Some of you see it as a valuable tool while others see it as just another “social media” website. No, I am not talking Facebook, but in this case, Trip Advisor.
Last week Htel Serviced Apartments reached the number one spot on Trip Advisor in the “specialty lodgings” category. The ascent to the number one spot has come 1.5 years after Htel revamped their marketing initiatives and implemented a new strategic marketing strategy. At the core of this new strategy was an emphasis on online marketing, their website and social media providers.
In addition to the number one ranking on trip advisor, the deliverables of their new strategy have been two-fold:
- Revenue generation from their website (and its internal booking engine) have surpassed projections/expectations.
- The monetary costs associated with this strategy have it ranked among the lowest of all marketing/distribution channels in our industry.
To summarize – overall marketing costs decreased 35% and business has increased beyond expectations - proving that there may be some merit to this type of strategy. As a result, Htel and their formula is worthy of our respect, recognition and analysis.
Is your hotel currently exploiting the online market place or are you somewhat lethargic in embracing the internet, your website and social media? If you are in the latter category I encourage you to take a quick look at the article on Htel (sourced at the bottom of this post), and take a critical look at your online presence and its effect on your business. Htel has proven that, should you leverage your resources appropriately, tremendous opportunities can be garnered from an aggressive and strategic push into the online marketplace.
