Our Blog

Get the latest insights... trends, technology & ideas for the hotel & tourism industry

Through our cumulative team research, development & discoveries in the ever-changing world of technology, we brainstorm and share our insights weekly.

Looking for easy ways for you to generate ‘Ancillary Revenue’ in your Hotel?

Experiential hospitality is what the market is looking for. They are looking to connect with unique, character rich, quirky, boutique style experiences. Turn this into extra revenue for your property.

Look at me! Look at ME!! Look at me…

What if you found out a way to triple your hotel visibility? Would this help win you more business and increase your revenue? Find out how to get more people looking at you…

How important is booking engine design for your guests?

The bane of most online bookings is the ‘booking engine experience’ for most guests. We have partnered with Siteminder to offer a much more seamless experience for your guests who have reported a 30% increase in revenue as a result. How can you get in on this action…?

The best ‘book direct’ incentives

Hotel owners are savy to the benefits of building their own numbers of customers, more direct bookings, less third party commissions, with the major brands spending millions annually to evangelise the benefits. What’s specifically working right now to motivate consumers to book direct?

Industry trend - The rise of video stories

A travel and accommodations startup has quietly launched a new feature called Travel Stories, a way for guests to create video sequences of their Airbnb experiences to post on the site.

Harvard Business Review reveals how bad business travel is for your health.

The common threat to our health while travelling: stress, poor sleep, unhealthy eating and drinking, and lack of exercise are common side effects of being on the road. Over the long-term, these issues can add up to chronic disease risks.

The Rise of Meta Search

Increase your property visibility and steer travellers towards your hotel. The OTA companies already saturate this market just as they do Google listings through adwords.

The 4 Essential Marketing Tactics for Hoteliers in 2018

Everyday we are ‘selling’ something to someone. Whether it is our kids on the need to brush their teeth everyday, on a co-worker our ideas or our boss on giving us that promotion or bonus.

Our new website has been a labour of love…

Last year we re purposed our website largely to help solve a very large and looming problem in the marketplace.

How would you like your guests to feel smarter and more energised, having stayed in your hotel?

This is exactly what a London hotel has worked on doing for their guests. They have designed a package designed to boost brain power by addressing crucial areas, such as nutrition, hydration, sleep and mindfulness.

You will rethink mobile email when you read these stats

Your target audiences are using mobile more and more, and they expect you to do the same. It’s time to meet mobile demands and expectations of your target audiences so that you can give customers the experience they deserve.

Hotel Website Design for Profit

Every business regardless of the sector is ultimately about profit, so when it comes to your most powerful marketing tool, your website, make sure it is designed for PROFIT.

A wellness vacation is just the tonic for body, mind, heart and soul

We are all in need of more holiday time which is a perfect opportunity for you to offer next-level guest well-being to your guests. I know you are thinking to yourself, what is that or how do I do that? Read on or have a chat to us on how easy this is to offer in-house…

16 Hacks for Improving Your Email Subject Lines

When it comes to a successful email marketing campaign, good subject lines can make all the difference. Subscribers will scan the subject lines of virtually every message you successfully get into their inbox.

Just Released - Faster in-page bookings with Booking Button

Whether you have a multi-property portal website or a single property website, you can now pull through prices and search for prices directly in your website with The Booking Button.

How millennials are disrupting the wellness travel market

The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), held at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida, attracted over 600 delegates from 40-plus countries. The 11th annual event — the world’s premiere gathering of leaders and influencers from the $3.72 trillion global wellness industry — presented a robust program covering every sector of the wellness industry.

Are airlines also jumping on the ‘direct bookings’ bandwagon?

As hotels ramp up their internal strategies to garner more direct sales and bookings, it is no wonder that the airlines are seeing the huge benefit this has in incentivising customers.

Well designed and custom developed websites lead to more bookings

From recent research, poor online experiences are leading to lost sales. From the report, 60% of consumers buy their holidays online and 47% are complaining of slow webpage loading and complex information to navigate.

Pioneering Barefoot luxury and wellness for hotels

Considered to be one of the founders of Barefoot luxury, Bernhard Bohnenberger excels at understanding drivers of change and emerging guest expectations... Guest experiences for the six senses.

Why is Google forcing us to have SSL certificates on our websites?

If you don’t already have an SSL Certificate, Google is going to flag your website this year which will raise security concerns from users.

Blockchain adds huge new opportunities for hotels

Yes, blockchain is a little overhyped right now, but there may be a reason for all this excitement when you can start to recognise how we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg and this has the potential to be a lot bigger than we may think.

Global wellness tourism is growing at twice the rate of overall tourism and is worth $563 billion dollars

You may be asking ‘What is wellness tourism?' Why is this worthy of consideration, or even essential in all future hospitality planning and marketing?

Do you know how fast you are going? Your website that is…?

Why have a fast loading website? Reason #1: Your users - because nobody loves to go slow online. Reason #2 - Google places a high value on page performance, so speeds matters for getting good SEO results.

Is the thumb mightier than the pen which is mightier than the sword? (at least on a mobile screen)

As web designers/developers are very practical human beings, I observed an interesting phenomenon on how powerful our thumbs really are.

Opening a new hotel?

We give you a step-by-step process if you are launching a new hotel into the market

AirBnB for Hotels - Here is how it works

A great article for how to list your rooms on AirBNB

Emotional Design Matters

Neuroscientists have proven that emotions rule our decision making process.

AirBnB Officially Opens Up To Support Boutique Hotels

AirBnB builds new tools and partnerships to help local businesses thrive.

65% of Travellers Chose ‘Experiencing Something New’ over ‘Feeling Rested & Recharged’

There are huge opportunities in the hotel space to provide ‘new experiences’ for your guests.

