There was plenty of activity this August which kept hospitality aficionados like us on toes. As the summer travel season draws to a close in the northern hemisphere, I’ll take you through the major industry news and research of the last month. Read on and stay updated!
Can Google search results predict room occupancy?
Google and STR recently joined hands to show how searches for accommodation in New York and London are related to occupancy rates in those markets. Not surprisingly, higher Google search volumes were correlated with higher demand levels.
How can hotels increase occupancy rates?
I think it’s a goldmine of information for hotels.
As I have said since long, seasonality plays a big role in travel and having access to the latest data is crucial to ensure occupancy levels are as high as they can be. You can make use of Google’s research into ‘micro-moments’ to understand what travellers want and when. If your bookings are down, is it because your approach isn’t effective, or is it an industry wide trend? You’ll find the answers to such questions in data. By analysing it, you can learn how to measure hotel demand.
Eye on the Future – Voice Powered Rooms
One type of hotel technology that I’ve been keeping an eye is voice-powered rooms. 2017 has been all about testing voice activated rooms, with devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo. Hotels like Marriott aren’t the only ones to test this feature. In 2018, the technology will further evolve and do a lot more to make the guests’ stay more comfortable. Not only can you keep a wake-up call or control the music, but can order room service or report something that’s not working. Even your staff can use it.
Advertising your hotel on Facebook
In the last 2 to 3 months, Facebook has really added to its hoard of personalized targeting features. But it’s disappointing for me to see that a lot of advertising on Facebook is still not targeted well. A recent study by AdEspresso on travel advertising confirms this. According to it, 57% of the ads were categorised as general branding exercises, while 37% were destination or route specific.
The lack of personalization and tailoring the ad according to it is what bugs me the most. It will be a lot easier for you to capture the interest of the potential guests because the audience on Facebook actively engage and interact with the content on the platform. Also, most of the Facebook advertising simply redirected to the home page of the website. You’ve to understand that your guest needs nurturing; they take a considerable time to book and need a lot of convincing. A longer sales funnel and lead generation campaigns will help you here.
These are some of the trends that are shaping and will continue to shape the hospitality industry. Check out the #AskAviArya show for more – https://goo.gl/bM22gT