Google released a neat interactive infographic that explains the five satges of travel guests take when planning a trip. Click on each stage to learn more about it (scroll down to see the infographic).

Trip Planning Infographic Transcript

Step 1: Dreaming

Travelers love to dream about their next vacation.

• Around 50% of travelers brainstormed or started thinking about a trip online in 2011.
• Travelers who report researching online after seeing an add in 2011:

• 49% (leisure)
• 60% (business)

• 68% are thinking about a trip
• 70% are choosing a destination

Step 2: Planning

Travelers rely on the online space to plan travel.

• 85% of leisure travelers consider the Internet their main source for planing travel.
• The average traveler visits around 22 travel-related sites during 9.5 research sessions prior to booking.
• Percent of travelers who use the Internet for travel research:

• 62% (leisure)
• 69% (business)

Step 3: Booking

Travelers are increasingly booking via the Internet, with greater transparency and options.

• 53% of travelers plan to increase comparison shopping this year.
• Travelers that say they include leisure time on their business trips:

• 35% (in 2008)
• 53% (in 2011)

• 28% (in 2009)
• 37% (in 2011)

Step 4: Experiencing

Travelers expect a more informed and collaborative travel experience, driven especially by the growing functionlity of mobile devices.

• Over 50% of travelers use mobile phones or other mobile devices for travel-related information.
• Travelers who use mobile devices for travel-related information:

• 53% (leisure)
• 70% (business)

• 47% (leisure)
• 70% (business)

• 19.5% – Hotel queries
• 12% – Flight queries
• 11.7% – Cruise queries
• 11.4% – Car rental queries

Step 5: Sharing

Travelers are sharing more about their own trips, leading to more onlien content that wuill inspire others to dream.

• 32% of business travelers post reviews online of the places they have been.
• Travelers who have uploaded a video related to past travel:

• 11% (leisure)
• 26% (business)

• 53% (leisure)
• 52% (business)

• 49% (leisure)
• 57% (business)

How to Plan a Trip

How to Plan a Trip – The Five Stages of Travel as seen on

Clientes em Destaque – Hotel Maredomus, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

O Hotel Maredomus é o nosso primeiro cliente na belíssima Praia de Iracema em Fortaleza, no Ceará. O Diretor do Hotel, Rogério F., entrou em contato conosco através da nossa “avaliação grátis” para o aplicativo para Facebook buuteeq. O hotel estava com o site do hotel em construção há alguns anos, mas o projeto não saia do papel. Após fecharmos a assinatura para o Maredomus, nós botamos no ar o site e site otimizado para aparelhos móveis em menos de 1 mês.

O Hotel agora tem um site com uma ótima arquitetura da informação e total controle da administração do conteúdo, podendo mudar textos, promoções, fotos e publicar no momento que quiser. Sem falar da ferramenta de análise que mostra dados em tempo real do desempenho do site tais como: os links que fazem mais sucesso, número de visitantes, países que o site recebe visitas e etc. O Rogério como um bom administrador de um hotel de 80 quartos que já é o maior sucesso, vai poder usar essa ferramenta para suas estratégias de marketing.

Nós estamos muitos felizes em ter o Maredomus utilizando o nosso sistema de marketing digital e fazer parte das nossas histórias de sucesso. E temos  a certeza que com um Diretor dinâmico e eficiente como o Rogério no comando do sistema, o Maredomus vai receber cada vez mais reservas diretas. Confira as fotos abaixo e veja com seus próprios olhos os resultados do novo sistema de marketing digital oferecido por buuteeq para o Hotel Maredomus. Ou então acesse o site do Maredomus.

Clientes em Destaque – Hotel Maredomus, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil as seen on

Last month, Google released a number of algorithm changes—called Pandas 3.5 & 6 and Penguin—that have changed the way online marketers approach SEO forever. Many small businesses have reported significant losses due to decreased search rankings, and others are using SEO tactics that could put them in danger of a penalty from Google. In this webinar we explain these changes and offer 5 tips on using analytics to protect yourself from Google’s recent updates.

Have a question? Contact us!

info@buuteeq.com

Hotel SEO – Google Penguin Video

(The slides begin about 9 minutes in).

Hotel SEO – Google Penguin Slideshow Presentation

Hotel SEO – Google Penguin Webinar Questions

Q. Are blog feeds that publish to Facebook considered duplicate content?
A. Not for your blog or property. There are many websites that publish blog RSS feeds, and you’re website won’t get penalized for ‘duplicate content’ because of them. Google is very good at discovering which website is the original author of the content. See our other article on consistent content.

