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SEM - A Hotel Perspective
The document discusses the importance of online search in the Indian travel industry, highlighting that 78% of travelers use the internet to plan trips, with 74% relying on search engines. It outlines strategies for hotels to target their audience and optimize search engine marketing campaigns based on various factors like hotel type, audience demographics, and competition. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for measuring success through key performance indicators and adopting advanced techniques such as remarketing and targeting specific devices.
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SEM - A Hotel Perspective
- 2.
- 3. The Power ofSearch: Global Trends 78% Travelers1 rely on the internet as the #1 source of information while researching a trip And where do these travelers search while planning a trip? 74% Search Engines 15% Online Travel Agents 10% Brand Websites 1% Others 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 1 Google, The Travelers Road to Decision 2009
- 4. Online Travel: USATrends
- 5. Online Travel: USATrends
- 6. Online Travel: Trendsin India
- 7. Hospitality: Dominant onSearch
- 8.
- 9. How well knownis your brand?
- 10. How can yourhotel be categorized?
- 11. Where are yourhotels located?
- 12. Based on thetype of hotels, let’s ask a few more questions…
- 13. Who stays in yourhotels? Business Traveller Couple Family
- 14. Where is yourtarget audience based?
- 16. Now that wehave covered… • The type of hotel • The target audience • Your key source markets • Goal of your SEM campaign Let’s move on…
- 17. Seasonality Sunbathing in Winter? Skiing in Summer?
- 18.
- 19. Online Presence Special Offers & Deals
- 20. So where doyou begin?
- 21. Hotel Industry Metrics •Booking • Revenue • Inventory = Available room nights/month • Average Number of Room Nights • Average Room Rate (ARR) • Occupancy Rate
- 22. Other Hotel Jargon •MICE • Rack Rate • BAR Rate • Early Bird Offer • Weekend Offer • Business Offer
- 23.
- 24. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness& Interest
- 25. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness& Interest Research
- 26. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness& Interest Research Comparison
- 27. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness& Interest Booking Research Comparison
- 28. Campaign Structure Split youraccount into campaigns based on properties and key source markets
- 29. Core Themes • Includecore themes in one campaign o Hotels in <city> o Budget/luxury/business hotels in <city> o 3/4/5 star hotels in <city> o Affordable/top/premium/best hotels in <city>
- 30. Additional Themes • Createnew campaign for additional themes o Hotel tariffs in <city> o Holidays in <city> o Locality based terms o Offer based terms o Beach/spa/palace hotels in <city> o Hotels near <city> airport
- 31.
- 32. Now that youhave covered so many themes, let’s take another look at the Booking cycle…
- 33.
- 34. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness & Interest (e.g. hotels in <city>, top hotels in <city>)
- 35. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness & Interest Research hotels in (e.g. (e.g. 5 star hotels inin <city>, top hotels <city>, luxury hotels in <city>, business hotels in <city>, budget <city>) hotels in <city>)
- 36. Hotel Booking Cycle Awareness & Interest Research hotels in (e.g. (e.g. 5 star hotels inin <city>, top hotels <city>, luxury hotels in <city>, business hotels in <city>, budget <city>) hotels in <city>) Comparison (e.g. <city> hotel tariffs, Best rates <city> hotels)
- 37. Hotel Booking Cycle Booking Awareness & (e.g. <your hotel>) Interest Research hotels in (e.g. (e.g. 5 star hotels inin <city>, top hotels <city>, luxury hotels in <city>, business hotels in <city>, budget <city>) hotels in <city>) Comparison (e.g. <city> hotel tariffs, Best rates <city> hotels)
- 38. Leverage Your Brand •Unknown or well-known, ensure that you show up for your brand
- 39. Should you bidon your competition?
- 40. Want to focusonly on branding?
- 46.
- 47. Put your pricein the ad copy
- 48. Now that yourcampaign is ready and set up, what is the next step?
- 49.
- 50. Conversion Tracking To measuresuccess, track bookings or ‘Request a Quote’ form fills on the website Modify the conversion code to track revenue & measure ROAS
- 51. Restaurants • Target your campaign to that city and include terms like: o Restaurants o Restaurants in <city> o <cuisine> restaurants o <cuisine> in <city> o 5 star/affordable restaurants
- 52. Restaurants • Use callextensions and location extensions • Get a unique phone number to measure the bookings made through your campaign
- 53. Key Performance Indicators •Bookings • Revenue • Cost • Conversion Rates • ROAS
- 54.
- 55.
