do hotel brands still matter

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/do_hotel_brands_still_matter

A lot has been written and talked about hotel brand and price erosion in the past few months and years. Hotels have vocally expressed their disgruntlement about the commoditization caused by online travel agencies. Indeed the increase of online distribution in the hotel and travel industry has created a high level of price transparency and rate parity strategies contribute to the commoditization of the hotel product and services

For hotel industry, brand is an important means of attracting customers and expanding the fierce competition but recently this is not the only way to get more business

Other like travels websites  educate consumers that the only difference between  hotels and their competition is the price or rate. So the only thing they  can compete on in the end will be price.

So More consumers will be conditioned to wait as long as possible before booking. As a result hotels  have to sell more rooms as discounted rates.

Price levels erode and thus margins decline. As a result service levels and standards will need to be adjusted. Expectations of hotels repeated and new clients will not be met . They will not come back.

Complaints on travel websides  with public reviews  will lower the amount of bookings

As we can see, by long term and heavy price discounting hotels will end in a vicious circle that will only drive down prices even more. I think it very complicated strategy and it will really lead hotels to lose their history and their hotel  brand rename

how to use negative reviews to effect positive change in your hotel

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/how_to_use_negative_reviews_to_effect_positive_change_in_your_hotel
It is difficult to fully understand guest satisfaction without taking culture and demographics into consideration. When interpreting results, hospitality professionals must look at dissimilarities between different regions of the world, between different countries in the same region, and even states within the same country. The differences in expectations and perceptions of service, quality and value are often caused by the individual needs and social motives of guests, which relate to the cultural practices of guest’s daily lives. There are also behavioral and expectation related differences between an older and young guest demographic. In addition to cultural and demographical considerations that need to be made when measuring satisfaction, the interpersonal relationships that are established between employees and guests need to be understood. Lastly but not least, the emotions guest’s experience in relation to the service, product and value must be captured to complete a true picture of guest’s opinions.
Armed with a log-in account and numerous travel websites willing to give them a forum, customers are increasingly vocalizing their experiences online for other travelers to read. That's prompting more managers such as Bethel to respond quickly or fear losing business. Less than 4% of negative reviews on Trip Advisor get a response, according to Trip Advisor, which has more than 30 million reviews. But the review site says it saw a 203% explosion in responses from hotels last year.
Hotel managers may ignore customers' reviews at their peril, some analysts say. Others say they're just another way for hotels to find ways of improving operations. And those who are paying attention and responding to customers can earn some goodwill points at a time every room night counts.
Large hotel companies have always solicited customer surveys from guests. But they've relied mostly on numerical rankings and have rarely contained descriptive explanations.
Managers still regularly receive customer survey scores tabulated by the headquarters, but online reviews are being used to improve training, adjust restaurant and staffing hours and add or remove amenities
In September, Hilton began testing a software tool at "hundreds of hotels" that will aggregate reviews and comments on websites, blogs and other social-media sites, including Twitter,
Starwood Hotels and nearly 300 full-service Marriott and Marriott-brand hotels also use Review Analyst to manage online content; It monitors more than a dozen websites, including Trip Advisor, Priceline, Flicker and YouTube. Hotel managers can also set certain phrases — bedbugs, discrimination, eviction, police, security — that require immediate attention.
•Joie de Vivre Hotels, Rosewood Hotels, InterContinental Hotels and Kimpton Hotels also use a similar product, developed by San Francisco-based Revinate.
Clarendon Hotels' Bethel isn't using any outside help but has set his Google Reader to receive automatic alerts from popular travel websites.

A big majority of customer feedback, 70%, is "positive," , another firm that compiles online reviews for hotels. "But," "if 30% is unhappy that’s still a large percentage. They call it a tidal wave of whispers."
Hotels have adopted different ways of responding to the tidal wave.
Negative reviews are compiled daily and forwarded to appropriate departmental leaders who are "required to respond within 24 hours."
Some hotels hired a communications director t, whose duties will include handling reviews. "
Marriott has a set of "best practices» and has been sending trainers to hotels to help employees understand social media,
This is a tricky issue for review sites. To prevent hotel owners from being overly aggressive in soliciting positive reviews, Trip Advisor has a policy prohibiting hotels from offering incentives or discounts in exchange for reviews. Trip Advisor also says it has other ways to ensure reviews are legitimate, and not written by employees or competitors.
Some websites, such as Expedia and Hotels.com, allow managers to respond publicly but won't provide guests' direct contact information,
Others, such as VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner), let vacation rental home owners remove customer reviews they don't like. But VRBO says it's changing its customer review policy starting today, letting guests leave reviews on the site without having them first read by owners. VRBO says it will remove only reviews found to be fraudulent, libelous and containing profanity.
Reviews with specific data should spur hotels into action, to fix things and develop services and human behaviors

