Leisure Breaks shared

www.travelzoo.co.uk 1
The Deal Experts. Over 26 Million Subscribers Worldwide.
The Changing Face of the Travel Market
Joel Brandon-Bravo, UK MD
National Hotel Marketing Conference, June 2014

What do I know?
What do people think they want?
What do they actually want?
When are doughnuts useful?

What do I know?

What do I know?
What do people think they want? – Survey Results
What do they want?
When are donuts useful?

How many times have you booked a hotel in the past 12 months for leisure?
6%
9%
17%
20%
16%
10%
8%
3%
3%
1%
7%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
None 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
• 2-4 breaks 52%
• 5 or more 32%

Who did you book with? (tick all that apply)
0.3%
0.3%
2.1%
4.0%
6.1%
6.2%
6.5%
6.8%
14.7%
18.5%
32.1%
0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%
Travelocity
Mr&Mrs Smith
Travelsupermarket
Trivago
Expedia
Lastminute.com
Hotels.com
Laterooms.com
Booking.com
Other
Direct with the hotel

Who did you book with? (tick all that apply) – those who answered other

What types of hotel do you generally prefer? (select up to three)
6%
6%
8%
21%
32%
47%
51%
52%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Other
Business
Hip Hotels
Family Friendly
An International Chain
Budget friendly
Boutique (stylish, smaller hotels)
Luxury

What value do you place on the following when it comes to choosing hotels?
65%
44%
43%
76%
79%
84%
79%
79%
22%
34%
39%
16%
17%
13%
17%
19%
13%
22%
18%
8%
4%
3%
4%
2%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Free Wi-Fi
Discounts on golf/spa/restaurant
Vouchers for nearby attractions
Parking
Transfers to/from the airport
Full breakfast
Early check-in or late checkout
Room upgrade
Important
Neither
Important or
Unimportant
Unimportant

10%
14%
20%
24%
29%
28%
28%
36%
26%
60%
55%
47%
44%
54%
52%
46%
65%
26%
25%
30%
27%
18%
20%
18%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Kids' club/children's activities
Chocolates in the room
Afternoon tea
Free movie package
Free massage
Bottle of wine in the room
Welcome drink
Continental breakfast
Important
Neither
Important or
Unimportant
Unimportant

1%
7%
13%
21%
33%
24%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Extremely
last minute
Quite last
minute
1-2 weeks 2-4 weeks 4-8 weeks Two months
or more
How far in advance do you generally book a hotel?

What value do you place on the following when it comes to choosing hotels? -
Ratings
55%
86%
81%
38%
11%
15%
7%
3%
4%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Accreditation schemes
Star ratings
Tripadvisor ratings
Important Neither Important or Unimportant Unimportant
*Conde Nast Traveller’s Gold List or other magazine and newspaper awards

Coverage
42%
63%
57%
44%
30%
36%
14%
7%
7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Awards
Positive press article
Recommendations in travel guides

Endorsement
10%
31%
91%
42%
43%
7%
48%
26%
2%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Celebrity endorsement
Positive endorsement in social media
Positive endorsement from a friend
or family

92% 91% 91% 90%
84%
72%
61%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Full board Set menu Half board A la carte Michelin-
starred
restaurant
AA Rosette
restaurant
Table
d'hôte
Do you know what the following terms refer to? (Please tick all that you fully
understand)

When it comes to hotel deals do you prefer the price to be expressed as per
person or for the room per night?
81%
18%
1%
Total per night
Per person
I don't understand the difference

Do you prefer a short description of what is included or
do you prefer to be briefed on a full list of details?
57%
37%
6%
Short description of the deal with links
to websites with further information
Full description with all details
explained on the same page as the
deal
Short description of the deal

What do I know?
What do people think they want? – Survey Results
What do they want?
When are donuts useful?