Google to reduce rankings for slow-loading mobile pages

Almost all the websites I check, especially wordpress templated style database sites, are very slow to load which is a hugely frustrating period.

Free advertising for your hotel on social media

Get your guests engaging as micro influencers

Your Big Opportunities for 2018

Google's favourite marketing insights you should be using in 2018, marketing your authentic guest experience, plus the first all-in-one guest feedback platform.

Double your email click through rates by saying less…

The research is in from one of the companies we admire most for their dedication and commitment to curating intelligent email marketing.

New Feature Can Get Your Hotel In Front Of A 2.7 Billion Audience

Facebook has added some cool new features to do exactly that.

Have You Got A Solid Media Strategy For Your Hotel For 2018?

Today it is easier and more cost-effective to measure your marketing than any other time in history. If you don’t have a strategy mapped out you are missing out.

Why Your Hotel Should Jump On The Instagram Bandwagon

Great article with tips to setting up and knowing the essentials to winning on Instagram

21 Tips To Boost Your Hotel Direct Bookings

Let's see how these great tips can boost your hotel direct bookings

Hotel CEOs Aren’t Slowing Down Their Push for Direct Bookings

Here’s what some of the hotel CEOs had to say about direct bookings...

Would You Like A $100 To $4,400 Return On Investment?

In global figures released last year, we know how effective email marketing is, proven in the statistics. But what if your campaigns don’t produce that kind of ROI?

Can I get more direct bookings from Facebook?

Here are some of the research findings on why this is working for hotels. Plus 8 action steps you can take to get more direct bookings from social media.

Is our future artificially intelligent?

We have found some gems and summarised into quick bite sized chunks

6 Very Big Reasons Why Digital Marketing Rules Over Traditional

Read on for the six biggest platforms and some key stats for each

How can your hotel build a massive following on Instagram?

Instagram is exploding in the hotel world and if you’re not onto it, you’re missing out on huge opportunities for expanding your social reach

Six Enchanting Ways You Can Use Social Media That Your Audience Will Love

Let’s look at social media content types that have proven to WIN.

Some eye opening finds in hospitality this week

Enjoy this weeks industry observations and a good cup of coffee while you are at it.

Why is influencer marketing a great opportunity for hotels?

We all already know that the best form of marketing is ‘word of mouth’ and better yet, it is free.

Four ways big media companies drive more website traffic

In an effort to drive traffic and consistently engage subscribers, media companies are using creative – and effective – email marketing methods

Powerful email marketing tips to email like a boss

Email inbox spaces are more competitive than ever, make your time, energy and investment really count

Hotels that care for our wellbeing

A recent Nielsen study reveals that ‘staying fit and healthy’ ranks as top of our list followed closely by our commitment to weight loss.

Facebook, your new secret weapon in travel...

Secret ways guests find your hotel. Are you wondering why you are paying more commissions to b.com? Google pivots to AI first - how will this impact travel? Facebook reveals ambitions for travel planning and booking.

The journey of success

Success is best defined by the great entrepreneurs of our time as more of a journey rather than a destination

Some very interesting headlines in hotel land

Turkey blocks B.com, Loyalty Love, Leave the Genius, Hot Marketing Tips...

What’s hot in hotel world?

Skim through relevant or interesting trends in hospitality - quick and easy.

Have you got a solid Book Direct Strategy in place?

We are here to help you get more direct bookings and have made this super easy for you

What’s headlining in hotel world?

There is so much happening in hospitality and travel, a multi billion dollar industry and growing.

What is the secret formula to winning the Direct Booking game?

We have researched, listened and learned to many industry conversations and have created a straight forward formula to do exactly this.

Who is feeling the most pain in the OTA battle?

It is not easy being a thriving hotel manager in the current economic climate.

Is it possible to get blockbuster movie quality video at low cost?

Welcome to the age of the drone. Discover how our future lives will be impacted by this new technology and how you can take advantage for your hotel.

Who doesn’t love simple and to the point?

This is especially important when it comes to your email subject lines.

Is Speed the CEO of your SEO?

‘If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.’ ― Mario Andretti

New Year, New You, New resolutions…

A recent Nielsen study reveals that ‘staying fit and healthy’ ranks as top of our list followed closely by our commitment to weight loss.

Three secrets to get more direct bookings?

I am still amazed at how many people still make a booking and believe that they have booked on the hotel website when in fact it has been an OTA site.

Yet another web design trends for 2017...

Trends are well-known changes that happen in all creative fields, and web design is no different. Born of experimentation and innovation, trends are the driving factors for change, which (for the most part) push an industry forward for the better.

How do you stop guests ‘clicking’ around so that you can get more direct bookings?

You need a website with ‘benefits’. Now is the time for hotel marketing to be fresh, creative and innovative or get left behind in the dust of the billion dollar OTA’s.

Priceline rumoured to be interested in buying TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor have had a rough year and could make them an attractive buyout option in 2017.

What can you do to further meet your guests expectations in 2017?

The guest experience goes beyond a great looking website that works responsively on all devices.

Expedia has Asia Pacific growth firmly in its sights…

Should small boutique properties be worried about increasing OTA commissions?

Are you on course for success this year?

We live in an information rich (sorry, did someone say overload) world today. Here are 5 myths commonly ignored in hotel marketing today.

How is Wellness being Trumped in Hotels?

A recent industry report found that wellness tourism—vacations, resorts, and hotels that offer fitness and spa services—is growing over 50% faster than overall tourism.

What are the 3 ways to offer better rates than the OTA’s?

Yes, the accommodation industry on a whole was outraged by the ACCC ruling last month and this brings with it opportunities for businesses to adapt to. (Yes, we love to resist change.)