Q. My association website hosted elsewhere was once the 1st result on Google but is now the 24th. I have removed anything Google might consider manipulative. When will Google send the bots to re-crawl my website?
A. It could be a day, or a month. I suggest you contact Google directly about the issue using this form.

Q. How do I see my backlinks?
A. There are a number of great tools out there! Here are a few I use:

• Open Site Explorer
• Majestic SEO
• ahrefs
• Google Webmaster Tools

Q. I’ve heard that Google doesn’t like it when you link back to a website that links to you. Is this true?
A. Yes and no. The back-link will be worth more to you if you don’t link back to them. However, it is often seen as polite to link back to real people who link to you, especially if they are a local business you know and trust. Google only penalizes websites that constantly link to each other if they think the websites are part of a link network designed to manipulate Google results.

Q. How much should I worry about ‘exact-match’ anchor text?
A. I’d avoid it when possible. Google only penalizes you for using exact-match anchor text if they detect that you are manipulating your linkscape to rank well for a specific keyword. If 50-60% of your back-links have exact-match anchor text, then this is a red flag to Google, and they may penalize you. If only 20% or so of your back-links have exact-match anchor text, then I wouldn’t worry too much.

Hotel SEO – Google Penguin Webinar Transcript

(Coming Soon!)

Webinar: Google Penguin – Hotel SEO as seen on

I had the pleasure of visiting an absolutely lovely pair of luxury boutique properties in Spain’s southern Andalusia region that are owned and managed by a family with a long tradition in the Seville region.  I must preface this post by noting that it will be impossible through photography here, or elaborate prose, to capture just how wonderful each of these properties is–they must be visited to be fully appreciated!

First I visited the Hacienda de San Rafael, , a (still operating as a sunflower) family farm that has been converted into a gem of a off-the-beaten-path yet still-near-everything luxurious retreat with a mixture of uniquely decorated rooms, casitas, and (soon to open) ultra-plush private villas.  I was particularly impressed with the unique decor and vibe in each of the “stable rooms” that surround a central courtyard, originally a horse stable.  The common living room and dinning rooms are lovely and filled with unique art pieces and cultural accents from the farming community and Andalusian environs.  In addition to the luxurious rooms there are private casita style rooms that surround a private pool (as if the principal pool courtyard was not already exclusive-icious enough), and i had the chance to do a construction walk-through of some amazing full blown private villas (eg: square footage of most homes) which are coming online later this summer and will offer the next tier of space/comfort/privacy with expansive views out all windows of the countryside and dashing contrast with the blue sky that abounds.

Hacienda de San Rafael Central Patio

One of the many luxurious rooms, each with special attention and unique art pieces

After an extensive walk-through and sucking in of the energy/good-vibes (along with chatting up some of the guests that were chilling by the pool and reading their novels in the living room) we had a A-Z chat about various local hospitality market dynamics, European luxury travel trends, and the fascinating history of the Hacienda with the owner operators Anthony and Patrick.  They have been running the property for nearly 20 years and have taken the project from a rustic raw product into an ever manicured and elegantly appointed gem.  The surrounding landscape and gardens are absolutely impeccable, as is the service and personalized attention that they offer guests (i got to overhear several “aha” moments as various guests-staff interactions took place around spa, tour, dinning, and gin-tonic moments.

From left to right: Forest Key (buuteeq ceo) and Hacienda del Rey owner/managers Anthony and Patrick.

After our tapas and beers we took the 45 minute drive into Seville and made our way to the sister property Corral del Rey, which is hidden (charmingly) along one of the many narrow winding streets of the Santa Cruz (historical city center) neighborhood.  The Corral offers the “ultra plush” yet understated charms of fine art decor, craftsman tile/brick and carpentry details throughout, and the “this is why i came to Seville/Spain” unique interior architecture replete with interior narrow sky-wells, rooftop terraces, and my favorite–a “cave” basement that is outfitted for private parties and entertains weekly Flamenco showings in the most intimate/close-quarter setting imaginable.

We are thrilled to be supporting these two properties with our Cloud DMS solution for online marketing, and based on their particular charms and some of the unique needs and opportunities in the european luxury market, we are planning to add quite a few new bells and whistles to our platform to push things up a notch (we need to keep up with such amazing on-property and in-room service!)  Thank you Patrick and Anthony for hosting me, i returned from my visit completely energized (“psyched” as we say in the USA) and i now have a new high-mark in my mind when I think “luxury boutique” or “magical Seville”!  Gracias.

