Colliding Continents
For The Adventurer Within
Custom Search
Friends of World Heritage
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Focusing Travel Marketing Efforts
Data from STR Global suggests that the outlook for Hotels in 2009 may seem a little bleak given the current state of the world economy. Here are some take-aways:

- Room supply as a whole has increased while the demand for rooms has decreased. This will undoubtedly lead to a decrease in occupancy levels.

- Average Daily Rates (ADR) has increased 3.8% compared to last year. I would assume that this is in direct response to a decrease on occupancy.

- According to STR, upscale luxury hotels are weathering the economic storm the best in regards to demand while mid range hotels with food & beverage seem to be taking a hit.

Based on the numbers it is almost as if the state of the travel industry seems to be inherent across the board:
1. There is a lot of inventory
2. Demand is waning
3. Costs are increasing
4. Rates are not faltering
5. Customers want the most for their money; i.e. People would rather spend a little more and go farther than a little less and be closer to home...Customers would rather spend more on a luxury hotel than a mid range hotel etc.

Based on that knowledge alone, online marketers can focus their efforts on pushing products which call for a higher price point and emphasize the high "experience per dollar" ratio. The best place to attract potential customers would be at the research level of the purchasing decision process:

Problem Recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Purchase

Post-Purchase Behavior

It would be at the Information Search level that consumers in this market would be spending most of their time, looking for the best deal out there. Focusing AdSpend on Travel 2.0 (given the fact that people are relying more on Travel2.0 for suggestions ) could prove very beneficial for Hoteliers.

STR Global is the new market leader in providing data to the hospitality industry, they track data from over 35,000 hotels and 1,300 markets worldwide.
Written at 11:25 AM by Sebastien.
0 commentslinks to this post
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home