Set your sails as the OTA’s do

The great thing about the OTA’s is that they really do things in a big way.

PhoneMail the New Email?

If 2 years ago 1/3 of all email was being opened on a mobile phone, what are the current figures?

How important is the quality of sleep to guests?

This is after all the foundation, the base line need that your guests are looking for when they book a Hotel - a great nights rest.

Are you getting the most leverage from your website?

Everyone has a website for their business these days and having a clear online marketing strategy is the FUEL that will drive visitors and more DIRECT bookings.

Technology and Genuine Hospitality Unite

Driven by discussions of rising distribution costs, terms like book direct and personalisation are becoming widely used in the hotel industry.

The psychology affect on web design

Did you know psychology can affect and benefit the way your customers interact with your website?

Guests will love you 10 times more when...

Especially when they get more goodies, perks and value from booking direct with you.

Speed is the new SEO

The speed of mobile pages isn’t currently used as a ranking factor by Google, but that will change with the next mobile friendly update.

3 simple reasons why email works!

It just works. My observation in hospitality is that people love getting email from their favourite hotels.

The Art of Adding Value

If email marketing is such a powerful tool to engage with customers, and you send out newsletters every month, how do you keep the content fresh?

Escape to wellness

The new and much needed experience we all crave especially when we plan our holidays.

How to be a Subject Line Superhero

Here are 17 great ways to beef up your subject lines and 34 actual subject lines you can just copy and paste directly.

Why people love websites with video

Video is a medium that is current, fresh and more accessible than ever before. Video is being labelled the future of content marketing.

Are consumers bored with big luxury brands?

Big luxury hotel brands face a big new challenge in attracting high-end travelers: boredom. That's according to hospitality industry veteran Filip Boyen.

Is the pen still mightier than the sword?

It looks like the written word is predicted to become obsolete as technology moves us on the higher levels of expression and creativity.

The Goldilocks approach to a top SEO keyword strategy

Finding the best keywords for your strategy is like Goldilocks picking the perfect bowl of porridge. You’ve got to find the keywords that are not too hot, not too cold, but just right, or your SEO strategy will fall flat.

When does it pay to be selfish?

Selfish is a word that has such a negative or bad connotation to it doesn’t it. We are taught from childhood that the opposite is ’share’ don’t be selfish. Is this true as adults and especially in business.

What else can I add to my website to improve engagement?

90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual, so it makes sense to add another really impactful visual element.

I love a new tech company that solves current problems

While I was some new hotels from the 2016 on Condé Nast Traveller, hot hotel list, I ended up on a London Hotel that had a great widget running on it.

Are You Aware of the Hotel Health and Wellness Trends?

In order to grow your business and improve your bottom line, it is always super important to be in touch with what guests want and what their needs are. When you meet the needs of many, then so too are your needs met.

The Luxury Experience Is What People Want...

A human desire for more rewarding experiences provides an essential catalyst to evolve and improve travel industry quality and service standards.

What's hot in hotel marketing this year so far

All hoteliers strive to increase their yield and stand out from the crowd with their own unique services, so it only makes sense to focus on more direct bookings and increase your visibility through your own marketing energy rather than rely on someone else's.

Why Focus On Strong Digital Presence and Impeccable Service

Air BnB and OTA’s are huge forces in the market today, so how do boutique hotels navigate their way through the maze? Hotels can’t afford to be behind on emerging platforms.

Welcome to the ‘Experience Age’

The information age is coming to an end since the introduction of the web 25 years ago. We started from the industrial age and rapidly been inundated with information through the web.

The Impact of Social Media on Bookings

Social media has negligible impact on bookings for independent small hotels

May, Mobile-Friendly, Must Have!

Google will start ranking ‘mobile-friendly’ sites even higher in May as per a recent announcement.It is really quite logical when over 50% of the internet market is mobile and Google want to help their customers and users find even more pages that are relevant on their mobile devices.Find out how Google determine if your site stacks up for mobile-friendly...

Hotels Are Stepping Up To Build More Direct Bookings

The key to successfully deploying a direct booking strategy is increasing website personalisation to ensure visitors are gaining access to direct booking rewards when it means the most. When a website visitor comes directly from an OTA, hotels have the opportunity to give them a unique and targeted experience that encourages them to book direct.

Google Loves Fast Sites!

Google cares about how quickly your website renders. It’s as simple as that. Load times are consistently rated a top SEO factor by experts and something Google has built a suite of tools around to help us measure and improve. But how are hotels doing? Are they keeping up with Google’s demands for speed?

Have you got your customer data protected?

Value of IP Most businesses have intellectual property (IP), even if they don’t realise it. It could be something as exotic as the Colonel’s Secret Herbs and Spices or as simple as your client/customer list.

Why Email Marketing is Champion!

As much as marketers love new shiny/spinny things, consumers want the shiny old thing - email.

How do you get more people booking direct?

Last year I booked accommodation overseas and I did it through booking.com ‘gasp!’ (my excuse - the hotel website really needed some love from Pebble, they didn’t have a good booking engine and there was no incentive to book direct). On receiving my booking confirmation from booking.com was the statement ‘Best Rate Guarantee.’

