for doing or producing almost anything, better, faster, or more economically has his
future and his fortune at his fingertips.” (J. Paul Getty)
 26. Manage to Win! 26 Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper Your future and your
fortune 1. Better - A product or service that is “better” does, for the same price, what
the customer purchases it to do in a way that is superior to the product of any competitor.
“Better” could mean quality, superior service, or additional benefits. Does your
customer view your products and services as “better” than anything else that is available
to them? 2. Faster - The quality of being “faster” means that your product satisfies the
customer's need for speed. It achieves the result promised by you faster than your
competitor does. It is sold, designed, produced, and delivered “faster.”
 27. Manage to Win! 27 Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper Your Future and your
Fortune Cheaper - If your product is “cheaper” it means you offer the same value at a
lower price. It may also be that your product is “cheaper” to use. It may be “cheaper”
because it has greater value at the same price and increases your customer’s financial
performance. Convenience - If you offer to make it easier for the customer to buy (no
hassles) this means your customer can acquire it with greater “convenience.” This may
be a value worth paying for and yes, “cheaper” may not just be about lowering the price.
 28. Sell More Stuff: better, faster, cheaper At the end of the day Customers usually
have four primary questions that must be answered if you expect the order - 1. What
does it cost? 2. What do I get for the money? 3. How fast do I get the benefits you
promise? 4. How sure can I be that you will truly deliver on those promises? Whichever
company or salesperson answers these questions most convincingly wins the sale.
 29. “Work hard on your strategic planning. Meaningful conclusions will provide an
open road for success.” 1. Develop your customers. Make customer development part
of every sales person’s job, include reporting and meeting expectations. Coach and train
your sales people, teach them to “listen” and to bring value to a customer. 2. Make sure
your “system” has structure, a defined framework, with freedom to work.
Empowerment is great, but measure properly, and manage to win. Always try to make
improvements to overcome shortcomings. 3. Set targets - team and individual. Create
an atmosphere of urgency and passion with a purpose. Everyone likes to know what
they need to achieve to be successful. “You can’t hit a target you can’t see.” Track your
targets. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and you don’t measure unless you
track along the way.” 29
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 30.Work on improving the effectiveness of your sales meetings. Take on a no-nonsense

approach, be prepared and don’t waste time. Discuss positive (good news) topics. Keep
the meeting on schedule. 5. Sell more stuff-better-faster-cheaper. Challenge yourself,
your sales, production and engineering staffs to beat the competition in these three
areas. 6. Many of your customers are awake at 5:00 a.m. Many go to work at 6:00 a.m.
Most of their jobs are in full gear by 7:00 a.m. When do you have a real person
answering the phone at your plant? Remember, make it convenient for the customer to
buy from you. Have someone who understands the sales value proposition answering
the phone, and preferably from 6:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

4) Reservations
 1. Reservations 1. Discuss the sales dimension of the reservations process, outline the
different types of reservations, and describe reservation inquiries and their distribution
channels. 2. Describe the process of taking group reservations and discuss group
reservation issues. 3. Identify the tools managers use to track and control reservations
availability, and discuss reservation records. 4. Describe policies and procedures
surrounding the confirmation, modification, and cancellation of different types of
reservations. 5. Explain the function of typical reservation reports, and summarize other
reservation considerations. Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 1
Competencies for Reservations
 2.Reservations • Prior to front office automation, reservations agents focused on basic
room availability; they could not reserve specific types of rooms • Automation provides
accurate and current room and rate information • Due to automation, much of the
responsibility for room sales, revenue projections, and profitability analyses has shifted
to the reservations department • Reservations agents are now salespeople • Many
reservations are now made online; hotels need websites that are designed to make it
easy for guests to make reservations Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 2
Reservations and Sales
 3.Reservations • The sales department is a primary source of group reservations,
typically from corporations and trade associations • The sales department may also go
after the SMERF market, business traveler market, and travel agent market • The sales
department must familiarize distribution channels with the hotel’s characteristics and
surrounding areas • Sales managers are often given financial or other incentives to meet
or exceed sales goals Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 3 Role of the Sales
Department in Reservations
 4. Reservations • The sales department can book business many months or years in
advance • The reservations manager should be involved in every decision affecting the
hotel’s occupancy and revenue opportunities • The mix of group and transient business
is carefully planned for and monitored by hotels • The sales department is given a
specific number of guestrooms it can sell to groups, called a “group allocation” • To go
over the group allocation, the sales staff needs an approval from the hotel’s sales
director or general manager • The reservations manager typically evaluates requests to
adjust the group allocation Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 4 The
Reservation Sales Planning Process
 Page 60 of 87

 5. Reservations Guaranteed Reservations • Prepayment • Payment card • Advance

deposit • Voucher or MCO • Corporate Non-Guaranteed Reservations Managing Front
Office Operations PowerPoint 5 Types of Reservations
 6. Chapter 4: Reservations • Requires that a payment in full be received prior to the
guest’s day of arrival • Generally the most desirable form of guaranteed reservation for
the hotel • Commonly used at resort hotels Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 6 Guaranteed Reservations—Prepayment
 7. Reservations • The most common form of guaranteed reservation • Unless the
payment card guaranteed reservation is properly canceled before a stated cancellation
hour, the hotel charges the guest’s payment card account for one night’s room rate plus
tax; the card company then bills the cardholder • Resort hotels may charge for more
than one night, since their typical length of stay is longer and it is more difficult for
them to fill rooms at the last minute Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 7
Guaranteed Reservations—Payment Card
 8. Reservations • Requires that the guest pay the hotel a specified amount of money
prior to arrival (typically enough to cover one night’s stay plus tax for non-resort hotels,
more for resort hotels) • If a guest fails to register or cancel, the hotel retains the deposit
and cancels the remainder of the reservation • Most common at destination resorts and
convention center hotels • Some hotels apply the deposit to the last night of the guest’s
stay; this is intended to ensure collection of room revenue should the guest depart earlier
than scheduled Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 8 Guaranteed
Reservations—Advance Deposit
 9. Reservations • With travel agency vouchers and miscellaneous charge orders
(MCOs), the guest prepays the amount of the deposit to a travel agent • The travel agent
forwards the voucher or MCO to the hotel as proof of payment and a guarantee that the
prepaid amount will be sent to the hotel when the voucher is returned to the travel
agency for payment • MCOs are issued by the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) •
Many hotels prefer MCOs over travel agency vouchers because ARC guarantees
payment if the travel agency defaults Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 9
Guaranteed Reservations—Voucher or MCO
 10. Reservations • With this type of reservation, a corporation enters into an agreement
with a hotel • The corporation may sign a contractual agreement stating that it will pay
for any no-show business travelers the corporation sponsors • Corporate guaranteed
reservations are popular in downtown or business center hotels catering to a large
number of business travelers • The corporation may receive a single comprehensive
invoice from the hotel for several stays, thereby simplifying the billing process
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 10 Guaranteed Reservations—
Corporate
 11.Reservations • The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated reservation
cancellation hour (usually 4 or 6 p.m.) on the day of arrival • Does not guarantee that
the hotel will receive payment for no-shows • If the guest does not arrive by the
cancellation hour, the hotel can release the guestroom for sale Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 11 Non-Guaranteed Reservations
 12.Reservations • May be handled by a reservations agent or website • Information
collected: guest’s name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number; company or
 Page 61 of 87

