"A brand does not exist on a shelf — it exists in the hearts and minds of people"... Mahesh Murthy 2010
This blog is about the new age of the Interactive Brand. It will point you to a series of newsletters and web sites that explain the secrets of the Interactive Brand. The brand that connects!
To stand out from the crowd you need a purpose that defines your brand as different. This is the hook. It makes your brand news worthy and, if people like it, it may just enter the conversation.
Take a look at our Social network site - it has a great video about social media. Made a few years ago when facebook was still a baby, not the second most visited website in the world, it is very valid.
This social conversation is part of the interaction that successful marketers are engaging in. The Apple iPad and Google Buzz both have created a Buzz of conversation without a single ad.
The Social Media hotel in NY climbed to the top of the conversation using Twitter and facebook to get a message out that they were friendly, open, social and interested in things that are happening in NY. Their hook was connecting with special interest groups and building around events that interested them, like Craft Beer Week and hosting a party for a Mashable Social Media event.
In Barbados theCoconut Court Hotel has hired a Community Manager and moved into the community conversation announcing its social happy hours, breakfast specials and a full calendar of social events which is communicated using social media.
It's a crowded field but brands can take off "hook, line and sinker", via viral marketing, word of mouth, social media and the Internet.
Viral marketing does not need to be conducted through major advertising firms or tech savvy companies. It is managers and staff, real people that make the conversation. Well mostly, we note that Obama needs a social media aid to keep up with the conversation.
Obama's hook was "Yes we can" and his team turned that into a victory, it was clearly a purpose that was different.
Once you have your purpose you need a website that communicates this - see our 10 steps for good website design.
Your website is one of the most powerful communicators of your brand. Your website is where social media will go to discover more about you. If you do it right its where Internet searchers will find you. So make it special, make it have the best content and best process. Be wary of how your content is used on the net and be the guardian of your brand. In particular be wary of how other online channels and online travel agents can effect your brand.
Promoting your brand on the internet has a lot to do with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). All that you do in Social Media will help you get indexed and found on the major engines. Unlike Social Media Interaction, we don't suggest you do your own Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), this is a job for the pros. If done wrong it can wipe you off the Net. See our summary of the key points in Your Brand and SEO
As we note in "Your Brand and SEO", an important differentiation in communications and brand appeal as well as in Search engine Ranking is the Process. The process is about Interaction. The process refers to how the brand is deployed, the methods, form and function and all the ways that it is dynamic, changing with your use, tracking your experience and your interaction to give you what you want. It is, in a way, both the media and the message.
Rates and quotes are a simple example; if travelers perceive that your website rates are not clear and not fair rate, they will go elsewhere. We are in a buyers market and getting the best price is almost a way of life now. It's too easy to find great deals at Expedia and Priceline and if your website is not in line you will lose direct business and brand loyalty. Read about the fair rates perception and your brand Interactive fair rates and brand Integrity
The Hook
A Tourism website and product needs to have a purpose and be different - we can't all be the best luxury hotel or the best budget hotel, so some are opting for the best party hotel, with non stop improvised jazz, jam sessions, beach parties and picnics. Others cater to families, singles, couples, the getaway crowd and to sports tourism etc. Soon these differences are not enough and the hook has to be something more. The "best" is tired and better retired.
A hook is a hook only if it connects with the customer. It has to be more than a market segment; which is best described as travel and holidays theme marketing. The hook, by contrast is about differentiation across market segments or themes, it has to have a global purpose with real appeal. When Nike used "Just do it" it connected. It connected to the sports minded who wanted to just do it, and it connected because of its association with the "Best" athletes. Best is Ok if it's real and not just a tired word. You have to show it.
There is trend today to be more edgy. I am not sure I like it. I don't think a good cook has to use foul language to win customers but, Hey, It works. Even Mickey Mouse is showing his darker side in Disney's re-branding of Mickey.
Mickey's popularity in the United States has begun to wane with the growing competition from Nickelodeon, Pixar and Dreamworks characters that are more edgy. Mickey's personality has to grow with the times to remain relevant in the marketplace.
Travel writers are doping the flowers in their language and become more outlandish telling the good, the bad and ugly with character. So too the brand needs to be articulated with straight talk and frank conversation - see Mahesh Murthy on Interactive Branding.
AXSES Interactive Brand directory
Showing posts with label website reservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label website reservation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
SEOContent
SEO Content and your Brand in the age of interactive Brands
I like when Max Starkov (eHotelier) says "Creating
the best, deepest, most unique and relevant content (textual and visual) about your hotel on your own website, naturally optimised for the search engines (SEO), should become a top priority for any hotel in 2010.
A year ago we did a study to see where our hotels placed on searches for their own names. The results were not great, in some cases they were not even on the first page, falling behind TripAdisor, Expedia and a dozen other mega sites. After reading Max's article we did another study of hotels we host and surprise! they are tops.
Well we have been preaching the benefits of strategic content and putting it into practice for years. It has helped, but we cant be patting ourselves on the back to hard. Google and all are always tweaking their search systems to be more RELEVANT.
If you are looking for a brand name hotel you probably want to see the official website in the top results. The engines are getting it right at the same time as hotels have become more aware of managing their brand, mastering their own url and optimising their content, taking control of their intellectual property and product.
Max's insights are helpful - here is my annotated summary of his views relating to a hotels SEO for its brand:
- Keep your own website content unique (duplicate content will hurt your SEO)
- Use the Best content on your website
- Be very smart about sharing content - Don't give away your brand
- If the channel is not linking to your site, be sure their description is “different”
- Make sure your content is optimised for your USP and for the Search Engines (SEO)
- Offer live quotes and availability calendars
- Display available Rate Plans and seasonal Specials
- Dont Duplicate content - see the full report
Giving away your best content and best rates to other websites can be bad for business.
Search Engines send travelers to the BEST content।
If you want direct business, be sure your website is better that the rest.
The pressing question today is how will a brand get top billing, not only for its own name but for its target markets and keywords.
It is a good time to review the whole business of Search Engine Optimization. For those of you who care to look under the hood, here is my summary - for a summary of this summary see our newsletter. For more detail see our SEO hints page.
The 5 essential of SEO optimisation
1. Define key pages.
The first point is that we never optimise a site - we optimise
a page at a time. Each page must have its own distinct message and content. If you duplicate content it will hurt your SEO.
2. Establish key phrases.
The point is that you need to translate the message into a simple word or short phrase; for example, if you want to be on the top of searches for "Caribbean Romantic Holidays" then that might be your phrase. Check it out by doing a search - there are 2 million results- can you get to the top? Remember only 10 of 2 million will be on the first page. look at your top competition and be sure you can compete. Is your
site going to be as authentic, relevant and with great content?. If not try to refine your phrase to something you can be best in and that is relevant (ie has a market use https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal).
3. Tags. The phrase then must become the name of the page (eg caribbean-romantic-holidays.html)- it must be added to the search engine tags (meta tage in the page) and it must be the title of the page, it must appear thru the content and again in the end of the page.
4. Links. Of course there are 2 million pages vying for top spot for that phrase, so all this will not get you top billing. SEO choose the pages that are most relevant and have most authentic links. You need respected links. Links from the AXSES and barbados.org network are high valued links. Be sure to be linked from several of AXSES urls: BookingsBarbados.COM, realholidays.com, barbados.org, barbadosHolidayThemes.com, barbadosholidaypackages and barbardaosholidayspecials
are all excellent links.
Seek out similar directories and listing opportunities that have good Page Rank (popularity - over 5 is good Borg is 6 out of 10. Expedia is 8).
