Hotel Resource - EyeforTravel News

IN-DEPTH: Crisis is a constant these days it seems, thanks to natural and geo-political causes, says Stu Lloyd, senior director – Marketing and Membership Services, Pacific Asia Travel Association. The travel industry needs to prepare itself and find ways to bounce back in a more timely manner without further punishing affected destinations.

IN-DEPTH: Every time VisitBritain communicates through social media the national tourism agency measures engagement levels and constantly seeks opportunities to seed relevant content that resonates in its key markets. VisitBritain looks at how to model the evaluation of the social media space to ensure it delivers highly engaging content and drive traffic through contextual offers to opportunities to convert, says Philip Taylor, Head of Digital, VisitBritain.

Marketing directors from Wyndham Hotel Group, Carnival Cruise Lines, Fairmont Raffles International, InterContinental Hotel Group, Club Med, LAN Airlines, Accor, Melia Hotels International, and many more, will join this year’s EyeforTravel #OMTravel event at the Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove Hotel, Miami this June 5-6.

IN-DEPTH: The travel industry is still trying to understand and plan how best to interact with social buying companies, says Nazar Musa, GM of Travel Asia Pacific, LivingSocial. On the positive side, when you combine significant growth in the number of users that receive offers on a daily basis and an understanding of what these people want to be enticed with each day, it is paving way for companies to have more clarity on the marketing and sales opportunity.

IN-DEPTH: Consumers’ expectations and behaviour on mobile phones and tablets are different than on a website. It is important to understand and accept that people will access many channels and you should be consistent in your branding and experience. Yelp, for example, sees spikes in mobile traffic in the evenings and on weekends as people are out of the office/home and are looking for places to eat, drink, shop and get entertained.

IN-DEPTH: At a time when web search giants are getting deeper into the travel meta-search category, Singapore-based Wego is set to expand its business globally with the launch of 34 new country sites in 20 different languages. The company’s newly appointed CEO Ross Veitch spoke to EyeforTravel about his company’s plans, and Google’s travel search offerings in detail.

IN-DEPTH: Travel companies focusing on different product categories have different considerations and expectations from their mobile strategy. TripAdvisor’s goal is to help travellers plan and have the perfect trip no matter what device or platform they are using.

IN-DEPTH: “As ancillary is ancillary, not the core business - the guiding principle is that as long as the ancillary products can add value to customers and bottom line with marginal revenue out weighing total marginal costs involved, it’s a good product to offer and core business will be beneficial”. Is it the right way of assessing ancillary revenue today?

IN-DEPTH: Cross-selling and up-selling to a web savvy traveller can be quite challenging. For instance, in the youth and independent online travel sector, being typically pioneers and early adopters, these customers are less likely to ‘package’ for convenience, says Paul Hastings-Gayle, head of distribution, HostelBookers.com.

When it comes to brand management, marketing and social media platforms there are clear challenges and opportunities for the travel business. Hayley Mitchell, Social Media & Community Manager for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), believes that hotels should be putting the spotlight on location-based services. Her argument is that the industry needs to look beyond ‘engagement and listening’ and focus on the customer service requirements of social media in order to avoid opportunity costs and gain happy guests in real-time. Here she talks to Pamela Whitby about this global group is going about it.