LMA Communications

Top Functions Your CMS Should Be Doing

LMA — 2012-02-09T16:44+00:00

Hoteliers often ask me what the benefits are of incorporating a CMS (Content Management System) into a website redesign. For those unfamiliar, a CMS is an administrative section to the back-end of your website that lets you modify what appears on the front-end without having to know any coding languages. It's an extra cost, but what you get in return is the flexibility to manage day-by-day happenings and keep your site in tempo with the rapidity of the Internet.  Still not convinced?  Here are five specific reasons why you should have a CMS.   1. Blog A web log portion to your website lets you readily update your guests, both past and future, about recent happenings and neighbourhood hotspots.  It's entertainment, and a good motive for customers to frequent your website more often than they are right now.  The content is easily shareable via your social media outlets to further heighten content generation and awareness through those channels.  As well, writing with keywords in mind will do wonders for your SEO.   2. Promotions With total control over this portion of your website, you can better promote packages and specials in as timely a manner as possible.  Not having this control means that every modification becomes an addition both in lost time and money.  Plus, last minute changes are a breeze, letting you can stay ahead of the competition.   3. Calendar of Events The goal is to have a quick list of everything happening at your hotel in the near future so guests are well informed and can plan accordingly.  Along the same lines as your blog, a CMS lets you take control of upcoming events so no intermediary is required for last minute updates.   4. Keeping Your Site Current and Up-to-Date With a bit more complex tinkering, a CMS can be rigged to manage any other portion of your website, including accommodations, dining or weddings.  As business needs evolve, so may the needs for the types and quantity of information on your website.  Having the flexibility to complete near instantaneous alterations is a must for proper business strategy. Remember, Google and other search engines pay particular attention to the immediacy of site updates.   5. Getting Staff Involved The real beauty of a CMS is that it's easy for any staff member to update the website.  The systems these days are very intuitive and necessitate very little training for tech-savvy individuals.  If everyone knows how to use your CMS, it ensures that content is posted in as timely a manner as possible.  As well, you posts will be far more authentic than if everything is relayed through the IT team or your agencies. (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published on eHotelier on February 9, 2012)

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Could This Be the Best Hotel Site Ever Built?

LMA — 2012-02-03T15:39+00:00

When you have $5 million and a clean slate, what type of website would you build? And, what process would you undertake to deliver the ultimate Internet experience? These were some of the questions that I asked Robert Simon, Director of Web Development for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, following the launch of their revolutionary new site. Implemented just a few weeks ago, Four Seasons once again has set a new standard in web design, replacing a site that had served this luxury chain for the past seven years. Undaunted by the task, Robert is the leader of a team that at times reached 100 members at its peak to meet this requirement. Of note, the team is now down to 42 members, with approximately 80% of this staff compliment outsourced. Robert's background is totally non-hospitality. Prior experience managing Home Depot's Canadian web presence as well as a stint with the Canadian arm of London-based Isobar Interactive helped usher Robert into a 14-hour interview session that ultimately resulted in the job offer at Four Seasons. Whereas the task at hand might seem daunting, Robert explained his approach in this way. "I was impressed with the existing website platform, as it had served the chain well, averaging 3 million unique visitors per month and representing a non-insignificant 12% of total chain wide revenue. Where the site fell down was that it did not have an open architecture, and thus, the technology of the site was hampering the ability of the site to respond to the growing needs of the Internet consumer." The 12-month process that spawned the site's development was classically Four Seasons. The philosophy focused on the user experience. This commenced with a three-month travel adventure, with Robert meeting with over 100 stakeholders (GMs and owners), interviewing each one to understand their desires and needs for future growth. With this initiative setting the goals, prototype designs were tested with past guests through a series of focus groups undertaken in three centers: Philadelphia, Shanghai and Doha. Once the overall design elements were selected, imagine the process of collecting the appropriate materials for the 91 individual properties that comprise the site. For each individual property, the requirements of photography (both professional as well as guest-sourced through social networks such as Flickr), property facts, descriptive text and local activities all had to be incorporated into the build out. At the same time, social media considerations were paramount, with immediate integration of influencer comments from Twitter, Facebook and TripAdvisor. To accomplish this rather massive undertaking, a new layer of staff, called producers, was created within the Four Seasons web team. Producers were assigned to each of the properties to assist the local teams in securing the necessary materials to complete the content requirements. Of note, the content management system of the site has the flexibility to allow local property staff to make updates, or alternately, these updates can be undertaken through the Four Seasons head office web team. Robert offers this advice to those hoteliers interested in revitalizing of their own Internet presence. "It's the people that we service. When the iPhone first came out it wasn't the best phone on the market from a hardware perspective. But the one thing the iPhone did better than any other phone, is that it got better every day because of the new services you could layer on top of it. When thinking about your digital impact on the business, you're really thinking about your services architecture between web, mobile and hotel. How you orchestrate those services and make them consumable for your consumers as well as your operations is how to innovate and win."   The Future Whereas the core site is fully launched and fully functional, Robert sees several critical tasks ahead of his team in the coming months. Social media integration will be expanded. Additional languages (French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish) are being considered where identified by the property teams and where past website data is essential. A superior ‘luxury tablet' solution that can take full advantage of the unique imbedded capabilities of this technology platform is also under development, as is a mobile version. I am confident that the exceptional work we have witnessed so far will be reflected in these expansion elements. If you have not yet experienced the Four Seasons site, you're in for a treat. Give it a spin this evening and you'll come away as impressed as I am. (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published on eHotelier on February 3, 2012)