5. Social. A good place to start linking is on social media. Write comments
that link to your page. Find other sites that will link to your page and subscribe
to appropriate directories. Create a facebook page and use twitter to send out
invitation to vist your page. twitter about event in your area and of interest.
Twitter about your activities it all gets counted.
Dont loose site of the objective.
If a traveler gets to your site make sure they find what they want, have a reason to buy and an easy way to do it, right away.
Content is king. In the end it all comes down to content. Search engines
look for relevant and rich content. Use videos, sideshows , images, dynamic
content, quotes and calendars. The technology you use counts. Form, function and process is an important factor in determining relevance. Event the speed of your site will get it points or loose them. Optimise everything, make your site dynamic and interactive.
We are in the age of the interactive Brand
More on SEO see http://arcres.com/search-engine-optimisation-tourism-marketing.cfm
I like when Max Starkov (eHotelier) says "Creating
the best, deepest, most unique and relevant content (textual and visual) about your hotel on your own website, naturally optimised for the search engines (SEO), should become a top priority for any hotel in 2010.
A year ago we did a study to see where our hotels placed on searches for their own names. The results were not great, in some cases they were not even on the first page, falling behind TripAdisor, Expedia and a dozen other mega sites. After reading Max's article we did another study of hotels we host and surprise! they are tops.
Well we have been preaching the benefits of strategic content and putting it into practice for years. It has helped, but we cant be patting ourselves on the back to hard. Google and all are always tweaking their search systems to be more RELEVANT.
If you are looking for a brand name hotel you probably want to see the official website in the top results. The engines are getting it right at the same time as hotels have become more aware of managing their brand, mastering their own url and optimising their content, taking control of their intellectual property and product.
Max's insights are helpful - here is my annotated summary of his views relating to a hotels SEO for its brand:
- Keep your own website content unique (duplicate content will hurt your SEO)
- Use the Best content on your website
- Be very smart about sharing content - Don't give away your brand
- If the channel is not linking to your site, be sure their description is “different”
- Make sure your content is optimised for your USP and for the Search Engines (SEO)
- Offer live quotes and availability calendars
- Display available Rate Plans and seasonal Specials
- Dont Duplicate content - see the full report
Giving away your best content and best rates to other websites can be bad for business.
Search Engines send travelers to the BEST content।
If you want direct business, be sure your website is better that the rest.
The pressing question today is how will a brand get top billing, not only for its own name but for its target markets and keywords.
It is a good time to review the whole business of Search Engine Optimization. For those of you who care to look under the hood, here is my summary - for a summary of this summary see our newsletter. For more detail see our SEO hints page.
The 5 essential of SEO optimisation
1. Define key pages.
The first point is that we never optimise a site - we optimise
a page at a time. Each page must have its own distinct message and content. If you duplicate content it will hurt your SEO.
2. Establish key phrases.
The point is that you need to translate the message into a simple word or short phrase; for example, if you want to be on the top of searches for "Caribbean Romantic Holidays" then that might be your phrase. Check it out by doing a search - there are 2 million results- can you get to the top? Remember only 10 of 2 million will be on the first page. look at your top competition and be sure you can compete. Is your
site going to be as authentic, relevant and with great content?. If not try to refine your phrase to something you can be best in and that is relevant (ie has a market use https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal).
3. Tags. The phrase then must become the name of the page (eg caribbean-romantic-holidays.html)- it must be added to the search engine tags (meta tage in the page) and it must be the title of the page, it must appear thru the content and again in the end of the page.
4. Links. Of course there are 2 million pages vying for top spot for that phrase, so all this will not get you top billing. SEO choose the pages that are most relevant and have most authentic links. You need respected links. Links from the AXSES and barbados.org network are high valued links. Be sure to be linked from several of AXSES urls: BookingsBarbados.COM, realholidays.com, barbados.org, barbadosHolidayThemes.com, barbadosholidaypackages and barbardaosholidayspecials
are all excellent links.
Seek out similar directories and listing opportunities that have good Page Rank (popularity - over 5 is good Borg is 6 out of 10. Expedia is 8).
5. Social. A good place to start linking is on social media. Write comments
that link to your page. Find other sites that will link to your page and subscribe
to appropriate directories. Create a facebook page and use twitter to send out
invitation to vist your page. twitter about event in your area and of interest.
Twitter about your activities it all gets counted.
Dont loose site of the objective.
If a traveler gets to your site make sure they find what they want, have a reason to buy and an easy way to do it, right away.
Content is king. In the end it all comes down to content. Search engines
look for relevant and rich content. Use videos, sideshows , images, dynamic
content, quotes and calendars. The technology you use counts. Form, function and process is an important factor in determining relevance. Event the speed of your site will get it points or loose them. Optimise everything, make your site dynamic and interactive.
We are in the age of the interactive Brand
More on SEO see http://arcres.com/search-engine-optimisation-tourism-marketing.cfm
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Travel Marketing
Travel Marketing Tools for Travel Suppliers
(hotels & tourism operators)
Marketing tools for travel marketing and management range from a simple booking engine to managing content on multinational sites and on numerous Internet travel portals and marketing channels. They also include property management systems relating to managing inventory and reservations.
To optimize an Internet marketing campaign, hotels and tourism operators need to deploy multiple strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, Brand advertising (Impression), Direct e-mail marketing (such as iContact) and a spectrum of e-commerce and rates management across channels such as Global Distribution Systems(GDS), Internet Distribution Systems (IDS), Social Media Channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Affiliate Programs, Travel Agents and Tour Operators.
Managing allocation in all channels has become a major problem for travel suppliers (hotels and tourism operators). It is so complex that many hotels and tourism operators opt out and prefer to contract their entire inventory with prime wholesalers and distributors.
The opt-out strategy is a quick fix, but it is not sustainable in the new order. All too often, these dependencies result in huge loss of market when things go wrong. A hotel I know lost its entire distribution when its sole contractor asked for conditions it could not meet. They took their business elsewhere and bookings of 100 rooms per night were gone. It is imperative that hotels and tourism operators build a balanced strategy and take more control of their own brand and marketing.
A wide array of tools, technology and marketing options exists for tourism operators. Channel management systems such as EZYield, rates management with RateGain, Global Distribution via many GDS integration companies and hundreds of Internet Distribution Systems (IDS) like Travelocity, as well a thousand Destination Travel Portals and Travel Guides.
At AXSES, we have developed a marketing suite for small and mid-sized hotels and tourism operators. This was built on our travel booking engine, arcRes Bookings-Expert.com. The Booking Engine has been vastly expanded to do much more, and it is now a Travel Marketing Suite; an e-commerce platform that works for Social Media and conventional travel channels. See http://www.arcres.com/ecommerce-and-travel-marketing suites
Many hotels have opted to jump on the GDS bandwagon and mistakenly concluded that they are now well represented on thousands of IDS channels, such as Travelocity. Wishful thinking! It was true, at one time, but IDS are opting for direct contracts with hotels – Expedia has signed up nearly 100,000 hotels to its Expedia Special Rates (ESP) program and GDS content is far down the line in priority. That is unfortunate for the hotels, as they must now manage Expedia, Travelocity and all the major distribution contracts that they choose.
Optimising distribution channels requires diligence. To be on the top of the IDS ‘by price’ list, you have to offer the best rate. But it is not always desirable to be at the very top! You need to be high on the list for hotels in your own class and offer a value added service rather that the best price. That way, your ROI and Brand is protected. There are e-commerce companies and consultants that specialize in running IDS campaigns. They arrange the contracts and manage them for you.
The travel industry is working to integrate the marketing channels and you can purchase channel management software. Generally, this software is not easy to use and is too expensive for a small hotel. An industry standard that would ease the management of channels is not imminent.