- 56. Dynamic Remarketing • User comes to your website and checks out a particular hotel • He leaves your website without booking • Remarket to that user with customised messages and offers regarding the hotel he showed an interest in
- 57. Separating Devices Business travelersmake last minute bookings from Smartphones or Tablets. For business hotels or city hotels, run separate campaigns on these devices
- 58. New Launches Create displaynetwork campaigns with image ads about a month before the actual launch to generate awareness about the property
Editor's Notes
- #3 So let’s take a look at the Internet Landscape in India. This data is based on an Internet Trends presentation from Morgan Stanley in 2009. It’s slightly dated but the data still holds true. So 100mn internet users in India, I’m sure this number has risen. 47mn travellers searching on Internet in India. The internet took only 7 years to reach 50mn users. Mobile was the only channel that beat it but then individual investment in mobiles is not so much
- #4 78% of travellers globally rely on the Internet while researching on a trip according to a Google study in 2009. Out of these 74% rely on Search Engines as their primary source of information
- #5 If you look at Online travel trends in the US, the Internet is the biggest channel for research on hotels and accommodation with OTAs (online travel agents) and Search Engines being the biggest sources. Factors like location, price and prior experience affect a user’s choice of hotel
- #6 This is from a Google Travel study in mid-2010 wherein they asked users how they book accommodation while travelling for a one night stay for business/leisure. More than 35% leisure travellers and about 32% business travellers book on a hotel’s website. Between 25% to 30% travellers book on OTA websites. This makes it extremely important that your website and booking engine should work well
- #7 This is 2010 data v/s projected data for 2012 in India. The overall travel industry, that is, hotels, airlines, cruises, etc. has seen a 15% year on year growth while the online travel industry alone has experienced a 30% growth year on year
- #8 Again according to a Google study in 2010, hotels form the highest chunk of Google’s travel search query base in India followed by Air Travel. Between 2005 and 2006, hotel related queries saw a 65% growth year on year
- #9 Ok now that we have confused ourselves with so many stats, let’s get down to business. So you have a new hotel client. What is the kind of intelligence you would need before you start an internet marketing campaign for the client?
- #10 A lesser known hotel in a few locations?A large chain of hotels present across the globe?
- #11 Can the hotels be categorized as budget hotels or luxury hotels, upscale, bed and breakfast, business?
- #12 Undiscovered location? Or known place? Additionally, is the location primarily a business or leisure city and is your hotel a business or leisure hotel? In that location, is your hotel in the appropriate area, that is, is your BUSINESS hotel in a business district?
- #14 Is it families looking for a budget holiday with the kids?Is it couples looking for exotic locations and a memorable stay?Is it the business traveller whose jumping from one destination to the other?
- #15 So generally, the place where your guests come from would be referred to as a key source marketIs your key source market different for each hotel that you advertise for?
- #16 What is the goal of advertising? What is your hotel’s business objective? ROI, that is, bookings… or branding.. High volume bookings or high value bookings?
- #17 So let’s recap what we’ve done so far
- #18 You do not want to end up advertising for a hotel in Rajasthan in the summers when the heat will give people a sun stroke or an arctic paradise in the winter when the sun won’t rise at all
- #19 As is the case with any SEM or rather any marketing campaign, you cannot run a blind campaign.. You have to know the current market… what is the demand and supply and more specifically what your competitors are offering. You cannot win this race with a not so exciting offering if everyone else is giving absolute value for money
- #20 Your competitor analysis needs to include at least this much if not moreWhat is the competitor’s online presence like?Are their special offers better than yours? Are they portrayed better? Do they offer lower prices?
- #21 Now that all these questions are answered, you can begin working on the account.
- #22 So let’s look at some of the important metrics. We all know bookings right? Revenue also is well known. It’s all about the money.So what is the inventory in a hotel? That’s the number of room nights available per month. Say you have a 100 rooms, so in a month, you will have 100*30 = 3000 room nights. Available room nights/month = Inventory = Number of rooms * number of daysAverage Number of Room Nights = Total Number of room nights/Total number of bookingsAverage Room Rate (ARR) = Total Revenue/number of room nights bookedOccupancy Rate = Number of room nights booked/Available room nights
- #23 Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & EventsRack rate: The price a hotel charges for a room before any discount has been taken into account. The published rate for a room, sometimes set artificially high and used to calculate a variety of discountsBest Available Rate: The best non-negotiated rate available at the time of booking - plan
- #24 Ok so now let’s take a look at the hotel booking cycle. It is fairly longer than most buying cycles.The user goes to a search engine and looks for something like best hotels. He reads a bit about the destination and continues searchingHe zeroes in on a few hotels and reads their reviews on travel websites. By this time, the user has figured out he wants to go to a budget hotel or a 5 star hotel or he needs a resortHe then looks for rates and tariffs. He will compare prices of the hotels that have interested himEventually he will search for your brand name or go straight to your website and make his bookingThis process would generally take around 45 days. Although the booking date to stay date duration is shortening, it would generally be a metric that will vary the type of hotel and destination and of course the location of the user as well