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Marketing that Works: Five Examples of Excellence

LMA — 2012-02-02T15:11+00:00

With the planning season approaching, the hunt for new strategic initiatives is in full swing; ways to better revenue and market position undoubtedly at the top of the list. Taking stock from a few of my clients, here are five tenets that have proven successful, and may be applicable to your own programs.   1. Embrace Your Local Constituency Built on a verdant 220-acre property just outside of Los Angeles, Ojai Valley Inn & Spa is dedicated to being a community leader.  Their ‘Arts & Leisure' program includes special events throughout the year, which emphasize the wellness-lifestyle standards of a five-diamond resort as well as a strong neighborhood orientation.  The itinerary includes guest speaker luncheons with authors and film actors, tea tastings, movie screenings, art classes, and vintner dinners with guest chefs and wine tastings.  In this way, the Inn helps bring together both guests and locals to events which may not have otherwise come to this small Californian town.  On top of all this, profits from the events are donated to local charities.   2. Create an Event to Increase Property Profile The Cranberry Resort is a lakefront vacation destination north of Toronto with an interesting predicament.  One of their goals is to attract the business crowd, but there's a nearby conference center many times their size.  Moreover, none of the participating small to midsized companies can afford high caliber speakers on their own; they have to cluster at a large venue. The solution is differentiation.  The resort organizes yearly leadership symposiums for groups of companies, giving them full access to the resort's amenities, F&B and golf course.  Not only does this event yield modest profits, but it is quite literally the ultimate ‘sampling' amongst key decision makers, and augers well for further corporate business.   3. Turbo-Charge an Existing Event The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of the longest running sporting events in the world.  Held each year at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, the show attracts over two thousand dogs along with their trainers and handlers, as well as tens of thousands of fans.  And located directly across the street from all this excitement is New York's Hotel Pennsylvania.  Everyone at the hotel eagerly anticipates the event, and management has reciprocated their love with welcome dog treats, an onsite spa for dogs (Spaw!) and even a Doggie Concierge.  With this sort of pampering and a location that can't be beat, why would a dog and its owner want to stay anywhere else?  As for the regular guests?  They love the dogs, too!  Every year, the hotel's efforts turn into a bigger and bigger success.  So ask yourself, are there any local events that your hotel could better cater to?   4. Segment Planning: Going Beyond FIT to ES The recent global slowdown has hit the FIT segment hard, particularly in resort destinations.  Windtower Lodge & Suites in Canmore, Alberta, solved this challenge admirably by reassessing their room inventory.  Many of their suites include a full kitchen, living area and laundry facilities, so they concluded that the property was well-suited for long-term guests.  Using their web site as a primary marketing tool, Windtower repositioned itself as able to handle both FIT and extended stays.  Still in its infancy, the results from this new segmentation have already been exceptional.   5. Extending Your Brand Into All That You Do COMO Hotels and Resorts operate eight luxury hotels throughout the world; locations ranging from downtown Bangkok and Parrot Cay in Turks & Caicos to the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.  All properties exude an aura of well-being and COMO applies this core philosophy to all facets of the organization, bringing a unique sense of balance to their business approach.  For their guests, this is palpable upon entry. And the same oasis of calm one feels while at one of their destinations is translated with perfection to their social media, electronic newsletters and printed material.  It is this marriage of outstanding guest services with the subtler qualities of their marketing efforts, which bolster exceptional repeat stays and strong sales conversion rates.   Conclusion Notice that these programs were creative solutions and they did not rely on a price discount to achieve success. Furthermore, each activity builds the property's brand reputation; something especially important to help fight the commoditization of the hotel industry.  In looking at your own marketing program, examine your property's situation and features.  See what guest benefits can be derived from talking about your key points of distinction in fresh, new ways.  Then start talking about them. Now that's marketing! (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published on eHotelier on February 2, 2012)  