Corral del Rey, Seville Spain luxury boutique hotel's interior patio

The basement "cave" for private events, lounging, and weekly Flamenco shows in the most intimate of settings! Ole!

Magical luxury hotels in Andalusia Spain as seen on

Recientemente Google lanzó dos novedades: Panda 3.5 y Penguin. Panda 3.5, que se terminó de lanzar el 19 de abril, tiene por objetivo eliminar o devaluar el contenido de baja calidad, y Penguin, que terminó de lanzarse el 24 de abril, fue creado para regular el spam. Después de varios días y muchas etapas de actualizaciones, las dos herramientas están completas.

¿Cómo se ve afectado usted por estas actualizaciones? Dr. Pete en SEOmoz, lo resume así:

Si vio una pérdida de tráfico entre el jueves 24 y el viernes 25 de abril, hay grandes posibilidades de que Penguin tenga que ver en el problema.

Algunos sitios web sufrieron sanciones antes del día 19 de abril, como una preparación de Google para el lanzamiento de Penguin, lo que explica por qué algunos hoteleros, fuera de buuteeq, con los que conversé, vieron un descenso en sus rankings de búsqueda, tal como Modesto Siotos explica:

A pesar de que Google anunció el lanzamiento de Penguin para el 24 de abril de 2012, los cambios en el link de evaluación del sistema de Google han sido notorios desde varias semanas antes del lanzamiento al público.

Al parecer, nuestro tráfico ha continuado siendo constante; más activo durante la semana y más lento los fines de semana, como es común en los negocios online. Curiosamente, nuestro tráfico orgánico fue levemente mayor de lo usual el día 24, cuando Penguin fue lanzado.

Revisé varios sitios de nuestros clientes y todos ellos mostraron resultados alentadores. Aquí está el tráfico de abril de uno de nuestros clientes Bed & Breakfast de Estados Unidos:

Las visitas a su sitio web comenzaron a aumentar luego del lanzamiento de Panda 3.5 el día 19 de abril y se incrementaron unos días después de la puesta en marcha de Penguin el día 24. Su tráfico es mayor ahora, luego de las novedades de Google, lo que es de esperarse ya que Google quiere premiar al tráfico de buena calidad, no al spam.

Similares resultados encontré con nuestros clientes internacionales. Aquí, un ejemplo del tráfico de uno de nuestros tantos clientes chilenos.

Nuevamente, los gráficos muestran diferencias normales entre el tráfico de días de semana y fines de semana. El día 19 mostró un tráfico normal, el día 24 fue el tercer día con mejor tráfico del mes, y repuntaron a principios de mayo. Claramente salieron ilesos del lanzamiento de Panda y Penguin.

Por desgracia, no todos fueron tan afortunados. Los expertos en SEO estiman que las empresas más pequeñas fueron las más afectadas. Tal como el profesional de SEO Carlos Fernandes comentó con frustración en el blog SEOmoz:

Todo lo que ellos (Google) hacen es alimentar y promover el crecimiento de una cada vez más grande comunidad de SEO’s  y webmasters, por lo que están constantemente “persiguiéndose la cola” – mientras los más afectados son las empresas pequeñas, que están tratando de entender por qué su teléfono no está sonando.

Debido a que las empresas pequeñas tienen un presupuesto limitado para destinar a publicidad, es muy tentador para ellos escoger comprar backlinks baratos. Tal como vimos en un artículo anterior, comprarlos es como jugar con fuego, y Penguin fue lanzado específicamente para combatir este tipo de tácticas de spam. Las siguientes son técnicas de optimización excesivas por las que, según muchos conocedores de SEO, usted podría ser penalizado por Penguin (cortesía de Dr. Pete):

Qué hay que evitar

Demasiada exactitud en la coincidencia del texto

Digamos que el texto clave que usted quiere posicionar es “Bed and breakfast en Seattle”, por lo tanto, usted compra un vínculo o le pide vínculos a sus amigos, y se asegura de que el texto donde la gente hará clic para llegar a su página web diga “Bed and breakfast en Seattle”. Este es el texto clave y, como son las palabras exactas por las que usted espera posicionarse, es un texto clave de coincidencia exacta. En su justa medida, esta práctica está bien; en exceso, es un gran signo de alerta.