- #25 Ok so now let’s take a look at the hotel booking cycle. It is fairly longer than most buying cycles.The user goes to a search engine and looks for something like best hotels. He reads a bit about the destination and continues searchingHe zeroes in on a few hotels and reads their reviews on travel websites. By this time, the user has figured out he wants to go to a budget hotel or a 5 star hotel or he needs a resortHe then looks for rates and tariffs. He will compare prices of the hotels that have interested himEventually he will search for your brand name or go straight to your website and make his bookingThis process would generally take around 45 days. Although the booking date to stay date duration is shortening, it would generally be a metric that will vary the type of hotel and destination and of course the location of the user as well
- #26 Ok so now let’s take a look at the hotel booking cycle. It is fairly longer than most buying cycles.The user goes to a search engine and looks for something like best hotels. He reads a bit about the destination and continues searchingHe zeroes in on a few hotels and reads their reviews on travel websites. By this time, the user has figured out he wants to go to a budget hotel or a 5 star hotel or he needs a resortHe then looks for rates and tariffs. He will compare prices of the hotels that have interested himEventually he will search for your brand name or go straight to your website and make his bookingThis process would generally take around 45 days. Although the booking date to stay date duration is shortening, it would generally be a metric that will vary the type of hotel and destination and of course the location of the user as well
- #27 Ok so now let’s take a look at the hotel booking cycle. It is fairly longer than most buying cycles.The user goes to a search engine and looks for something like best hotels. He reads a bit about the destination and continues searchingHe zeroes in on a few hotels and reads their reviews on travel websites. By this time, the user has figured out he wants to go to a budget hotel or a 5 star hotel or he needs a resortHe then looks for rates and tariffs. He will compare prices of the hotels that have interested himEventually he will search for your brand name or go straight to your website and make his bookingThis process would generally take around 45 days. Although the booking date to stay date duration is shortening, it would generally be a metric that will vary the type of hotel and destination and of course the location of the user as well
- #28 Ok so now let’s take a look at the hotel booking cycle. It is fairly longer than most buying cycles.The user goes to a search engine and looks for something like best hotels. He reads a bit about the destination and continues searchingHe zeroes in on a few hotels and reads their reviews on travel websites. By this time, the user has figured out he wants to go to a budget hotel or a 5 star hotel or he needs a resortHe then looks for rates and tariffs. He will compare prices of the hotels that have interested himEventually he will search for your brand name or go straight to your website and make his bookingThis process would generally take around 45 days. Although the booking date to stay date duration is shortening, it would generally be a metric that will vary the type of hotel and destination and of course the location of the user as well
- #29 For every property and source market, create a separate campaign
- #32 Create a separate campaign to include all the events
- #34 So you managed to cover the Awareness & Interest stage, the Research stage and the comparison stage. But what about the Booking stage?
- #35 So you managed to cover the Awareness & Interest stage, the Research stage and the comparison stage. But what about the Booking stage?
- #36 So you managed to cover the Awareness & Interest stage, the Research stage and the comparison stage. But what about the Booking stage?
- #37 So you managed to cover the Awareness & Interest stage, the Research stage and the comparison stage. But what about the Booking stage?
- #38 So you managed to cover the Awareness & Interest stage, the Research stage and the comparison stage. But what about the Booking stage?
- #39 A user who has searched on a generic term and has seen your ad, will most probably search on your brand terms before booking. You NEED to show up for your brand terms
- #40 It could start a war. ROAS is not good. If you are not well known, it is a channel that could be used
- #42 Use the Display Network. The service that you are offering is highly experiential. Make sure you use image ads that have an aesthetic appeal
- #43 Use the Display Network. The service that you are offering is highly experiential. Make sure you use image ads that have an aesthetic appeal
- #44 Use the Display Network. The service that you are offering is highly experiential. Make sure you use image ads that have an aesthetic appeal
- #45 Use the Display Network. The service that you are offering is highly experiential. Make sure you use image ads that have an aesthetic appeal
- #46 Use the Display Network. The service that you are offering is highly experiential. Make sure you use image ads that have an aesthetic appeal
- #48 Whether your prices are high or low, adding it into the ad copy for generic terms always helps. Very high prices will deter non-affording audience from clicking on your ad and very competitive prices will help users realize that they can afford your hotel and book
- #54 Benchmark.
- #56 Since the buying cycle is very long, remarketing can prove to be a very useful tool. Remarketing duration can vary depending on type of hotel
- #57 What you can also use is Google’s Dynamic Remarketing. Using the same code across the website, tweaked a bit to capture some parameters, your remarketing ads could be completely customised for the user and actually interest him enough to eventually complete the booking he left incompleteSo you user picked a 2 night stay and said he had one child. Remarket to him with a family vacation offer or a stay 2 nights and get 2 free offerThe possibilities are endless
- #58 WAP site