travel agency name (if applicable); date of arrival and departure; type and number of
rooms requested; room rate; number of people in party, method of payment or
guarantee; and any special requests Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 12
Reservation Inquiries
 13.Reservations • Property reservations department • Central reservations systems •
Cluster reservations office • Global distribution systems • Intersell agencies • Internet
distribution systems Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 13 Distribution
Channels
 14.Reservations • Handles direct requests for rooms, monitors any communication links
with central reservations systems and intersell agencies, and maintains updated room
availability information • Direct requests can reach the department in several ways:
telephone, mail, property website, property-to-property, faxes, and text messaging
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 14 Property Reservations Department
 15.Reservations • Greet the caller • Identify the caller’s needs • Provide an overview of
the hotel’s features and benefits, based on the caller’s needs • Propose a room
recommendation, and adjust it according to the caller’s response • Close the sale •
Gather the reservation information • Thank the caller Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 15 Reservations Agent Sales Process
 16. Reservations • Responsible for maintaining a room availability inventory for each
property in the system • Two basic types: affiliate networks and non-affiliate networks
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 16a Central Reservations Systems
Continued
 17.Reservations Central Reservations Systems Continued from previous slide…
Affiliate Networks • A hotel chain reservation system • Typically, all participating
hotels are contractually related • Some affiliate networks allow non-chain properties in
the network as “overflow facilities” • Overflow facilities pay a commission for these
referrals Non-Affiliate Networks • Connect independent (non-chain) properties •
Examples: The Leading Hotels of the World, Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,
and Distinguished Hotels Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 16b
 18.Reservations • Serves several hotels in a geographic area • Operates similarly to a
hotel chain central reservations system, except that it serves one specific destination
area instead of an entire hotel company • Eliminates the need to have separate
reservations departments in each of the participating hotels • Advantages: labor costs
are reduced, cross-selling opportunities are created, room rates and availabilities can be
coordinated • Disadvantages: communication and coordination challenges Managing
Front Office Operations PowerPoint 17 Cluster Reservations Office
 19.Reservations • Global distribution systems (GDSs) distribute hotel reservation
information worldwide and provide a platform for selling hotel reservations worldwide
• GDSs also support the worldwide distribution of airline tickets, automobile rentals,
and other traveler services • GDSs directly link the reservation systems of hotels,
airlines, car rental agencies, and travel agencies • Examples of GDSs: SABRE, Galileo
International, Amadeus, and Worldspan Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
18 Global Distribution Systems
 20.Reservations • Businesses that contract to handle reservations for more than one
product line • Intersell agencies typically handle reservation services for airline
 Page 62 of 87

companies, car rental companies, and lodging properties • Intersell agencies typically
channel room reservation requests to a hotel central reservations system, but they may
also contact a destination hotel directly Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
19 Intersell Agencies
 21.Reservations • Internet distribution systems (IDSs) enable travelers from many
different market segments to use desktop and mobile devices to reserve hotel rooms,
book flights, and select rental cars • Examples of IDSs include Expedia, Hotels.com,
Orbitz, Hotwire, Priceline, and Travelocity • Individual hotel websites commonly
feature user-friendly and secure procedures for making and paying for reservations •
Hotel websites also feature marketing tools such as links to hotel products and services,
and photographs and virtual tours of the property Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 20 Internet Distribution Systems
 22. Reservations • Revenues vary widely, depending on the the hotel (supplier) and
agent (seller) relationship • Central reservations offices typically charge affiliate
properties either a fixed rate per room per night, or a transaction fee based on
reservation activity, or both • Global distribution systems and Internet distribution
systems receive revenues from hotels through commissions, by charging transaction
fees or transmission fees, and/or by selling hotel rooms that have been discounted •
When hotels sell rooms via distribution channels, the goal is to offset associated
commissions and other fees with an increase in occupancy and overall room revenue
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 21 Distribution Channel Revenues
 23.Reservations • Group reservations can involve a variety of contacts: guests, meeting
planners, convention and visitors bureaus, tour operators, and travel agents • Group
reservations typically involve intermediary agents and require special handling • A
group’s representative deals with the hotel’s sales or reservations department • If
enough rooms are available for the group, an agreed-upon number of guestrooms, called
a block, is set aside for the group’s members Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 22a Group Reservations Continued
 24.Reservations Group Reservations Continued from previous slide… • Group
members may be given a special reservation identification code or reservation web
address to use to reserve their rooms within the group’s assigned block • As group
members reserve rooms, the rooms in the group block are moved from “blocked” status
to “booked” status • Unbooked rooms in the group block may be released to the hotel’s
available rooms inventory at a predetermined date—the cut-off date Managing Front
Office Operations PowerPoint 22b
 25. Reservations • A contract must be created specifying the exact number of rooms
required, room rates, group arrival and departure dates, special considerations (suites,
comp rooms, group vs. individual billing arrangements, etc.), early arrival and late
departure dates, and cut-off date • The reservations manager should double-check to be
sure that the rooms are available before confirming a room block • If the group will
take away rooms from transient business, the reservations manager should notify the
sales or general manager of this non-group displacement • The reservations manager
should check the group’s history with the hotel (if available) before finalizing the block;
it may be possible to reduce a room block, based on the group’s history (termed a “wash
down” or a “wash”) Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 23a Creating a
Group Block Continued
 Page 63 of 87

 26.Reservations Creating a Group Block Continued from previous slide… • The

reservations manager must monitor the room availability in the block as reservations
come in and adjust the room block as needed • A “definite group” has signed a sales
contract; a “tentative group” has been sent a contract, but the signed contract has not
been returned; the reservations manager must make sure a group is not allowed to
remain in the “tentative” status for too long, jeopardizing other business • Some groups
allow attendees to make reservations directly with the hotel, while others do not;
reservations agents must honor whatever arrangements the hotel has made with the
group in question Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 23b
 27.Reservations • Know the convention group’s profile • Review all relevant hotel
reservation policies with the convention planner • Inform reservations agents that the
convention has been scheduled, and go over the group’s reservation process • Produce
regular reports to update the status of the convention block • Generate an up-to-date list
of registrants at regular intervals • Correct errors found by the convention planner
immediately • Confirm reservations from attendees as soon as they are received •
Return rooms to the group’s block when cancellations are received and inform the
convention planner • Distribute a final rooming list to the convention planner and all
hotel staff involved with the convention Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
24 Dealing with Convention Groups
 28.Reservations • Large conventions sometimes require the use of rooms at more than
one hotel • In these cases, the room requirements at the various hotels often are
coordinated by a separate convention and visitors bureau • Convention and visitors
bureaus may use special software to help monitor and coordinate the room reservations
in the various hotels in the city/local area Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 25 Convention and Visitors Bureaus
 29.Reservations • Specify the number and types of rooms to be held in a tour group
block, including rooms for drivers and guides • Clearly state a cut-off date • On or
before the cut-off date, the tour operator should supply the hotel with a guarantee on
the number of rooms the group will need, or a final rooming list if that is available •
Specify the date by which the tour operator will provide a final rooming list (if this date
is different from the cut-off date) Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 26a
Dealing with Tour Groups Continued
 30.Reservations Dealing with Tour Groups Continued from previous slide… • Monitor
the amount of advance deposits required and their due date • Note on the reservation
record any services and amenities the property will provide as part of the group package
• Include on the reservation record the name and telephone number of the tour group’s
representative or agent • Note any special group arrangements (early arrival, baggage
handling, registration, and check-out procedures) Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 26b
 31.Reservations • Automates and simplifies the group reservations and registration
process • Relies on the Internet to communicate with potential attendees • Provides
information about the group event and reservations availability • Allows the group
leader to load e-mail and postal addresses so that the leader can more quickly and easily
send out e-mails and letters to prospective attendees • Captures the attendee’s name,
mailing address, e-mail address, payment card information, guestroom request, etc.
when the attendee makes a reservation • May provide reservations reports for manual
processing by the hotel, or may interface directly with the hotel’s reservations system
 Page 64 of 87

Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 27 Attendee Management and Housing

