Hotel promotions are a significant tool of online hotel marketing. With the tangent dividing search and social blurring and dissolving day by day, online hotel marketing is now something every hospitality organization adopts.With the 2013 Q1 almost over, we bring you a list of online hotel marketing trends that could boost up your business big time and help you stay top on a lot of things.Photo sharing platforms:Photo sharing platforms like Pinterest and Instagram were booming in 2012 and will continue to do so the current year as well. Visually appealing and high quality photos help aid your marketing strategy. People use more and more graphics because they want to let their friends know where they are and what fun they are having. Hence, photo sharing is a great opportunity to make your online presence felt by way of word-of-mouth. Visually appealing photographs do make for great investment for your business and brand.Direct Bookings:Online bookings are fast increasing in importance and usage. More and more people today use the hotel’s website to book their stay. Just make sure your website has fresh online content, a hassle free online booking system and an updated deals and promotions section.Online Reviews:Posting reviews online is convenient and helps a brand get a know-how on its ranking. One of the most important factors in travelers’ decision making process, online reviews help rope in more potential customers. Also, replying to a review on a regular basis helps as well. In addition, keeping the tone of voice subtle and positive while answering a negative or an aggressive review is helpful.Video Marketing:Recent studies have demonstrated that around 66% of people who watch videos are the ones planning for a trip and 43% people watch videos while deciding on an accommodation. With the percentage of people uploading, watching and sharing videos online at an all time high, online video is and will be an effective marketing tool this year. Also, videos have a positive effect on organic SEO. Keeping it simple, a hotel video, most importantly, must capture the look and feel of the hotel and show the attractions of the area.Content Marketing:How many times have we heard the adage, ‘Content is King?’ Content marketing is and will continue to be one of the marketing megatrends. Social media supports SEO. Blogs and articles, in addition to Facebook, Twitter and G+, allow you to interact, communicate, and get in touch with your loyal customers as well as the potential ones.Mobile Trends:Hotel marketers need to focus on ways to capitalize on mobile applications in 2013 as social media and mobile have already become inseparable.
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Travel Planner – Things To Do Before Proceeding on a Trip
If you are going an outing, it is necessary to plan it well. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to these TWO very important facets of any trip-1. Event management2. Administrative detailsEvent Management· Arranging the finances – This is a most crucial part, especially for those who are not rich and famous. Plan the type of services, based on your financial limits and add or cut down upon your itinerary or go for luxury, economy or budget holiday.· Listing out itinerary- Make a list of events during the complete itinerary and go over it a few times to avoid clash of dates and timings.· Getting bookings organized – Based on the itinerary, get the bookings of travel (air/train/bus/car) as well as staying (hotels) done. Do take time to check out the cancellation policies and keep the telephone numbers handy.· Go through legal requirements carefully- It is important to go through the requirements of visa, local addresses, embassy contact numbers, etc so that you don’t get stranded due to lack of any connected formalities at any place.· Collection of information- Before you start a journey, you ought to have all the information about each place in your itinerary. This would include road maps when going by road, taxi fares, places to visit and their distances from your place of stay, eating out plans, need for special arrangements like medical facility in case of any problem, etc.Administrative detailsDo keep your baggage light. Pack your bags in a way that they are well within the permissible limits for air travel. This is a very important part since your comfort level would hinge upon it.Based upon the itinerary, check out the likely weather conditions at that particular time of the year to plan your wardrobe. Take items that are easy to wash and wear, so that you can make do with three to four pairs of everything.Make a checklist of items that you would be carrying. Make it a point to include a small pack that has things like a piece of twine, clothes clips, hangers, padlocks, metal fasteners for securing luggage, soap, jack-knife, small pair of scissors, nail cutters, phone chargers, emergency flashlight, anti-mosquito cream, medicated band-aids, antibiotic sprays, emergency medicines for common ailments, prescription medicines, etc. These often come handy and are not readily available since you would be in a new place and won’t know from where to get them.Remember, you are going to a new place where the food may not suit you. Therefore, plan to carry biscuits or chocolates or dried / dehydrated items that you may want to use.If you have a local friend, try to make him/her a part of your group so that you can overcome language barriers and generally are able to get around more easily.