The GDS representative companies who have built Central Reservation Systems (CRS) that interface hotels to the GDS systems ( Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport and Pegasus) >, are also building systems to help hotels manage many IDS channels (Expedia, etc.) from the same CRS. For example, Genares has integrated their CRS with Expedia/TravelWeb (Expedia Quick Connect). This allows hotels to manage Expedia and TravelWeb rates and allocation using the Genares CRS and saves having to learn another online system. The cost is $4 US per booking. For Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline and others the fee is $4 plus the GDS fees. The IDS will generally require a minimum of 25% discount from your rack rate. Using the GDS as a channel manager thus will cost anywhere from $4 to $10 per booking in addition to the channel cost (25% minimum). It’s not a lot, if you consider the time it takes to learn all the different systems.
arcRes Travel Bookings for Facebook (arcResBookings) is the first-of-its-kind travel bookings application. It allows any hotel to load rates, property information, room descriptions, photos and rates directly from arcRes into Facebook and manage it from arcRes. It is a huge time saver and makes managing Facebook very easy. Both the booking engine and quotation system are embedded in Facebook, so that guests can easily book directly with the property or tourism operator, or get an immediate quote. See Facebook Travel Bookings (Live example)
ArcResBooking.com for Facebook is a part of the arcRes Marketing Suites, a comprehensive e-commerce platform for travel. It is currently the easiest GDS setup in the industry. Contracts are signed online, and the hotel's information, rates and seasons are all loaded directly from information already in arcRes.
As more and better tools for travel marketing become available, the role of the hotel marketer is becoming more technology-driven. Hotels need to invest in hiring the right people and training staff to understand and be comfortable with technology. It cannot be avoided! It is essential to success in the long term.
(hotels & tourism operators)
Marketing tools for travel marketing and management range from a simple booking engine to managing content on multinational sites and on numerous Internet travel portals and marketing channels. They also include property management systems relating to managing inventory and reservations.
To optimize an Internet marketing campaign, hotels and tourism operators need to deploy multiple strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, Brand advertising (Impression), Direct e-mail marketing (such as iContact) and a spectrum of e-commerce and rates management across channels such as Global Distribution Systems(GDS), Internet Distribution Systems (IDS), Social Media Channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Affiliate Programs, Travel Agents and Tour Operators.
Managing allocation in all channels has become a major problem for travel suppliers (hotels and tourism operators). It is so complex that many hotels and tourism operators opt out and prefer to contract their entire inventory with prime wholesalers and distributors.
The opt-out strategy is a quick fix, but it is not sustainable in the new order. All too often, these dependencies result in huge loss of market when things go wrong. A hotel I know lost its entire distribution when its sole contractor asked for conditions it could not meet. They took their business elsewhere and bookings of 100 rooms per night were gone. It is imperative that hotels and tourism operators build a balanced strategy and take more control of their own brand and marketing.
A wide array of tools, technology and marketing options exists for tourism operators. Channel management systems such as EZYield, rates management with RateGain, Global Distribution via many GDS integration companies and hundreds of Internet Distribution Systems (IDS) like Travelocity, as well a thousand Destination Travel Portals and Travel Guides.
At AXSES, we have developed a marketing suite for small and mid-sized hotels and tourism operators. This was built on our travel booking engine, arcRes Bookings-Expert.com. The Booking Engine has been vastly expanded to do much more, and it is now a Travel Marketing Suite; an e-commerce platform that works for Social Media and conventional travel channels. See http://www.arcres.com/ecommerce-and-travel-marketing suites
Many hotels have opted to jump on the GDS bandwagon and mistakenly concluded that they are now well represented on thousands of IDS channels, such as Travelocity. Wishful thinking! It was true, at one time, but IDS are opting for direct contracts with hotels – Expedia has signed up nearly 100,000 hotels to its Expedia Special Rates (ESP) program and GDS content is far down the line in priority. That is unfortunate for the hotels, as they must now manage Expedia, Travelocity and all the major distribution contracts that they choose.
Optimising distribution channels requires diligence. To be on the top of the IDS ‘by price’ list, you have to offer the best rate. But it is not always desirable to be at the very top! You need to be high on the list for hotels in your own class and offer a value added service rather that the best price. That way, your ROI and Brand is protected. There are e-commerce companies and consultants that specialize in running IDS campaigns. They arrange the contracts and manage them for you.
The travel industry is working to integrate the marketing channels and you can purchase channel management software. Generally, this software is not easy to use and is too expensive for a small hotel. An industry standard that would ease the management of channels is not imminent.
The GDS representative companies who have built Central Reservation Systems (CRS) that interface hotels to the GDS systems ( Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport and Pegasus) >, are also building systems to help hotels manage many IDS channels (Expedia, etc.) from the same CRS. For example, Genares has integrated their CRS with Expedia/TravelWeb (Expedia Quick Connect). This allows hotels to manage Expedia and TravelWeb rates and allocation using the Genares CRS and saves having to learn another online system. The cost is $4 US per booking. For Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline and others the fee is $4 plus the GDS fees. The IDS will generally require a minimum of 25% discount from your rack rate. Using the GDS as a channel manager thus will cost anywhere from $4 to $10 per booking in addition to the channel cost (25% minimum). It’s not a lot, if you consider the time it takes to learn all the different systems.
arcRes Travel Bookings for Facebook (arcResBookings) is the first-of-its-kind travel bookings application. It allows any hotel to load rates, property information, room descriptions, photos and rates directly from arcRes into Facebook and manage it from arcRes. It is a huge time saver and makes managing Facebook very easy. Both the booking engine and quotation system are embedded in Facebook, so that guests can easily book directly with the property or tourism operator, or get an immediate quote. See Facebook Travel Bookings (Live example)
ArcResBooking.com for Facebook is a part of the arcRes Marketing Suites, a comprehensive e-commerce platform for travel. It is currently the easiest GDS setup in the industry. Contracts are signed online, and the hotel's information, rates and seasons are all loaded directly from information already in arcRes.
As more and better tools for travel marketing become available, the role of the hotel marketer is becoming more technology-driven. Hotels need to invest in hiring the right people and training staff to understand and be comfortable with technology. It cannot be avoided! It is essential to success in the long term.
Friday, 24 October 2008
Destination Marketing
Destination Marketing at a Crossroads
Not so very long ago a traveler had few options and the world of travel was pretty straightforward and perhaps a little too expensive।
Travelers went to their neigbourhood agent and pored over brochures, got advice and booked with the agent. Agents got to know the traveler well and could recommend vacations that suited. Travelers were well served, although the service was not necessarily timely or convenient.
Today the traveler is overwhelmed with armchair choices. Travelers who still go to agents often will first research on-line, and more and more of them are booking on-line. Arm-chair booking a holiday can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Travelers will look at several sites, consult friends and agents, read reviews on social sites, check airlines and look for the best value. Back and forth, they go looking at maybe a dozen sites.
Most people begin their holiday research by searching for destination guides (typically through Google). Often, they end up on Destination sites such as Tourism Authority sites, where the information is general, helpful but often limited in its ability to offer real in-depth comparison, shopping and planning services. The destination sites are often great for finding official resort websites, but the resort websites don’t present information in a consistent form and they are hard to compare.
Travelers move on to shopping sites like Expedia to compare resorts, to Trip Advisor to read reviews and to other sites to get more information and find deals. In the process they have a confusing and muddled array of information. The sites that help them most stick. The sites that don’t stick fall off the radar.
In the end the traveler will narrow down options to the few sites that help them most, the ones that give the best information and the best deals. They will narrow down the options to a few preferred resorts (unless it is an opaque site) and many will want to review the resort website, if they can find it. The traveler soon learns that it is impossible to get back to the actual resort because the shopping sites like Expedia, are a closed loop. All too often a search for a particular resort links them back to a shopping site. The big online portals have the budget and the knowhow to get listed on the Internet search engines (SEO); small hotels often don’t.