Systems Software
 32.Reservations • Whenever a reservation is received, a hotel can: (1) accept the
reservation as requested; (2) suggest alternative room types, dates, and/or rates; or (3)
suggest an alternative hotel • Reservations must be closely monitored to control
overbooking • Overbooking is a strategy aimed at helping a hotel achieve 100- percent
occupancy by hedging against guests who do not arrive or cancel their reservations
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 28 Reservation Availability
 33.Reservations • An automated reservation management module in a property
management system can keep close track of reservation activities • Reservation systems
can tightly control room availability and automatically generate many reservation-
related reports • The biggest advantage of an automated reservation system is the
improved accuracy of room availability and rate information • Once all rooms in a
specific category are sold, the system can be programmed to refuse any further
reservations in that category; some systems automatically suggest alternative room
types to help reservations agents still make the sale • Reservation systems can create
waiting lists for high-demand periods Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
29 Reservation Systems
 34. Reservations • Guest name (and group name, if applicable) • Home/billing address
• E-mail address • Telephone number • Company name and telephone number (if
appropriate) • Name of person making the reservation (if not the guest) • Number in
party Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 30a Reservation Record
Continued
 35.Reservations Reservation Record Continued from previous slide… • Arrival date
and time • Number of nights required or expected departure date (depending on the
system) • Type of reservation (guaranteed, non-guaranteed) • Special requirements •
Additional information as needed (late arrival, room preference, and so on) Managing
Front Office Operations PowerPoint 30b
 36.Reservations • With a reservation confirmation, a hotel acknowledges and verifies a
guest’s room request and personal information • A written confirmation states the intent
of both parties and confirms important points of agreement (name, dates, rate, room
type, etc.) • Confirmed reservations may be guaranteed or non-guaranteed •
Confirmations are sent out via e-mail or letter soon after the reservation request is
matched with availability • Confirmations may also include a request for a deposit or
prepayment, or a request for updated information, depending on the nature of the
reservation • Confirmations are especially important for guests with disabilities
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 31 Reservation
Confirmation/Cancellation
 37.Reservations • A confirmation number helps assure a guest that a reservation record
exists; a cancellation number assures a guest that a cancellation has been properly
processed • Confirmation/cancellation numbers helps a hotel to quickly reference a
specific reservation record • Confirmation/cancellation numbers protect both the guest
and the hotel, and can reduce misunderstandings • Confirmation/cancellation numbers
should be stored in separate files for quick referencing Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 32 Confirmation/Cancellation Numbers
 Page 65 of 87

 38. Reservations • Guests sometimes make non-guaranteed reservations but later

modify them (because of a delayed flight, road-construction bottlenecks, bad weather
conditions, etc.) to guaranteed reservations, to avoid having their non-guaranteed
reservations canceled at the hotel’s reservation cancellation hour • When changing a
non-guaranteed reservation to a guaranteed reservation, a system would typically: (1)
access the correct non-guaranteed reservation record; (2) capture the guest’s payment
card information; (3) assign a new reservation confirmation number; and (4) complete
the change from non-guaranteed to guaranteed reservation status Managing Front
Office Operations PowerPoint 33 Modifying Non-Guaranteed Reservations
 39. Reservations • A prospective guest does the hotel a service when he or she takes the
time to cancel a reservation • A canceled reservation allows the hotel to return a room
to inventory for possible resale • Hotels should make processing a reservation
cancellation as easy and efficient as possible for guests Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 34a Canceling a Reservation Continued
 40. Reservations Canceling a Reservation Continued from previous slide… • Canceling
a non-guaranteed reservation: may require the guest’s name and address, number of
reserved rooms, scheduled arrival and departure dates, and reservation confirmation
number (if available) • Canceling a payment card guaranteed reservation: the employee
must access the correct reservation record, assign a cancellation number, and add the
cancellation number to the reservation cancellation file • Canceling an advance deposit
reservation: policies vary among hotels; deposits are normally returned to guests who
properly cancel their reservations; very important to assign and record a cancellation
number with this type of reservation Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
34b
 41.Reservations • Reservation transactions report • Commission agent report • Regrets
and denials report • Revenue forecast report • Expected arrival and departure lists
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 35 Typical Reservation Reports
 42. Chapter 4: Reservations • Indicate the number and names of guests expected to
arrive, depart, or stay over • May be generated according to a pre-determined schedule
or on demand • May be displayed or printed in the reservations department or via any
connected device • Facilitates guest registration and check-out Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 36 Expected Arrival and Departure Lists
 43. Reservations • Advance deposits for reservations should be processed by employees
who do not have direct access to reservation records • A designated employee (the
hotel’s general cashier, for example) should endorse and record deposit payments
immediately after they arrive • Information that should be recorded in a deposits-
received system file include: form of payment, identifying payment number, amount of
payment, date received, guest name, arrival date, and reservation confirmation number;
this file should be accessible by the reservations department Managing Front Office
Operations PowerPoint 37a Processing Deposits Continued
 44. Reservations Processing Deposits Continued from previous slide… • Each
reservation record should be updated with the status of its deposit information • A
transaction report should verify that the recorded deposits balance with the total
reservation deposits entered for the day • Guests should be discouraged from sending
cash; checks are better, but payment card deposits are almost always preferred
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 37b
 Page 66 of 87

 45. Reservations • Include statistics on all aspects of the reservations process: number
of guests, occupied rooms, reservations organized by distribution channel, no-shows,
walk-ins, overstays, and understays • Helpful in tracking individual groups and their
booking patterns Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 38 Reservations
Histories
 46.: Reservations • Legal implications • Waiting lists • Promotional packages • Potential
reservation problems • E-commerce Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 39
Other Reservation Considerations
 47. • The reservation agreement between the hotel and a guest begins at the time of
guest contact • This agreement may be oral or written • Confirming a reservation by
stating that the guest will be accommodated on a particular date may constitute a
contract binding the hotel • If the confirmation is a response to a reservation request
from the prospective guest, it may bind both the hotel and the guest to fulfill the
reservation Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 40 Legal Implications
 48 Reservations • Advise the guest that no rooms are currently available for the
requested date(s) • Offer to take the guest’s name, telephone number, and e-mail address
• Agree to notify the prospective guest immediately if a room becomes available • Help
the guest find alternative dates or accommodations if no rooms become available
Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 41 Waiting Lists
 49. Reservations • Always include a guestroom plus other features, such as meals, golf,
tennis, sports lessons, limousine service, and sight-seeing or other activities in or near
the property • Typically, properties provide guests with a discount for purchasing a
promotional package • Guests often consider a promotional package a bargain and a
convenience • Reservations personnel and website content must be very informative
about all the packages a property offers Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
42 Promotional Packages
 50. Reservations • Errors in the reservation record • Misunderstandings due to industry
jargon • Miscommunication with central reservations systems • Online reservation
failures Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 43 Potential Reservation
Problems
 51. Reservations • E-commerce is online commerce via the Internet • E-commerce
extends the reach of hotels far beyond the traditional distribution channels of a hotel
reservations office, call center, and global distribution system • E-commerce allows
hotels access to multiple distribution channels • E-commerce gives hotels direct access
to consumers • Guests can search for hotels and make reservations online Managing
Front Office Operations PowerPoint 44a E-Commerce Continued
 52. Reservations E-Commerce Continued from previous slide… • Some hotels assign
a manager to oversee online content and transactions (the revenue manager, for
example) • E-commerce must be carefully monitored, to be sure that hotel information
and pricing are properly presented • Single image inventory: all online distribution
channels draw from the same room availability, pricing, rate rules, services, and
amenities information Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 44b
 53. Reservations • Merchant model • Wholesaler model • Opaque sites • Transparent
sites Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 45 E-Commerce Site Categories
 Page 67 of 87