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Rack Brochure: Rest in Peace

LMA — 2012-01-30T14:30+00:00

I remember my first ad agency assignment in hospitality, some 30 years ago, to design and produce a ‘rack brochure' for the Inn on the Park Hotel in Toronto. At the time, the project was considered the quintessential component of their marketing plan, requiring both significant design effort and budget given the substantial print runs. The advent of the Internet has all but arrested the rack brochure status and marketing funds, but does down necessarily mean out? The history of the rack brochure stems back to the post-Korean War era, when the travel agency business was booming, and often storefront oriented. Prospective travel customers could visit an in-store display unit which housed equally-sized printed literature for destinations, hotels, cruise lines and attractions. The size of the slots within these display units were standardized and cantilevered, thus creating the eponymous rack. Brochures produced by all travel participants were sized to fit these display units. You can still see this style of racks in some chain properties displaying other chain members, regional tourism welcome offices and, of course, in the (remaining) traditional travel agencies. Our own data corroborates this decline. At our agency, I have seen the typical print runs of rack brochures drop significantly within the past three years. While not a statistical sample, our current production quantities rarely exceed 5,000 units, compared to runs of 25,000+ units less than a decade ago. Did I say the rack brochure was dead? As Mark Twain said, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." So too, I suspect, can be said of the rack brochure. I did a quick survey of about fifty hotels and resorts, both independents as well as chain properties, and not one general manager was prepared to totally abandon rack brochure production availability for their property. Today's modern printing techniques have brought us new opportunities for this venerable marketing element. To begin with, the costs of printing have plummeted. Modern digital printing technology allows for shorter runs without the need for creating films and plates. Moreover, customization, such as personalization to the recipient, is not only feasible but also highly cost-effective. The size of the brochure is also no longer a constant. Whereas every rack brochure used to be designed in a ‘portrait' format, brochures now are just as likely to be in a ‘landscape' format, consistent with the high-definition feel of modern websites. And that's just the orientation change. Rack brochures have increased in size, with the only restriction appearing to be the unit cost of mailing. This may be reason to postpone a quick collapse of the brochure business into something more gradual, but there's another subliminal force at work, whether hoteliers can put it into words or not.  Sure, you can buffer your website with a PDF brochure and ten times the amount of enticing benefits and graphic photography, but the rack brochure is a physical entity.  Customers can feel it in their hands. Psychologically speaking, touch relays to some powerful emotional centers in the brain.  This same reasoning underlies many other common sales practices.  Houses are rarely sold without the buyer first touring the property and feeling its design.  Ditto for cars.  Even with online shopping, clothing stores persist, as most people inherently like to touch and try the goods before making a purchase.  Why else are products on display at an electronics store if not for you to see them with your own eyes and feel them in your hands?  As humans, we trust that which is tactile. Sales are logical, but also largely emotional.  By having potential guests grasp and leave with a rack brochure, marketers are cleverly channeling this age-old practice.  Our genetic makeup hasn't changed nearly enough in the past twenty years to completely disregard the function of the rack brochure.  Thus, I believe that this paper product will continue to exist, albeit even in smaller quantities, even as we rapidly shift into a paperless world. So, before you plan to create your next brochure, ask yourself the following questions. 1.      Define your strategic goals for the piece. What do you hope to accomplish and who is the brochure targeted at? 2.      How will the brochure be distributed and what is the annual forecast quantity to each distribution channel, including mail, travel agencies, trade shows, phone requests, in-house, front desk and any others you can think of? 3.      How long do you anticipate the brochure to be in use? Think in terms of months, not years! 4.      Do you need separate brochures or variations for groups, weddings, or catering? Plan your quantity requirements for each variation. 5.      If personalizing, how large is your database? What portion of the print run would be kept generic and not personalized? 6.      What percentage will be mailed? If this number is considerable, then mailing costs will be a more important factor. Once you have all of the data assembled, your communications agency should be able to provide you with a strategic production plan, which you should review before committing to any creative design elements. Again, think of a printed brochure as more of a support element to important one-on-one communications. (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published on eHotelier on January 30, 2012)