Abusar de los dominios de coincidencia exacta

Asimismo, los dominios de coincidencia exacta son aquellos cuyos nombres coinciden perfectamente con las palabras clave. Por lo que en lugar de usar “MiMarca.com” se prefiere “BedandBreakfastSeattle.com”. Ahora Google ve las coincidencias exactas como una manipulación de SEO, lo que es realmente frustrante, ya que por años algunas personas han tenido dominios de coincidencia exacta y lo hicieron sin intenciones de manipular los resultados de búsqueda de Google.

Así que, si usted tiene un dominio de coincidencia exacta, ¿Qué tan asustado debería estar? Bueno, ingrese en el Analytics 360 de buuteeq o en Google Analytics y revise su tráfico orgánico entre el 19 y 24 de abril; si no fue afectado por una caída en el tráfico durante esos días, puede estar tranquilo. Recuerde, Google está intentando combatir el spam y está buscando diferentes técnicas de manipulación de SEO antes de comenzar a sancionar. Si usted tiene un dominio de coincidencia exacta, pero el contenido de su sitio es muy bueno, no debería preocuparse.

Artículos de marketing y blog spam de baja calidad

Los blogs siempre han sido una excelente herramienta para generar vínculos hacia su sitio, lamentablemente algunas personas escriben reseñas muy malas y las postean en sitios de baja calidad, en lugar de usar blogs legítimos y conocidos. Google no solamente se fija en cuántos links tiene usted y qué textos con coincidencia exacta vienen de esos links, sino que también se fija en la calidad de los sitios web de los cuales vienen esos vínculos. Con Penguin, aumentó el riesgo de que sea penalizado cuando se generen vínculos a su página desde sitios web de baja calidad.

Llenar de palabras clave los vínculos internos y externos

Cross linking (vincular otras páginas en su sitio web) y back linking (que otras páginas web tengan vínculos hacia su página) es muy importante, pero saturar con palabras clave el texto de sus links, es lo que ahora es considerado una técnica de spam por Google y lo que se está eliminando. En lugar de usar como texto clave “Bed & Breakfast en Seattle Lago Unión B&B”, intente usar una frase que no parezca spam como “…como puede leer en nuestro sitio web de Bed & Breakfast en Seattle”, o bien, “síganos en el blog de nuestro Bed & Breakfast, acerca de nuestra propiedad en Seattle”. Ambos ejemplos son bastante largos y lo más probable es que usted quiera escribir algo más breve, pero estos ejemplos se leen de forma más natural y ese es justamente el fin.

Es evidente que Google está tomando medidas drásticas para promover la creación más natural de vínculos y sitios web; y está desalentando las técnicas agresivas de SEO.

La moraleja de esta historia es no gastar tiempo en SEO. Preocúpese de escribir contenido de calidad, promueva su contenido por medio de blogs de calidad, amigos y socios, y construya lentamente su presencia online para evitar castigos de Google.

Para leer más:

• SEO – Atravesando el velo – buuteeq (artículo en inglés)
• Tips para recuperarse de Penguin – Search Engine Land (artículo en inlgés)
• Pingüinos, Pandas y Pánico en el Zoológico – SEOmoz (artículo en inglés)

Las sanciones de Google Penguin para hostales y hoteleros as seen on

The Department of Justice Seal

On March 15^th 2012, hotels and inns listed as ‘public accommodations and commercial facilities’ were expected by the U.S. government to conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (ADA). These expectations extend to both large hotel chains and franchises as well as to smaller inns and bed & breakfasts. To read the requirements for your property type, check out the government’s official handbook which it published here:

2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design – For Public Accommodations

The handbook is thick. I’ll provide a quick summary, but please read the document yourself to know exactly what you need to do for your property before taking any action. Some of the requirements include:

• Making publicly accessible portions of private dwellings (B&Bs) ADA compliant.
• Make all lobbies, hallways and other large rooms accessible by Americans with disabilities (including ramps, larger doors and so on).
• Offer some rooms that are ADA compliant, with special attention paid to bathrooms.

The government also requires that innkeepers and hoteliers communicate the steps taken on their marketing materials, including their website. Thankfully, with buuteeq you can log into our BackOffice and make all of these changes quickly and easily across all your marketing materials. The information you’re required to post about your ADA compliance includes:

• Any ADA amenities and services you provide (accessible entrances, wheelchair accessible rooms, and so on). This can be an article page that lists everything you’ve done to become ADA compliant.
• Every room listing and description must have detailed information about how it is ADA compliant, including:
  • The type of room it is
  • The number and size of beds it has
  • The type of bathing facility it has–shower or bath, handrails, roll-in shower, etc.
  • Room communication features (phone, intercom, hands free devices, etc.)
  • The handbook also says that these changes must be communicated on your booking engine, as well as your website.