 54. Reservations • Also called the “markup model” • An online intermediary negotiates
a discount for the guestrooms it will sell on its site (for example, 20 to 30 percent off
the hotel’s lowest published room rate) • The discounted rate is called the “net rate” and
represents the amount the intermediary will pay the hotel for every room it sells at the
agreed-upon discount Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 46a Merchant
Model Continued
 55. Reservations Merchant Model Continued from previous slide… • The intermediary
marks up the net rate to achieve the room rate it will charge guests; this is termed the
“gross rate” • The gross rate minus the net rate represents the profit that the intermediary
makes on selling a room on its site • Merchant-model sites tend to rank hotels based on
their discounts, from highest discounts to lowest • Examples of merchant-model sites
include Hotels.com and Travelocity Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 46b
 56. Reservations • With the wholesaler model, the hotel sets the selling price for the
rooms it will give to the online wholesaler; the wholesaler receives an agreed-upon
sales commission (i.e., percentage of the price) for selling the rooms • Online sellers
using the wholesaler model typically earn less than sellers using the merchant model •
Hotels tend to favor the wholesaler model, because they maintain more control over
their rooms’ final price to guests; online sellers tend to favor the merchant model,
because they can earn more money per room sale Managing Front Office Operations
PowerPoint 47 Wholesaler Model
 57. Reservations • Hotel rooms are marketed by online sellers by a price and/or rating
category; there is no reference to a hotel brand or property specifics • The brand of the
hotel and its features are hidden from the buyer until the transaction is completed •
Hotel rooms are treated as a commodity • Examples of opaque sites include Priceline
and Hotwire Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 48 Opaque Sites
 58. Reservations • Hotel rooms are marketed by online sellers by a price and/or rating
category; however, unlike with opaque sites, transparent sites reveal the identify of the
hotels before purchase • Transparency allows buyers to select a preferred brand or
property among competing hotels • Examples of transparent sites include Expedia,
Hotels.com, and Travelocity Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 49
Transparent Sites
 59. Hotels have learned to exercise caution in selecting e-commerce sites to partner
with, and have developed distinct strategies for each online partner • Most hotel branded
websites offer a best rate guarantee • Hotel websites over the years have become more
sophisticated in the services they offer to groups, making it easier to process group
room reservations and group meetings Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint
50a E-Commerce Trends Continued
 60.Reservations E-Commerce Trends Continued from previous slide… • More hotels
and other online travel service providers are offering affinity or loyalty club points •
More hotels are offering dynamic package pricing, which allows online shoppers to
select from a menu of hotel products and services and create their own custom package
at a special price • Online booking sites can create “virtual” hotel brands by grouping a
proprietary set of preferred hotels at a destination site (for example, Expedia’s Bargain
Hotels) Managing Front Office Operations PowerPoint 50b
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UNIT- 6 GUEST REVIEW SITES

5.0 Introduction
Reviews help businesses gain credibility, brand awareness, and of course engagement, as well
as giving Google an indication of how a particular hotel business is perceived. And there are
clear signs, that ‘review signals’ have become ranking factors for Google.
 Page 69 of 87

Online reviews continue to become increasingly popular as a way for users to find out more
and decide who to trust in the online world. Despite a large amount of fraud and fakery, which
is now being cracked down upon, users frequently turn to reviews in order to make a decision.
According to Search Engine Land’s 2013 study 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much
as personal recommendations. This is an increase of almost 10% on 2012. More users are
reading reviews, however users are making decisions quicker, therefore reading less reviews
per decision.
Over the past few years there has been an influx of guest review sites for hotels, some of the
most popular being TripAdvisor, Yelp, Zagat etc. Although at first they were met with mistrust
from many industry players, now hotel companies are either incorporating guest reviews onto
their own sites or through partnerships with TripAdvisor. The reason for this about-face is pure
economics. A 2011 study by Boston-based global research firm Forrester found that close to
50% of consumers won’t book a hotel that doesn’t have online reviews. Phocus wright similarly
reported that people who read online hotel reviews are 59% more likely to book.
With regards to posting guest review on the brand.com website. The trend began with
Starwood, which debuted its guest review programme on starwoodhotels.com at the end of
2011. At press time, the site had more than 12,000 candid, unedited posts, ranging from
“perfection to “very disappointing. The key to its programme: all reviewers are verified
Starwood guests. TripAdvisor, which is still under scrutiny for the authenticity of its reviews,
relies on staff and automated tools to weed out planted posts – a process that’s far from fool
proof.
5.1 Hotel review websites
Websites which allow consumers to post hotel reviews but do not sell hotel reservations(even
if they offer information on prices and availability). For these websites, stimulating user-
generated content is the core purpose and they are not transactional by nature. In other words,
they do not sell the products or services (i.e. hotel bookings) that consumers comment on;
rather, they provide a ‘hotel comparison’ service. Trivago, Zoover and HolidayCheck are three
of the largest players on the market in this category. Beyond these, there are players that are
particularly popular in specific countries such as Holidays-Uncovered, HolidayWatchDog,
HotelsCombined, etc.

In terms of business models, for many of the websites in this category, stimulating and
monetising the user-generated content is the main business and/or source of revenue. In the
main, they achieve this by attracting more online traffic which can be monetised either by
payments for click-through to other websites (i.e. charging a cost per click (CPC) price for
traffic redirection) and/or selling advertising space. In terms of click-through arrangements, the
majority of these websites tend to offering formation on room availability, rates in different
hotels, information on amenities, etc. and offer a click-through service to other websites

5.1.1 Hotel bookings and reviews websites

Websites that not only allow consumers to post hotels reviews but also sell mainly hotel
reservations. Websites in this category (e.g.www.booking.com) differ from the click-through
service in that the booking transaction can be completed on the same website. Review websites
in this category typically have a primary purpose to sell hotel bookings. While some of these
websites make the review feature part of their core offering, others provide links to or embed
third-party review platforms into their own website. Booking.com is the largest player on the
 Page 70 of 87

EU market in this category. There are a number of other well-known players on the EU market
in this category and these are identified in the table below:

Examples of hotel room booking websites

1 Make My Trip
2 goibibo
3 Booking.com
4 Agoda
5 Expedia
6 TripAdvisor
7 ixigo
8 Yatra
9 Trivago
10 OYORooms

5.1.2 Managing Online Hotel Reviews

The consumer has always been at the heart of every business. With changing times,
where new ideas and technologies are being introduced every now and then to enhance their
overall experience, consumer satisfaction has assumed utmost importance. A happy consumer
defines the success of any business and an unsatisfied one calls for the businesses to have a re-
look at their processes. The hospitality industry is all about serving people right and delivering
the best-in-class experience to their patrons. What the guest feels and says is very important,
and responding to their concerns is a critical aspect to the growth of hotel business.

We bow our heads to this splendid thing called technology, opening a host of avenues for the
traveller to vent out their opinions on their stay experience with any hotel. Gone are those days
when an unsatisfied guest could probably do no or little harm if he disliked any part of his stay
at the property. At most, he would not return to the hotel, or perhaps spread a negative word of
mouth, the impact of which is mostly limited. But, the rise of social media has put that chapter
of no impact of providing bad experience to an end. In fact, it has toughened the job of hoteliers,
who are now on their toes, constantly to ensure that the guest leaves with a smile on his face
and will give a good review about their hotel. Apart from this a happy consumer helps them
earn an extra point and a pat on their backs.