8 Secrets to Getting People to Read Your Website

You want all of your customers to know your property intimately. To love it. To book it over and over again.The harsh reality – your customers AREN’T consuming every inch of your hotel website. And, truthfully, they never will. Same goes for your blog posts and marketing emails.People ‘scan’ and only read 20% of content.Here are 8 tips to engage with them better:

8 Tips for Web Content for Your Customer

Creating original, compelling content is a challenge for every hotel website and it can look like an overwhelming task. Yet since digital marketing content is how you present your hotel to the vast majority of the public, it’s important to understand that your website is a major driver in creating perceptions and influencing people’s decision to book with you-or not. Currently 57% of all travel reservations are made on the internet, so being able to tell a story and guide your guest through the whole experience of your hotel has become key.Here are 7 ways to do this more effectively and boost bookings…

Why How What

I love the concept that has made Simon Sinek’s TED talk one of the top ten watch list. Discover his golden circle. Do you know your Why? The purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do. People don’t buy what you do but why you do it.

Top 11 Technology Trends Of 2016

From Veggie burgers, AI Robots, Saltwater Batteries and wearable tech to Infopreneurs (the new Entrepreneur. Digital Marketing is dominated by two words - Mobile and Video, it all comes down to beautiful digital story telling.

How Lucrative Can Email Addresses Really Be?

Soon Google will target ads using email addresses. If your business has a database full of customer email addresses, it’s about to become a lot more lucrative if you use adwords. In one of the biggest stories of the digital marketing year, Google will soon let businesses target their YouTube and Google network ads to the exact people on their email list. It’s a new tool called Customer Match, and it will allow Australian business to get better value for their advertising spend through Google Adwords.

6 Lessons to Learn to Be More Successful in Life and Business

Very often we allow ourselves to feel trapped in a version reality that has been set as a standard, whether it be by society, peers, your industry, and the other usual suspects.But the thing is, there’s no space to be an average Joe at work and business anymore…The benefits: More Fun, More recognition, Boosted Results, The feeling of elation and wellbeing

Discover Your Next Generation Customers - Gen Z

We are all aware of the vast spending power of millennials, as well as their impact on the travel industry. Millennials hold $200 billion in buying power (Forbes), and they aren’t afraid to spend it on life’s finest luxuries. Millennials are undoubtedly the now, but who is the future?

The Average Adult Attention Span is less than a Goldfish

That means, adults typically pay attention to one task for about 8 seconds.It’s not that adults aren’t capable of paying attention. It’s simply that there are so many different factors continually vying for the mind’s spotlight that it’s difficult for anyone to pay attention to one thing for an extended period of time.

Website Backup Package

It is important that your website, and all associated files, are backed up and stored safely. Backing up your website is no different to backing up files located on your computer; it is the best way to ‘save’ your website should something go wrong. We back up your site prior to going live on our servers, but remember that once you start adding content through specials, blog posts, local attractions, images to your image gallery web app or guest reviews via your guests feedback app, your website is constantly growing in size and content. Just like any other data, it is key to have this backed up on a regular basis.

Gift Vouchers

With the silly season soon upon us it’s the perfect time to start promoting Gift Vouchers through your website. What a wonderful gift for people to give - the gift of relaxation and happy holiday memories. Gift vouchers are a great way to generate additional revenue. Industry figures show 40% of vouchers are not even redeemed, which makes this product an essential one to promote and sell through your website.You can also sell and promote all of your specials or packages as well as any other products as a Gift Voucher. Just think of it as a pre-purchased product.

Subject Lines vs. Open Rates

This is a quick but interesting survey. The results in my opinion are indicative of the times we live in and the need to communicate more fully with our audience.

7 Highly Successful Habits

As we move through our daily work lives we notice that the playing field gets bigger and steeper as independent hotel operators. The advantage we all have is that we get to change and adapt quicker than the big OTA’s and goliath multi chain’s.Here are seven habits to be aware of and incorporate into your daily lives to improve your success each day one step at a time.

The Little Box That’s Costing Hotels Millions

Modern travellers are savvy, deal-seekers.If a hotel deal exists, they’ll find it, use it, then expect it every time.Such is the case with that prominent “promo code” field found on practically every hotel’s booking engine. Read more about the perils of promo codes or how to use them to your advantage.

‘Chocolate Moments’ In Your Workday

The only people we can hold accountable for our happiness is ourselves. Annoying sometimes isn’t it. At times it’s just so much easier to whinge or make the things other people do be responsible for our happiness. We might moan about not having enough time/money/love/the right body/enough relaxation time away from work. If only all guests were lovely or we think that if we can just shake a few kilos, find the right partner, go on a luxurious holiday, find a bigger place to live and make more money, well THEN we will be happy. Well guess what, it's not the case. Happiness is a place within, not a destination, person or thing.So what do we do about it? How do we get more chocolate moments in our life?

Higher Website Conversions Are Yours For The Taking

There’s a reason certain hotel brands continue to dominate the marketplace.Higher conversions are yours for the taking too!

The Psychology Edge To A Great Hotel Website

Some hotels are more beautiful or more grand than others. Some are placed in more stunning locations. Then, there are the hotels that are simply better at convincing people to book than others.Tap into the psychology behind buying behaviours and implement human behavioural insight into your hotel website design and online marketing.Here are six ingenious secrets and psychology behind sites that are successfully reeling in bookings.

A Simple Way To Increase Email Open Rate

We've got a terrific way for you to increase your open rates and increase your knowledge around what subjects work better with your target audience. Encouraging higher open rates and click through rates can be a difficult task that can only be refined through efficient A/B testing, a great way to learn what works best with your email campaigns. There are many options available for A/B testing with a most popular method being subject lines. This is just the tip of the iceberg to improve your email campaign results with A/B testing…

10 Happy Habits

Whether we are looking for greater harmony in our relationships, friendships, greater purpose and satisfaction at work, or more engagement in our community, the end goal is usually the same - happiness.Here are 10 habits to improve your happiness...

Why Hotels Are Eliminating Check-In & Check-Out Times

At The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, they call it "Peninsula Time," a term used to describe the hotel's laid-back approach to check-in and check-out. The ease of an experience at a hotel, defines and equates to a luxury experience by the guest. The Peninsula may be among an elite group of hotels offering such a flexible policy, but it's a growing group.

