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The hospitality industry has always been among the first to capitalize on new technologies. Costumers are constantly seeking new sources of information to help them make decisions before purchasing services.

PPC is a way to quickly get your marketing message in front of the people who are likely to have an interest in your offers.

Some keywords are tough to rank for, even with the most rigorous SEO program. An example would be if your city holds an annual event. It would be great to gain bookings from people who search for information on the event. But gaining quality placements in the organic search results for event-related phrases may not be feasible as a quality Search Engine Optimization program can take time.  That’s when bidding and gaining exposure through PPC advertising on event related phrases could be done for a short amount of time proceeding and during the event.

Promote last minute bookings with a sense of urgency (book for tonight for only $79).

When we log onto the Internet, we take lots of things for granted. We assume that we'll be able to access whatever Web site we want, whenever we want to go there. We assume that we can use any feature we like -- watching online video, listening to podcasts, searching, e-mailing and instant messaging -- anytime we choose. We assume that we can attach devices like wireless routers, game controllers or extra hard drives to make our online experience better. What makes all these assumptions possible is "Network Neutrality," the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies. But all that could change. The biggest cable and telephone companies would like to charge money for smooth access to Web sites, speed to run applications, and permission to plug in devices. These network giants believe they should be able to charge Web site operators, application providers and device manufacturers for the right to use the network. Those who don't make a deal and pay up will experience discrimination: Their sites won't load as quickly, and their applications and devices won't work as well. Without legal protection, consumers could find that a network operator has blocked the Web site of a competitor, or slowed it down so much that it's unusable. The network owners say they want a "tiered" Internet. If you pay to get in the top tier, your site and your service will run fast. If you don't, you'll be in the slow lane. What's the Problem Here? Discrimination: The Internet was designed as an open medium. The fundamental idea since the Internet's inception has been that every Web site, every feature and every service should be treated without discrimination. That's how bloggers can compete with CNN or USA Today for readers. That's how up-and-coming musicians can build underground audiences before they get their first top-40 single. That's why when you use a search engine, you see a list of the sites that are the closest match to your request -- not those that paid the most to reach you. Discrimination endangers our basic Internet freedoms. Double-dipping: Traditionally, network owners have built a business model by charging consumers for Internet access. Now they want to charge you for access to the network, and then charge you again for the things you do while you're online. They may not charge you directly via pay-per-view Web sites. But they will charge all the service providers you use. These providers will then pass those costs along to you in the form of price hikes or new charges to view content. Stifling innovation: Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Unless we preserve Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web. On a tiered Internet controlled by the phone and cable companies, only their own content and services -- or those offered by corporate partners that pony up enough "protection money" -- will enjoy life in the fast lane. The End of the Internet? Make no mistake: The free-flowing Internet as we know it could very well become history. What does that mean? It means we could be headed toward a pay-per-view Internet where Web sites have fees. It means we may have to pay a network tax to run voice-over-the-Internet phones, use an advanced search engine, or chat via Instant Messenger. The next generation of inventions will be shut out of the top-tier service level. Meanwhile, the network owners will rake in even greater profits.

It’s important to have a revenue strategy in place to ensure that your total CPA (cost per acquisition) remains as low as possible for all bookings. When it comes down to it, direct bookings are often the key to growing your revenue.

When your customers move online, you need to be there too. Hotels will always be brick-and-mortar establishments (at least until virtual reality gets much further along!), but they still need a strong, active online presence.

The internet is key to growth, and a direct booking strategy is the most cost efficient way to grow online.

The fragmented nature and location of hotel systems means a guest’s credit card number could exist in multiple systems in formats of varying security in locations of varying security.

HTNG has set up a workgroup that will a framework that will enable hotels to concentrate the storage of sensitive card data in a single system, managed securely by a vendor or the hotel company.

it has become critical for hotels to appear correctly and accurately in search results, as search engine sites have essentially become the gateway to travel research and inspiration.

Even though keeping up with the modern developments in IT sector is crucial for the success and competitiveness of a hotel, it is usually very hard for new technologies to be accepted and implemented.

On the example of hotel property management system (PMS) and comparison between features of its older desktop-version and new web-based programs, this research aims at finding out at which stage and how effective is usage of cloud technology in hotels.

Constant innovation in hardware, software, and network developments and applications means that only dynamic organizations that can respond efficiently and effectively to these innovations, will be able to outperform their competitors and maintain their long-term prosperity.

properties that work with Online Travel Agents (OTAs) perform significantly better financially than those that do not, with commissions being more than compensated for by the increased revenues, resulting in higher bottom-line profits

However, in reality, many hotels still have a (perhaps historic) negative opinion of OTAs

the commission levels reaching 25%, sometimes even 30%, that was steep. The current situation is more within the 15-20% range

However, it is clear that Google will include your Google+ business page/s in the search engine results, which means a big SEO factor to consider. Kingpin's excellent blog post explains it best: "Due to the nature of their primary business, Google is able to use its leverage to make businesses that create and maintain a Page on its own social network easier to search on Google than pages or accounts on their competitors’ sites."