As social media gradually rose to make deeper inroads in our lives, online reviews became one
of the most important factors affecting the traveller’s decision to book a hotel. According to a
study made by TripAdvisor and PhoCusWright, 77% of travellers refer to online reviews
before choosing a hotel. A number of hotel review websites have come into existence recently,
encouraging guests to rate their experience of staying in a hotel. A good review is a bonus
point, which goes a long way in establishing a pleasant image and a high ranking of the hotel
on review sites. At the same time, a negative review has the potential to harm the hotel
reputation, thereby impacting its business.
Till the time hotels are receiving positive remarks it is all easy and good, but what when get a
negative mention about a hotel. Further, not responding to online reviews or inappropriate
response could probably cause an irreparable damage to the well-being of the hotel.
 Page 71 of 87

Below is some smart way to manage online reviews:

 Monitor all the reviews carefully – With a rise in the number of social media platforms and
review sites, the clutter has increased, and so has the chances of a few reviews going
unattended. Well, that’s a big risk in the current scenario. Therefore, a thorough monitoring
mechanism should be put in place, keeping a check on all the key platforms. Do not delay the
response – The customer of today demands everything instantly. A response to his comment
is also expected without any delay. The hotel management must ensure that the guest receives
a reply maximum within 72 hours, in order to earn some saving points. A delayed response
might convey a careless attitude and could do a little more damage. Dedicate a resource
solely to manage online reviews – Managing online reviews should be the responsibility of
only dedicated hotel staff, who perhaps have the expertise of doing so in a suitable manner.
Different people replying to different online reviews can break the consistency, which in turn
dents the brand image. It is important to adopt a unique style of writing, maintaining uniform
tone and language in your communication. Tools which assist in Online Reputation
Management are really valuable here. They help you identify an also bridge the gap between
guest’s expectations and reality. Reply in a gracious and professional manner – It is
advisable to adopt a strictly professional and courteous language while responding to online
reviews. A casual reply portrays you as a non-serious host, who might be taking such reviews
with a pinch of salt, and might not be willing to act on the feedback. Moreover, the review
must be answered humbly. After all, it is the hospitality industry. Remember, a few polite
words can calm a situation down and prevent the fumes of discontent to rise beyond a level.
There are tools which help you respond to guest reviews in their native language, also
integration with social media platforms is possible.This could be done by setting up alerts on
social networks and review sites. In case there is a mention of the hotel name, the team must
be notified immediately, so that an appropriate response can be drafted and communicated
with no loss of time.
 Respond to all reviews, good or bad – Whether a good or a bad review, an
acknowledgement must be given. Replying to a positive review is not an uphill task. It is only
the negative review, answering which might shake our hands a little. Such reviews are
inevitable, so do not be scared and let it go unattended. In fact, an undesirable comment must
be answered almost instantaneously. Absence of any reply could probably do more damage to
the hotel reputation, much more than we can imagine. A recent research reveals that 87% of
travellers had an improved opinion of a hotel if they read an appropriate management
response to bad reviews.
 Keep it simple – Do not draft a lengthy reply, especially while responding to a positive reply.
Keeping it simple adds class.
 Design customised surveys – Hoteliers should also send customised and more personalised
surveys to guests for their more effective guest intelligence. Design your questionnaire on
major KPIs like Room, Service, Location, Value, Cleanliness, Sleep Quality, etc. Tools are
available with features which help hoteliers with analytics from the survey on the Survey
Dashboard.
 Responding to a positive review – Express delight that the guest had a pleasant stay at your
hotel. Thank them for choosing their property and show keenness to have them over again.
Do not make an attempt to up-sell while replying, as it lowers the brand proposition.
 Responding to a mixed review – A mixed review gives you an excellent opportunity to find
out about the gap areas from the guest. While replying, make sure that you try to understand
the particular aspects of their stay which they didn’t cherish. This would help make necessary
corrections for the future. With a promise to improve the services, express your eagerness to
serve them soon
 Page 72 of 87

 Responding to a negative review – This is the most critical part of online reputation
management of the hotel. Well, the customer is already disappointed, so it is important to
start by expressing deep apologies for a bad experience. Be extremely polite and try to take
the conversation offline if possible, in order to avoid public conflict. Assure them that the
issues would be resolved, and the services will only get better. At the end, how you respond
to a negative review gives you a fair chance to turn the situation in your favour.

it is rightly said that the building of a brand image might take several years, but only a few
seconds to thrash it into pieces. Technology, especially social media, has made the statement
come true for the hospitality industry as well. A few negative reviews have the power to destroy
the hotel image and business, and by not responding to these reviews, the game could be simply
over. When and how you respond to these serious reviews can do wonders, and even win your
customers back.

5.2 Communication Trends in Hotel Technology

The "waters" in the hotelier business are never still. Getting the best and most astounding wave
is everyone's fantasy in this industry. Because of Hotel technology innovation, today,
everybody has the chance to do so. Over the years, hospitality businesses such as hotels and
motels have developed to incorporate sophistication in their amenities. The hospitality industry
proprietors spent money to hire certified fiber optic technicians to optimise hotel operations.
They have utilized technology to lure people to avail of their services and to enhance the
experience of the hotel guests.

Here some of the important trends in hotel communication technology:

Online Social Media for Hoteliers

Verbal exchange is the most capable type of marketing in this industry. This is the reason it has
turned out to be imperative for accommodation properties to build up an ear for social media
listening. Social platforms can be utilized to find out about the guest experience and rolling out
vital improvements to convey better experience over time.
Also, these platforms offer hoteliers an opportunity to promote their properties at extremely
low costs. Regardless, social media for hotelier is the huge trend that opens new possibilities
for people in the hotel business. While connecting with guests, it is vital to utilize hashtags to
expand the viral potential.

Self-Service
Self-service has turned into a well-known option for numerous businesses. In the wake of
overcoming the customer support industry, it has achieved client benefit. People are
accustomed to utilizing innovation today. This is the reason hoteliers ought to consider
replacing legacy solutions for easy, simple and redundant activities in their business with
automated solutions.
There is an innovative solution for different guest demands. By implementing it, you won't just
make your guest stay more enjoyable, however, you will likewise free your staff from these
commitments and empower them to further enhance your guest experience. Fundamentally,
mobile applications that guests can use to connect with services, and in addition to staff and
departments.
 Page 73 of 87

Mobile device as door key

It’s fascinating that a function as simple as a door key could undergo so much evolution. But
the tool that once started as a carefully shaped piece of metal quickly turned into electronic key
cards, and is set to shed its physical form altogether. The next evolution of the hotel key
transforms it into data on a guest’s mobile device. Some hotels have already starting using
implementing this, whether it involves NFC technology or visually scanning a code like many
airports now do with plane tickets.

Committed Mobile Apps

A committed mobile application is another approach to streamline your communication
endeavours. What are the services a committed mobile application can offer to your guests?
For example, they can order room service benefit without grabbing the telephone, plan a sauna
or a massage, check-in or check-out, etc.
Having a committed mobile application is also another extraordinary effort towards building a
genuine hotel brand, one that gives benefits that meet the needs and desires of the modern
traveller.

 In-room Technologies
Have you perceived how the greatest airline registration looks like? People can sit back, relax,
and gain access to the ideal internet connection and chargers. Make a point to launch surveys
and ask your guests about their desires.
It isn't just to grasp the entire new tech-savvy mantra, however, to empower the guests to
engage with innovation all alone terms. Keep in mind, what is a cool gadget to somebody, is
an outright need for another person. Concentrate on your target market and deliver what is
expected of you.
If you want to empower your guests to flawlessly communicate with you and your business,
you need to consider depending on smart innovations. Smart hotel software innovation will
empower your guest to connect with your services in an altogether new, captivating and
memorable form.
Would you come back to a hotel that recollected your favourite song and TV channel to wake
up to? Obviously, you would. Furthermore, this is precisely what best hotel innovation has on
the plate for hoteliers.