The Most Expensive Hotels In The World

Utah has just earned the distinction of having the most expensive hotel in the world. The Amangiri hotel in Canyon Point, Southern Utah took the top spot, shame about the bad website. An average overnight price tag of $1889 for the least expensive double room easily landed it in the survey’s number one spot.

Eight Things People Look For When Booking A Hotel

The average person visits 38 websites searching for the best hotel, in the best location, with the best room and of course at the best price. The travel journey may start on a search engine, but where it ends depends on a number of factors. For hoteliers though, the ultimate goal is to make sure this search ends on their website with a direct booking or phone call. 72% of people would book directly with the hotel if they could be sure that they were getting the best deal. It’s now up to hoteliers to prove the direct site is best and our eight tips will help you do just that.

OTA's vs. Hotel Website

How your hotel website can compete with OTA’sPeople visit multiple sites before making a booking, starting with OTA’s and then focusing in on property websites.

Where Is Technology Going In Hospitality?

The future of hotel rooms is coming and it’s connected.The big chains treat hotel rooms like concept cars. They stuff these rooms full of technology and let their engineers and designers experiment, innovate and test with them.Noiseless cocoons to take calls, robot butlers to deliver items to rooms, smart carpets filled with sensors, enter and control your room from your watch and more.

What To Look For In A Great CMS (Content Management System)

As a hotelier, you need complete control over your website and direct online revenue stream, that includes an array of online tools and functionalities to grow your business. Having a website that you can easily manage is essential.What’s the difference between website CMS servers?Do you settle for a common template or be unique and stand out online?What features do I need?

Why Is My Email Signature Important?

Use your email signature to drive traffic to your hotel website.It’s not what you say, but how you say it that counts. Those words ring true especially in your emails. When you correspond with people via email, they not only get to read your words, but they get to see more information about you and your company through your email signature. Find out how your email signature can help (or hurt) your marketing efforts.

5 Social Trends Hoteliers Can Leverage

The trend across all industries is higher customer service levels, creating a need for hoteliers to be that much better at being a service industry.Guests also seek simplicity in our rapidly evolving complex technological world that we are creating. Hoteliers need to reduce the pressure points.

The Fourth Screen

Providing the Right Digital Experience for On-Property Hotel and Resort Guests.Hoteliers must embrace the mobile-connected traveller by offering relevant and practical content whilst on location and within a local radius. Commonly referred to as the fourth-screen.This can be done as an extension of your website in the form of an online compendium that serves as a customer service channel and a revenue generating opportunity accessible to on-property guests only.

Google Copies Pinterest in Pursuit of Love and Happiness

Google+ pushed into Pinterest’s territory today, introducing a new feature to enable users to organise content by category. “Our happiest Google+ users are those who connect with others around shared interests and passions. So we set out to give people a place to express the things they love.”How can we use this in hotel marketing?

The 4 Best Practices For Special Offers On Your Website

Special offers are a key ingredient in your overall visual storytelling recipe. They offer value for guests and are an important opportunity to tell your story. The generic 10% off is not an authentic connection with your real customers in mind.Read on to discover what four aspects travel shoppers look for and how to create a tremendous offer…

The Content Marketing Strategy Your Hotel Needs

Hoteliers should not undervalue the impact of email marketing. Reach out and stay in touch with guests by launching a professional email newsletter campaign fully managed by the experts.

Google Loves Responsive!

Google is back in the news with another algorithm change – and this time it’s a big one. As of this week Google will start to roll out their new algorithm, a change expected to impact up to 40% of all mobile searches. Google’s impending update is slated to be the search engine’s most impactful change since the rollout of Google Panda in 2011.

How To Build Your E-mail Subscribers Using Contests

As humans, we have an innately competitive urge and are motivated to win prizes. It’s the reason the U.S. lottery sold $78 billion worth of tickets in 2012. But you’re not the lottery, and you probably can’t afford to give away $656 million in prize money. So can contests still help you build your email list?

Find Out Why Google Place Such Importance On Travel

Google commissioned an independent marketing research company to conduct a travel-tracking study, to better understand the role of the internet in making travel related decisions. You can enjoy the benefits of all their hard work by reading our quick summary report.

How Do You Survive The OTA Duopoly - Priceline vs Expedia?

Online Travel Agencies, better known as OTAs, have been around for almost 20 years, so we really shouldn’t treat them as a novelty by now. Expedia was launched back in 1996 while Priceline was founded in 1997. In the earlier days, OTAs were seen as a convenient distribution channel where hotels and airlines could sell extra inventory. Online distribution was not really a priority back then and now fast forwarding to early 2015, the relationship between hotels and OTAs has gone somewhat sour. Why is that?

Will The Apple Watch Be Great For Travellers?

Apple’s first wearable, the Apple Watch, is set to launch on April 24, and already has a number of interesting features for travellers.

Why A Responsive Web Design For Hotels Is Key

Ever since Google announced that it recommends responsive web designs, hoteliers have been looking to update their sites. The need is obvious – reach many people with one website, instead of building separate websites for desktop and mobile users.

Here Is A Way To Increase Your Direct & Return Bookings With Print!

Sometimes it is the simple things that always work, for example a voucher business card showcasing unique features, photos, your brand message, best rate guarantee or book direct and save! Highlight your social media, inspire feedback and/or initiate a discount on a return stay. Make it personal and reward your guests for their custom on departure.

What's a Good Email Open Rate & Click Rate?