If you are a buuteeq client, log in to the back office to update your marketing materials to notify your guests of these changes, and please read the handbook itself for complete information.

ADA Standards for Hotels, Inns and B&Bs – Americans with Disabilities Act as seen on

¡Hotel CostAustralis y buuteeq: Ganadores de la Silver Distinction en The Communicator Awards!

The Communicator Awards es un importante certamen que lleva casi dos décadas premiando a las grandes ideas en el área de las comunicaciones y el marketing.

Año a año, más de 6.000 compañías y agencias de todos los tamaños participan de esta premiación, convirtiendo a The Communicator Awards en el galardón más influyente en su categoría. 

La selección de los ganadores es llevada a cabo por la International Academy of Visual Arts, entidad que congrega en su equipo a ejecutivos de las más importantes organizaciones, como lo son Airtype Studio, Big Spaceship, Conde Nast, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, Lockheed Martin, MTV Networks, Pitney Bowes, rabble+rouser, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Time, Inc, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, y Yahoo!

En buuteeq estamos muy orgullosos haber resultado merecedores de la Silver Distinction por el sitio web del Hotel CostAustralis en dos categorías: Sitios Web: Hoteles y Sitios Web: Atractivo Visual.

¡Felicitaciones a Hotel CostAustralis y a buuteeq por este merecido premio!

Más información

¡Felicitaciones a Hotel CostAustralis y buuteeq! as seen on

I visited London last week and had a wonderful time checking in with various mentors and partners in the region.  My trip started with a high-tea at the hotel where princess Kate slept before her wedding, the Goring Hotel in the Belgravia neighborhood.  Over cucumber sandwiches and such I had a wonderful and diverse-subject chat with Joss Kent, the CEO of &beyond, a overland Africa and India adventure travel (eg: safari) company.  Joss is very popular with the doorman at the hotel, seen below raving about what a gentleman Joss is (Joss on left, doorman, me on right):

I then had a chance to visit the offices of Crispin Porter Bogusky where my friend Darin Brown is the managing director for their European offices.  He and the team were hard at work on a pitch so it was extra fun to see the creative energy flowing around various white boards and storyboards for different ideas.

More English Tea-time with buuteeq’s partner for Africa region properties, Classic Representation, which provides marketing services to luxury and exotic lodges in Africa (as an example, the Kurland Lodge).  Alicia and Suzanne were lovely hosts at the epic “english tea lounge” The Wolseley where I had my first dish of Kedgeree (rice with smoked fish and eggs, apparently devised by Englishmen on tour of duty in India sometime back in colonial history).  Alicia is rapidly becoming a buuteeq Cloud DMS domain expert and i’m excited to see what we can do together to delight African properties in the year ahead.

Next up and of great fun for me was a visit to one of the best luxury boutique OTAs in the industry, Mr. and Mrs. Smiths, who have a remarkably similar office layout complete with projected realtime dashboard showing traffic/bookings/etc. conversions on the “big wall”.  I’m a huge admirer of Mr. and Mrs. Smiths, both for their great online content and curated list of amazing properties around the world, and as a consumer, as an inspirational list of eventual travel destinations I hope to visit!

And rounding out my visit I had a chance to meet Yunna, Mark (pictured below), and Peter at Evolution Distribution which has been integrating buuteeq’s Cloud DMS with their Evolution CRS product and other marketing services from parent company Great Hotel of the World.

Thanks everyone for hosting me and the lively conversations at the tea-room or pub (it seems that everything happens in London at one or the other?)

London Calling — my visit with our partners & friends in England as seen on

We’ve partnered with Killer Infographics to produce this hotel marketing infographic that combines some of the best hotel marketing knowledge out there with buuteeq’s unique insights. Here are some of the key things to take away from our research:

• It is cheaper to gain an online booking from your website than from both online travel agencies (OTAs) and phone bookings.
• Hotels that engage with social media increase bookings, while those that ignore it lose bookings.
• The largest margin of profit comes from mobile bookers.
• Social media campaigns encourage more bookings than traditional email campaigns.

Hotel Marketing Infographic

Click on image to view a larger version.