Advances in IT have prompted the hospitality and tourism industries to move in a new direction, i.e. internet marketing or eMarketing (Leung et al., 2015)

On the other hand, from the customer perspective, tourism and hospitality are an information-intensive consumption experience because a customer might make considerable efforts to collect information and understand the image of a travel destination before making a purchase decision (Kim and Law, 2015). In this regard, search engines and social media are two of most fundamental information sources for making such decisions (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). With their information-sharing capability, social media empower customers, granting them a “democratic consumption culture” by reducing information asymmetry and increasing their bargaining power (Leung et al., 2013). The pervasiveness and powerful computational capability of mobile technology make it possible for tourists to easily access information, book online services or even make impromptu purchases (Kim and Law, 2015). Apparently, the tourism and hospitality industries have been facing a revolution that has arisen largely because of IT turbulence (Piccoli, 2008).

Studies suggest that IT plays a prominent role in the tourism and hospitality industries, and it will be imperative, and indeed beneficial, for tourism and hospitality practitioners and scholars to keep abreast of all the advances in IT

Facebook recently rolled out two new products that have the potential to greatly affect hotel traffic

Quora is not the only social technology company that presents an antisocial attitude to callers

LinkedIn’s voice mail lists an alternate customer service number. Dial it, and the caller is trapped in a telephonic version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” forced to work through the original phone tree again and again until the lesson is clear: stop calling.

On the other end of the line, however, some people may not know how to Google, or do not want to use Twitter. These users may be older, or less technically adept, and they are finding the method of communication they have relied on for a lifetime shifting under their feet. It does not make sense, they say, that a company with products used by millions every day cannot pick up the phone.

E-Booking The first role of the internet in the hospitality industry is online booking. As aforementioned in the past, travel agents were the most common source for booking hotel rooms and other travel components like flight tickets and travel tours. However, the internet has changed this; manual booking and reservations have been transformed to E-booking or online booking via Central Reservation Systems (CRS). As of March 2008, there are over 1.4 billion internet users (Internet World Stats, 2008) and according to the Computer Industry Almanac, this number is assumed to increase to 1.80 billion in 2010 (Clickz Stats, 2005). The Travel Industry Association in the United States stated that in 2002 about 64 million out of 619 million online users were online travelers and used the Internet to purchase travel-related services and products (Zhang, 2004, p.3). "Online leisure travel sales totaled $20.4 billion in 2002 and hotel booked online reached $3.8 billion" (Ibid). In 2005 the online travel revenue reached $27.7 billion in the U.S. alone and has steadily increased (Webmetro, 2005). Now imagine how big these figures would be on a global basis.

Another important role of the internet is the use of it as a marketing tool. Before a hotel can offer e-booking it has to set up its own website. The hotel can apply attractive designs and offer guests a virtual tour of the entire property and show various room types. This strategy is considered a minor but may get a lot of appeal from online users. The internet also allows hotels to reach more customers by using search engine optimization (SEO), which is a tool that helps increasing the traffic and page ranking in search engine results (Hotel Travel Check, n.d.). Another internet marketing strategy for the hospitality industry is electronic customer relationship management (eCRM), which are activities to manage customer relationships by using the internet and web browsers (Hotel Marketing, 2007).

Red Lion Hotels Partners with TravelClick to Create Hyper-Local Web and Mobile Platforms

TravelClick is renowned as an industry leader in designing and producing award-winning hotel websites.

Our new Web and mobile platforms will be all about giving our customers the inside scoop and enticing them to get out and enjoy and encounter.

E-Marketing, also called Online Marketing, Internet marketing, I-marketing, web marketing, etc., plays an important role in maintaining hotel revenue as well as occupancy. Several aspects like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Optimisation (SMO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Email Marketing , Portal Marketing, Mobile App, Mobile Website, Website Maintenance, Future E-Marketing v/s Offline Marketing have been touched upon in this article in order to give an insight into the strategic importance and role E-marketing can play.  

Future of Online Marketing v/s Offline MarketingGrowth of online marketing was low in the initial years due to inhibitions, but it is now growing with extraordinary pace as the confidence of Indian buyers is increasing gradually. Seeing the current behaviour of Indian buyers, online experts estimated that the trend of online marketing will become a basic phenomenon among buyers in coming years. The present and future e-marketers are keeping their eyes on the Indian market trends and studying the consumer behaviour for creating best and attractive deals potential clients.

Portal Marketing: Another form of online revenue sharing consists in people working together and registering online in a way similar to that of a corporation and sharing the proceeds. A third form of revenue sharing on the Internet consists of enticing Internet users to sign up and create content by offering a share of advertising revenue.

Google has finished putting all the major pieces of its one-stop travel shopping together. The company calls the offering Google Travel, and it has the system in place for consumers to try out

Google Travel is, of course, very much a work in progress. But that’s the Google way — test, learn, iterate, solve big consumer problems, expand it around the world, and then monetize the heck out of it,” Schaal said

Every hotelier knows the advantage of direct online bookings to their hotel. But there is more to direct than just bookings on your website booking engine.

At Bookassist our metasearch management team has delivered metasearch bookings growth of 130% in the first quarter of 2018 versus the last quarter of 2017 (see https://bookassist.org/company/testimonials/en/)

The GDS is a large computer network that represents a single point of entry to travel agents and travel sites worldwide