The Groves Hotel London Vs Sanderson Hotel London

The grove hotel london Vs Sanderson Hotel

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expedia on how to grow your adr without impacting occupancy

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/expedia_on_how_to_grow_your_adr_without_impacting_occupancy/
Hotels industry is knows from a long time ago by lows of ADR and occupancy
however as the article explain and analyze the ADR can be increased if we do concentrate on OTA channels since hotels do sale rooms with the best available rate instead of contracted rates which are fixed and with that way of thinking they can increase rates since prices are more or less higher.
the article as well treat the problem of slow periods and here we have to be smart to anticipate need dates so hotels can use advance purchase promotions to fill their rooms further ahead as long as the dates and the rates are fixed correctly and smartly instead of waiting the last minute to pick up the occupancy
If still hotels have last minute rooms better to use opaque channels to sale safely than to decrease their prices to minimum just to book up their hotels
As well and from my previous field experience is totally correct to use add values to sale rooms than to drop rates and that very effective
We have to take in consideration that the OTA channels are the tools to sale rooms over all periods even during the peak one and it very wrong to close them on those periods with the reason of cutting distribution cost
hotel management has to stop upgrading guest for free they have to choose the right reason for that since they can use their suites to upgrade their ADR by proposing promotional offers to sale them by pushing guest to book suites than standards rooms
i think if we will implement correctly those strategy we can do effect ADR positively without decreasing occupancy

Le Quartier Bastille Le Faubourg Hotel

Le quartier bastille le faubourg hotel

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Rate parity discussion crosses the pond

i think the strategy of using the Rate parity it very useful and fair for the hotels that are situated in same city in order to get their market share
offering same rate through the internet or by phone or directly build a strong confidante relationship between the hotels and their customers
in addition all the ways and tools of internet will be useful and helpful since all of them offer same rate.
on the other side this strategy can make hotels losing their regular guests or guests who like to feel special and different by having specials deal however from my field experience still we can negotiate that directly carefully and discreetly with the exceptional clients
this strategy attract people to book more by internet instead of using other facilities which will push hotels in the future to replace employees by the technology.

Marketing jobs
Data collection and analysis is so central to marketing, For example, many data analytics jobs related to marketing require that we have to  be familiar with  various statistical modeling and analytical methodologies. If we scan these jobs, we  will discover what sort of expertise they are most interested in. If we  are familiar with things like multi-variant analysis or statistical regression
nbsp;There is an ongoing demand for people who know how to apply quantitative analysis to the web and to translate the data gathered by monitoring web traffic, etc. into actionable business insights
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Marketing managers determine the strategy for promoting and selling an organization's products or services. A bachelor's degree in marketing or business is recommended for most marketing manager positions.

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In designing and implementing a marketing strategy for an organization, a marketing manager determines demand, analyzes the competition, identifies the customer, develops pricing strategies, ensures customer satisfaction, oversees development and assesses the need for new products or services. Marketing managers work closely with advertising and promotions managers as well as product development and sales managers in order to ensure that all components are in line with the overall marketing strategy.

Occupational Outlook for a Marketing Manager
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, www.bls.gov, the mean annual salary for marketing managers was well over $113,000 in May of 2007, with the highest paying positions in the department store, financial and social advocacy industries. Job growth for marketing managers is expected to continue growing at an average rate over the next decade, although job seekers may face competition for highly sought-after positions. Candidates with Internet marketing skills may have an advantage.

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Most job postings for marketing managers list a bachelor's degree as a minimum requirement. Degrees in marketing and business administration are preferable and usually provide the background in management, finance, economics and statistics that is necessary for most marketing manager positions. Employers generally prefer to hire candidates with previous marketing experience for their management positions. Graduate degrees or certifications, such as the Certified Marketing Executive (CME) designation offered by Sales & Marketing Executives International, Inc., www.smei.org, are not required but may be advantageous when competing for a top-level position.