Add This Infographic to Your Site
<a href='http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/infographic-hotel-digital-marketing-web-mobile-social/'><img src='http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Infographic-Mobile-And-Social-Optimization-For-Hotels.jpg' width='500'/></a><br /><a href='http://www.buuteeq.com/hotel-web-design'>Hotel Marketing Infographic by buuteeq</a>

Hotel Marketing Infographic Transcript:

Hotel Digital Marketing – Web, Mobile and Social

As mobile technology advances and the world of social media expands, more and more hotels are turning towards the internet to increase revenue and generate greater brand awareness. In this wild world of Twitter, SEO and analytics, failure to adopt early is social suicide. See how the most social-savvy hotels are marketing themselves in this exploding market.

A New Frontier

The Migration of Hotel Services to Online Offerings

Online travel agents cost hotel operators about $2,5 billion in 2010

• Each booking from an online travel agency costs the hotel between $40 and $120.
• Online bookings cost between $2 and $6.
• Phone bookings cost between $6 and $10.
• 61% of Internet users in the US research travel online before purchasing.
• The percent of hotel bookings that took place online: 2000, 1%. 2010, 50+%.
• Bottom line: Bookings made from a property’s website cost less.

Social Media Presence

How to win customers and influence brand identity

• 7 in 10 Americans consider reviews before making purchases.
• Social sharing significantly improves hotel site exposure.
• Only 40% of hotels enable social sharing.
• Hotels with social sharing experienced a 12% increase in pageviews over three months.
• Hotels without sharing experienced a 2% decrease in pageviews over three months.
• 27% of hotels offer live chat.

Give People What They Want

What content is most popular on hotel Facebook pages?

• Hotel Features Rooms, Photos, etc… .31%
• Contests: .25%
• Company News & Events: .20%
• Local Tourism: .10%
• Promotions & Deals: .15%

10% of hoteliers offer full booking capabilities on their Facebook page.

Hotel adoption of social media strategies

• Global & Property Pages: Facebook 2011, 73%; 2012, 95%. Twitter 2011, 56%; 2012, 70%.
• Property Pages Only: Facebook 2011, 7%; 2013, 2%. Twitter 2011, 12%; 2012, 10%.
• Global Pages Only: Facebook 2011, 5%; 2012, 2%. Twitter 2011, 8%; 2012, 20%.
• No Presence: Facebook 2011, 15%; 2012, 0%. Twitter 2011, 24%; 2012, 0%.

Hotels with the greatest growth rate of Facebook ‘likes’; Feb 2011-Feb 2012:

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts: 101%
• Radisson: 63%
• Park Hyatt: 33%
• Concorde Hotels & Resorts: 30%
• InterContinental Hotels & Resorts: 22%
• Conrad Hotels & Resorts: 21%
• Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts: 19%
• Renaissance Hotels: 16%
• Hotel Indigo: 16%
• Sofitel: 14%

Spreading Their Social Seeds

• 63% of hotels are on Google+
• 58% of hotels are on Foursquare
• 19% of hotels are on Instagram
• 17% of hotels are on Pinterest
• 13% of hotels are on tumblr

Hotels Gone Mobile

Keeping customers engaged with branded hotel content

• Hospitality is the #2 industry for mobile engagement (behind retail)
• 2/3rds of hotel brands support a mobile-optimized site with mobile booking functionality
• Largest profit margins come from mobile users: 70% of mobile bookings are more expensive same-day bookings
• Mobile services have led to an 18% increase for in-room dining orders

Hotel Examples

• MGM’s mobile phone apps (downloaded 800,000+ times) allow users to:
• make reservations
• buy show tickets
• order room service
• enjoy geo-targeted content and offers

iPads allow guests to

• control temperature and lighting
• order room service
• arrange car services
• make restaurant reservations
• set spa appointments

A Growing Industry

• Mobile bookings are poised to increase exponentially.
• $160 million in 2010
• $2.6 billion (2.4% of total online bookings) in 2012
• $8.0 billion (6,5% of total online travel bookings) by 2013

Mobile Service Increases

• iPhone App: 54% in 2011, 68% in 2012
• Mobile Website: 63% in 2011, 66% in 2012
• Android App: 10% in 2011, 46% in 2012
• iPad App: 12% in 2011, 44% in 2012
• Blackberry App: 20% in 2011, 22% in 2012

We hope you enjoyed our hotel marketing infographic. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and contact us if you have any other ideas for future infographics.

Hotel Marketing Infographic – Weighing the Costs and Value as seen on