Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast

We’ve been hearing that ‘SEO is dead’ for the better part of the last 4 years. While it’s certainly true that the value of SEO has become harder to understand and that the tactics employed to accomplish search ranking continues to evolve, we believe that SEO is far from dead and that it should remain a very important part of your overall hotel marketing strategy. In this episode, we go through a very basic SEO checklist that you should pay attention to in 2018. FULL SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-75-seo-finally-dead-2018-listen-find/

TripAdvisor is setting the stage for a year full of changes in 2018. They launched a major new initiative at the very end of 2017 with Sponsored Positions and are now in the process of completely revamping their internal structures. Today we are going to discuss some of the most notable changes we are seeing and what may be on the horizon. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-74-troubles-tripadvisor/

Hoteliers - If you had one hotel marketing related wish, what would it be? We asked. You responded. Here are some of the best answers we received from hoteliers and industry experts. We break them down and have some fun in the festive episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-73-hotel-industrys-new-year-wish-list-2018/

In a shameless effort to newsjack the hysteria revolving around the release of Star Wars The Last Jedi, the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast this week is trying to draw comparisons between the galaxy far, far away and hotel marketing. Listen to find out how well we did. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-72-10-marketing-lessons-hotel-can-learn-star-wars-quotes/

Congratulations on your new hotel or resort adventure! Though inevitably a bit stressful, opening a new property is undoubtedly an exciting task. Of course, you wouldn’t ever build and open your new property and just hope people show up. Rather, you will want to have a marketing plan in place to effectively promote your property in advance to generate interest and demand. FULL SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-71-things-must-hotel-opens/

In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, the Fueligans take a tongue in cheek look at what life would be like if we treated our phone reservations like we treat our website visitors. Let’s face it, a hotel’s website is one of the most important investments a property can make. It influences almost every booking in some form or fashion. And yet, we still live in a world where folks take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to their website. Despite more than 50% of direct bookings coming in online, and the fact that the phone reservations probably originated from the website in the first place, people still spend more time focused on improving their agents performance and neglecting their top sales agent... THE WEBSITE. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-70-happens-phone-agents-act-like-website/

Reducing friction in the booking process can happen one of two ways. Either you remove the roadblocks and make the booking process more streamlined, or you apply forward pressure through the funnel by using psychology tactics that persuade people to do what you need them to do. That’s what we’ll be discussing in today’s episode. Simple things you can apply to your website and booking engine that will have a dramatic impact on conversion rate and the number of direct bookings. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-69-5-simple-marketing-psychology-hacks-increase-direct-bookings/

In this week’s episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we break down Booking.com’s top 8 travel predictions for 2018. Looking for inspiration for your 2018 travel? Facilitating reservations for more than 1,500,000 room nights each day, the experts at Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travelers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay, have combined customer insights from over 128 million real guest reviews with research from 19,000 travelers across 26 countries around the world to reveal the biggest travel predictions for 2018. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-68-top-8-travel-trend-predictions-2018/

What’s worse than bad analytics data? Not knowing you have bad analytics data! Today we are going to cover some common horrifying pitfalls that wreak havoc in your analytics data, making it a bloody mess. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-67-6-common-analytics-mistakes-may-making/

Does your hotel website and the online shopping experience accurately reflect the on-property experience? Or, are you a cotton headed ninny muggins who tricks unsuspecting guests into staying with you, only to disaapoint them and have them never return to your property? Hopefully you are the former rather than the later. In this Elf-inspired episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we break down some of the biggest mistakes that hotels make by not accurately representing their product and we talk about the consequences that follow. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-66-hotels-marketing-sit-throne-lies/

All hotels and resorts are striving to make the most out of their marketing dollars. Hotels will spend countless dollars and hours finding the right audience, the right marketing channels and setting the perfect bait to bring in a new guest. Many are great at setting the bait, but fail to make sure the trap will work. That’s what we’re going to discuss on episode 65 of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast. We are going to dive in and determine if you are using the right PMS and right booking engine that will allow your hotel to make the most of your precious marketing dollars. To be honest, switching your booking engine and/or PMS can be a pain in the nether regions. But today we’re going to show you why that pain may be worth it and the phrase “no pain no gain” is very applicable here. FULL SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-65-hotel-right-booking-engine/