We have done some big number crunching of our Pebble Mailer clients and have done up a quick summary benchmark graphic for you to see the results. We have also found some great data from the guys at HubSpot; they have analysed email marketing benchmark data from their 11,500+ customers to figure out what a good open and click rate looks like.

Why Consumers Abandon Their Online Travel Bookings

More than 50% of online travel searches are abandoned when the shopper reaches the price screen, a new study has revealed. A further 26% opt out when asked for personal details and 21% when asked for payment details. Here are some solid insights on the reasons for booking abandonment...

Panda vs Penguin – What’s the difference and why does it matter to Google?

Panda 4.1 was rolled out in September 2014 and Google rolled out a new Penguin update in October 2014. This was the first Penguin update in over a year.What does this mean? What’s the difference between Panda and Penguin? How does this affect my hotel?

Why Pinterest Is Better Than Facebook For Hotel Marketing

Pinterest is one of those social media sites that businesses tend to ignore in favour of Facebook and Twitter. But, because of its visual nature, it’s actually one of the most popular networks for travellers and foodies. It also beats all other social media sites when it comes to converting visitors into customers and is great for SEO.

Use Pop-Ups to Increase Subscribers and Get More Direct Bookings!

Over the last few months we have been experimenting with various marketing triggers. The one that currently stands out the most in terms of measurable results is - the humble 'pop-up'.When done well, there have been proven increases of up to 7 times (for some clients 15 times) the amount of regular online subscribers.

15 Power Words To Get Your Emails Opened

Do you find it difficult to write great email subject lines? There are a number of things to do and try, but it can still be hard to know if what you’re writing is really resonating with your audience and compelling them to open your emails. Better subject lines means more "opens" of your email campaigns, and more opens leads to more click-throughs, more conversions and more revenue for your business.

A Quick Update on How Search has Changed for Hotels

We are now one year into the era of semantic search. With the introduction of Google semantic search towards the end of 2013, it changed things forever for businesses and especially hotels. Here are 4 ways that you can take advantage of semantic search with your property…

Find Out More Through Google Barometer

The Google Consumer Barometer is a tool to help you understand how people use the internet around the world. View a selection of their research findings in beautiful charts.

How to Generate More Guest Reviews

As part of the online marketing formula, we include a guest reviews module in the structure of the website. However for this valuable tool to be well used, we need to look at how you can drive traffic to your guest reviews page and also areas such as Google+ and Trip Advisor.

Top 5 Challenges Hotels Face

Working with hotels for almost 15 years now has given me many insights on what our clients encounter on a regular basis. I recently read an article on the top 5 challenges that hotels face which struck a chord within me and inspired me to interpret the top 5, as I see it.

Featured Product: Beautiful, Responsive Photo Galleries

Show off your photos with a fully responsive photo gallery landing page. Entice potential customers, showcase past events, feature a local attractions gallery or boast about your penthouse in a more visual format.

Photos Impact Bookings More Than Reviews

According to a new study published by TripAdvisor, it would seem as if photos have the greatest impact, driving engagement from travellers researching hotel pages on the world’s biggest travel review site.

Have you got your Christmas EDM planned?

Now is the time to start planning your Christmas email campaign. It is a great opportunity to share the festive celebrations, as well as touch base with all your customers with a thoughtful message.

Is Facebook a waste of time for businesses?

Facebook recently released a series of changes to its algorithm and as a result brands are suffering an average decline of 44% in customer reach. As Facebook’s organic reach nose-dives, this makes it less useful or more time consuming for hotels to engage with guests.

Does email out muscle social media?

Although email marketing might not get as much time in the limelight anymore, it has a far wider reach than all the social networks combined and generates a significantly higher click-through rate and total ROI.

Are you using these 8 subject line formulas to get your emails opened?

The subject line is the start of the reader’s experience with your campaign, and in a world of increasing distractions, it can also be the end of their experience if you don't make it captivating and engaging.

Are you set up on the new Google My Business?

In a streamlined approach to help small business connect with customers via Search, Maps and Google+, Google released www.google.com.au/mybusiness in June this year.

Is Social Media more powerful than Organic Search?

After analyzing “billions of pieces” of content, content marketing firm BrightEdge claims organic search is the primary driver of website traffic to business sites, while social barely generates a blip on the traffic radar. According to the study, the hospitality industry receives half of its website traffic from organic search.

The Big Battle - Meta-Search vs "OTAs" (online travel agents)

54% of Chinese, 36% of American and 35% of British travellers use meta-search engines to compare rates. No wonder that meta-search has attracted billions of dollars of investment in the last few years and is being hailed as the hottest thing in travel.

New bookings from the new Café down the road

When it comes to online content, hospitality brands need to take a hard look at curation and not just creation. Evoking a digital picture of specific local places seamlessly across digital and social channels is key to bringing destinations to life. Today's consumers are well-informed, digitally dexterous, socially connected, multi-tasking, channel hoppers.

7 Ways to Play the Revenue Management Game

A lot has changed since Chinmai Sharma, VP Revenue Management and Distribution at Louvre Hotels began working in the field back in 1997. Here Sharma and Carlos Sánchez, Senior Manager Big Data Analytics at Carlson Wagonlit Travel share insights into what revenue managers today need to know.

iPhone 6 is coming: Are your digital assets ready?

The iPhone 6 is com­ing and they have introduced two new screen sizes and even higher screen res­o­lu­tions. Are your dig­i­tal assets ready? But wait there's more, there is also the new iWatch being released 2015 and don't forget Google Glass and the new dig­i­tal bill­boards that you see around town.All images are no longer equal with the many new and emerging formats. Specific image optimisation now plays a critical role in showing off your brand.