 Digital Menus
Fueled by spic and span accomplishments in the hotel innovation field, digital menus bring yet
another change to every now and again utilized communication channel in the accommodation
business – ordering. But, is there anything other digital menus offer other than the undeniable
simple ordering advantage?
Each order made by your guest will be stored in the local database. This data can be utilized to
custom-tailor the experience for every one of your guests, subsequently empowering you to
convey information-driven proposals and enable your guests to see the degree to which you to
look after their prosperity. This will enable restaurants to strategically pitch and up-sell things
and enhance their services, the guest's experience, and revenues.
 Page 74 of 87

These were the best communication trends in Hotel innovation. Obvious, these are set to
essentially reshape the hotelier business scene. It creates the impression that none of these
innovations is constrained upon hoteliers, they basically come as solutions for the needs and
requests of present-day guests.
5.3 Revenue management
In hospitality industry, a hotel faces the twin problems of meeting business expectations (that
of maximizing revenue, occupancy and profits across all their locations (for hotel chains) and
rooms for each property for every given day of their operational year) while meeting customer
expectations. This is the goal that revenue management aims to fulfil by providing the required
service to the customer at the right price at the right time. Revenue Management, as a factor to
organizational success, has gained significant prominence in recent times for the hotel and
hospitality industry, with several hotels creating dedicated full-time positions of Revenue
Manager. Performance metrics like RevPAR, Best Rate Guaranteed, Best available rate (BAR),
Average daily rate, Rate Parity, etc. have been developed to measure and track revenue
performance of hotels and its management.
Revenue Management (RM) is the art and science of maximising revenue under variable
conditions. It is a management tool that has the objective of increasing sales revenues by
manipulating the prices at which fixed products (i.e. hotel rooms and airline seats) are made
available for sale in relation to the current and forecasted demand.
Customers are now very aware that the price they would need to pay for an airline seat or a
hotel room will vary significantly depending upon the point at which they make a purchase
decision and the availability of the seat or room. This change in the way that customers
perceive the pricing of these products has been relatively recent but universally accepted.
As revenue management has developed, it has become more disciplined and technical in using
a variety of analytics to predict consumer demand, and to optimise the inventory and price
availability to maximise revenue. The essence of this discipline is in understanding the
customers' perception of product value and accurately aligning product prices, placement and
availability with each customer segment.

5.3.1 Hospitality and Revenue Management

Hospitality industry is one of the industries using Revenue Management as it is an industry of
services but not every industry can use Revenue Management process as a strategy. The
companies using that process are subject to some conditions. When a room of a hotel is not
used it is an opportunity to increase revenue by trying to sell it at discounted price if the revenue
is higher than the cost of the service. Sinsou and Rannou also argued that a cyclical demand is
part of the conditions of Revenue Management. In hospitality, companies are highly subject to
that as the booking of rooms depends of holidays or particular events. Another condition to
apply Revenue Management is to have high fixed costs and low variable costs. Hotels will have
high fixed costs because of the cost of the infrastructure to welcome customers and because of
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the employees to pay whereas the variables costs will be lower. The variable costs concern the
purchase of products for the hotel or the outsourcing for some activities.

The third condition to apply Revenue Management is the rigidity of the capabilities. Hotels can
only offer a limited amount of rooms per night, they cannot extend or reduce the existing
number of rooms has they need or want. They are constrained to deal with the current number
of rooms they have. It means that if a hotel has more demands than what they can offer they
have to refuse them and if they have more rooms than demand they have to manage to fill those
rooms.
The fourth condition, according to Sinsou and Rannou, is to practice anticipated sales of the
service. In the case of the hospitality it means that a hotel can offer the rooms in advances to
its customers and also can forecast if the hotel will have a high occupancy rate or not. Practicing
anticipated sale is important in hospitality especially when it is about a group because the
manager will have to foresee whether yes or not it is beneficial to accept
it.
The last condition to apply Revenue Management is to segment the market. According to
Sinsou andRannou, it is necessary that a company is able to separate its customers in different
categories. For example in hospitality customers can be divided between business travellers,
leisure travellers families on holidays, travellers’ group, customers that are price sensitive or
not, etc. This segmentation of customers helps managers to identify the right product or
services to the right client at the right price, as it defines the need of the customer.

5.3.2 Revenue Management System (RMS)

Essentially, a Revenue Management System, or RMS or short,

is a software solution, which allows you to carry out important revenue management tasks more
efficiently and effectively. It will make use of data from your own hotel, and from the market
at large, in order to help you to make more informed decisions.

Typically, a good Revenue Management System will use the data and its own algorithms to
carry out a real-time analysis of the state of the market, and of demand, in order to calculate
ideal room rates. As a result, most of the important revenue management decisions can be
carried out from a single, centralised dashboard.

Revenue Management System is important for those in the hospitality industry, regardless of
the size of their hotel, is because it allows complex calculations to be carried out quickly and
allows for the kind of real-time tracking of market data that is virtually impossible to replicate
manually. A Revenue Management System makes it easy to adjust prices across various
distribution channels, without having to individually log in to each of those different systems.
As a result, key performance indicators, such as revenue per available room (RevPAR) can be
improved, increasing the hotel’s top and bottom lines.

The use of an RMS is important in smaller hotels, because fewer rooms means it is more
important to maximise the revenue each room generates. However, it is arguably even more
important in larger hotels, because the sheer workload of manual revenue management
becomes problematic, resulting in poorer decisions and more errors.
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Functions of a RMS
In most cases, Revenue Management Systems are comprehensive software packages, with
a whole range of features and functions to make use of. With that being said, the following
are the most important features:
1. Rate Recommendations
Perhaps the most crucial feature for most Revenue Management Systems is the ability to
quickly and accurately calculate ideal room rates, using sophisticated algorithms, past
performance data, current market data and other information. Room rates can then be easily
adjusted from the main dashboard, across distribution channels.

2. Competitor Information
Most RMS software includes an integrated competitor rates feature, allowing you to easily
check room rates for other hotels in the area, or other hotels of a similar size. This feature is
valuable, because when armed with knowledge of competitors’ rates, you can subsequently
adopt a more strategic approach to your own pricing.
4. Revenue Estimations
Finally, aside from displaying past data and helping you to set your room rates, a Revenue
Management System will also provide you with estimates for both the revenue and the profit
you are likely to generate through your current pricing strategy, and allow you to easily see
estimates for alternative pricing strategies too.

3. Key Performance Data

Additionally, a Revenue Management System will store and provide key performance data,
including occupancy rates, revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rates
(ADR). In most cases, users will be able to see performance data from the prior month, from
the same time last year, and a variety of other options.
Revenue management is the practice of selling the right room, to the right customer, at the right
time, for the right price, via the right distribution channel and a Revenue Management System
can assist with each of these aspects. RMS software solutions can help to calculate ideal room
rates, allow rates to be adjusted quickly, provide projections of future revenue and profit, and
offer information about competitors, allowing for a more strategic approach.

5.3.3 Trends for Modern Revenue Management

With the increasing availability of revenue-management technologies, it's easy for hoteliers to
get overwhelmed. But not taking the time to understand how to make revenue management
work for your property is a sure path to declining performance. Over the past several years
revenue management has become increasingly multifaceted. Hotel operators must juggle
promoting properties, driving traffic to websites for online registrations from multiple sources,
and predicting future demand, all while strategically managing capacity and pricing. That
complexity has been much simplified by an array of revenue management systems that hotel
operators in large and small environments are leveraging to their benefit.
Here are the trends and techniques of modern revenue management:
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 More focus on profit management

A large number of revenue managers have come to a conclusion that their

focus must be on increasing profits with some new techniques. As of now, they have been using
the total revenue per available room (TrevPAR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR).

They are now considering gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) to be the main
key performance indicators (KPI). With GOPPAR manager will be able to explore more
effective revenue management strategy and increase profits.

 Website brings in direct bookings

Hotel websites create a channel for customers to come in direct contact with the
hotels. One of the most key benefits of the website is that it increases brand loyalty and
generates repeat bookings.
Take a moment to understand, why must a guest book directly a website? What advantage do
they get from you instead of going to the OTAs?
Well, when a customer visits the website you can also use this opportunity to upsell other
services and offer attractive deals to maximize profits.