The Only Guide You Need for Travel and Hotels in Atlanta
When you dream of taking a vacation, what do you picture in your mind? Vacations symbolize different things to different individuals. Some people like to see everything the city has to offer while others would enjoy nothing more than to spend the entire day getting some relaxation at the hotel. If you happen to be like me, you like a part of both. On the one hand, because I have traveled somewhere unique, I ought to see some of the local flavor. The danger is that, if I use up all my time darting around from one site to another, when I return back to my home I will need an additional vacation to heal. Keep the following tips in mind when travelling to Atlanta.The first thing you will want to do is handle as much at the start as possible. That means doing responsible things such as switching currency when it is necessary, viewing maps of the region, leasing a car, booking a flight, and choosing a hotel that satisfies your demands. As luck would have it, most of these tasks have become more convenient and cheaper through the world wide web, so before getting in the car and driving, you can save some money by looking for deals on the internet.When it comes to finding a hotel, remember to examine your choices with care. Things to consider would be how it ranks; is it a two star hotel or a four star one? Is it convenient? If you are going to Disneyland but the hotel you reserved is in San Diego, you are going to waste a good deal of your vacation driving. Are you planning on staying at the hotel quite a bit, and if you are going to be there, what variety of conveniences do they furnish? I will never forget the time I went out on vacation to lay back by the pool, only to find that the hotel I was at didn’t have one. I am sure that I must have appeared rather odd walking around the hotel with my inflatable ducky around my waist and no pool to be found.When it is time to pack, remember to keep it simple, traveler. Start by getting familiar with the weather conditions so that you know what you must pack, but avoid over-packing. Remember, if you forget something, odds are that you can purchase a replacement. As a matter of fact, take as few clothes as possible. I suggest packing older clothing which can be discarded along the way. Depending on where you go, you may locate charities that would be glad to take extra clothing off of your hands. Besides, this will make more space for keepsakes.During your travel time, be sure and bring something to occupy the kids. There are lots of travel games out there, and no, I am not talking about the Game Boy. As a matter of fact, I strongly encourage taking a step back from technology. Though it may be your last stand, discourage the kids from packing a walkman, video game systems, television or portable DVD player. Kids get enough of that already. This is a perfect time to get to know those strangers in the back seat while teaching them to survive without their standard forms of entertainment. Maybe they will even learn to appreciate the world. And if their grades were not up to par this year, make them listen to your music along the way. You should see a dramatic improvement in grades next time around.Two useful things to think about including in your suitcase are Pepto-Bismol, in case something (though occasionally you may come across a school which can provide an adequate education in 6 months) doesn’t agree with you, and hand sanitizer; the kind that works without water. Remember, no matter what situation you find yourself in, do not let the hand sanitizer replace taking a shower.When you are setting off to Atlanta, you will want to carry plenty of supplies for taking photographs. If you are behind the times and still use film, consider moving up to a digital camera. Nothing is more disappointing to me than when I get back from a trip and discover that some of the pictures didn’t turn out. With a digital camera, I can see what I am taking as I go along. The only things I need are batteries and memory space. Now that you can get a great digital camera for under $200, your excuses are dwindling away. Thousands of tourist locations have stores that will transfer your pictures from your memory card to a CD, allowing for you to snap even more pics to torture friends and family with when you get home.I can’t stress enough the value in keeping things simple. Prepare wisely by taking care of as much as you can in advance. When it comes to travel, remember, the internet is your ally. Pack, plan, and keep entertainment basic to help ensure that your vacation to Atlanta is a relaxing and memorable one. I hope that this humble authors advice will be beneficial to you as you prepare yourself to kickoff on your journey.