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New Website Launch for Diamond Head Sprinklers

LMA — 2012-01-27T14:11+00:00

The grass truly is greener on the other side. LMA is proud to announce the launch of a new website for Diamond Head Sprinklers Inc., a leader in landscape lighting and irrigation systems. Diamond Head Sprinklers Inc. offers cutting edge products and provides additional services such as trenching, pet fencing, fertigation, and outdoor services. The new site is a complete rebuild of their previous site and is based on HTML5. Nwe additions include featured products, testimonials, online payment options, eNewsletters, a blog, and much more. Powered by ExpressionEngine2’s Multi-Site Manager, the system is customized to include content management across the entire site, including featured products of the month, testimonials, and blog articles. The next phase will involve an eNewsletter design and monthly distribution as well as new marketing initiatives that will keep Diamond Head Sprinklers Inc. growing for many years to come! Take a look at the new superpowered site at http://diamondheadinc.com/

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LMA Celebrates 21!

LMA — 2012-01-25T19:16+00:00

Today marks LMA's official 21st anniversary as an advertising and marketing agency.  "That's a long, long time!" Larry exclaimed after the fact settled fully in.  To celebrate, we all had a small sushi, cupcake and wine luncheon at the office.  No one could be dared to eat a whole pile of wasabi in one gulp though. Also of note, because we are now 21, our llama Gent at StillPointe Sanctuary is finally legal to drink in the US. A special thanks to everyone who has been with us over the years!

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Grenada: Sand and Spice

LMA — 2012-01-25T19:09+00:00

This fall, LMA arranged a 'Pampered Boot Camp' press trip to Grenada, 'the Spice of the Caribbean.' The Editor-in-Chief of the luxury publication West of the City (distributed within Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Mississauga) spent five days in Grenada, describing it as one of the Caribbean's 'hidden gems.'  She indulged in mouth-watering Grenadian cuisine, was pampered at some of the island's top spas, took part in boot camp fitness and even did yoga on the beach.    A beautiful article on Grenada appeared in the January 2012 issue of West of the City. To read the article and learn more about the island, visit www.westofthecity.com

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Grenada’s Website Wins Best Tourism Board Website in the Caribbean