Destination sites are often the best place to find links to the official website of selected resorts, so the “clicked out traveler” may come back to the destination sites in the last stages of the decision making process. Many travelers prefer to book direct and most like to see the resort website. Convenience, value, service and after sales support drive the decision of where to buy, but all to often the hotel website is not convenient, does not offer the best value and can be difficult to find.
This buy cycle is not well documented, but it is intuitively understood. Its implications for travel websites are important.
The buying cycle and its implication for the destination supplier website
The Destination site is a pivotal point, Shoppers often use it first and may return to link to the resort that they have subsequently selected. The questions we ask are; how can the destination site hold onto that traffic or how do they get people to come back. It is unrealistic to expect the destination site to be the only place travelers go. So the real question therefore is, how do they get them back.
Ultimately the Destination site is the key portal to support direct marketing for the destination suppliers. It must move beyond being a information site to becoming a system to help shoppers plan, compare and book, in harmony with its trade partners.
Not so very long ago a traveler had few options and the world of travel was pretty straightforward and perhaps a little too expensive।
Travelers went to their neigbourhood agent and pored over brochures, got advice and booked with the agent. Agents got to know the traveler well and could recommend vacations that suited. Travelers were well served, although the service was not necessarily timely or convenient.
Today the traveler is overwhelmed with armchair choices. Travelers who still go to agents often will first research on-line, and more and more of them are booking on-line. Arm-chair booking a holiday can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Travelers will look at several sites, consult friends and agents, read reviews on social sites, check airlines and look for the best value. Back and forth, they go looking at maybe a dozen sites.
Most people begin their holiday research by searching for destination guides (typically through Google). Often, they end up on Destination sites such as Tourism Authority sites, where the information is general, helpful but often limited in its ability to offer real in-depth comparison, shopping and planning services. The destination sites are often great for finding official resort websites, but the resort websites don’t present information in a consistent form and they are hard to compare.
Travelers move on to shopping sites like Expedia to compare resorts, to Trip Advisor to read reviews and to other sites to get more information and find deals. In the process they have a confusing and muddled array of information. The sites that help them most stick. The sites that don’t stick fall off the radar.
In the end the traveler will narrow down options to the few sites that help them most, the ones that give the best information and the best deals. They will narrow down the options to a few preferred resorts (unless it is an opaque site) and many will want to review the resort website, if they can find it. The traveler soon learns that it is impossible to get back to the actual resort because the shopping sites like Expedia, are a closed loop. All too often a search for a particular resort links them back to a shopping site. The big online portals have the budget and the knowhow to get listed on the Internet search engines (SEO); small hotels often don’t.
Destination sites are often the best place to find links to the official website of selected resorts, so the “clicked out traveler” may come back to the destination sites in the last stages of the decision making process. Many travelers prefer to book direct and most like to see the resort website. Convenience, value, service and after sales support drive the decision of where to buy, but all to often the hotel website is not convenient, does not offer the best value and can be difficult to find.
This buy cycle is not well documented, but it is intuitively understood. Its implications for travel websites are important.
The buying cycle and its implication for the destination supplier website
The Destination site is a pivotal point, Shoppers often use it first and may return to link to the resort that they have subsequently selected. The questions we ask are; how can the destination site hold onto that traffic or how do they get people to come back. It is unrealistic to expect the destination site to be the only place travelers go. So the real question therefore is, how do they get them back.
Building a compelling reason to return!
1. Provide online shopping
The challenge is in balancing integrity of information with on-line shopping, channel conflict and channel competition. The cost of a good destination site is rising. So operators are moving towards a business model that stresses income generation in an effort to make the site self-sustaining. But this comes at a price of muddling the roles and creating conflict with destination trade partners. Destinations can involve trade partners with affiliate marketing, but it is not always equitable and the question is who are the affiliates and where do tour operators fit. Destinations are reluctant to cut out the tour operator and agent and they don’t for the most part want to be either a travel agent or a tour operator।
2. Offer the tools travelers need.
Destinations can help travelers research by providing expert intelligent systems that learn who the traveler is and configure the experience based on unique requirement. These tools will necessary include offering comparison-shopping. Ideally the result will be to give the traveler the option to choose the channel, including dealing direct with the supplier. Word of mouth reviews and a traveler forum will also help keep them on the site and give the site top-of-mind recall. It is not appropriate for a destination site to link to Trip Advisor and such, as these are shopping channels that will not keep them coming back. Cost conscious travelers are always looking for a deal and the destination needs to offer a list of specials and deals and the ability to sign up for newsletters on specials and deals।
3. Award & create loyalty
Destinations have a great opportunity to reward repeat travelers and cooperate with airlines point systems to encourage them to book a destination hotel
4. Offer travelers their own website itinerary and own planning tools
There are huge opportunities for destinations to lead this charge by providing destination specific planning and a place to return to manage and share a holiday itinerary and the memories। Travelers should be able to build a personal website brochure by adding any page they look at to it. The traveler website should also be a comprehensive personal information resources and planning tool. Travelers may read and add reviews here, see a calendar of activities and events taking place during their holiday, and link to other social media sites and others like Tripit and Traveldk. It may include personalized maps showing the options they are interested, ranking them according to preferred and final selection etc.
Ultimately the Destination site is the key portal to support direct marketing for the destination suppliers. It must move beyond being a information site to becoming a system to help shoppers plan, compare and book, in harmony with its trade partners.
Monday, 30 June 2008
Marketing
Marketing at a Crossroads
No longer are the 4 P’s; Place, Price, Promotion and Product the main tenants of marketing. Marketing on the Internet is more about Relationships and Process.
Process is about technology, platform and intelligent, expert systems. Marshall McLuhan said a long time ago that the medium is the message. The Internet is a very sophisticated medium capable of delivering messages target to a single client, tuned to their precise interest at every point of purchase. It is automatic, re-engineering and personalizing the message for multiple users all in the same instance of time.
Your travel product, a travel experience, is as multidimensional as your clients. For example, you may cater to weddings and romance as well as lazy beach living, active holidays, gold vacations and gourmet dining. You can’t say it all at one time to one traveler. Information about your product must be engineered and differentiated; it must be made personal to each traveler.
Information must be malleable, configurable, searchable, accessible and delivered tailored to suite।
For example you may choose to advertise a golf holiday, you deliver content and images that are tailored to what you offer the golfer. You direct golfers to a special page dealing with that experience. You do this on your website, and on every channel you market on. – you cannot organize and deliver it manually. The process and platform configures and deliver the message dynamically. For this your information must be engineered with systems that are very smart, learning what motivates the clients and delivering the experience they are looking for. The difference is that the online message is a "Pull" message prompting an action, offline it is typically a "Push" message to gain awareness. With that the entire focus of marketing has changed. For more on this, see United Airlines Case Study by Double Click.
People are not talking to people at this stage, it’s a process, and the process understands people, gathering and analyzing information about them every step of the way. The smart systems (the Platform) tracks clients interaction, recognizing patterns, responding appropriately, managing and analyzing data in the process of building the digital relationship. See digital-relationships
But Process and Platform are not enough. In a complex integrated world, Partners are essential. Microsoft has said this clearly, telling its Value Added Resellers (VARS) to Partner or die!. Simply put you can do it all yourself, so you must rely on people with skills and passion that complements your own. The mechanics of Internet is very complex, we must cooperate to succeed; outsourcing is essential!
