Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast

It's 2017 and it's about time we undertake that time-honored tradition of designating this the year of "something". We've given this a lot of thought hear at Fuel and we've decided that it's about time we put the focus back on the guest. Over the next two episodes of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we lay out our reasons as to why we believe that 2017 is the year of the guest. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-38-year-hotel-guest-part-1/ ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/2017-year-hotel-guest/ Tune in next week for part 2.

We recently wrote a blog post, entitled Top 10 Resolutions Your Hotel Should Really Be Making in 2017, in which we compared real-world resolutions to the types of habit that hotel marketers and hotel marketing agencies should be adopting. In this episode, we recap the list and give some additional insights as only your Fueligan friends can. The original article can be found at http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/top-10-resolutions-hotel-really-making-2017/ CHECK OUT THE FULL SHOW NOTES AT:

The Fuel team are big fans of being efficient and productive with our time. We are always looking for new tools that help us market our hotels smarter and more effectively. When we can’t find a tool that satisfies our specific needs, sometimes we create one ourselves. In this episode, we have compiled a list of some of our favorite tools that we use on a frequent basis and unveil a new tool created by our resident Analytics guru, Melissa Kavanagh. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-36-best-free-hotel-marketing-tools-2017/

There's no doubt that adWords PPC is one of the best and most effective marketing channels available for your hotel.; however, far too many hotels and hotel marketing agencies are making some very avoidable mistakes when managing their campaigns. Learn which one your hotel should avoid in this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-35-making-top-10-hotel-ppc-mistakes/

In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we discuss a survey conducted by Google via Ipsos in October 2016 to US smartphone users age 18-64. The study had some really interesting data and we dig through it and give you some insight into what it means for you and your hotel. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-34-people-use-phones-travel-according-google/

Expedia recently launched Rev+, a revenue management tool designed to provide hotel partners with smart, actionable data and insights. As part of Expedia Partner Central (EPC), the company’s partner portal which helps hotels manage their properties and rates, Rev+ brings in new functionality that empowers partners to make smart pricing decisions to optimize their revenue. WE discuss the ins and outs of this awesome new offering in this week's episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast. FULL SHOW NOTES CAN BE FOUND AT:

Your Fueligan friends recently attended the Internet Summit and the HX 2016 shows. In this episode, we discuss our takeaways from each and also announce a special guest for next week’s episode. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-32-learned-internet-summit-hx-2016/

Links from other websites to your own hotel website are the foundation of good search ranking, but they also play an important role in exposing new people to your property. A hotel’s goal should be to have a wide and varied link profile from all manner of sources. In this episode, we discuss ways that a hotel can earn links the right way as well as some pitfalls to avoid. FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-31-build-links-like-boss-hoteliers-simple-guide-link-building/

Your hotel website is the cornerstone of your hotel’s success. It’s the focal point of your marketing efforts, the virtual front lobby to your property and the battleground upon which you will win or lose against your competition and the OTAs. We talk a lot on the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast about what you should be doing. This episode focuses on the things you should not be doing on your website. There are certainly more than the 10 that we discuss. FULL SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-30-hotel-making-top-10-website-mistakes/ Show Note Summary: 1. Poor quality photography 2. Slow load time/image file size too large 3. Not mobile-friendly 4. Default Titles/META descriptions 5. Non-integrated booking engine 6. Sending people out to social media pages/video content or review sites 7. Conversion dead ends (ie: news page with no CTA) 8. Not designing the site for the audience 9. The ‘NASCAR’ effect 10. Not owning your site ======================

Some of your Fueligan friends attended the first ever Travel Digital Marketing Summit hosted by Leonardo this week. We thought it would be fun to discuss some of the best takeaways from the summit and give our listeners the TL;DW version. FULL SHOW NOTES CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-29-travel-digital-marketing-summit-recap/ THE PRESENTERS WERE: Leonardo - Joey Egan Sojern - (Meisha forgot his name. Sorry) Flip.to - Edward St. Onge Triptease - Charlie Osmond SiteMinder - David Chestler TrustYou - Ellis Connolly In The News: Kayak testing new short term rentals feature http://qz.com/816755/pricelines-pcln-kayak-is-quietly-offering-a-new-feature-for-short-term-apartment-and-home-rentals-as-it-tries-to-compete-with-airbnb/ Expedia Adding Home Away Inventory http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/Expedia-on-cusp-of-integrating-HomeAway-rentals-into-hotel-searches Airbnb suing NY over new short term rental regulations http://w

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 Pric

AirBNB seems to be everywhere in the media right now. Will this industry disruptor spell certain doom for the hotel industry, or are there lessons that hoteliers can learn from this innovative start-up that can help them drive more business and build customer loyalty? Let’s all join hands and discuss in this week’s episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast. GET FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-27-airb-n-bust-what-hotels-can-learn-from-the-worlds-biggest-travel-disruptor/

Hoteliers, and marketers in general, think the conversion process ends once a booking takes place. This thought process is not only wrong, but it is costing you in lost revenue. Why? Because once a person converts once, they are much more likely to convert again. On top of that, it is 5 Times more cost effective to retain current guests than find new ones. In today’s podcast we’re going to cover an excellent article from CopyHackers.com with tips, tricks, and hard data on making your thank you pages convert your guests a second time. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES AND THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE, VISIT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-26-converting-conversion-making-thank-pages-work/ https://copyhackers.com/2016/09/thank-you-pages-ret