LMA — 2012-01-23T16:16+00:00

Travelmole announced their winners today for best websites in a variety of categories for all Caribbean countries.  The site for Grenada and the Grenadines, which we designed in conjunction with Orlando Romain (the Grenada Board of Tourism's manager of web communications), won the top prize for the Tourism Board category.  Congratulations to Grenada and everyone who helped build such a great website.  Below is a copy of the official press release:   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Grenada Board of Tourism awarded Caribbean’s Best Tourist Board Website The Grenada Board of Tourism places major emphasis on the use of its destination website as a key component of its marketing strategy. Indicative of its success in this regard is the announcement last Saturday January 21, 2012, at the TravelMole Caribbean Web Awards at DHA Marketplace that this official destination website (www.grenadagrenadines.com) was given the prestigious Caribbean Web Award for Best Tourist Board website.  Now in their second year, the awards attracted a higher number of nominations as knowledge of the event, which is run jointly with the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association spreads throughout the region. Grenada was selected based on its website’s use of modern technology, its user friendliness and the degree to which it highlighted the destination’s selling points.  Presenting the award to Grenada was Mr. Graham McKenzie of TravelMole, who thanked sponsors such as the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, the Lead Generators and Nassau, Paradise Island’s Tourist Board. He also noted that “www.grenadagrenadines.com won because whilst TravelMole is not involved in the judging process per se, I know that the judges were impressed by the home page template. When you study the site, it gives the feeling of being beautifully crafted and makes one want to go inside and find out more. The tourist board section is one of the more popular and therefore competitive of the awards, and for this reason Grenada should feel proud of their online achievements”. E-Marketing Officer at the Grenada Board of Tourism Orlando Romain also opined that “Considering that we recently launched a new booking engine, I think that this is a double victory for the Board.” Other organizations that were awarded at the ceremony include Comfort Suites, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Luxury Villa Rentals of McLaughlin Anderson, the Retreat at Lookout and UK Tour Operator I Explore.

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Is Room Key the Game Changer We’ve Been Waiting For?