Facebook Looking for True Love

Brands will no longer be able to force a user to “like” their page. Facebook is trying to make sure when users “like” a page, they truly like it. Effective November 5th, the company has announced a new policy to ensure “quality connections” by knocking down the “Like Gate” - a widely employed strategy by brands to force users to like their pages to inflate popularity.

Hotel WI-FI, Should It Be Free?

Hotels have a history of charging for wi-fi, and charging a lot, but with nearly two-thirds of hotels offering free wi-fi, there seems to be an inevitable conclusion that access to the internet should be free to all guests in all hotels.

Travel Content Takes Off On Youtube

YouTube data shows that travellers are spending more time watching online videos than ever before and they are increasingly using mobile devices to consume travel-related videos anytime and anywhere. A new Google study on how travellers interact with video content reveals what travellers are looking for, what’s popular, and what content they are watching.

8 Trends that will define travel in 2014

Technology and economics are changing the way we travel, so it's important for hotels to keep up to date with these trends and provide the necessary information and functionality online, to give travellers everything they need at their fingertips.

The Rising Tide of Mobile Bookings – How Hoteliers Can Stay Afloat

We are seeing continued strong growth in the mobile and tablet sectors in our stats across our sites. On delving deeper into this online, there is a similar sentiment across some of the bigger agencies in America and Europe.

Google Releases Pigeon

Google continues to change the search criteria for their users (a huge big chunk of the world). It is good to keep an understanding on the global implications of what we, as a consumer driven world, demand from our technology. Google uses their data powerfully to provide better services to their clients and make our every day lives easier and better.

Why hotels should stop marketing their features and amenities

Today, in hotel marketing there seems to be little consideration for what made a hotel originally stand out: its authenticity and personality, which developed and formed through the interaction of the employees of the hotel and the visitors staying there.

A Quick Guide to Content Marketing for the Tourism and Hotel Industry

“Content marketing” has unquestionably been the preeminent buzzword in marketing for a few years now, and for good reason. When done right, it can help you to build credibility and trust among your clients and even brand you as an “expert” for your particular destination or hospitality business niche.

Is your Hotel Website Responsive to Meet Google Requirements and Boost SEO?

With mobile traffic gaining market share month after month, hotels need to ensure their desktop versions of their websites are optimized for smaller screens and deliver fast loading times.

6 Tips to Growing Your Hotel Database

One of the most valuable assets a hotel has is its customer database. Information, such as demographics, purchase behaviours and buying preferences can guide marketers to develop strategies that deliver higher conversions on their campaigns.

8 Quick Tips to Better Email Marketing

With the rise in popularity of email marketing, ease of use and cost effective results it generates, we thought we would share some quick tips to get even more from it.

Word-of-mouth quickly morphing into word-of-mouth-and-image

The Internet continues to revolutionize the basic principles of hotel marketing, and new data suggest that the impact of social media on the hospitality industry is growing at a pace equivalent to technology itself. Here are a few key social media trends to remember.

30 Content Marketing Tips for Boosting your Website SEO

As the travel and tourism space gets more competitive, it’s important for individual properties to establish and maintain a competitive advantage in their marketing efforts. Content marketing is a great way of doing this and can easily be done using your CMS portal.

Organic SEO vs Google Adwords

Why use Adwords if SEO is free? See how Google Adwords works with SEO.At this stage you probably understand how AdWords can help you increase leads and get found online by new customers. There is however, one big question that lingers: why would you pay for placement in Google if the goal is to rank organically with SEO?

Give Guests an Incentive to Book Direct

Have you thought about adding an incentive to gain more direct bookings? Hotels and OTAs have had an ongoing love-hate relationship regarding bookings – OTAs drive 20% of total room bookings, but with a hefty 10-25% commission fee. By getting more direct bookings you will reduce the commissions you have to pay saving yourself thousands of dollars.

How to Make Your Guests Happy

Our happiest memories, or even our most memorable ones, are often anchored to holidays that we have enjoyed with friends and family. Herein lies the secret to making your guests happier - offer them an experiential package, not just a discounted rate.

Get Your Google Ducks in a Row

We are noticing more and more fragmentation of hotel property data as Google continues to grow their suite of products, connecting the world in ways we never dreamed of.Who would have thought we would wear glasses that project information directly onto our retina? Google did, with Google Glass.

Key benefits of a new website

is now more important than ever to have a great looking website that your customers will enjoy using. It is ultimately the consumer who drives change in the market and their expectation is that booking accommodation needs to be visual, easy, simple and informative and work on whatever device they feel like using at the time.

The Best Time to Send Out Email Marketing Campaigns for the Hotel and Tourism Industry

Have you ever wondered what the best time, day of the week and day of the month is to send out an email marketing campaign? By understanding your B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) daily habits you can increase your email open rates.

Four ways that meta-search can help hotels take on the OTA's

Meta-search is maturing and has a huge impact on how consumers purchase travel today. By understanding how meta-search works, you can use it to your advantage to get more direct bookings through your website rather then through the OTA's

5 Reasons You Can No Longer Ignore Google Plus

Despite all the hoopla that surrounded the new social site when it was first released, many businesses are ignoring Google Plus completely, in exchange for increased focus on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Why Gift Vouchers are a Clever Marketing Tool

We believe that hotels can differentiate by offering unique experiences in gift vouchers. They are easy to set up in your CMS and can either offer a monetary value or be a complete package including accommodation. Payment can be done offline or a full purchase made online.

Ever Wondered How Google Ranks Websites?

There are over 200 ranking factors that the Google algorithm uses in the equation. Some of these are proven, some are controversial and others are just SEO nerd speculation.

Recapture Customers & Build Awareness With Remarketing

More than 30 percent of hotel bookings come directly from the web, and online shoppers visit at least three websites before making an online hotel reservation purchase decision. In a complex and challenging global marketplace, online consumers now have more choices than ever to book travel.