Awesome New Hawaii Promotional Campaign https://www.tnooz.com/article/smile-please-personalised-travel-itineraries-based-on-facial-expressionsa/ ======================== Show Notes: First Off, Why Video? 75% growth in users posting facebook video in past 12 months 100 million videos viewed every day Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world Video in the travel space (according to a Google 2014 study) 66% watched videos when thinking about taking a trip 65% watched videos when choosing a destination 54% watched videos when deciding which accommodation to stay at, and 63% watched videos when looking for ideas for activities at a destination In a recent study by Fuel, over 80% of people said that video influences their hotel decision YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S. Must Have Videos for Hotels: Rooms and more rooms (Do I have people in the room shots?) Amenities (include people enjoying amenities) Facility (guided video tours work well) Lobby and street are

In The News: Marriott / Starwood Merger Complete http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriorvoices/2016/09/23/marriott-starwood-merger-complete-and-loyal-customers-get-reciprocal-benefits/90885318/ Almost one year after purchase date $13 Billion Now Marriott owns 30 brands / more than 5,700 hotels / 1.1 Million Rooms / 110 Countries Big focus on loyalty program now - members of both programs can log in at Members.marriott.com to begin earning & redeeming points at all hotels; new, unified experience. https://skift.com/2016/09/21/every-one-of-marriotts-30-hotel-brands-explained/ Expedia launches Rev+ revenue management tool https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-pushes-hotel-b2b-services-with-revenue-management-launch/ Expedia axes strategy of dimming hotels that apparently offer low value https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-stops-dimming-hotels-in-search-results-that-offer-low-value/ Google Rolls Out Cross Device Retargeting http://searchengineland.com/google-roll-cross-device-retargeting-259567

Show Notes: Mobile Apps are all the rage, in this episode, we look at the good, the bad and the ugly app from the major travel industry players. Find out who’s doing it right and who’s doing it very, very wrong. Also, we look at some data from individual property’s mobile apps and what features are actually working for them. Check out the original blog post: We Tried Every Travel App Out There So You Don’t Have To http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/travel-booking-app-comparison-review-guide/ In The News: Hotels Need More Bandwidth http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/71622/2017-tech-trends-Faster-bandwidth-more-mobile-apps YouTube is now a Social Network https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/13/youtube-gets-its-own-social-network-with-the-launch-of-youtube-community/ Twitter Adds Customer Service Hours https://www.searchenginejournal.com/twitter-customer-service-features/173889/?ver=173889X3 SEE THE FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-23-the-best-and-worst-trav

Paying attention to your data is critical if you want to be a successful hotel marketer. The challenge is knowing which metrics to pay attention to and which ones are vanity metrics that can lead you to the wrong conclusion. In this episode, we look at 10 of the most important metrics and why they are important. The inspiration for this podcast came from this awesome blog written by our resident analytics guru, Melissa Kavanagh. Read the full blog here: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/10-hotel-marketing-metrics-matter/ In The News: Business Travel App Stats (via @Tnooz) https://www.tnooz.com/article/business-travellers-on-apps-and-other-hotel-technology/ TripAdvisor revamps homepage with activity focus alongside hotels http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/TripAdvisor-redesigns-website-to-induce-more-tour-bookings Related articles: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/deconstructing-the-hotel-conversion-funnel/ http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-7-how-to-g

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is one of the industry's leading advocates for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals & their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue. One of their recent articles, entitled 8 Essentials Every GM Needs to Know About Digital Marketing Today, caught our eye and that is the subject of episode 21 of the Fuel Hotel Marketing podcast. Here’s the original article from HSMAI: 8 Essentials Every GM Needs to Know About Digital Marketing Today http://www.hsmai.org/knowledge/article.cfm?ItemNumber=27890&RDtoken=17453&userID=4854 CHECK OUT THE FULL SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-21-what-every-hotel-needs-to-know-about-digital-marketing-in-2016-courtesy-of-hsmai

Show Notes: Chances are, if you have a product or service to sell, you are producing content in some form or fashion. From text, photos and videos to interactive widgets and downloads, the Internet is essentially a great big web of content. In order for customers to learn about your hotels you need content that provides them with helpful information that answers their questions and that persuades them to part with their hard earned money in exchange for a trip to your property. In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we look at content in its many forms and discuss techniques that hoteliers can implement to ensure that they are beating their competition in the battle for content supremacy. FOR IN DEPTH SHOW NOTES, VISIT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-20-how-to-easily-create-amazing-content/ ======================== In the News Aloft hotels debut voice-activated rooms http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriorvoices/2016/08/24/aloft-hotels-debut-vo

In this ultra-competitive hospitality industry, profitability is tough to maintain. Consumers have more research power than ever and have the tools and technology at their disposal to find the best available rate with ease. This, coupled with the ongoing battle between OTAs and hoteliers for the privilege of getting the booking and owning the guest, means that it’s a great time for hotels to get creative in maximizing their revenue. One of the simplest and most effective methods is in the age-old sales technique of upselling. From room upgrades, to additional services, and F&B, there are so many opportunities to upsell a guest and maximize your profit. FULL SHOW NOTES CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-19-art-science-upselling-hotel-guest/ Focus on Enhancing Your Guest’s Experience, Don’t Be a Used Car Salesman. As travelers, we are primed to buy things. There are seldom times when our purse strings are more loose. Having said that, no one likes being sol