LMA — 2012-01-23T15:39+00:00

January 2012 has already been marked by the launch of what has been touted as the panacea for our industry - a rebuttal to the online travel agency onslaught that has so dramatically shifted the hospitality power structure. I am referring of course to Room Key, the new (supposed) OTA managed by the hotels.  My initial thoughts on www.roomkey.com (still considered and marketed as a ‘beta' site) are that it's a very good try, but not enough to get a consumer to switch away from their current favorites. First, for those who don't know, or who haven't yet taken the time to analyze Room Key, I encourage you to spend a few minutes touring this new website. Launched by a consortium of six major hotel chains including Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, Intercontinental, Wyndham and Marriott, the site allows visitors to search by destination to easily find a given property. (Note the current beta version is for the US only, with other English speaking countries to follow shortly.) Once a location and property is selected, the site refers a visitor directly to the selected hotel's official website. This transfer is seamless to the user, and low and behold, reservations are made directly with the property, thus avoiding the significant commissions that the OTAs proscribe. Room Key's aesthetics are sophisticated, clean and quite welcoming. The performance of the site is also exemplary. Try as I might, it completed searches quickly and flawlessly, delivering accurate results, even in locations that I thought were obscure. Immediate results allow you to search by star rating or price. Links to Google Maps in the same interface allow for easy understanding of micro-location details. A terrific feature allows for instant email to a user's traveling companions of details on a prospective property. Of course, not all hotel properties are participating at this stage. However, it's clear that the functionality of Room Key was not just tacked together at the last moment. It's perhaps the best interface for querying hotel properties that exists today. But the question remains, why would a consumer go to this website in lieu of their current favorite OTA? Frankly, at least at this stage, there is no reason to do so. Here's why: 1. Room Key is all about hotels and does not complete the journey. Airlines? Car Rentals? Attractions? Restaurants? Stores? Sorry, but Room Key is about accommodations only. The OTAs cover the entire trip and that is a significant consumer advantage. Most travel planning starts not just with the hotel, but with physical movement component, whether it be plane, train or automobile. Unless you're driving your own car or are privy to preordained business arrangements, you're likely to first search by airline for available dates, and then browse accommodations that fit. Why? It's usually the airline that has the least price flexibility, and so the leisure traveler first books the flight, then the hotel room, and lastly the car rental, dinner reservations or events. Does anyone expect a consumer to book their airline ticket through one of the other OTAs then mosey on over to Room Key for their hotel room booking (let alone go to a third site for their car rental)? 2. Room Key lacks completeness. With inventory limited to the participating hotel chains, Room Key is highly exclusionary in its present form. In many places, the smaller chains, independents and non-participants provide useful accommodation alternates. Without them involved, Room Key is only a partial search tool. Now, maybe the plan is to add more hotels once it is out of beta, but until then, the website remains as only a consolidator of the six participating chain. The OTAs have almost a decade of property input to leverage.  And going beyond hotels, the OTAs offer a complete travel experience, with widgets that include everything from weather to travel advisories, from packing tips to essential travel tools. 3. The OTAs have gone beyond the basics to include promotions, last minute offers and package deals.  In contrast, Room Key's approach is straight up, no-nonsense, and just the rooms. For business, this is spot on. Business customers want a room, with location as the key decision factor. Leisure consumers, however, have a wider degree of flexibility. They are much more prone to be influenced by a shiny deal or package. Room Key does not offer any promotional activity, except for those that might be ‘buried' within the participants' linked websites. 4. Room Key has a major user convenience issue. Inherent in the design of Room Key, the interface efficiently pushes the user to the individual property website for each booking. In doing so, there's no thorough storage of customer profiles, as this data resides with the booking property. While this is terrific for the hotel, it's counterintuitive for the user. Each time a booking is made, the consumer has to reenter all of his or her information, creating a new profile with each of the chains. If users were interested in only one hotel chain, they would already booking with that company directly. 5. Room Key is cold and lacks a ‘warm and friendly' consumer interface.  While its true this is still a beta launch, the site has no substantial method for the user to fluidly interact. Even if you burrow down to the ‘About Us' page, you'll see three fun postcard images and roll over bios of the three founders of Room Key. But there's no way to email them; no phone number; not even a contact address. Of note, there is an email form and an FAQ section. Perhaps the ‘live' site will be more consumer-friendly. Let's hope so! 6. What logic is there for the hotel chains to promote Room Key? I'm still scratching my head on this one.  If I were the CEO of a hotel chain, I wouldn't see the logic of putting funds into promoting or advertising Room Key, not unless all partners were equal financial contributors. That might indeed build a sizeable war chest. But for what purpose? It still doesn't help the one critical factor that the major hotels are facing - lack of brand awareness. Creating Room Key as yet an additional brand to support and promote only serves to further dilute and complicate the branding challenges already being faced by the majors. 7. The OTAs have a massive head start. Is this a case of too little, too late? Perhaps. Look at the total dollar spend by the OTAs over the past five years.  Look at the Alexa traffic ratings and you'll see a very tall mountain for the hotels to climb. In social media, which Room Key doesn't yet to have a very active presence on, the OTAs are well ahead with tens of thousands of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. I'm afraid that Room Key does not have the ‘legs' to help customers make the switch. It will take some very serious monetary efforts to bring Room Key up to a standard that the OTAs have developed organically over the past decade. Plus, one of the most important features of the OTAs is each hotel's inherent credibility through its numerous critiques. Room Key will have to do some sizeable front-end promotions to get travelers to kick-start the review process.   The Bottom Line I would like Room Key to succeed. But unless it adds a lot more functionality, I'm afraid that it may be a hotel search tool for those sophisticated travelers who never use OTAs (like myself), and who go to the airlines then search hotels separately. If all properties were involved, it would be a terrific product for that narrowcast requirement. An OTA blocker? I would call it, at best, a speed bump. (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published on eHotelier on January 23, 2012)

