HotelsMag October 2013 | Page 58

TECHNOLOGY : WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

ASSESSING

WORDPRESS

WordPress is best known as the world ’ s most popular blogging platform , but a growing number of hoteliers are employing the open source content management system for a much more intensive purpose : as the backbone of the hotel ’ s entire online presence . Hotels as diverse as the boutique Hotel Beaux Arts Miami and Las Vegas icon Riviera Hotel & Casino have jumped on the WordPress bandwagon for the platform ’ s flexibility and its accessibility for novices .
Aqua Hotels and Resorts uses WordPress to power its property-level websites because it allows the
management company to publish relatively complex , easily updatable pages without needing to employ a full-time IT staff . “ We manage 24 websites , and we also manage all the aspects of performance marketing on the web , so WordPress has been valuable for us ,” says Lisa Bankston , corporate director of online marketing for Honolulu-based Aqua . “ It ’ s very user-friendly — it doesn ’ t require a ton of technical knowhow — so people can make template changes and transition new properties into our portfolio , within a day in some cases .”
A trove of free widgets are available for use on WordPress sites , so in terms of functionality , there is not much the platform cannot handle . Bankston says this simplifies adding new features to Aqua ’ s websites .
Travel industry e-marketing consultant Vikram
Singh , CEO of Illinois-based Evision Worldwide , says the inherent customizability of WordPress offers hotels more long-term control over marketing and branding . “ It ’ s crucial more than ever for hotels to own their digital marketing machine ,” Singh says . “ Your website is the biggest place you ’ re going to market your hotel .”
However , the countless widgets that make customizing a WordPress site easy and robust are also the platform ’ s biggest weakness , critics say , because hackers and spammers are constantly scanning these widgets for vulnerabilities . Security patches often address vulnerabilities before any hackers discover them , but a compromised website can become a spam- and virus-spewing entity that could lead to it being blocked by search engines .
“ WORDPRESS HAS BEEN VALUABLE
FOR US . IT IS VERY USER-FRIENDLY … PEOPLE CAN MAKE TEMPLATE CHANGES AND TRANSITION NEW PROPERTIES INTO OUR PORTFOLIO , WITHIN A DAY IN SOME CASES .”
— LISA BANKSTON , AQUA HOTELS AND RESORTS
is more likely to appeal to the wouldbe guest . “ Other industries , like the airline industry , are already customizing the user experience based on who you are — this is what ’ s missing in our industry ,” says Max Starkov , president and CEO of New York City-based Hospitality eBusiness Solutions .
Cookies used by Jumeirah . com focus exclusively on user experience and basic web tools . But as user content expectations become more personalized , guests will require an individualized content experience every time they log in , Kane says . “ Therefore , we consistently review the opportunities that software solutions offer , particularly location-based services and social , and constantly assess their value to our guests ’ experience first and foremost ,” he notes .
Cookies also can help avoid one pitfall that still plagues a surprising number of hotel websites : an inability to remember previously input booking data . “ The less sophisticated booking engines have problems in which if you want to back up to the previous screen , they ’ ll drop information rather than retaining it ,” says John Burns , president of Hospitality Technology Consulting , Scottsdale . “ Sometimes you can ’ t get information about the hotel or photos unless you go out of the booking engine , so it ’ s like a trap door you fall down in a booking engine , and you lose access to the reservation .”
Display areas set aside for cookiebased targeted content are inserted throughout the redesigned Hyatt . com . Dynamic content is based on country of origin , browser language or the user ’ s loyalty tier level , among other identifiable factors . On a hotel ’ s homepage , for instance , the masthead , feature strip and right rail promotion slots can all present targeted content . Since the top-to-bottom relaunch of Hyatt . com last year , the number of visitors who wind up booking a reservation has increased 29 %, while the homepage bounce rate is down 26 %.
Kempinski . com uses the Adobe SiteCatalyst program to analyze cookies and track user behavior in an effort to enhance their experience and deliver relevant content . Kempinski also adds tracking codes to special offers and specific pages that require extra data crunching . “ We now better utilize the information our loyal guests have provided us in order to customize our offers to better suit their wishes ,” van Santen says .
This means combining CRM data , guest reviews and behavior data and putting it into use at the various distribution points . “ The greatest impact these strategies and tools have on the business is possibly their ability to better measure the return on investment ,” van Santen says . “ The web usage is measurable , and the beauty of it is that every action taken can be analyzed to better understand its result , learn from it and anticipate the guests ’ needs and response .”
56 HOTELS October 2013 www . hotelsmag . com