Establishing profitable and long-lasting relationships with clients via integrated web marketing actions aimed at increasing qualified traffic and sales represents a fundamental asset for the development and profitability of any travel and hospitality operator. The strategic use of web marketing tools, combined with excellent site design, is the most economical way to distribute your services compared to any other channel, electronic or traditional, provides access to otherwise inaccessible foreign markets, and represents the most effective way to establishing a lasting relationship with the customer.

On this blog you will find our views on some travel online distribution topics, a selection of news and hopefully some out-of-the-box web marketing thoughts. We welcome you to share your thoughts on online travel marketing with us.

Latest trends and highlights from the online hospitality market: Hotel eMarketing 2008, London 16-17 Sep

By Francesca Tiribocchi | Published: 23 September 2008

Relactions was invited to speak at Hotel eMarketing Conference 2008 in London, with the keynote speech “Optimising your website to maximise conversion”, and I had the chance to follow a number of interesting presentations and participate to four different round-tables. The Conference was interely dedicated to the hotel industry and to analyse what strategy some of the best in class (the major group/chains) are undertakening to maximise their online marketing activities. Here are my personal conference highlights:

1) Taj Hotel says: “Take the Web to the consumers!” – Ashok Lalla, Director of Internet Marketing Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
Ashok Lalla, Director of Internet Marketing Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, introduced a new perspective of/on online consumer’s behaviour. Since the Internet has forever changed the shopping and buying patterns of worldwide travellers, it is not possible anymore to stick to the traditional marketing segmentation. As surfing and buying behaviours can be extremely diverse, even within the same socio-demographic segment, using traditional marketing persona to infer buying behaviour can be extremely risky and lead to the wrong marketing decisions.

Read More »

Posted in hospitality | Leave a comment

The difficult relationship between hoteliers and online distribution

By Annalisa Ballaira | Published: 4 September 2008

An interesting video on the most common solutions adopted by hoteliers to effectively handle distribution and technology challenges.

Posted in hotels, online distribution | Leave a comment

A longer and richer tail

By Martina Galea | Published: 27 March 2008

In a recent article published in the Harvard Business Review (n. 1-2 2008), university professor and forecaster Vito Di Bari predicts the appearance of the longer tail by 2015. Starting from Chris Anderson’s ground-breaking long tail concept, namely the grassroots diffusion of supply and demand on line, and the prevalence of “many niche items” as opposed to “few mass items”, Di Bari has hypothesized the growing density of the long tail concept, with users increasingly interested in specific, unique and local characteristics.

It is not difficult to see that within the next decade, the number of web users will progressively increase. However we will not see an increase in the number of skilled users, but rather the base level of web surfers will expand, users of the “Popular Web”, with a relatively low level of computer literacy but nonetheless possessing the technological devices necessary to gain access to the Web. A particularly telling example is the case of China, where there has been an 833.3% increase in the use of the Web from 2000 to today, but where the overall penetration of the Internet in the population reaches just 15.9%. This implies that the potential growth of China, and similarly that of many other Far Eastern nations, is enormous.

Read More »

Posted in long tail, online distribution, online travel, travel 2.0, web 2.0 | 1 Comment

Usability: what’s in a name?

By Annalisa Ballaira | Published: 20 January 2008

Usability is a very broad issue, so broad it can often be overwhelming when it comes to choose the right kind of testing methodology for your travel website and the right kind of company to conduct the analysis. Yet usability is a vital aspect for the success of a travel website, as it directly affects the conversion rates (i.e. your revenue) and the user experience (i.e. the perception and reputation of your brand).

Additional benefits of revising your website based on a usability test include: fewer requests for assistance, accolades for development of an high quality and friendly interface, an increase in off-line bookings as result of a positive image for your brand.

Read More »

Posted in usability, web analytics, web design | Leave a comment

Emerging trends in the hotel industry: no frills, more trills for European travellers?

By Annalisa Ballaira | Published: 2 October 2007

No-frill chic is a new consumer trend that is going to deeply affect the hotel industry, by shifting consumer expectations and changing the traditional segmentations in which marketeers try to squeeze – with decreasing success – the modern travellers.

Trendwatching defines the No-frill chic trend as:

“low cost goods and services that add design, third-party high quality elements and/or exceptional customer service to create top quality experiences at bottom prices.

No-frills chic is important to all consumer sectors because of its power to change consumer expectations. Frugal consumers will like the chic experience at virtually no extra cost, dumping ‘no-chic’ low cost offerings. Old-style ‘luxury’ consumers may be tempted to forego more expensive, traditional products and services. This is in many ways a natural evolution of the no-frills concept. In the end, there aren’t that many goods and services that require no experience at all.”

Read More »

Posted in hotels, onestarisborn, online distribution, online travel | 1 Comment