90 % to 95 % of their entire marketing budget on digital .”
Special RepoRt : Digital Marketing
day . It ’ s really a chance to be more fluid and develop a presence , real time .”
Santora adds that Omni still spends on print by targeting “ the right publications … where people are that in that dream stage of travel .” Omni also still uses some newspaper advertising to keep the company “ top of mind ” for things like annual Top 10 rankings .
In the digital world , hotel companies say they are focused on updating and creating new websites , using banner ads , search engine optimization , email marketing and other tools to keep their listings relevant .
Omni recently launched a new website that resembles a news site with constant updates about the brand . It is also creating new websites focused on the destinations where Omni has properties , not the hotels themselves . The first site was recently launched for Austin , Texas .
Similarly , Accor ’ s new website has a comprehensive destinations guide , and it is launching a new digital platform focused on mobile . Romain Roulleau , director of ecommerce for Accor , says the company is also unique in that it has videos of each and every one of its properties on the Internet .
Jumeirah ’ s digital and loyalty Vice President Ross McCauley says the company allocates a larger share of its marketing budget to video because of
“ We have some hotels that are spending
90 % to 95 % of their entire marketing budget on digital .”
– Chris JaCkson , GCommerCe solutions
the popularity of YouTube in its regions . In fact , Jumeirah ’ s YouTube channel has surpassed 5 million hits .
All that data Some of the biggest digital challenges , however , come as hotel companies venture into metasearch and big data . Global chains are leading the way , helped by the wealth of data from their millions of rewards members .
Starwood has a team of about
30 people from its call centers monitoring mentions of its brand on Twitter and Facebook in
11 languages ,
24 / 7 .
Jackson of GCommerce Solutions says he helps his clients with big data solutions by outsourcing to companies to help target consumers who have indicated intent to travel .
“ BlueKai is one of the largest aggregators of consumer data in the world ,” he says , noting it has data from all the major Fortune 500 companies to all the travel companies – from Expedia to airlines . “ What we do is integrate this third-party data to create segmented audiences . So if we have a hotel in Los Angeles , we identify consumers who have shown intent to travel to Los Angeles . … We want to find people who have either looked for tickets from New York to Los Angeles , or have recently bought in the last day or two , or who have purchased a rental car .”
Jackson adds that hotels can also pull consumers ’ past hotel purchase activity and household income to create a segmented audience that can be targeted with the best rates for their dates of travel , as well as spa specials , if the data shows they are spa enthusiasts .
“ It ’ s expensive , but not really as expensive as you might think ,” Jackson says . Such ads represent about a 20 % to 30 % increase in cost per impressions . “ But the campaigns are so much more targeted that the increase is totally offset by the returns .” Wyndham ’ s Pietrucha calls metasearch the “ new battleground .” Wyndham has data from 38 million rewards members that it can leverage on channels like Google to adjust its bids and messaging when their members start searching .
The biggest problem ? “ It ’ s a very open market and we are competing against our OTA partners and they have very large budgets that we really can ’ t match ,” Pietrucha says .
26 HOTELS January / February 2015 www . hotelsmag . com