Pinterest - the fastest growing share tool

Statistics from ShareThis show that, for the first time, Pinterest outpaced email to become the third most popular sharing channel in the fourth quarter of 2013. While sharing via email declined 11 percent year-over-year, Pinterest shares increased 58 percent, making it the fastest growing sharing channel last year.

Online Hotel Distribution Trends for 2014

As Australia follows in the shadow of the global markets, it is always interesting to find insights coming from overseas and in this case, an informative infographic based on figures in the U.S.

Finding The Balance Between "OTAs" (Online Travel Agents) & Direct Bookings

The balance between OTAs and direct bookings is different by city and sometimes by hotel. The important thing is figuring out how to use the OTAs and make it a win-win for both direct and commissioned sales.

Interactive, Digital, In-Room Compendium

Stand out from the crowd and provide your guests with a collection of concise but detailed information. Save on printing costs with an interactive, digital, in-room compendium. This reflects the quality and attention to detail provided by your hotel or resort.

Using Landing Pages to Increase Conversions

By creating a specific page targeted at your users or 'core customers', you can measure valuable metrics on their behaviour across niche aspects of your business. Google AdWords is one example that can be used to land users directly on a specific page that is relevant to them, and draw them into the rest of the site.

Judging a book by its cover... photographs

Many people judge things based on their first impressions. Websites are no exception, therefore we always strive to design and build visually appealing and user friendly sites. A huge part of this is implementing beautiful imagery that grabs the attention of the user. With the use of slide-shows and stunning, thoughtfully placed images you can tell a story that engages your prospective guests.

Email Marketing – The most effective channel for customer engagement

Electronic direct mail (EDM), otherwise known as email newsletters, continues to be the most cost effective solution to communicate with your customers. Most of our hotel and tourism clients using email marketing, experience strong repeat business as their customers want to be kept informed of their latest offers, news and developments.

Hotel and Tourism Yearly Article Writing Strategy

The importance of well written, SEO optimised content, is one of the best online marketing strategies you can apply to build your business. Google's stats are showing the results of how important adding fresh content to your website is and an ideal strategy is to have a yearly plan in place, posting monthly articles on your website.

Web Design for the Hotel Industry

First impressions count. By landing on a website that looks great and is easy to use, you're more likely to explore what's on offer. The experience is enjoyable and you're left feeling good about the company as a whole. That's what we focus on.

Responsive Web Design - Future Proof Your Hotel Website

Responsive web design has very much become a way of building websites in the world today. It is the best way to have your hotel website built or redesigned going forward and is key to keeping ahead of your competitors.

Upgrade Your Browser for A Better User Experience

Upgrading your browser offers a number of benefits for both you, web designers and developers. Using an out of date browser means that your speed whilst viewing websites is slower and your computer is less secure from viruses. You're also more prone to browser crashes and some sites may not even work correctly.

Our Top Web & Marketing Findings for 2013

2013 has been a big year for web design and online marketing. We thought we would share our top findings for the year, with the most prominent standouts being responsive web design, Google Hummingbird, flat design, the growing use of HTML5 and Social Media.

Social Media Sites on the Rise for the Hotel Industry

I think by now we all understand the benefits of using Social Media like Facebook for getting more traffic to your website, but what you may be unaware of is that the social media sites Google Plus and Pinterest are becoming increasingly popular.

Keeping an eye on your Hotel Website Stats & Google Analytics

There are many reasons to keep an eye on your website's statistics. By being “in the know,” you have a heads up on what's working and what isn't, so you have a clearer idea of where to focus your time and resources.

Hummingbird Takes Flight from Google

Yes, Google continues to change the playing field on the search market with the release, on their 15th birthday, of their latest search algorithm. This is a major shift and represents the biggest change since 2001 - Hummingbird is not just a tweak to Panda and Penguin, it is a completely new search algorithm that affects 90% of all searches.

Content Marketing - The Secret Formula for More Website Visitors

It is important to stay competitive in a continually changing market. Content marketing is the most important factor for SEO, especially with Google's latest algorithm changes. It's not just for search engines though, as content marketing is a good strategy for producing and publishing interesting and relevant information for your guests.

Creative Ideas for your Hotel Specials

While building hotel websites we see many accommodation specials on offer. We're often asked, 'what's a good special we should run?'. We have a long list of ideas for specials, so we've shared some below.

Grow Your Hotel Subscriber Database

Any successful internet marketer will agree, your subscriber database is one of the most valuable elements to being successful online. Good email marketing campaigns build sales and customer relationships and can deliver an excellent ROI, so it's important to continue to grow your database.

Promote Your Seasonal Events

The sun is shining, the days are getting longer, and the next few months of festivities are on their way, which means now is the perfect time to come up with a seasonal marketing plan.

Handy Tips on adding Valuable Content to your Hotel Website

In our many years of crafting websites and building online marketing solutions to make our client's lives easier, we are definitely of the opinion that content plays a very important role in marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Our Latest SEO Observations for Hotels & Tourism

So you're a multi-millionaire from winning the European lottery and are a benefactor from rich foreign relatives. You also have several Russians brides, are swimming in Viagra pills and now apparently everyone needs SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Responsive Email Newsletters for Mobile Devices

Email marketing is still one of the most effective permission-based marketing systems available. However, the playing field is constantly changing with a lot more people now opening their emails on their phones while on the go.

How to Write a Good Subject Line for Email Newsletters

So you’ve put together an amazing newsletter but have just quickly typed in a subject line without really thinking about it. Wait ... don’t send it yet ... we have some subject line tips for a successful email campaign.