28 - Is Your Hotel Taking Advantage of Cyber Monday?

For some hotels, Cyber Monday may be the single largest volume booking day of the entire year. Is your property taking part in this phenomenal opportunity? In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we discuss the ways that your hotel can maximize the impact of this crazy shopping fever by preparing properly and making sure you have the right messaging and the right timing on the right platforms. In The News: InterContinental Hotels launches podcast series http://digiday.com/brands/marketing-content-driven-intercontinental-hotels-launches-podcast/ What Google’s New Mobile Search Index Means For Travel (Last week’s announcement that Google will create separate indexes for mobile and desktop results— and will be treating mobile as the primary index — is the inevitable conclusion of the company’s protracted pivot towards becoming a “mobile-first” search engine) https://www.tnooz.com/article/google-mobile-search-index-travel/ U.S. Travelers Think Booking Direct With Brands Leads to Better Prices https://skift.com/2015/06/29/survey-u-s-travelers-think-booking-direct-with-brands-lead-them-to-better-prices/ ======================== Show Notes: Why is It such a big opportunity? People are conditioned to actively look for deals 40% of shoppers are looking for travel deals (according to Google) Purse Strings are loosest and people are wanting to spend their money It’s becoming a habit for many people and a bragging opportunity to tell people how much you saved. From the hotel’s perspective, it gets reservations on the books and allows you to yield rates more aggressively and drive a higher ADR. Pre-Game Prep Collect Emails Tell people that it’s coming (prime the pump) Develop retargeting lists through adWords and Facebook Get all of your creative work done well ahead of time so that you can be nimble during the actual sale Staff your phones appropriately Timing Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday or perhaps even earlier Duration: 1 day, multiple days? Should you extend it will a slightly reduced deal? Sneak peeks on certain platforms or for certain people? Monitor the local competition and try to get out ahead of them or provide more value. Messaging Make sure it’s a good offer (at least 30%) Or create great value by adding freebies Don’t just jack the rates to show a bigger discount Make it exclusive (Lowest offer of the year) and stick to it! Make them feel exclusive and special Personalize Consider limiting inventory to add urgency Use a countdown clock Platforms Social Media Email Website Paid Advertising/Retargeting lists Final thoughts: Think long-term. Offer great value. Be consistent. Stick to your word. Also, consider smaller flash sales throughout the year. Trends - have we reached saturation and a point of diminishing returns? Mobile ======================== Question of the week: Amit asks, “can E-commerce principles be applied to hospitality with 1click up-sell at room booking confirmation page?” ======================== Follow on Twitter: @fueltravel @stuartbutler @marketingmeisha @makavanagh