Finally, the Internet is driven by Passion. Thousands of ordinary people, professionals, workers, teachers and student donate time and resources freely, building content, services and applications that they feel passionate about. People are building relationships, offering comments, writing blogs, helping others, for free. This community has spawned the social network, which interacts and influences everything on the Internet.
Jason McNamara, CMO of Atlerian says that the new marketing is driven by passion, we need to be passionate about marketing and today, more that ever before, that means being passionate about understanding and measuring the digital footprint. ”Being able to apply sophisticated marketing analytics to every piece of information you collect about your customers is like bringing the customers themselves in-house to tell you not just what's working and what isn't, but why. You can use this passion to your advantage, helping generate ideas, proving their relevance, and justifying the money you spend” See Jason McNanara’s article on the new 5 P’s of marketing: People, Process, Platform, Passion and Partners (http://www.alterian.com/solutions/marketing.aspx)
###### Over 50% of leisure bookings are online in 2012. An estimated 89% of planners are researching event locations on the web.
Related Posts (at a crossroads series):
New Order of Commerce:
Destination Marketing
Distribution http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/10/distribution.html
Travel Marketing http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2009/05/travelmarketing.html
The Supplier http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/thesupplier.html
Marketing http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/marketing.html
Advertising http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/advertising.html
Search at a Crossroads http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/04/have-now-lost-their-opportunity-to-be.html Publishing at a Crossroads http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2009/03/atacrossroads.html
No longer are the 4 P’s; Place, Price, Promotion and Product the main tenants of marketing. Marketing on the Internet is more about Relationships and Process.
Process is about technology, platform and intelligent, expert systems. Marshall McLuhan said a long time ago that the medium is the message. The Internet is a very sophisticated medium capable of delivering messages target to a single client, tuned to their precise interest at every point of purchase. It is automatic, re-engineering and personalizing the message for multiple users all in the same instance of time.
Your travel product, a travel experience, is as multidimensional as your clients. For example, you may cater to weddings and romance as well as lazy beach living, active holidays, gold vacations and gourmet dining. You can’t say it all at one time to one traveler. Information about your product must be engineered and differentiated; it must be made personal to each traveler.
Information must be malleable, configurable, searchable, accessible and delivered tailored to suite।
For example you may choose to advertise a golf holiday, you deliver content and images that are tailored to what you offer the golfer. You direct golfers to a special page dealing with that experience. You do this on your website, and on every channel you market on. – you cannot organize and deliver it manually. The process and platform configures and deliver the message dynamically. For this your information must be engineered with systems that are very smart, learning what motivates the clients and delivering the experience they are looking for. The difference is that the online message is a "Pull" message prompting an action, offline it is typically a "Push" message to gain awareness. With that the entire focus of marketing has changed. For more on this, see United Airlines Case Study by Double Click.
People are not talking to people at this stage, it’s a process, and the process understands people, gathering and analyzing information about them every step of the way. The smart systems (the Platform) tracks clients interaction, recognizing patterns, responding appropriately, managing and analyzing data in the process of building the digital relationship. See digital-relationships
But Process and Platform are not enough. In a complex integrated world, Partners are essential. Microsoft has said this clearly, telling its Value Added Resellers (VARS) to Partner or die!. Simply put you can do it all yourself, so you must rely on people with skills and passion that complements your own. The mechanics of Internet is very complex, we must cooperate to succeed; outsourcing is essential!
Finally, the Internet is driven by Passion. Thousands of ordinary people, professionals, workers, teachers and student donate time and resources freely, building content, services and applications that they feel passionate about. People are building relationships, offering comments, writing blogs, helping others, for free. This community has spawned the social network, which interacts and influences everything on the Internet.
Jason McNamara, CMO of Atlerian says that the new marketing is driven by passion, we need to be passionate about marketing and today, more that ever before, that means being passionate about understanding and measuring the digital footprint. ”Being able to apply sophisticated marketing analytics to every piece of information you collect about your customers is like bringing the customers themselves in-house to tell you not just what's working and what isn't, but why. You can use this passion to your advantage, helping generate ideas, proving their relevance, and justifying the money you spend” See Jason McNanara’s article on the new 5 P’s of marketing: People, Process, Platform, Passion and Partners (http://www.alterian.com/solutions/marketing.aspx)
###### Over 50% of leisure bookings are online in 2012. An estimated 89% of planners are researching event locations on the web.
Related Posts (at a crossroads series):
New Order of Commerce:
Destination Marketing
Distribution http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/10/distribution.html
Travel Marketing http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2009/05/travelmarketing.html
The Supplier http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/thesupplier.html
Marketing http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/marketing.html
Advertising http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/06/advertising.html
Search at a Crossroads http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2008/04/have-now-lost-their-opportunity-to-be.html Publishing at a Crossroads http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2009/03/atacrossroads.html
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Advertising
Advertising at a Crossroads
Free reports, Tips and Guises:
http://powerconsultants.axses.net/free-marketing-reports/
2015 Update - MediaPost call it an irrelevant argument -
See how Advertising Gets #Unbundled
2013 update...
Its been a while since we forecast these changes and more.. So its rewarding to see this slideshow of the history of advertising. We were right on track in 2008 and today we are seeing search moving more into integrated marketing pushing search drops small hotels off of search results.
In our view the days of static ads and list that link to websites are limited. We expect to see this change even on the search engines. Travelers need to be able to compare options and get fully costed holiday at a click.
Hitwise, the Internet statistics company recently noted a significant shift in searchers favouring Branded searches. “I looked at the top 300 search terms sending visits to Travel websites and found that more than three-quarters - 77% - of visits from these queries were from branded search terms such as “Hilton hotels” or “Expedia” in the four weeks ending April 26, 2008”, Heather Hopkins, VP Research, Hitwise UK.
Simple put, the Hitwise findings, mean searchers are now looking more for names they know and not relying as much on generic terms. If the trend continues, it will mean that we can’t rely on the search engines to help people discover our hotels for the first time. We can’t rely on a middleman to market us!. Marketing ourselves is something we can’t avoid.
In light of the trends to buy direct, it is interesting that Expedia is a top of mind search term. Yet Expedia reports, unofficially, that 70% of visitors to the their site use their list to find resort matching a budget, and then go directly to the resort website to make a contact and book. 95% of Expedia visitors do not buy from Expedia. Aware of this trend Expedia introduced a Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising option, similar to Google. Interesting indeed! Has Expedia seen the writing on the wall?. Perhaps they got the idea that they were the new search engine for travel. So now instead of paying 25-30% in commission advertisers are paying 30-40% and don’t have any control on their brand.
The Cost Per Click (CPC), is the cost to deliver a single customer to a website as a result of a paid listing or advertisement on a medium such as Google or Barbados.org.
In a recent study of advertising costs, AXSES revealed that the Cost Per Click on Barbados.org is now less than 1/5 of costs on sites such as Google.
But they are all static ads that link travelers to the advertisers website. In addition we do free listing for every resort in the destination.
All of them, not just advertisers.
Our next release will make these ads interactive and link directly to dynamic quotation, reserve and book options. Of course all direct to the advertisers. What this means is that Barbados.org advertisers will have interactive advertisements that allow travelers to get an immediate quote and to reserve or book a holiday package, including air, online, on almost every advertisement and listing on Barbados.org. Travelers will now be able to click a button on the advertisement itself and make a booking directly with the hotel right there and then,. and this is right across all media, even on Google maps. Pretty powerful when u consider that Barbados.org maps are on the Google website ((http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.barbadosbymap.com%2Fgeorss.php) )as well as on Barbados.org map pages (and http://barbadosbymap.com)
Couple low CPC advertising with bookable ads and the supplier centered technologies now in place with axses travel platform and other supplier solution, and you get a powerful direct marketing solution: Enhancing suppliers brand and delivering commission free business directly to the tourism operator. Giving control back to the supplier. For AXSES Power Marketing Free Resources and Marketing Tips go to http://powerconsultants.axses.net/free-marketing-resources/
We look forward to hearing from. Do you agree, do you have a point of view?. Please let us know what you know!