 Leveraging popularity of OTAs

The popularity of OTAs cannot be ignored. These sites bring together all the hotel
information on one platform and let travelers compare all the options and make reservations.
OTAs have an extended reach, so as an hotelier you must leverage this popularity to your
advantage. So a good strategy is to distribute room inventory on OTAs that bring high
occupancy. Therefore, it is essential to represent the value of rooms clearly on OTAs and on
the website.

 The trend of mobile-friendly website and online payment

All most 50% of website traffic is from mobile devices. If your website isn’t
responsive then you are definitely in trouble. At the same time payment gateways such as
PayPal are the best examples of how easy and secure it has become to make stress free online
transactions.
The whole booking process from visiting the website, selecting the rooms and bookings dates,
the booking button all of these parts of the website should be accessed comfortably by mobile
users.

 Artificial intelligence and hospitality

AI is already incorporated into revenue management in the form of automated
algorithms. Meanwhile, there is development towards Voice Recognition (VR) for data
inquiries, rate changes, and booking behavior.
In terms of interesting new applications, AI is also being used by brands to monitor the
landscape for parity. As a result, we’ve seen hotels being fined by brands when their prices are
not consistent.
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Alongside all this innovation, there are concerns that AI detracts from the core foundation of
hospitality: the human touch and engagement. While AI offers significant benefits, it needs to
be used selectively to enhance the guest experience, instead of replacing personal service.

 Data, analytics, transparency and GDPR

One participant noted that website and pay-per-click (PPC) performance, as
well as booking engine data, should be treated with the same level of importance and
transparency as that of a personal bank account.
Another key point raised was a concern regarding the EU’s General Data Protection
Regulations (GDPR). These new laws were brought into force across member states in May
this year, and are designed to limit how companies collect and use personal data. As a result,
U.S. hotels that target EU residents need to ensure that their website and digital marketing
adheres to the new regulations.
Others

 With all the emphasis on Big Data, there’s hasn’t been much evidence on whether it’s
worth the cost.
 Strong responses to user-generated content.
 Number of emerging intermediaries.
 Strength in group business despite media reports.
 Net impact of technology in travel space – especially adoption by upcoming
generations.
 Surprising number of customers who still pre-pay despite availability of option to pay
at time of stay.
 Limited efforts on easing distribution costs despite rapid increases.
 Fear of revenue manager reliance on automated tools with less reliance on “grey side”
based on experience, etc.
 Rising costs of all kinds – including minimum wage increases -- impacting profitability
 Strong growth in leisure

Hotels need to develop a disciplined and autonomous analytical approach to understand

pricing opportunities, Kohlmayr said. “For rooms, that means a fully automated
solution that continuously evaluates the pricing potential based on internal and external
demand indicators and automatically uploads pricing decisions across all channels,” he
said. “For other revenues, it means putting in place technology that will capture the
necessary data to help hotels start their revenue-management journey.”

5.3.4 Challenges or issues in implementing a revenue strategy.

Implementing a revenue strategy comes with a unique set
of challenges. Hotels need to remember why they are focusing on optimising each channel, and
how direct bookings reduce costs and produce a higher lifetime value for each guest. Over the
past years the Revenue Management and revenue managers have been fighting with dropping
demand and changing marketplace. Now the demand is finally growing again and the markets
are recovering from recession.
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These difficulties come from two directions: the role and the hotel, and externally from the
market environment.

Challenges from Within the Role:

1. Expansive skill set needed:

The revenue management role requires a set of specialized skills and knowledge. If you don’t
have that expansive skill set, putting together and executing a successful strategy is going to
be difficult.
So, getting the right skills as an RM is the first challenge. You may already be an expert, with
10+ years in the field – or you may have just swapped from another department, and don’t have
your feet under you quite yet.
Either way, training will give you the fundamentals you need and keep you up to date on the
latest best practices. This might mean night classes, mentoring under a more experienced RM,
or just reading up.

2. Technology that isn’t always up to dealing with multiple online channels:

Technology – or lack thereof – has become a major barrier for many revenue managers today,
especially ones at smaller or independent properties.
Many independent hotels, even those with expert RMs, are facing serious, expensive
technology hurdles in the race to keep up.
Issues can range from having different technology systems that don’t communicate well with
one another, to not securing the budget to invest adequately in the technology your hotel needs.
Without technology, most RMs are staring down the barrel of hours of spreadsheets each day
to keep up with their online channels. The job can be overly manual without the right tools.
Implementing a sophisticated revenue strategy on multiple online channels will, at some stage,
require an investment in technology. When it’s difficult to get that, or to find the right
technology, it can hinder your progress. Make as compelling a case as possible to find and
purchase the right technology for your hotel.

Approach it in a logical manner. Fetail out the time spent per day and per week on manual
tasks, show what pro-active work could be accomplished if the manual admin task were not
taking over each day. Include work in relation to pricing and inventory per channel, detailed
forecasting and analysing marketing segments.

3. Communication between departments:

Communication is often a major hurdle when you’re trying to put a strategy into place. General
Managers or your sales and marketing team might have goals that don’t align with yours in
revenue, or you might not have discussed goals and challenges together. Make sure you’re
reaching across and breaking down those departmental silos.
Where the revenue manager does sits in the company structure and the communication
structure in your hotel? These ties back to how well the strategy is defined, and how well all
team members embrace the plan.
4. Measuring the cost of distribution:
Distribution costs must be measured completely. This is, however, easier said than done.
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A combination of traditional channels (GDS, phone) and online ones (brand website, OTAs,
Google’s Hotel Ads, etc.) can make it complicated to discern true costs. For example, if a
customer sees your online ads and visits your website before calling to book, how do you
know? How can you properly attribute that cost?
These ‘invisible’ paths to purchase can distort your view of how much your online and offline
activities are truly worth.
The increasing importance of online paid ads (Google search ads, paid efforts on social media,
etc.) can make direct bookings more expensive than they’ve been in the past, but those same
paid efforts contribute to brand awareness. Running advertisements keeps your direct channel
at the top of results, even when OTAs are bidding on your hotel brand name, which, if you’re
on an OTA – and sometimes even if you aren’t – they are. Running these brand campaigns also
contribute to your overall brand image, and even offline bookings.
As a revenue manager, focus on costs for each channel. For the marketing efforts that lead
people to book on these channels, consult with your sales and marketing team. They should be
looking at attribution models to see how people are getting to each channel.

5.3.5 Challenges within the Hotel Industry

1. OTA dominate online sales
In 2015, according to Phocuswright, OTAs represented 71% of all online sales in Europe. In
the US, OTAs held 52% of online sales. This trend is, unfortunately, only growing.
Distribution costs are increasing twice as fast as room revenue, and OTA booking shares are
increasing as well. New, important channels are appearing as well, demanding that hotels
increase their channels offerigns to include Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor and similar
channels.
You can’t afford to underestimate the importance of OTA’s and metasearch sites, and the way
they affect both your paid marketing strategy, your organic strategy, and your distribution
strategy.

2. Pricing factors and strategies:

Factors
Pricing factors include both macro and micro issues.
An example of a macro issue is the uncertainty caused by Brexit in the UK and the so-called
“Trump Effect” on US tourism. Both markets are major ones for Ireland, and it’s likely that
hotels will have to take these economic and social effects into account when setting prices over
the next few years.
Micro issues might include prices being changed by third parties due to regional differences,
discounts, or errors. Staying on top of those to maintain parity with the direct channel is a time-
consuming challenge, although there are tools to help. It’s a major issue – the European
Commission found in 2016 that two thirds of travel websites are misleading consumers on
price.
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Strategies
Finally, internally, what pricing strategy is your hotel using? You must choose a data-driven
pricing approach to any pricing plan. When it comes to strategy, you can choose between a
BAR strategy or open pricing.
If you have the capability, in terms of technology and time, open pricing is well worth the
investment.