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Pros and Cons of Flash Sales for 2012

LMA — 2012-01-20T19:09+00:00

You see them on sites like Jetsetters, Living Social Escapes, Hotel Tonight, Groupon and several others: “Deluxe Vacation in Paradise, Regularly $2,000, Book Now for Only $1,000, Save 50%.” The promotional text is crisp; the offers relatively straightforward. The question is, should you as a hotelier participate in these programs? And importantly, what role will flash sales play in 2012? Flash Sales: What Are They All About? A flash sale is defined as an internet-based promotion that is offered to potential guests for an extremely short period of time (one to seven days). The offer is typically for an inventory-restrictive packaged program available over a specified time period and priced at a discount significantly below BAR. As well, most flash sales require full payment at time of booking. Once purchased, they are generally non-cancellable, and may also be non-transferrable. A Customer Survey As you would expect, consumers love a sale. In the research report from Q2 2011 conducted by Condé Nast Traveler entitled ‘What Matters Now, Volume XLI,’ two out of three respondents agree: “I’m intrigued by travel ‘flash’ sales.” Of that same group, 11% have already booked travel or accommodations through a flash site, with another 44% planning to do so in the near future. Condé Nast concluded with their opinion that flash sales are here to stay, and I’d be inclined to agree. Pros and Cons for 2012 Flash sales appeal to hoteliers for several reasons. The ability to unload rooms from a non-productive period is the dominant attractor. It’s a clutch tactic to increase occupancy and shore up dry spells. Moreover, if these rooms can be bundled with value-added extras, the loss in ADR can be made up somewhat through a balanced REVPAR. Flash sales can also be utilized as a tool to push suite upgrades, golf rounds, kids camps and even F&B programs. Lastly, I have experienced hoteliers who do a flash sale just as a means of invigorating their leisure sales team. As a further bonus, you’ll know your results within a very short period of time, making it very easy to plan further actions. With programs prepaid, there is limited financial risk and immediate cash flow. Flash sales sites give your product a higher awareness to a new set of consumers. And, for those who tried your product at this incredible low price, there is the potential for them to be converted to regulars. On the flip side, liken flash sales to the use of an addictive drug. There is a certain rush from the first time you see hundreds of thousands of revenue dollars come in from a single program in a very short period of time. It’s hard to fathom and the idea of repeating a flash sale again and again will quickly come to mind. My experience, however, is that each successive use delivers less of thrill and less of a business bump. But, like any addiction, it’s hard to get out of the cycle, especially in 2012 where packages and room rates are being pinched from all sides. In terms of direct monetary disadvantages, flash sales weaken overall ADR. This is obvious for the short-run, but when used repeatedly over the years, flash sales will lower your brand’s perceived value, further weakening your ADR. Now that it’s 2012, you’re likely dealing with a more web-savvy crowd, one that’s fully acclimatized to breakneck marketing tactics. Once they get a regular taste for flash sales, that’s all they’ll want in their diet. There is also the risk of displacement. A flash release is received by all subscribers to a given site. If one of your subscribes just so happens to be booked at your hotel for that same period, they may demand compensation. The costs of managing a flash sale also have to be taken into consideration. Flash sale providers with large, dedicated subscriber bases will not distribute your product to their database for free. In addition to the discount you offer the customer, anticipate a further percentage for the middleman taken straight off of the top of your yield. The Bottom Line My personal feeling is that flash sale sites have their time and place, albeit very rare. If you are dead set on using them, do so sparingly and don’t include them as part of your core marketing plan. This will prevent consumer displacement and negate any long-term declines in ADR. How often you ask? I’d say no more than once or twice during your fiscal 2012, and only for periods that need real bolstering. You have to always remember though: the more you offer deep discounts like this, the harder it is to restore your true value proposition. (Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published in Canadian Lodging News on January 20, 2012)

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