Oh - Do read the MediaPost Article its very on target on how advertising is unbundled
Free reports, Tips and Guises:
http://powerconsultants.axses.net/free-marketing-reports/
2015 Update - MediaPost call it an irrelevant argument -
See how Advertising Gets #Unbundled
Why The Biggest Debate In Advertising Is Irrelevant at MediaPost
Brands the say ""We now care little about the record label and less about the singer or band"
I add add "and less about the brand, none of these are ny any means less vital, In fact consumption is up and all sectors gain, it just gets #UNBUNDLED (see link at end of article)
Brands the say ""We now care little about the record label and less about the singer or band"
I add add "and less about the brand, none of these are ny any means less vital, In fact consumption is up and all sectors gain, it just gets #UNBUNDLED (see link at end of article)
2013 update...
Its been a while since we forecast these changes and more.. So its rewarding to see this slideshow of the history of advertising. We were right on track in 2008 and today we are seeing search moving more into integrated marketing pushing search drops small hotels off of search results.
The Evolution of Advertising: How Consumers Won the War for Their Attention from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software
ORIGINAL ARTICLE.
At AXSES, we have been musing about the internet advertising business, wonder how it will evolve. With Google loosing ground to other choices, such as social networking, meta search, bookings and interactive services, it will not be long before they morph their business to give travelers what they want. Google decided not go the bookings route, and did not offer to buy Expedia. It has opted to move more into social networking see Google Travel Plans. MSN in contrast is moving to interactive shopping, with its purchase of Farecast.ORIGINAL ARTICLE.
In our view the days of static ads and list that link to websites are limited. We expect to see this change even on the search engines. Travelers need to be able to compare options and get fully costed holiday at a click.
Hitwise, the Internet statistics company recently noted a significant shift in searchers favouring Branded searches. “I looked at the top 300 search terms sending visits to Travel websites and found that more than three-quarters - 77% - of visits from these queries were from branded search terms such as “Hilton hotels” or “Expedia” in the four weeks ending April 26, 2008”, Heather Hopkins, VP Research, Hitwise UK.
Simple put, the Hitwise findings, mean searchers are now looking more for names they know and not relying as much on generic terms. If the trend continues, it will mean that we can’t rely on the search engines to help people discover our hotels for the first time. We can’t rely on a middleman to market us!. Marketing ourselves is something we can’t avoid.
In light of the trends to buy direct, it is interesting that Expedia is a top of mind search term. Yet Expedia reports, unofficially, that 70% of visitors to the their site use their list to find resort matching a budget, and then go directly to the resort website to make a contact and book. 95% of Expedia visitors do not buy from Expedia. Aware of this trend Expedia introduced a Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising option, similar to Google. Interesting indeed! Has Expedia seen the writing on the wall?. Perhaps they got the idea that they were the new search engine for travel. So now instead of paying 25-30% in commission advertisers are paying 30-40% and don’t have any control on their brand.
The Cost Per Click (CPC), is the cost to deliver a single customer to a website as a result of a paid listing or advertisement on a medium such as Google or Barbados.org.
In a recent study of advertising costs, AXSES revealed that the Cost Per Click on Barbados.org is now less than 1/5 of costs on sites such as Google.
But they are all static ads that link travelers to the advertisers website. In addition we do free listing for every resort in the destination.
All of them, not just advertisers.
Our next release will make these ads interactive and link directly to dynamic quotation, reserve and book options. Of course all direct to the advertisers. What this means is that Barbados.org advertisers will have interactive advertisements that allow travelers to get an immediate quote and to reserve or book a holiday package, including air, online, on almost every advertisement and listing on Barbados.org. Travelers will now be able to click a button on the advertisement itself and make a booking directly with the hotel right there and then,. and this is right across all media, even on Google maps. Pretty powerful when u consider that Barbados.org maps are on the Google website ((http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.barbadosbymap.com%2Fgeorss.php) )as well as on Barbados.org map pages (and http://barbadosbymap.com)
Couple low CPC advertising with bookable ads and the supplier centered technologies now in place with axses travel platform and other supplier solution, and you get a powerful direct marketing solution: Enhancing suppliers brand and delivering commission free business directly to the tourism operator. Giving control back to the supplier. For AXSES Power Marketing Free Resources and Marketing Tips go to http://powerconsultants.axses.net/free-marketing-resources/
We look forward to hearing from. Do you agree, do you have a point of view?. Please let us know what you know!
Oh - Do read the MediaPost Article its very on target on how advertising is unbundled
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Need for Bookings Franchise
I have just returned from World Travel Market, London, 2007, the biggest destination travel show in the world. I spend some time chatting to destination about the Bookings systems they are using. In the Caribbean many are using WWTE a white label product of Expedia. It is not working well.
The problem is that Tour operator (TO) systems just don't work for Destinations. The Destination authority is responsible for marketing its member tourism operators. This means it must use the market channels and not conflict with it. Its prime responsibility is to help its clients get access to markets, be represented in global distribution and to encourage Direct Sales.
The TO booking systems operate on a distribution and Merchant model. They get net rates on hotels, mark them up and resell them, collecting the funds in advance and paying operators. Their systems require clients to abide by their rules and terms including setting aside rooms and units for their exclusive use (allocation). If a small hotel can't do this they often don’t get listed. They don't get listed if they are too small and can’t offer acceptable NET rates. TO systems do not promote direct sales and they don’t build hotel brands. Many are opaque, obscuring the hotel brand in favour of Best Price. The Destination Marketing company has an entirely different objective.
A sensible solution for Destinations is http://BookingsFranchise.com.
PRESS Release:
Powerful New Travel Platform Now Available for Destination Marketers
http://BookingsFranchise.com: Affordable Branded Channels for Direct Marketing. A first of its kind product for tourism destinations and travel portals.
BookingsFranchise.com platform delivers top e-commerce services. It is a powerful full featured solution, integrated with Global Distribution (GDS) and Internet marketing driving Direct Business and Distribution sales. BookingsFranchise is easy for destinations and tourism operators to setup and manage and easy for travelers to use; to get quotes, find, compare and book properties.
It is a proven platform of travel technology, developed and implemented by AXSES for Barbados.org, http://BookingsBarbados.com, http://BookingsStlucia.com and http://IntimateHotelsBarbados.com to name a few.
Ian Clayton CEO of AXSES, says “BookingsFranchise.com lets you do business your way, with your own terms and your rules. Unlike Tour Operator centered system, there are no commissions and no net rates. There is no limit to size of properties and all properties have complete flexibility with terms, inventory models and payment options. Ultimately, it delivers a way to take control of the entire supply chain with supplier centered tools”.
Advance your travel marketing; global exposure, more bookings, more control.
email AXSES BookingsFranchise
For More Information please see http://BookingsFranchise.com
Contact: email AXSES
Ian Clayton, iclayton@axses.com
AXSES
Knowledge engineering
Tel: 246 429 2653
Do Business your way with multiple client terms, rate plans and rules.
Axses Travel Platform
delivers a fully interactive personalised solution
+ leading technology
http://arcRes.com |
http://arcRes-crs.com |
http://arcRes-pms.com |
http://Portal-keeper.com |
http://DestinationSuites.com |
http://TravelAgentsRes.com |
http://RealHolidays.com
AXSES Solutions cover all aspects of Travel Marketing and tourism Management.
