TECHNOLOGY : WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
THE NEW
BRAND . COM
Hotels are emphasizing booking , digital concierges and targeted marketing on their websites .
by ADAM KIRBY , CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
UPSELL
The best hotels excel at understanding their guests ’ wants and needs and providing a highly personalized stay experience . The same holds true for successful hotel websites .
Hotel websites are increasingly leveraging digital data and offering customizable booking options to deliver relevant content and meaningful promotional information . Targeted marketing pitches and flexible booking widgets can mean the difference between a confirmed reservation and just another homepage bounce .
When Coast Hotels completely revamped CoastHotels . com last year as part of a larger brand relaunch , the company focused first on the website ’ s literal moneymaker : the booking widget . Market research found guests ’ top concerns were site navigability and a streamlined , intuitive booking process .
Vancouver-based Coast implemented a booking panel with a real-time rate and availability calendar . Users input their desired destination , dates and number of travelers , and the six-step reservation progressively builds on screen . “ Guests wanted that visual experience , but they wanted to be led through the process as well ,” says Sarah Kirby Yung , executive director of marketing and communication for Coast . A customization tab within the booking widget features packages and à la carte add-ons such as breakfast , parking or pet-friendly stay .
Coast is in the minority of hotel groups boasting built-in capability to incorporate add-ons . The upselling of ancillary purchase options and room upgrade pitches is perhaps the hotel industry ’ s greatest source of untapped online revenue .
The dominant force in online upselling is Nor1 , a Silicon Valley firm whose eStandby software solution delivers soft offers for room upgrades , inviting guests to book more expensive rooms at steep discounts — but only if those higher room types go unsold prior to check-in . Nor1 uses predictive analytics to parse terabytes ’ worth of previous customer data , delivering algorithm-generated , individually targeted upsell offers . Nor1 ’ s global client list now includes Hilton Worldwide , Meliá Hotels International , Hyatt Hotels Corp . and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts , and the company has recently expanded eStandby to include ancillary offers and even mobile intrastay pitches .
Nor1 client Kempinski Hotels , Geneva , embraces upsell as part of brand-site campaigns throughout the year . “ We are collaborating with Nor1 to better automate the room-category upsell process by offering post-booking options of personalized upselling offers to the guests ,” says Riko van Santen , Kempinski Hotels vice president of
www . hotelsmag . com October 2013 HOTELS 53