3. Disconnect: what hotels say they want to do and what happens

Hotels claim they want more direct bookings, but aren’t investing adequately in the technology
they need to make it happen.
Siteminder’s Global Hotel Business Index included a survey of 2,100 global hoteliers, from
both independents and groups. It indicated that the highest priority for hotels in 2017 is
increasing volume of direct bookings, and the lowest priority is exploring new hotel
technology and systems.
They also list “hotel staff recruitment and training” as the lowest spend area. However,
“revenue-generating strategy management” is the highest spend area.
We would argue that staff training and new technology are key to managing your revenue
strategy and driving direct bookings. Without a combination of experienced, well-trained
revenue manager and marketers, along with the technology to manage multiple channels, your
book direct strategy is unlikely to succeed.

4. Flexibility over Pricing and Strategy

With all these challenges we’ve listed, we wanted to include an item that isn’t really a
challenge. Instead, it’s a quick summary of the ways independent hotels are uniquely suited
to take on these challenges.
Branded chain hotels have strictly defined rules, regulations, processes, and associated costs.
Independents have greater flexibility, providing greater freedom to explore and innovate.
An independent hotel can genuinely distinguish its customer service and property as unique.
They can respond to guest needs quickly, delivering a personal experience which gains the
hotel greater loyalty from their guests.
Independent hotels have the freedom to play around with their brand. Not having a specific
brand standard can be liberating. Marketing teams have the freedom to try different channels
quickly, and the autonomy to change strategy as needed.

5.THE IMPACT OF GUEST REVIEWS ON TRIPADVISOR HOTELS”

1. 1. Project Report
The Impact of guest reviews on trip advisor hotels presented by Abdul razaq under the
guidience of mr.suresh kumar
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2. Introduction
Online reputation has become a major factor in the choosing of a hotel. Nowadays, most
travelers will use online sources to review hotels and other tourism operators during their
decision making process. TripAdvisor.com is a travel website providing directory
information and reviews of travel related content. Many consumers consult online trip
advisor reviews before making travel and accommodation choices in hotels. In the world
of online reputation, Trip Advisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in
the world, reaching out to 375 million unique monthly users in 2015

2. Industry Profile
Trip Advisor Trip Advisor, headquartered in Needham, USA. Trip Advisor was
founded in 2000 by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, and several others. It is the largest
travel site in the world, with more than 315 million members and over 500 million reviews
and opinions of hotels, restaurants, attractions and other travel-related businesses. Trip
Advisor operates websites internationally, in such places as Austria, Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain,
Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.

3. Statement of the problem

“THE IMPACT OF GUEST REVIEWS ON TRIPADVISOR HOTELS” In this report I
investigate whether a direct correlation between hotel performance and its online reputation
really exists, in particular with relation to its ranking on Trip Advisor as the leading global
travel review site. The report focuses on the impact of reviews on Trip Advisor registered
hotels located in Kochi, Kerala.

5. Scope of the study

Online reviews, or the electronic word-of-mouth are, at present, a trustworthy source of

information which travelers refer to, for forming a better picture of the destination they plan
to visit Consumers rely on a number of sources of information when deciding on purchases.
These sources include personal recommendations from friends and family, company websites
and other related communication materials, feedback from other consumers who have
purchased the good or service, and reviews by peers. Online reviews are an essential source
of information for travelers while booking a trip and accommodation online. Some hoteliers
still see reviews, especially negative reviews, as a burden and are coming to terms with their
usage to improve their business.

6. Objective of the study

To understand how the reviews affect hotels and their booking figures. To understand
how the reviews effect the reputation of hotels. To find the effectiveness of online
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reviews in Trip Advisor hotels. To prevent fake reviews on website. It helps to ensure
that hotel reviews are trustworthy and not abused. To provide an overview of Trip
Advisor registered hotel reviews in Kochi.

7. Limitation of study

The study is only to a particular location and very small sample respondents. Hence the
finding cannot be treated as representative of the entire Trip Advisor listed hotels. The
busy schedule of respondents ( Managers and owners of the hotels) also makes the collection
of information a difficult one. As the study is done within a limited period, we could not
select a large sample for the study.

8. Source of data

Data are the raw materials in which the research works. The task of data collection begins
after research problem has been defined and research design chalked out. The data collection
is classified into two types there are: Primary data Secondary data PRIMARY DATA
Primary data is first had information it was collected from the respondent by using a
structural questionnaire. The researcher has got the primary data through survey method.
SECONDARY DATA The secondary data was collected through the secondary sources like
company records, company websites, magazine, and Newspaper.

9. Data Analysis

Chart showing the trustworthiness of Trip Advisor as a website 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
30% 35% 40% Excellent Good Average Poor Very poor Trustworthiness of Trip Advisor
as a website 40% of respondents have good trust in TripAdvisor and 26% of respondents
have completely trust in website.

10. This chart showing Approaches to ensure that hotel reviews are trustworthy and not abused
Identity of reviewers Verify that reviewers actually stayed in the hotels Verify the
information provided by guests in reviews Others The above chart shows that 40%
respondents want to identity of reviewers approach and 25% respondents want verification
of reviewers.

11. This chart showing financial loss or other damage as a result of fake hotel reviews. Yes No
The above chart shows that 11% of respondents are suffered financial loss or other damage as
a result fake hotel reviews.

12. Findings
From the study 40% of respondents have good trust in TripAdvisor and 26% of respondents
have completely trust in website. 41% respondents are stated that identity of the reviewers
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are best method to ensure that hotel reviews are trustworthy and not abused 45% of
respondents states that their competitors are the main reason for posting negative reviews
57% of respondents don’t have awareness about the Trip Advisor activities against fake
reviews. Lack of verification of reviews and reviewers- consumers are able to post a review
directly on websites without creating an account or using a link from an email.

13. Cont
… Hotels may sometimes post fake reviews to counteract negative reviews about their
service and to mitigate the impact of online reputation and ratings systems Consumers
themselves can be a source of misleading and/or fake reviews in a number of ways, including:
I. When they have unrealistic expectations; II. When incentives have been offered to provide a
review; and III. When reviews are used as a means of blackmailing hotel operators.

14. Suggestions

Verification by the service provider, which provides the hotel operator with the possibility to
verify whether consumers providing reviews stayed at the hotel. Compulsory provision of
the ‘dates of stay’ at the hotel by consumers posting reviews; Allowing reviews to be posted
using questionnaires/links sent only to the email addresses provided when the hotel was
booked. Providing the possibility (and alerts) to hotel operators to respond to negative
reviews.

15. Conclusions

The revolution in digital media has changed the way consumers shop for travel and hotel
bookings. It has democratized the way people share their opinions online. Hotels can take
advantage of guest reviews and use them in their marketing mix. Good reviews not only
push up hotel’s rankings and visibility. Increased visibility means more exposure to business
and better reputation that pushes up both bookings and revenue. Sometimes Negative
reviews affect the credibility of the hotels. So the review website should have the awareness
about such kind of fake reviews.

Bibliography

 James C. Makens, John T. Bowen, and Philip Kotler - Marketing for Hospitality and
Tourism
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 Robert Minazzi - Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality.

 Alexander Chernev, Phillip Kotler - Strategic Marketing Management.
 Dave evans - Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
 Rajan Saxena - Marketing Management
 Phillip Kotler - Marketing Management 15 Edition
 Mark Timberlake Philomena Timberlake - Social Media Marketing – Digital
Marketing

Selected sites
 www.researchgate.net
 www.zapmeta.co.in
 www.xotels.com
 Ciscapture.info
 www.chm.edu.vn
 www.Rategain.com
 www.academia.edu
 www.cwhotels.com
 www.travel-industry-dictionary.com
 www.rategain.com
 www.revfine.com
 www.hospitalitynet.org
 www.marriott.com
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