The problem is that Tour operator (TO) systems just don't work for Destinations. The Destination authority is responsible for marketing its member tourism operators. This means it must use the market channels and not conflict with it. Its prime responsibility is to help its clients get access to markets, be represented in global distribution and to encourage Direct Sales.
The TO booking systems operate on a distribution and Merchant model. They get net rates on hotels, mark them up and resell them, collecting the funds in advance and paying operators. Their systems require clients to abide by their rules and terms including setting aside rooms and units for their exclusive use (allocation). If a small hotel can't do this they often don’t get listed. They don't get listed if they are too small and can’t offer acceptable NET rates. TO systems do not promote direct sales and they don’t build hotel brands. Many are opaque, obscuring the hotel brand in favour of Best Price. The Destination Marketing company has an entirely different objective.
A sensible solution for Destinations is http://BookingsFranchise.com.
PRESS Release:
Powerful New Travel Platform Now Available for Destination Marketers
http://BookingsFranchise.com: Affordable Branded Channels for Direct Marketing. A first of its kind product for tourism destinations and travel portals.
BookingsFranchise.com platform delivers top e-commerce services. It is a powerful full featured solution, integrated with Global Distribution (GDS) and Internet marketing driving Direct Business and Distribution sales. BookingsFranchise is easy for destinations and tourism operators to setup and manage and easy for travelers to use; to get quotes, find, compare and book properties.
It is a proven platform of travel technology, developed and implemented by AXSES for Barbados.org, http://BookingsBarbados.com, http://BookingsStlucia.com and http://IntimateHotelsBarbados.com to name a few.
Ian Clayton CEO of AXSES, says “BookingsFranchise.com lets you do business your way, with your own terms and your rules. Unlike Tour Operator centered system, there are no commissions and no net rates. There is no limit to size of properties and all properties have complete flexibility with terms, inventory models and payment options. Ultimately, it delivers a way to take control of the entire supply chain with supplier centered tools”.
Advance your travel marketing; global exposure, more bookings, more control.
email AXSES BookingsFranchise
For More Information please see http://BookingsFranchise.com
Contact: email AXSES
Ian Clayton, iclayton@axses.com
AXSES
Knowledge engineering
Tel: 246 429 2653
Do Business your way with multiple client terms, rate plans and rules.
Axses Travel Platform
delivers a fully interactive personalised solution
+ leading technology
http://arcRes.com |
http://arcRes-crs.com |
http://arcRes-pms.com |
http://Portal-keeper.com |
http://DestinationSuites.com |
http://TravelAgentsRes.com |
http://RealHolidays.com
AXSES Solutions cover all aspects of Travel Marketing and tourism Management.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
GDS Next Generation
GDS NEXT GENERATION SEAMLESS
The GDS' are the distribution backbone for travel agents, in-house corporate travel departments, and many of the Internet distribution systems like Expedia. They deliver rates and availability information for travel covering air, hotel and car rentals. The information is delivered to the travel agent, so that it appears on their desktop computer using special software to search, display rates and book.
The GDS' Hotel information was originally all input by hand and this is still done manually in many cases. Pegasus employed a house full of workers to do this work, much of this is now out sourced to India. The process is very tedious and time prone to error. Once the information is loaded software system maintain the rate and inventory changes in all GDS. The Pegasus Switch coordinates hotel information bewteen gds sytsems. Data from hotel chains, Internet sites and GDS agents all at some piont use this switch.
To avoid delays and errors hotels and their technology providers opted to integrate the GDS information with their own reservations and property management solutions. This was called seamless integration. 2 way seamless refers to the systems that can manage GDS rates from the hotel CRS or PMS. One way integration simply means the hotel system can view the GDS sales but not manage the data.
Seamless Integration is not the same as NEXT GENERATION.
Next Generation capability was built by the GDS to allow compatible systems to input the data directly into the GDS´s. There are several such sytems in place. (list of services). This means that a hotel might use an online form to input their rates and data and this goes directly into the GDS. It substantially reduces the time to get to market and eliminates some errors when re-keying data. GDS sold this option to vendors who it turn incorporated it into their hotel solutions. Some setup shop as GDS agents to offer this service.
NEXT GENERATION ROBOTICS
The technology to update a mainframe is not trivial. It involves robotics that interface online internet system with GDS mainframe computers. Mainframes are not Internet savvy computers and cannot be accessed directly to change and add data. The data is sent via packets relayed on telecommunications network. The packet relay is interpreted by the Mainframe. As these mainframes are all different systems, protocols and standards were created. Mainframes also have very specific rules on what characters are accepted. Charters and in some cases words act as tigers to set off process in a mainframe, so the information sent to a mainframe must be accurate and comply with their rules. Even years after implementation the GDS-load process was finding errors in data integrity. A simple quotation mark can trigger a failure with disastrous results.
The Pegasus switch (originally called thisco, now called Utraswitch) is not a next generation technology. That is why Pegasus bought a similar system developed by Trust that was. Pegasus plans to upgrade all system by 2008 with conversions starting with hotel factory (their Central reservation system) in November 2007. Pegasus PR
SUMMARY
Next Generation provides GDS users with real-time rates and availability that is 100% identical to the information used by a hotel company's own reservations staff. The information is more quickly available and more accurate resulting in increased confidence and usability by agents. With NEXT generation Seamless, agents are more inclined to sell more using the GDS rather than book via telephone to assure their clients the lowest rates. Galileo Inside Shopper, Worldspan Integrated Hotel Source, Sabre Direct Connect Shop, the respective GDS' Next Generation Seamless products, were implemented by 2004.
GDS Chain Codes
© Ian Clayton, AXSES SCI 2007.
see arcRes solutions for tourism, AXSES web Solution
The GDS' are the distribution backbone for travel agents, in-house corporate travel departments, and many of the Internet distribution systems like Expedia. They deliver rates and availability information for travel covering air, hotel and car rentals. The information is delivered to the travel agent, so that it appears on their desktop computer using special software to search, display rates and book.
The GDS' Hotel information was originally all input by hand and this is still done manually in many cases. Pegasus employed a house full of workers to do this work, much of this is now out sourced to India. The process is very tedious and time prone to error. Once the information is loaded software system maintain the rate and inventory changes in all GDS. The Pegasus Switch coordinates hotel information bewteen gds sytsems. Data from hotel chains, Internet sites and GDS agents all at some piont use this switch.
To avoid delays and errors hotels and their technology providers opted to integrate the GDS information with their own reservations and property management solutions. This was called seamless integration. 2 way seamless refers to the systems that can manage GDS rates from the hotel CRS or PMS. One way integration simply means the hotel system can view the GDS sales but not manage the data.
Seamless Integration is not the same as NEXT GENERATION.
Next Generation capability was built by the GDS to allow compatible systems to input the data directly into the GDS´s. There are several such sytems in place. (list of services). This means that a hotel might use an online form to input their rates and data and this goes directly into the GDS. It substantially reduces the time to get to market and eliminates some errors when re-keying data. GDS sold this option to vendors who it turn incorporated it into their hotel solutions. Some setup shop as GDS agents to offer this service.
NEXT GENERATION ROBOTICS
The technology to update a mainframe is not trivial. It involves robotics that interface online internet system with GDS mainframe computers. Mainframes are not Internet savvy computers and cannot be accessed directly to change and add data. The data is sent via packets relayed on telecommunications network. The packet relay is interpreted by the Mainframe. As these mainframes are all different systems, protocols and standards were created. Mainframes also have very specific rules on what characters are accepted. Charters and in some cases words act as tigers to set off process in a mainframe, so the information sent to a mainframe must be accurate and comply with their rules. Even years after implementation the GDS-load process was finding errors in data integrity. A simple quotation mark can trigger a failure with disastrous results.
