lundi 26 avril 2010

Digital Development in Hospitality

On the 23rd April 2010, I have participated to a think tank: "Digital Development in Hospitality", which shows the evolution of hoteliers thanks to new technologies. It was very interesting because it deals with some problems that I observe during my previous internship.

Indeed, first of all, website of hotels should more focus the content of its page on customers and not on the hotel itself. Lot of websites is alike; but if we focus the attention on the clients, the future customers could have a preview of how they will feel in the hotels. Internet has become the most important media to sell and book a room.

I also think that unfortunately, hoteliers are very slow to react to the current trend. I think that managers of hotels are not very present on social media whereas a lot of their clients or prospects use it.

Here is an article which point out the benefits that hoteliers could derive from the use of social media.

Then, we have talked about the revenue that could generate the reviews of hotels. Indeed, 55% of web surfers book a room after reading reviews. I already know that reviews have a great impact on sales; lot of customers would like to know how the other clients feel in the hotel. Before this conference, I thought that hoteliers had no power over the impact of reviews. In fact, it is a good point when reviews are good but conversely, bad reviews could stop customers in the booking process. I did not know how we could reduce the effect of bad reviews because we could not stop customers to write their opinions. However, I discover thanks to Mr Friedlander that we can take advantage of bad comments; it exists some methods to analyze why and how we receive bad comments by crossing different data.

Here is an article which talks about one of the most website dedicated to reviews: Tripadvisor. Since the success of this website, the CEO has launched it on mobile and there are more visitors on this mobile websites than on the other mobile website in the travel industry!

Finally, we introduce us the impact of applications on expectations of customers. The new smart phone is a real niche for hoteliers as some of customers use it. Now, we can directly book a room thanks to an application, as we can see on this video with zzz app. Once again, I think that hoteliers should take advantage of this new technology to differentiate itself from its competitors. It should be easier for International hotel chain, like Accor or Starwood, to create its own application with a choice of its brand hotels. The goal is to provide a service a booking service directly on mobile and also a concierge service. Smart phone users could book a room and also enjoy personalized services on this same app, as for example, book a taxi at his arrival, buy tickets for museum or cinema after the booking.

samedi 17 avril 2010

Comptoir Vacances

A new website to compare hotels by filling a form with our criteria: http://bit.ly/8YG5mJ
It is a clear website with a classic design; however, it offers 7 destinations, including France, but if I am looking for a Hotel in Paris there is no result ... It is not yet effective!

Barbie's Bedroom!

A new concept : Barbie's bedroom in Plaza Athenee , I'm not sure that it fits with the hotel customers: http://bit.ly/c1o6mr... or may it could fit with eccentric Americans!
However, it is a good action of co-branding : relaunch a product and associate it to a luxurious brand!

mercredi 7 avril 2010

Ipad

A good way to prove that we should not buy an Ipad: http://bit.ly/asmA66 !!!