Google has defined 4 stages of travel, which encompasses everything from the initial spark in which someone decided they might want to take a trip all the way through the process of a guest sharing their vacation photos and experiences online with friends and family. “I want to get away moments” - dreaming moments “Time to make a plan moments” - planning moments “Let’s book it moments” - booking moments “Can’t wait to explore moments” - experiencing moments In our new guide (available at www.fueltravel.com/advertising/), we combine Google’s travel micro-moments with the traditional sales funnel to help hotel marketers better align advertising platforms and ad offerings with each stage of the travel shopping process. In today’s episode, we’ll discuss the TL;DR version of this whitepaper. (Thought you should still totally download the full version!) SHOW NOTES: www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-64-secrets-to-becoming-a-hotel-advertising-pro/

Why do hotels need a website? Essentially, your website’s job is to close the uncertainty gap, which results in the casual shopper becoming a customer. In order to close the uncertainty gap, your website must anticipate and answer questions that the shopper is likely to have during the research and purchase process. So, why do the vast majority of shoppers not convert to bookers? Conversion rate on a leisure hotel’s website can be 1-5%. Meaning between 95-99% of website visitors are not booking online during that session. If you answer the shoppers questions effectively, you will likely see your conversion rate increase and the number of phone calls you receive decrease. The people who come to your site are obviously interested in your offering. It’s your website’s job to nurture those shoppers into bookers. In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we look at the questions that your hotel website should be answering in order to help your website visitors become loyal guests. SHOW NOTES: htt

Fueligans tend to be nerdy about data and we’re always looking to find new insights that can help shape the marketing strategy for our hotel clients. In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we take a look at 5 recent facts that we’ve stumbled upon and that are influencing our decision making. We look at the data, discuss what it means, and tell you how you can apply this new found knowledge to help drive more direct bookings for your hotel. SHOW NOTES AT: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-62-5-unbelievable-hotel-marketing-facts-need-know-act-upon/

As marketers, it’s far too easy for us to rest on our past successes and for us to believe that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. The reality is that things often change and the truths that we hold close to us may end up holding us back. In our experience, the good marketers are the ones who constantly challenge their preconceptions and seek out ways to disprove conventional wisdom. This episode focuses on 5 myths that we still often hear about hotel marketing. Make sure that you don’t fall foul to them. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-61-breaking-bad-vertising-top-hotel-marketing-myths-debunked/

This week, we have special guest star, Valerie Castillo from TrustYou on the show to talk to us about an amazing study that they recently published. The study highlights the importance of communicating properly with your guest and how that can have a positive impact on guest satisfaction and online reputation. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-60-easily-improve-guest-satisfaction-communicating-right-way/

The marketing mix is becoming more and more complex with new opportunities and tools constantly becoming available to hoteliers. Unfortunately, the days are not getting longer so automation and smarter marketing are required to keep your hotel on cutting edge of marketing. In this episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast, we are going to dive into how you can save time and improve your ROI on email marketing. Show notes: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-59-smarter-hotel-email-automation-personalization/

Marketing your hotel can be costly, but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode we discuss some free or nearly free methods and marketing tactics that any hotel can employ to drive more awareness and more bookings to their property. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-58-market-hotel-shoestring-budget/

Stuart recently attended the HITEC 2017 show in Toronto. In this episode, we talk about the overall mood of the industry and give a shout out to some of the stand out vendors who were there. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-57-missed-hitec-2017/

Having a mobile-first mindset is key to a successful hotel marketing strategy. To get it right, you have to make sure that you’re paying attention to PPC, the local listings, and your organic search results. In this episode, we break down all three and provide some tips and tricks to ensure that you dominate against your hotel competition. SHOW NOTES: http://www.fueltravel.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-56-hotel-can-dominate-serp-mobile-first-world/