The Pegasus switch (originally called thisco, now called Utraswitch) is not a next generation technology. That is why Pegasus bought a similar system developed by Trust that was. Pegasus plans to upgrade all system by 2008 with conversions starting with hotel factory (their Central reservation system) in November 2007. Pegasus PR
SUMMARY
Next Generation provides GDS users with real-time rates and availability that is 100% identical to the information used by a hotel company's own reservations staff. The information is more quickly available and more accurate resulting in increased confidence and usability by agents. With NEXT generation Seamless, agents are more inclined to sell more using the GDS rather than book via telephone to assure their clients the lowest rates. Galileo Inside Shopper, Worldspan Integrated Hotel Source, Sabre Direct Connect Shop, the respective GDS' Next Generation Seamless products, were implemented by 2004.
GDS Chain Codes
© Ian Clayton, AXSES SCI 2007.
see arcRes solutions for tourism, AXSES web Solution
GDS History
GDS, CRS and channel management
The GDS have long been the primary source of travel agents bookings in the world. Today they do much more and supply content rates and hotel inventory to thousands of On-line Travel website.
The GDS systems are a huge network of thousands of computers set up originally by companies like Sabre, WorldSapn. Amedeus, Galileo and Pegasus. They provided Computer Based Reservations (CRS) services to all travel agents long before the Internet. These system are still in place and are used by more that 480,000 agents worldwide.
When you visit a Travel Agent you will see them at the CRS to find and book flights and resorts.
It has traditionally been an expensive distribution system requiring setup fees in the thousands of dollars as well as booking fees, transaction fees and agents commissions. As a result many smaller hotels are not represented in the GDS and GDS have not been too interested in this sector as they problem of coordinating inventory has been too great (a small hotel just does not have a sufficient supply of rooms to justify the effort of cost them up).
With the advent of new technology this has changed. Now there are GDS agent companies who specialise in supplying content to the GDS computers. The Internet also makes it easier to get the information and distribute it. This has made GDS widely available to hotels of all size. An inovator in opening up the Market was Tom Egan of reserv, who single handedly changed the face of distribution by offering an easy to use system with no setup fees and no minimum charges. His system worked on next Generation technology meaning that the entire process of setting up a hotel was done on-line, no manual entry. Alas Tom sold out and his ideas hot the dust.
2 way integration
New e-commerce systems (such as arcRes http://Bookings-Expert.com, http://axses-innkeeper.com and http://arcRes-CRS.com) are integrated with the GDS system to make it even easier and more affordable for hotels to market throught GDS. The two way integration makes it easier to setup and to manage rates and inventory in multiple channels. It essentially means that a hotel can use their own web booking engine or front desk software (that is GDS integrated) to see and process GDS reservation and to update allocation and rates. This is a great advantage as it means less to learn and to manage.
see also GDS Next Generation Seamless
A major problem facing the industry now is the proliferation of vendors. Whereas before we had a few key Tour Operators, now there are numerous Internet companies, like Expedia, Travelocity, Hotel.com, Priceline.com and many others that have vastly more exposure that the traditional Tour Operators. Getting products onto these system and maintaining rates, content and inventory requires full time management and is not feasible for many small resorts.
Fortunatly new hotel tools like arcRes Website Bookings Engine (Bookings-Expert) now provide a single system to maintain. It also makes rates management easier by allow suppliers to specify any rate in any channel as a % of another rates or a markup on costs. Other companies like AXSES are working on building tools that will change the face of distribution giving suppliers (hotels and tourism operators) control over the supply chain. The new model emerging is supplier centered, supply chain management.
In the new business model the hotel and tourism operator tools (field tools) are fully integrated at the operator level and with downstream distribution. For example the web bookings engine is integrated with property management, housekeeping and inventory. All this is integrated with the GDS system and destination portals like http://BookingsStlucia.com as well as with the GDS, and retail sites like http://travelocity.com feeding from the central database updated by arcRes.
Very Long Ago.
The history of the development of GDS is a great story. One of the best accounts I have seen is available at http://www.innadvance.com/index5.htm
In breif, it follows the development of a reservation systems spearheaded by American Airlines. The startup of ThisCo the switch that connected hotels to the airlines and travel agents systems and all the steps leading up to that.
© Ian Clayton, AXSES SCI 2007.
see arcRes solutions for tourism, AXSES web Solution
The GDS have long been the primary source of travel agents bookings in the world. Today they do much more and supply content rates and hotel inventory to thousands of On-line Travel website.
The GDS systems are a huge network of thousands of computers set up originally by companies like Sabre, WorldSapn. Amedeus, Galileo and Pegasus. They provided Computer Based Reservations (CRS) services to all travel agents long before the Internet. These system are still in place and are used by more that 480,000 agents worldwide.
When you visit a Travel Agent you will see them at the CRS to find and book flights and resorts.
It has traditionally been an expensive distribution system requiring setup fees in the thousands of dollars as well as booking fees, transaction fees and agents commissions. As a result many smaller hotels are not represented in the GDS and GDS have not been too interested in this sector as they problem of coordinating inventory has been too great (a small hotel just does not have a sufficient supply of rooms to justify the effort of cost them up).
With the advent of new technology this has changed. Now there are GDS agent companies who specialise in supplying content to the GDS computers. The Internet also makes it easier to get the information and distribute it. This has made GDS widely available to hotels of all size. An inovator in opening up the Market was Tom Egan of reserv, who single handedly changed the face of distribution by offering an easy to use system with no setup fees and no minimum charges. His system worked on next Generation technology meaning that the entire process of setting up a hotel was done on-line, no manual entry. Alas Tom sold out and his ideas hot the dust.
2 way integration
New e-commerce systems (such as arcRes http://Bookings-Expert.com, http://axses-innkeeper.com and http://arcRes-CRS.com) are integrated with the GDS system to make it even easier and more affordable for hotels to market throught GDS. The two way integration makes it easier to setup and to manage rates and inventory in multiple channels. It essentially means that a hotel can use their own web booking engine or front desk software (that is GDS integrated) to see and process GDS reservation and to update allocation and rates. This is a great advantage as it means less to learn and to manage.
see also GDS Next Generation Seamless
A major problem facing the industry now is the proliferation of vendors. Whereas before we had a few key Tour Operators, now there are numerous Internet companies, like Expedia, Travelocity, Hotel.com, Priceline.com and many others that have vastly more exposure that the traditional Tour Operators. Getting products onto these system and maintaining rates, content and inventory requires full time management and is not feasible for many small resorts.
Fortunatly new hotel tools like arcRes Website Bookings Engine (Bookings-Expert) now provide a single system to maintain. It also makes rates management easier by allow suppliers to specify any rate in any channel as a % of another rates or a markup on costs. Other companies like AXSES are working on building tools that will change the face of distribution giving suppliers (hotels and tourism operators) control over the supply chain. The new model emerging is supplier centered, supply chain management.
In the new business model the hotel and tourism operator tools (field tools) are fully integrated at the operator level and with downstream distribution. For example the web bookings engine is integrated with property management, housekeeping and inventory. All this is integrated with the GDS system and destination portals like http://BookingsStlucia.com as well as with the GDS, and retail sites like http://travelocity.com feeding from the central database updated by arcRes.
Very Long Ago.
The history of the development of GDS is a great story. One of the best accounts I have seen is available at http://www.innadvance.com/index5.htm
In breif, it follows the development of a reservation systems spearheaded by American Airlines. The startup of ThisCo the switch that connected hotels to the airlines and travel agents systems and all the steps leading up to that.
© Ian Clayton, AXSES SCI 2007.
see arcRes solutions for tourism, AXSES web Solution
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