What do they actually buy?
The presentation then showed a series of case studies of campaigns for hotel clients which illustrated the
impact of changes in price pint, deal structure and headline copy. As the hotels in these case studies
have not expressly chosen to have the data distributed these have been removed. Case studies can be
supplied on request.
The results shown illustrated
• Three night stay promotion did less than half the total room nights as a 2 night stay.
• Most promotions offering one night with an upsell of additional nights had 60% of people purchase a
2 night stay.
• A £20 increase in the price point reduced the room nights sold by 90%
• A £10 increase halved the room nights sold on a like for like promotion
• A £6 reduction in price (and removing £6 value from the deal) at £59 doubled the performance
• Properties with multiple facilities, such as golf, spa, dining mean a credit for use across them can be
the best way of driving volume and in-hotel spend.
Those case studies which can be circulated, either because the information was in the public domain, or
because the hotel gave permission, follow.

£20 makes a huge difference
Local Deals
42 sold at £119504 sold at £99
1st send of the Getaway 2nd send of the Getaway

Local Deals
349 sold at £89
Includes a 3-course à la carte dinner
& a glass of bubbly
647 sold at £79
Includes a 3-course à la carte dinner
£10 makes a big difference
£10 - Typically halves performance

Local Deals
170 sold at £109762 sold at £99
Especially £109 vs £99
£10 pushing it over £100 reduces performance by 75%+

Don’t take out the dinner if it’s miles from alternatives
Local Deals
212 sold at £99534 sold at £159

But don’t force people if it’s in a city
Result: 355 RM
Can always use a 2-4-1 or
wine with dinner offer to
keep people in if they choose

Talk about why people visit
The Manor Hotel
Distribution: 1m
Results:
• “West Yorkshire “Bronte Country”
outperformed “Leeds Hotel Stay”

Headlines do matter – Spot the difference
Formby Hall
Results:
• “Northwest: Deluxe Resort” outperformed
“Merseyside 4 Star Stay”

Afternoon Tea - Consider groups in the up sells
Add groups to up-sell.
Multiple group bookings
Bigger additional spend when in groups.
A glass of Procecco.
Often drives additional alcohol spend

Spa
“The volume is most unexpected...”
“...the clientele are of high calibre and
95% new customers and at least 20%
are buying extra treatments”.
Adam Bell
Business Development Manager
Macdonald Manchester Hotel Spa
“We do see this type of tactical marketing
taking over from our more conventional
marketing spending. We see this working
especially well for us as our business
remains stubbornly 'seasonal’ ”
Peter Lavin
General Manager
Conway Castle

Lunch and Dinner
Fixed menus allow cost control
Tasting menus enable cross sell of taster
wines to complement

Promote the hotels wider offerings, subtly
Plas Maenan Country House
Results:
• Sold 680 £89 1-night packages
• 86% were first time guests of property;
92% of guests plan to return
• The hotel booked three wedding with
subscribers who stayed at the hotel
I have also noticed that the restaurant enjoyed a real ‘buzz’ during the first two months
of Travelzoo redemptions. Busy restaurants have a vibe and the E&O was very busy
thanks to the hundreds of redemptions that hit in the first sixty days. We then booked a
lot of banquet business for subsequent months during this window, which likely ensued
as a result of this hot vibe. After all, people what to hold large events at hot spots not
dead restaurants. The really nice thing was that the demographic of the patrons
Travelzoo sent us fit perfectly with our core business, so the place felt good, not down
market. This is an important attribute of the Travelzoo program vis-à-vis Groupon and
others. Chris Hemmeter, Owner E&O restaurant

Ultimate booze cross sell
The Marquis at Alkham
Need: Superior rooms
Lead deal:
£135 -- Luxury Kent Downs Stay w/Upgrade &
Gourmet Menu
Cross sell:
Luxury Room with the same extras for £115 per
night
Results:
• 82 Standard/Luxury room nights
• 207 Superior rooms sold
• 4 course tasting menu had cross sold wine for
each course
“We made more money in alcohol sales of the wines
to complement the tasting menu, than we paid in
commission for the promotion.”

As long as your happy with what they are cross selling!

When can doughnuts help your business?

The doughnut
Spa Day deal sent to local market (offering overnight) and Overnight DB&B offering spa day
Local Deals
Hotel packagesLocal Deals

When can doughnut help you?

Thank You!
36
Joel Brandon-Bravo
Country Manager, UK
+44 (0) 20 7420 0402
jbrandon@travelzoo.com
@joelbrandonbrav

Leisure Breaks shared

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (15)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to Leisure Breaks shared

Similar to Leisure Breaks shared (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Leisure Breaks shared

Editor's Notes